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Balotelli: The Remarkable Story Behind the Sensational Headlines
by Luca CaioliMario Balotelli has a reputation like no other in football. Since exploding on to the scene at Inter Milan in 2007, he has won league titles in both Italy and England, moving between Europe’s elite clubs. Yet for all his undoubted talent, he is better known for his off-field antics – not least his infamous run-ins with both the police and Manchester’s firefighters. Once described by José Mourinho as ‘unmanageable’, match-winning performances at the highest level have continued to convince clubs such as AC Milan and Liverpool to give him a chance. With exclusive access to friends, teammates and coaches, acclaimed football biographer Luca Caioli talks to the people best placed to explain the mystery that is Mario Balotelli.
Grey Skies, Green Waves: A Surfer's Journey Around the UK and Ireland
by Tom AndersonTom Anderson has always loved surfing – anywhere except the UK. But a chance encounter leads him to a series of adventures on home surf… As he visits the popular haunts and secret gems of British surfing he rekindles his love affair with the freezing fun that is surfing the North Atlantic.
A Dip in the Ocean: Rowing Solo Across the Indian
by Sarah OutenPowered by the grief of the sudden loss of her father and the determination to live life to the full, in 2009 Sarah became the first woman and the youngest person to row solo across the Indian Ocean. Life-affirming, funny and poignant, Sarah’s salty tale of courage and endurance will inspire the taste of adventure in everyone.
Why We Run: A Story of Obsession
by Robin HarvieEveryone can run. It is the simplest of sports, requiring only a pair of trainers and the open road. Its simplicity is part of its beauty. But why do we do it? Obsessive amateur runner Robin Harvie wants to understand what makes him run mile after mile, venturing far from home into remote places, and into the solitude of his own mind, pushing himself to the limit and beyond. Is it to break out of the clutter of his everyday life, into a freedom in which he has only himself to rely upon? Is it to affirm his own will, conquering his fatigue? Is it a fundamental instinct, inseparable from what it is to be human? In examining the lure of long-distance running, Robin speaks to famous runners, explores the literature of running and recounts his own experiences. His feats of running culminate in an effort to run the Spartathlon, retracing the 150 mile journey from Athens to Sparta made by Philippides in 490BC.Part memoir, part meditation, Why We Run is a compelling, rich and haunting account of what it is that makes us take to the road and learn what we are made of.
Ballad of the Whiskey Robber: A True Story of Bank Heists, Ice Hockey, Transylvanian Pelt Smuggling, Moonlighting Detectives, and Broken Hearts
by Julian RubinsteinWhat do you get when you add together a bottle of whiskey, a bad gambler, a flea-market wig, a plastic gun and a Hungarian bank? $5,900. And what do you get twenty-nine of these robberies later? The legend of the Whiskey Robber. When the Eastern bloc thawed, some extraordinary stories were revealed. But none is as entertaining as this. Attila Ambrus escaped late-eighties Romania for Hungary - but soon found that living on his wits wasn't getting him very far. Becoming goalie for a third-division ice hockey team brought no fortune and little glory, and his procession of moneymaking ruses fared little better - until he discovered robbery. With a supporting cast of car-wash owners, exotic dancers, drunk army generals and cocaine-snorting Hungarian rappers, Julian Rubinstein's tale is a spectacular debut, immortalizing the most charming outlaw since the Sundance Kid.
Break Point: The Inside Story of Modern Tennis
by Kevin MitchellNOW WITH A NEW CHAPTERThis is a special era in the history of tennis. The physicality and skill, as well as the commercial and public interest, have hit levels not seen before. At the heart of the game's growing appeal are four players: Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, and Andy Murray. Never in the history of the game have so few players dominated for so long and it is their rivalry that makes this the 'Golden Age of Tennis'. However, in 2013, the dominance of the Big Four came under sustained pressure and a new era beckoned. Break Point chronicles how the old guard met the challenge of the hungry young contenders determined to break their stranglehold on the Tour, from the genteel lawns of Wimbledon to the raucous bleachers of Flushing Meadows, and all points in between.
Mr Darley's Arabian: High Life, Low Life, Sporting Life: A History of Racing in 25 Horses: Shortlisted for the William Hill Sports Book of the Year Award
by Christopher McGrathShortlisted for the William Hill Sports Book of the Year AwardIn 1704 a bankrupt English merchant sent home the colt he had bought from Bedouin tribesmen near the ruins of Palmyra. Thomas Darley hoped this horse might be the ticket to a new life back in Yorkshire. But he turned out to be far more than that: and although Mr Darley's Arabian never ran a race, 95% of all thoroughbreds in the world today are descended from him. In this book, for the first time, award-winning racing writer Christopher McGrath traces this extraordinary bloodline through twenty-five generations to our greatest modern racehorse, Frankel.The story of racing is about man's relationship with horses, and Mr Darley's Arabian also celebrates the men and women who owned, trained and traded the stallions that extended the dynasty. The great Eclipse, for instance, was bred by the Duke who foiled Bonnie Prince Charlie's invasion (with militia gathered from Wakefield races) and went on to lead the Jockey Club. But he only became a success once bought and raced by a card-sharp and brothel-keeper - the racecourse has always brought high and low life together. McGrath expertly guides us through three centuries of scandals, adventures and fortunes won and lost: our sporting life offers a fascinating view into our history. With a canvas that extends from the diamond mines of South Africa to the trenches of the Great War, and a cast ranging from Smithfield meat salesmen to the inspiration for Mr Toad, and from legendary jockeys to not one, but two disreputable Princes of Wales (and a very unamused Queen Victoria), Mr Darley's Arabian shows us the many faces of the sport of kings.
The Game of Golf
by W ParkFirst published in 1896, The Game of Golf came out just as the 'fickle game that must be wooed to be won' was gaining widespread popularity across the world. Written for golfers of every ability, this 'book of instruction' covers every aspect of the game from choosing clubs and balls, through the correct stance and swing, to the secrets of putting 'off the left leg', why the well-struck shot came to be called 'a screamer' and the merits, or otherwise, of allowing sheep to graze on a golf course.A golfing manual which has never been surpassed, this historical document from the days of cleeks, mashies and 'tackety boots' is as readable today as when it first hit the shelves.Includes the original Laws of Golf, Rules of Etiquette, How to Play, General Remarks on the Game, Laying Out and Keeping Golf-Links, and Competitions and Handicapping, plus a glossary of terms, diagrams and illustrations.THE PERFECT GIFT FOR EVERY GOLFER
The Compleat Angler
by Izaak WaltonThe Compleat Angler, first published in 1653, has become a classic of English literature. Where other angling books are of limited appeal to those who do not fish, The Compleat Angler inspires readers from all walks of life to go in search of the countryside that Walton recreates with such vivid and loving writing. Walton appears to have spent his life in an oasis of calm conviviality and, what's more, he succeeded in bottling it for us to enjoy more and more with each century that glides silently by.
The Daredevil Book for Anglers: Cunning Strategies That Fish Don't Know About
by Nick GriffithsAnglers can be odd types. Lawyers, bricklayers, bankers and double-glazing salespeople during the week, come the weekend they're up to their wrists in worms, waiting, hoping, waiting some more, hoping again, losing hope, more waiting... But why? The Daredevil Book for Anglers has the answer. This is a surreal and funny expose of one of the nation's most popular sports. Sections include: The Art of Waiting (Sitting around on a riverbank for hours and hours, watching a float bobbing about a bit, without going stark raving bonkers); How to Lie ( Caught anything? It's the question every angler dreads) and Yeah, Course Your Son's Desperate to Go Fishing with You (Why forcing the boy to learn to fish makes you a bit of a git). The perfect gift for the angler in your life.
Daredevil Book for Golfers
by Tim Glynne-JonesGolf is a traditional gentleman's sport practised on fairways from Atlanta to Zambia (where they have browns as well as greens). But behind all the hierarchy, club rules and etiquette, what s really going through a golfer's mind on the first tee? The Daredevil Book for Golfers takes a sideways look at the sport and finds an awful lot of people aching to win at any cost.
Researching Leisure, Sport and Tourism: the Essential Guide (PDF)
by Jonathan LongWhat are the essential research methods for students studying leisure, sport and tourism? What are the main benefits in competing research methods, and how can you avoid gremlins in the research process? This is a comprehensive and informative book written especially for new and inexperienced researchers in the fields of leisure, sport and tourism, both full-time students and people in employment having to conduct their own research or make use of other people's research.
The Unseen: SHORTLISTED FOR THE MAN BOOKER INTERNATIONAL PRIZE 2017
by Roy JacobsenShortlisted for the Man Booker International Prize 2017Nobody can leave an island. An island is a cosmos in a nutshell, where the stars slumber in the grass beneath the snow. But occasionally someone tries . . . Ingrid Barrøy is born on an island that bears her name - a holdfast for a single family, their livestock, their crops, their hopes and dreams.Her father dreams of building a quay that will connect them to the mainland, but closer ties to the wider world come at a price. Her mother has her own dreams - more children, a smaller island, a different life - and there is one question Ingrid must never ask her.Island life is hard, a living scratched from the dirt or trawled from the sea, so when Ingrid comes of age, she is sent to the mainland to work for one of the wealthy families on the coast.But Norway too is waking up to a wider world, a modern world that is capricious and can be cruel. Tragedy strikes, and Ingrid must fight to protect the home she thought she had left behind.Translated from the Norwegian by Don Bartlett and Don Shaw
Forever Young: The Story of Adrian Doherty, Football's Lost Genius
by Oliver KayWINNER OF THE FOOTBALL BOOK OF THE YEAR AT THE BRITISH SPORTS BOOK AWARDSSHORTLISTED FOR THE 2016 WILLIAM HILL SPORTS BOOK OF THE YEAR'This football book is about something even more important than the "beautiful game"; it is a story of the human spirit.' - Mick Hume, The Times Adrian Doherty was not a typical footballer. For one thing, he was blessed with extraordinary talent. Those who played alongside and watched him in the Manchester United youth team in the early 1990s insist he was as good as Ryan Giggs - possibly even better. Giggs, who played on the opposite wing, says he is inclined to agree.Doherty was also an eccentric - by football standards, at least. When his colleagues went to Old Trafford to watch the first team on Saturday afternoons, he preferred to take the bus into Manchester to go busking. He wore second-hand clothes, worshipped Bob Dylan, read about theology and French existentialism and wrote songs and poems. One team-mate says "it was like having Bob Dylan in a No 7 shirt".On his 17th birthday, Doherty was offered a five-year contract - unprecedented for a United youngster at that time - and told by Alex Ferguson that he was destined for stardom. But what followed over the next decade is a tale so mysterious, so shocking, so unusual, so amusing but ultimately so tragic, that you are left wondering how on earth it has been untold for so long.The stories of Doherty's contemporaries, that group of Manchester United youngsters who became known as the "Class of '92", are well known. Giggs ended up as the most decorated player in United's history; David Beckham became the most recognisable footballer on the planet; Gary Neville, Paul Scholes and others are household names. The story you don't know is about the player who, having had the world at his feet, died the day before his 27th birthday following an accident in a canal in Holland.
Sports Cardiology Casebook
by Antonio PellicciaComparatively little is known about the risk of sudden death associated with exercise in young competitive athletes, and whether the benefits of sports activity outweigh the hazards of exercise-related fatal events is a clinical dilemma. This is only a small part of the story, however, as there are considerable effects of exercise whether it be at a competitive level or on a ‘leisure’ level on patients of all ages. This in itself is of massive importance to the cardiac patient population as exercise is a key component of effective recovery and recommended as central in the prevention of much cardiac disease.
Complications in Knee and Shoulder Surgery: Management and Treatment Options for the Sports Medicine Orthopedist
by Robert J. Meislin Jeffrey Halbrecht“To Err is Human…” Alexander Pope Any surgical intervention has potential risks and complications. This book is designed as a reference tool and a roadmap for the sports medicine orthopedist to minimize the complications in knee and shoulder surgery. Some complications are avoidable; some are not. By understanding the functional anatomy at risk, proper surgical setup, proper equipment, and proper patient selection, a preventative approach to complications can be instituted. The authors of these chapters represent leaders in orthopedic sports medicine and have provided novel methods for dealing with intraoperative complications and si- ations that can occur in the midst of a “routine” arthroscopic reconstruction. In d- cussing these issues, we hope to raise the surgeon’s awareness of potential complications and to provide wisdom and advice to properly avoid and treat these problems should they arise. How one deals with complications truly tests the mettle of the surgeon. Keeping one’s “cool” in the midst of an intraoperative complication will be facilitated by h- ing an algorithmic approach. We hope that this book will improve your outcome should these problems occur. Some complications are unavoidable. Arthro brosis or stiffness may take place in the best of hands. Infection may surface postoperatively in the most sterile OR. We provide you with the background to confront these challenges. A list of ten “Pearls” are offered at the beginning of most chapters as a quick reference card.
Pocket Primer on the Rheumatic Diseases
by John H. Stone Leslie J. Crofford Patience H. WhiteFor eight decades the Primer on the Rheumatic Diseases has been the standard text from which most medical students and house ofcers have learned rheumatology. I myself will never forget thumbing through an older edition of the Primer as a second-year resident, while waiting to review a perplexing patient with my tutor. Fortunately the tutor was r- ning late with his own patients, so I had time to fip through the book – then much thinner – a couple of times. While turning the pages, per- ing the features of those diseases whose names were still exotic to me, and considering my patient’s history of conductive hearing loss and p- monary nodules, a light went on when I stumbled eventually on a part- ular chapter. I still remember the jaw-dropping efect on my tutor of my announcement then that I had a patient with Wegener’s granulomatosis. I think I became a rheumatologist that very moment! Subsequent editions of the Primer have sufered from the inevitable “obesity creep,” making it an outstanding reference textbook but virtually impossible to fip through quickly while awaiting one’s tutor, and even more difcult to slip into the pocket of a white coat to carry on rounds. For this reason we have created the Pocket Primer, a mini version that cuts the larger book down to its essentials.
Clinical Approach to Sudden Cardiac Death Syndromes
by Josep Brugada Pedro BrugadaClinical cardiologists are encountering an important challenge in the caring of families with inherited cardiac diseases. The majority of the inherited cardiac diseases causing sudden death express themselves at variable ages in the form of altered muscle function (i.e hypertrophic or dilated cardiomyopathy) or in the form of arrhythmias (i.e. Brugada syndrome, long QT syndrome). However, it is not uncommon that the first sign of the disease may actually be sudden cardiac death, even before the identification of clear clinical abnormalities. In this last decade, with more than 50 new disease-associated genes identified, the possibility of genetic testing has opened a new opportunity to disease diagnosis and prevention. Clinical and genetic research is continuously on-going not only to identify those at risk, but to better define their level or risk still with limited success.
Playing the Enemy: Nelson Mandela and the Game That Made a Nation
by John CarlinNow filmed as INVICTUS directed by Clint Eastwood, and starring Matt Damon and Morgan Freeman as Nelson Mandela. SHORTLISTED FOR THE WILLIAM HILL SPORTS BOOK OF THE YEAR 2008As the day of the final of the 1995 Rugby World Cup dawned, and the Springboks faced New Zealand's all-conquering All Blacks, more was at stake than a sporting trophy. When Nelson Mandela appeared wearing a Springboks jersey and led the all-white Afrikaner-dominated team in singing South Africa's new national anthem, he conquered the hearts of white South Africa. Playing the Enemy tells the extraordinary human story of how that moment became possible. It shows how a sport, once the preserve of South Africa's Afrikaans-speaking minority, came to unify the new rainbow nation, and tells of how - just occasionally - something as simple as a game really can help people to rise above themselves and see beyond their differences.
A Fighter's Heart: One man's journey through the world of fighting
by Sam SheridanAfter a series of adventurous jobs around the world, Sam Sheridan found himself in Australia, cash-rich and with time on his hands to spend it. It occurred to him that he could finally explore a long-held obsession: fighting. Within a year, he was in Bangkok training with Thailand's greatest kickboxing champion and stepping through the ropes for his first professional bout. But one fight wasn't enough, and Sheridan set out to test himself on an epic journey into how and why we fight, facing Olympic boxers, Brazilian jiu-jitsu stars, and Ultimate Fighting champions.
Invictus: Nelson Mandela and the Game That Made a Nation
by John CarlinThis uplifting true story is now a major film, starring Oscar nominees Morgan Freeman and Matt Damon, directed by Clint Eastwood.Shortlisted for the William Hill Sports Book of the Year 2008As the day of the final of the 1995 Rugby World Cup dawned, and the Springboks faced New Zealand's all-conquering All Blacks, more was at stake than a sporting trophy. When Nelson Mandela appeared wearing a Springboks jersey and led the all-white Afrikaner-dominated team in singing South Africa's new national anthem, he conquered the hearts of white South Africa. Invictus tells the extraordinary human story of how that moment became possible. It shows how a sport, once the preserve of South Africa's Afrikaans-speaking minority, came to unify the new rainbow nation, and tells of how - just occasionally - something as simple as a game can help people to rise above themselves and see beyond their differences.
Where Men Win Glory: The Odyssey of Pat Tillman
by Jon KrakauerPat Tillman was well-known to American sports fans: a chisel-jawed and talented young professional football star, he was on the brink of signing a million dollar contract when, in 2001, al-Qaeda launched terrorist attacks against his country. Driven by deeply felt moral patriotism, he walked away from fame and money to enlist in the United States Special Operations Forces. A year later he was killed - apparently in the line of fire - on a desolate hillside near the Pakistan border in Afghanistan. News of Tillman's death shocked America. But even as the public mourned his loss, the US Army aggressively maneuvered to conceal the truth: that it was a ranger in Tillman's own platoon who had fired the fatal shots. In Where Men Win Glory, Jon Krakauer reveals how an entire country was deliberately deceived by those at the very highest levels of the US army and government. Infused with the power and authenticity readers have come to expect from Krakauer's storytelling, Where Men Win Glory exposes shattering truths about men and war.
Blood Knots: Of Fathers, Friendship and Fishing
by Luke JenningsSHORTLISTED FOR THE 2010 BBC SAMUEL JOHNSON PRIZESHORTLISTED FOR THE 2010 WILLIAM HILL SPORTS BOOK OF YEARAs a child in the 1960s, Luke Jennings was fascinated by the rivers and lakes around his Sussex home. Beneath their surfaces, it seemed to him, waited alien and mysterious worlds. With library books as his guide, he applied himself to the task of learning to fish. His progress was slow, and for years he caught nothing. But then a series of teachers presented themselves, including an inspirational young intelligence officer, from whom he learnt stealth, deception and the art of the dry fly. So began an enlightening but often dark-shadowed journey of discovery. It would lead to bright streams and wild country, but would end with his mentor's capture, torture and execution by the IRA. Blood Knots is about angling, about great fish caught and lost, but it is also about friendship, honour and coming of age. As an adult Jennings has sought out lost and secretive waterways, probing waters 'as deep as England' at dead of night in search of giant pike. The quest, as always, is for more than the living quarry. For only by searching far beneath the surface, Jennings suggests in this most moving and thought-provoking of memoirs, can you connect with your own deep history.
When Bobby Met Christy: The Story Of Bobby Beasley And A Wayward Horse
by Declan ColleyBobby Beasley was a champion jockey. By 26, he had won a Cheltenham Gold Cup, a Champion Hurdle and a Grand National. But when he was 24, Bobby took his first drink and soon succumbed to alcoholism. He turned a corner after his friend, Nicky Rackard, urged him to attend Alcoholics Anonymous. Five years later, aged 38, Beasley rode Captain Christy to an amazing victory at the Cheltenham Gold Cup. In the history of unlikely comebacks, that of Irish jockey Bobby Beasley is the most heartwarming of them all.
The GAA and Revolution in Ireland 1913–1923
by Gearóid Ó TuathaighThe decade between the labour conflict (the ‘Lockout’) of 1913 and the end of the Civil War in 1923 was one of seismic upheaval. How the GAA – a major sporting and national body – both influenced and was influenced by this upheaval is a rich and multifaceted story. Leading writers in the field of modern Irish history and the history of sport explore the impact on ‘ordinary’ life of major events. They examine the effect of the First World War, the 1916 Rising and its aftermath, the emergence of nationalist Sinn Féin and its triumph over the Irish Parliamentary Party, as well as the War of Independence (1919–21) and the bitter Civil War (1922–23). This is an original and engrossing perspective through the lens of a sporting organisation. Contributors: Eoghan Corry, Mike Cronin, Paul Darby, Páraic Duffy, Diarmaid Ferriter, Dónal McAnallen, James McConnel, Richard McElligott, Cormac Moore, Seán Moran, Ross O’Carroll, Gearóid Ó Tuathaigh, Mark Reynolds, Paul Rouse