Sports Book List – We have ONE copy of each
The System: Glory & Scandal by Jeff Benedict
Each year, approximately fifty million fans attend college football games, but ticket
receipts are just the icing on the gridiron financial cake: Each weekend, tens of millions watch
their favorite team on television, raking in billions of dollars from networks and advertisers.
Once the Saturday afternoon pastime of amateur he-men, college football has blossomed into a
mega-money industry; complete with its own multi-million-dollar coaches, freewheeling athletic
directors, and too-big-to-fail Top Ten teams. Lost in the mullah muddle are expendable student
athletes, academic programs, scholarships, and faculty. Investigative journalists Jeff Benedict
and Armen Keteyian spent more than a year probing inside stories of NCAA football, including
the good, bad, and the very ugly. Slush funds, paid test-takers, and victory dances.
Scorecasting by Tobias Moskowitz
In Scorecasting, University of Chicago behavioral economist Tobias Moskowitz teams up with veteran
Sports Illustrated writer L. Jon Wertheim to overturn some of the most cherished truisms of sports, and
reveal the hidden forces that shape how basketball, baseball, football, and hockey games are played,
won and lost.
Wheelmen by Reed Albergotti
The first in-depth look at Lance Armstrong’s doping scandal, the phenomenal business success
built on the back of fraud, and the greatest conspiracy in the history of sports
Lance Armstrong won a record-smashing seven Tours de France after staring down cancer, and
in the process became an international symbol of resilience and courage. In a sport constantly
dogged by blood-doping scandals, he seemed above the fray. Then, in January 2013, the legend
imploded. He admitted doping during the Tours and, in an interview with Oprah, described his
“mythic, perfect story” as “one big lie.” But his admission raised more questions than it
answered—because he didn’t say who had helped him dope or how he skillfully avoided getting
caught.
Boys in the Boat by Daniel James Brown
Daniel James Brown’s robust book tells the story of the University of Washington’s 1936 eightoar crew and their epic quest for an Olympic gold medal, a team that transformed the sport and
grabbed the attention of millions of Americans. The sons of loggers, shipyard workers, and
farmers, the boys defeated elite rivals first from eastern and British universities and finally the
German crew rowing for Adolf Hitler in the Olympic games in Berlin, 1936.
The Kid: The Immortal Life of Ted Williams
Williams was the best hitter in baseball history. His batting average of .406 in 1941 has not been
topped since, and no player who has hit more than 500 home runs has a higher career batting
average. Those totals would have been even higher if Williams had not left baseball for nearly
five years in the prime of his career to serve as a Marine pilot in WWII and Korea. He hit home
runs farther than any player before him—and traveled a long way himself, as Ben Bradlee, Jr.'s
grand biography reveals. Born in 1918 in San Diego, Ted would spend most of his life disguising
his Mexican heritage. During his 22 years with the Boston Red Sox, Williams electrified crowds
across America—and shocked them, too: His notorious clashes with the press and fans
threatened his reputation. Yet while he was a God in the batter's box, he was profoundly human
once he stepped away from the plate. His ferocity came to define his troubled domestic life.
While baseball might have been straightforward for Ted Williams, life was not.
Eight Men Out by Eliot Asinof
The headlines proclaimed the 1919 fix of the World Series and attempted cover-up as "the most
gigantic sporting swindle in the history of America!" First published in 1963, Eight Men Out has
become a timeless classic. Eliot Asinof has reconstructed the entire scene-by-scene story of the
fantastic scandal in which eight Chicago White Sox players arranged with the nation's leading
gamblers to throw the Series in Cincinnati. Mr. Asinof vividly describes the tense meetings, the
hitches in the conniving, the actual plays in which the Series was thrown, the Grand Jury
indictment, and the famous 1921 trial. Moving behind the scenes, he perceptively examines the
motives and backgrounds of the players and the conditions that made the improbable fix all too
possible. Here, too, is a graphic picture of the American underworld that managed the fix, the
deeply shocked newspapermen who uncovered the story, and the war-exhausted nation that
turned with relief and pride to the Series, only to be rocked by the scandal. Far more than a
superbly told baseball story, this is a compelling slice of American history in the aftermath of
World War I and at the cusp of the Roaring Twenties.
Wild by Cheryl Strayed
At twenty-two, Cheryl Strayed thought she had lost everything. In the wake of her mother’s
death, her family scattered and her own marriage was soon destroyed. Four years later, with
nothing more to lose, she made the most impulsive decision of her life. With no experience or
training, driven only by blind will, she would hike more than a thousand miles of the Pacific
Crest Trail from the Mojave Desert through California and Oregon to Washington State—and
she would do it alone. Told with suspense and style, sparkling with warmth and humor, Wild
powerfully captures the terrors and pleasures of one young woman forging ahead against all odds
on a journey that maddened, strengthened, and ultimately healed her.
Slow Getting Up: A story of NFL Survival by Nate Jackson
Nate Jackson’s Slow Getting Up is an unvarnished and uncensored memoir of everyday life in
the most popular sports league in America—and the most damaging to its players—the National
Football League.
After playing college ball at a tiny Division III school, Jackson, a receiver, signed as a free agent
with the San Francisco 49ers, before moving to the Denver Broncos. For six seasons in the NFL
as a Bronco, he alternated between the practice squad and the active roster, eventually winning a
starting spot—a short, tenuous career emblematic of the average pro player.
Drawing from his own experience, Jackson tells the little known story of the hundreds of
everyday, "expendable" players whose lives are far different from their superstar colleagues
Rudy: My Story by Rudy Ruettiger
For the first time, the real Rudy shares his story of floundering through school with undiagnosed
dyslexia and finding himself mixed up with a rough and rowdy crowd. "Football was my
salvation in high school," Rudy believes, and while he dreamed of playing for Notre Dame, he
never believed he was smart enough to make it to the elite group of higher education.
A poignant and high-energy storyteller, Rudy details failures and pitfalls along the way. He
explains the persistence and determination it took to get accepted to Notre Dame, to suit up and
play for twenty-seven glorious seconds, and to see the dream of his movie become a reality.
Rudy is truly a real-life testament to the old adage that it is not how many times you get knocked
down, but how many times you get up again. He will motivate you to discover your own dreams
and to them with unrelenting faith that anything is possible.
Remember the Titan: The Bill Yoast Story by Steve Sullivan
Bill Yoast is the real-life hero of Remember the Titans, the inspirational hit movie that
chronicled the struggles of black and white high school football athletes to create a championship
season in racially charged Alexandria, Virginia, in 1972. Will Patton played Yoast's role and
Denzel Washington played the role of Head Coach Herman Boone. Uniting in a common effort,
Yoast and Boone led T.C. Williams High School to an undefeated season, and in the process
brought the school and polarized community together. The real-life Yoast is even more
compelling than his film version. At one time, the former World War II veteran considered going
into the ministry. Fortunately, for the hundreds of young men and women whose lives he helped
mold, he found his calling in coaching.
A View From the Bench: The Story of an Ordinary Player on a Big-Time Football Team by
George Mills
Recruited for his combination of size and speed, George Mills had the potential to become an
outstanding college football player -- but it never happened. A View from the Bench reveals the
reality behind the glamour of college football and the tough experiences in the life of a
benchwarmer. Mills was a solid player who loved the game, but he had only one shot in nearly
five years at making Nebraska's starting team. He found little time or energy left for academics
after hours of drills, weight lifting, and team meetings. Now, with complete candor, Mills lays
bare the true weight of emphasis in the "student-athlete" dichotomy. Free from anger or malice,
Mills tells of his struggle to come to terms with a sports career of "mediocrity." A View from the
Bench is an honest reflection of the experiences of so many overlooked players. It will be
meaningful to anyone who has watched or played competitive sports.
The Jump: Sebastian Telfair and the High Stakes Business of High School Ball
Chronicles the life of New York basketball sensation Sebastian Telfair, describing how he went
from abject poverty to riches after becoming one of the sport's greatest point guards.
In These Girls, Hope is a Muscle by Madeleine Blais
They Were a Talented Team with a Near-Perfect Record. But for Five Straight Years, When it
Came to The Crunch of the Playoffs, the Amherst Lady Hurricanes-A "Finesse" High-School Girls'
Basketball Team of Nice Girls from A Nice Town-Somehow Lacked the Scrappy, Hard-Driving
Desire to Go all the Way. Now, Led by the Strong Back-Court of All-American Jamila Wideman
and Three-Point Specialist Jen Pariseau, and Playing beyond Their Personal Best, this is Their
Year to Prove Themselves in the State Championships. Their Season to Test Their Passion for the
Sport and Their loyalty to Each Other. Their Time to Discover Who they Really are. In These
Girls, Hope is a Muscle is the Fierce, Funny, and Intimate look into the Minds and Hearts of one
Group of Girls and Their Quest for Success and, Most Important of all, Respect.
The Boys from Little Mexico: A Season Chasing the American Dream by Steve Wilson
Provides an account of the 2005 boys' soccer season of the Woodburn High School Bulldogs, an
all-Hispanic team, and the challenges they faced as they worked towards winning the Oregon
state championship after nineteen years of making it to the playoffs.
American Zoom: Stock car racing from dirt tracks to Daytona
A history of the sport of stock car racing chronicling its derivation from dirt tracks to Daytona.
I Never Played the Game by Howard Cosell
Describes Cosell's thirty-nine years in broadcasting, the sports figures he's known, his
experiences with Monday Night Football, and more.
The Making of a Blockbuster: How Wayne Huizenga Built a Sports and Entertainment
Empire by Gail DeGeorge
Tells about the life and phenomenal business skills of Wayne Huizenga, who turned a small loan
into two multi-billion dollar corporations--Waste Management and Blockbuster video--enabling
him to purchase three professional sports franchises, including the Miami Dolphins.
When Pride Still Mattered: A Life of Vince Lombardi by David Maraniss
A biography of legendary coach Vince Lombardi, discussing his early life in Brooklyn; his devotion
to the principles of family, religion, and sports; and the philosophies that made him so successful
in his profession.
Wide Open: A Life in Supercross by Jeremy McGrath
Supercross champion Jeremy McGrath tells his life story, describing his childhood in southern
California, his rise to the top of his sport, the challenges he faced and the wild life he led along
the way, and his relationship with his wife, Kim. Also provides tips for young riders.
Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson by Geoffrey Ward
Chronicles the life and career of Jack Johnson, the first African-American heavyweight boxing
champion in history, and examines how he was able to rise above the suspicion and racism in
America at that time to win the greatest prize in sports in 1908.
Pre: The Story of America’s Greatest Running Legend, Steve Prefontaine by Tom Jordan
A biography of runner Steve Prefontaine who won four NCAA titles in one event before his career
was cut short by an automobile accident at the age of twenty-four.
Left for Dead: My Journey Home from Everest by Beck Weathers
The author and his family and friends recount his battle with depression, his obsession with
extreme sports, and his recuperation from eighteen hours of subzero exposure on Mount Everest
that left him in a hypothermic coma in 1996.
I Never Had it Made: An Autobiography of Jackie Robinson by Jackie Robinson
African-American baseball hero Jackie Robinson tells his life story, covering such aspects as his
childhood in California; his experiences at UCLA, in World War II, and in the Negro Leagues; and
the impact that breaking the color barrier had on his later years, on sports, and on American
society.
127 Hours by Aron Ralston
The author recounts his harrowing experiences of being trapped for six days in Blue John Canyon
in Utah and having to amputate his own right arm in order to save his life.
Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer
The author relates his experience of climbing Mount Everest during its deadliest season and
examines what it is about the mountain that makes people willingly subject themselves to such
risk, hardship, and expense.
Born to Run by Christopher McDougall
The author describes his work with Caballo Blanco, an outsider who befriended the Tarahumara
Indians, in which the two men organized a running event between the tribesmen, who are
considered to have superhuman running abilities, and Americans, including a ultramarathoner, a
surfer, and others; and includes facts about techniques and the history of running.
Boys of Summer by Roger Kahn
An account of the players and games of the Brooklyn Dodgers baseball team in the early 1950's.
Only the Strong Survive by Larry Platt
Part sports star, part antihero, part hip-hop icon, Allen Iverson has managed to cross over into
the mainstream of American culture -- without compromise. Defiantly tattooed, with his hair in
cornrows, the six-foot Philadelphia 76ers point guard is one of the most recognizable and
controversial stars of the sports world. His meteoric rise from a troubled childhood in the ghetto
to NBA superstardom has been marked by five straight playoff appearances, including a finals
berth in 2001 and an MVP award. From his rap sheet to his rap album, fans and journalists alike
hound his every move. But never before has a biographer presented a full portrait of this
complicated and intensely private star -- a man whose loyalty to his family, the streets, and his
friends trumps any other concern. Filled with exclusive interview material and unprecedented
access to many of Iverson's inner circle, Only the Strong Survive is the first in-depth look at the
truth behind this newly minted legend.
Eleven Rings by Phil Jackson
Looks at the life and career of basketball coach of the Chicago Bulls and Los Angeles Lakers, Phil
Jackson.
Inside Edge by Christine Brennan
Chronicle of a season on the figure skating circuit, discussing some of the sport's current stars
and looking at Olympic hopefuls for 1998. Includes information on the Tonya Harding-Nancy
Kerrigan clash, judging criteria, and the disrupted lives of young skaters and their families.
Playing Through by Earl Woods
Biography of golfer Tiger Woods, written by his father, discussing family stories, controversies
surrounding him, the challenges of turning professional, and why he left Stanford after two
years.
Jackie Robinson by Manfred Weidhorn
A biography of the Afro-American who fought racial injustice both during and after his celebrated
baseball career.
Running the Rift by Benaron
Running the Rift follows the progress of Jean Patrick Nkuba from the day he knows that running will be
his life to the moment he must run to save his life. A naturally gifted athlete, he sprints over the
thousand hills of Rwanda and dreams of becoming his country’s first Olympic medal winner in track. But
Jean Patrick is a Tutsi in a world that has become increasingly restrictive and violent for his people. As
tensions mount between the Hutu and Tutsi, he holds fast to his dream that running might deliver him,
and his people, from the brutality around them.
Reggie Jackson by Perry
An outspoken iconoclast whose disregard for convention made him as many enemies as friends
among the colorful characters of the game, Reggie Jackson was a cantankerous upstart full of
swagger with a fearsome talent to match. The Baseball Hall of Famer earned the name “Mr.
October” for the crucial clutch hitting that led his teams to the World Series six times and won
him two series MVP awards. But most people don't really know the man behind the bat—a great
athlete struggling to find his place in the world, at home, and in the sport that made him a star.
Now, in the first biography of Reggie Jackson in more than twenty-five years—and the first to
cover his entire career as a player—FOXSports.com columnist Dayn Perry provides an intimate,
honest, and never-before-seen glimpse into the life and times of one of baseball's all-time greats.
Odd Man Out by McCarthy
Hailed by critics as one of the great books about baseball, Odd Man Out captures the gritty essence of
our national pastime as it is played outside the spotlight. Matt McCarthy, a decent left-handed starting
pitcher on one of the worst squads in Yale history, earned a ticket to spring training as the twenty-sixthround draft pick of the 2002 Anaheim Angels. This is the hilarious inside story of his year with the Provo
Angels, Anaheim's minor league affiliate in the heart of Mormon country, as McCarthy navigates the ups
and downs of an antic, grueling season, filled with cross-country bus trips, bizarre rivalries, and wild
locker-room hijinks.
Southern League by Colton
Anybody who is familiar with the Civil Rights movement knows that 1964 was a pivotal year.
And in Birmingham, Alabama - perhaps the epicenter of racial conflict - the Barons amazingly
started their season with an integrated team.
Johnny "Blue Moon" Odom, a talented pitcher and Tommie Reynolds, an outfielder - both young
black ballplayers with dreams of playing someday in the big leagues, along with Bert
Campaneris, a dark-skinned shortstop from Cuba, all found themselves in this simmering
cauldron of a minor league town, all playing for Heywood Sullivan, a white former major
leaguer who grew up just down the road in Dothan, Alabama.
Colton traces the entire season, writing about the extraordinary relationships among these players
with Sullivan, and Colton tells their story by capturing the essence of Birmingham and its
citizens during this tumultuous year. (The infamous Bull Connor, for example, when not
ordering blacks to be blasted by powerful water hoses, is a fervent follower of the Barons and
served as a long-time broadcaster of their games.)
By all accounts, the racial jeers and taunts that rained down upon these Birmingham players were
much worse than anything that Jackie Robinson ever endured.
More than a story about baseball, this is a true accounting of life in a different time and clearly a
different place. Seventeen years after Jackie Robinson had broken the color line in the major
leagues, Birmingham was exploding in race riots....and now, they were going to have their very
first integrated sports team. This is a story that has never been told.
Under the Tarnished Dome by Yeager
Under the Tarnished Dome" is the bestselling book that rocked the Notre Dame football program. Don
Yaeger and Douglas S. Looney investigate the contrast between the Notre Dame image--that of a place
where wins on the field are no more important than the integrity off it--and the Notre Dame football
program's reality, with trash talking, rampant steroid use, pregame fights, and academic misconduct.
Part history and part investigative journalism--the authors interviewed 150 people for this book,
including nearly 100 former Notre Dame football players--this is a stunning indictment of the school's
administration and especially of present-day Notre Dame football coach Lou Holtz.
Swagger by Deuker
When high school senior Jonas moves to Seattle, he is glad to meet Levi, a nice, soft-spoken guy and
fellow basketball player. Suspense builds like a slow drumbeat as readers start to smell a rat in Ryan
Hartwell, a charismatic basketball coach and sexual predator. When Levi reluctantly tells Jonas that
Hartwell abused him, Jonas has to decide whether he should risk his future career to report the coach.
Pitch-perfect basketball plays, well-developed characters, and fine storytelling make this psychological
sports novel a slam dunk.
Cover Up by Feinstein
The Super Bowl. America's biggest sports spectacle. Over 95 million fans will be watching. But
teen sportswriters Stevie Thomas and Susan Carol Anderson know that what they'll be watching
is a lie. They know that the entire offensive line of the California Dreams have failed their
doping tests. They know the owner is trying to cover up the results. The only thing they don't
know is how to prove it.
"Every teen with NFL or ESPN dreams will appreciate Feinstein's latest sports mystery." —
VOYA
Friday Night Lights by Bissinger
Return once again to the timeless account of the Permian Panthers of Odessa--the winningest highschool football team in Texas history. Odessa is not known to be a town big on dreams, but the Panthers
help keep the hopes and dreams of this small, dusty town going. Socially and racially divided, its fragile
economy follows the treacherous boom-bust path of the oil business. In bad times, the unemployment
rate barrels out of control; in good times, its murder rate skyrockets. But every Friday night from
September to December, when the Permian High School Panthers play football, this West Texas town
becomes a place where dreams can come true. With frankness and compassion, H. G. Bissinger
chronicles a season in the life of Odessa and shows how single-minded devotion to the team shapes the
community and inspires--and sometimes shatters--the teenagers who wear the Panthers' uniforms.