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Three Ring Circus
- Kobe, Shaq, Phil and the Crazy Years of the Lakers Dynasty
- Narrated by: Brian Hutchison
- Length: 16 hrs and 6 mins
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Publisher's summary
The story of the Lakers dynasty from 1996 through 2004, when Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal combined - and collided - to help bring the Lakers three straight championships and restore the franchise as a powerhouse.
In the history of modern sport, there have never been two high-level teammates who loathed each other the way Shaquille O’Neal loathed Kobe Bryant and Kobe Bryant loathed Shaquille O’Neal. From public sniping and sparring, to physical altercations and the repeated threats of trade, it was warfare. And yet, despite eight years of infighting and hostility, by turns mediated and encouraged by coach Phil Jackson, the Shaq-Kobe duo resulted in one of the greatest dynasties in NBA history. Together, the two led the Lakers to three straight championships and returned glory and excitement to Los Angeles.
In the tradition of Jeff Pearlman’s best sellers Showtime, Boys Will Be Boys, and The Bad Guys Won, Three-Ring Circus is a rollicking deep dive into one of sports’ most fraught yet successful pairings.
Featured Article: Slam-Dunk Basketball Listens That Will Take You Courtside
Basketball has produced some of the most incredible athletes, coaches, team rivalries, and championship events in the history of sports. So it’s no surprise that many of these personalities and their stories have been immortalized as audiobooks. In this list, you will find some of the best basketball audiobooks ever. These gripping listens are easily available to anyone who wants to revisit familiar tales of glory or learn more about the history of this beloved sport.
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Best-selling sportswriter Jeff Pearlman draws from almost 300 interviews to take the first full measure of the Lakers’ epic Showtime era. A dazzling account of one of America’s greatest sports sagas, Showtime is packed with indelible characters, vicious rivalries, and jaw-dropping, behind-the-scenes stories of the players’ decadent Hollywood lifestyles. From the Showtime era’s remarkable rise to its tragic end - marked by Magic Johnson’s 1991 announcement that he had contracted HIV - Showtime is a gripping narrative of sports, celebrity, and 1980s-style excess.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Offended at the style used to voice black characters.
- By NP on 01-15-22
By: Jeff Pearlman
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Barkley
- A Biography
- By: Timothy Bella
- Narrated by: Korey Jackson
- Length: 16 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 79
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 71
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 71
He's one of the most interesting American athletes in the past fifty years. Passionate, candid, iconoclastic, and gifted both on and off the court, Charles Barkley has made a lasting impact on not only the world of basketball but pop culture at large. Yet few people know the real Charles. Informed by over 370 original interviews and painstaking research, Timothy Bella's Barkley is the most comprehensive biography to date of one of the most talked about icons in the world of sports.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Great insight to the big man’s life.
- By marci rodee on 07-03-23
By: Timothy Bella
-
It's Better to Be Feared
- The New England Patriots Dynasty and the Pursuit of Greatness
- By: Seth Wickersham
- Narrated by: Richard Poe
- Length: 19 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 596
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 502
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 499
Over two unbelievable decades, the New England Patriots were not only the NFL's most dominant team, but also - and by far - the most secretive. How did they achieve and sustain greatness - and what were the costs? In It's Better to Be Feared, Seth Wickersham, one of the country's finest long form and investigative sportswriters, tells the full, behind-the-scenes story of the Patriots, capturing the brilliance, ambition, and vanity that powered and ultimately unraveled them.
-
1 out of 5 stars
-
Don’t bother if you’ve read other patriots books
- By Brandon O. on 10-14-21
By: Seth Wickersham
-
Tanking to the Top
- The Philadelphia 76ers and the Most Audacious Process in the History of Professional Sports
- By: Yaron Weitzman
- Narrated by: Yaron Weitzman
- Length: 9 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 182
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 154
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 153
When a group of private equity bigwigs purchased the Philadelphia 76ers in 2011, the team was both bad and boring. Attendance was down. So were ratings. The Sixers had an aging coach, an antiquated front office, and a group of players that could best be described as mediocre. Enter Sam Hinkie - a man with a plan straight out of the PE playbook, one that violated professional sports' Golden Rule: You play to win the game.
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5 out of 5 stars
-
Great history of tanking by Sixers
- By Alan Bernstein on 03-11-23
By: Yaron Weitzman
-
Tall Men, Short Shorts
- The 1969 NBA Finals: Wilt, Russ, Lakers, Celtics, and a Very Young Sports Reporter
- By: Leigh Montville
- Narrated by: Leigh Montville
- Length: 11 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 47
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 41
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 41
They don’t set up any better than this. The greatest basketball player of all time–Bill Russell–and his juggernaut Boston Celtics, winners of ten (ten!) of the previous twelve NBA championships, squeak through one more playoff run and land in the Finals again. Russell’s opponent? The fearsome 7’1” next-generation superstar, Wilt Chamberlain, recently traded to the LA Lakers to form the league’s first dream team. Bill Russell and John Havlicek versus Chamberlain, Jerry West and Elgin Baylor.
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
Very good book with a caveat
- By Hebern on 12-06-21
By: Leigh Montville
-
From Darkness to Dynasty
- The First 40 Years of the New England Patriots
- By: Jerry Thornton
- Narrated by: Chris Andrew Ciulla
- Length: 13 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 133
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 120
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 121
From Darkness to Dynasty tells the unlikely history of the New England Patriots as it has never been told before. From their humble beginnings as a team bought with rainy-day money by a man who had no idea what he was doing, to the fateful season that saw them win their first Super Bowl, Jerry Thornton shares the wild, humiliating, unbelievable, and wonderful stories that comprised the first 40 years of what would ultimately become the most dominant franchise in NFL history.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
great narration, great book
- By BenRias on 01-25-18
By: Jerry Thornton
-
Showtime
- Magic, Kareem, Riley, and the Los Angeles Lakers Dynasty of the 1980s
- By: Jeff Pearlman
- Narrated by: Malcolm Hillgartner
- Length: 18 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 1,008
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 891
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Story5 out of 5 stars 888
Best-selling sportswriter Jeff Pearlman draws from almost 300 interviews to take the first full measure of the Lakers’ epic Showtime era. A dazzling account of one of America’s greatest sports sagas, Showtime is packed with indelible characters, vicious rivalries, and jaw-dropping, behind-the-scenes stories of the players’ decadent Hollywood lifestyles. From the Showtime era’s remarkable rise to its tragic end - marked by Magic Johnson’s 1991 announcement that he had contracted HIV - Showtime is a gripping narrative of sports, celebrity, and 1980s-style excess.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Offended at the style used to voice black characters.
- By NP on 01-15-22
By: Jeff Pearlman
-
Amazing Tales from the Chicago Bears Sideline
- A Collection of the Greatest Bears Stories Ever Told
- By: Steve McMichael, John Mullin, Phil Arvia
- Narrated by: Tony Craine
- Length: 8 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 30
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 29
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 29
The Chicago Bears are more than a football team - they are a legend. Founded in 1919, the Bears have won more regular season games than any other NFL franchise. With 26 players in the Pro Football Hall of Fame and thirteen retired jerseys, it’s no wonder the Bears can be defined by three phrases: Big, tough, and full of characters. The Bears, like Chicago, are not just people. They are personalities. In Amazing Tales From the Chicago Bears Sideline, Bears fans can hear about the men who have made the Bears one of the greatest franchises in pro football....
By: Steve McMichael, and others
-
Golden Days
- West's Lakers, Steph's Warriors, and the California Dreamers Who Reinvented Basketball
- By: Jack McCallum
- Narrated by: Jack McCallum
- Length: 11 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 67
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 54
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 54
In Golden Days, acclaimed sports journalist Jack McCallum uses these two teams - the Jerry West/Wilt Chamberlain/Elgin Baylor Lakers and the Stephen Curry/Kevin Durant/Draymond Green Warriors - to trace the dynamic history of the National Basketball Association, which for much of the last half century has marched memorably through the state of California. Tying together the two strands of McCallum's story is Hall of Famer West, the ferociously competitive Laker guard who later became one of the key architects of the Warriors.
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5 out of 5 stars
-
Very interesting and fun to read
- By Joe on 06-12-18
By: Jack McCallum
-
Overtime
- Jim Harbaugh and the Michigan Wolverines at the Crossroads of College Football
- By: John U. Bacon
- Narrated by: Johnny Heller
- Length: 11 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 114
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 102
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 102
For the past year, John U. Bacon has received unprecedented access to Jim Harbaugh’s University of Michigan football team: coaches, players, and staffers, in closed-door meetings, locker rooms, meals, and classes. Overtime captures this storied program at the crossroads, as the sport’s winningest team battles to reclaim its former glory. But what if the price of success today comes at the cost of your soul? Do you pay it, or compete without compromising?
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
Good story.... but
- By Amazon Customer on 10-07-19
By: John U. Bacon
-
A Season in the Sun
- The Inside Story of Bruce Arians, Tom Brady, and the Making of a Champion
- By: Lars Anderson
- Narrated by: Roger Wayne
- Length: 7 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 110
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 92
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 94
The extraordinary behind-the-scenes story of how Coach Bruce Arians, Tom Brady, and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers came together to deliver one of the most improbable Super Bowl victories in NFL history.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Forever Tom Brady
- By Michael G. Salardino on 12-26-21
By: Lars Anderson
-
A Giant Win
- Inside the New York Giants' Historic Upset over the New England Patriots in Super Bowl XLII
- By: Tom Coughlin, Greg Hanlon - contributor, Eli Manning - foreword
- Narrated by: Donald Corren, Tom Coughlin
- Length: 6 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 33
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 30
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 29
Super Bowl XLII was the greatest upset in NFL history. In A GIANT WIN, Coach Tom Coughlin recounts the strategies and people that made it possible. Coach Coughlin reveals the intricacies of the game, revealing details only a coach would know. He also details, more than ever before, his relationships with some of the greatest, most iconic players of those Giants teams, like Eli Manning and Michael Strahan.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Love Coach Coughlin Story
- By Alison on 02-29-24
By: Tom Coughlin, and others
-
Basketball
- A Love Story
- By: Jackie MacMullan, Rafe Bartholomew, Dan Klores
- Narrated by: James Fouhey, Jim Frangione, Sullivan Jones, and others
- Length: 16 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 250
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 209
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 210
A sweeping and revelatory history of basketball, drawing upon hundreds of hours of interviews with the greatest players, coaches, executives, and journalists in the history of the game. In an effort to tell the complete story of basketball in all its fascinating dimensions, acclaimed authors Jackie MacMullan, Rafe Bartholomew, and Dan Klores have compiled nearly a thousand hours' worth of interviews with a staggering number of basketball greats. The audiobook that grew out of those interviews is an extraordinary project and quite possibly the most ambitious basketball work ever made.
-
2 out of 5 stars
-
Underwhelming
- By Adam Kosberg on 12-02-18
By: Jackie MacMullan, and others
-
Boys Will Be Boys
- The Glory Days and Party Nights of the Dallas Cowboys Dynasty
- By: Jeff Pearlman
- Narrated by: Arthur Morey
- Length: 13 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 590
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 478
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 477
They were America's Team - the high-priced, high-glamour, high-flying Dallas Cowboys of the 1990s, who won three Super Bowls and made as many headlines off the field as on it. Led by Emmitt Smith, the charismatic Deion "Prime Time" Sanders, and Hall of Famers Troy Aikman and Michael Irvin, the Cowboys rank among the greatest of all NFL dynasties.
-
1 out of 5 stars
-
This is a football book right?
- By Aaron on 12-07-09
By: Jeff Pearlman
-
America's Quarterback
- Bart Starr and the Rise of the National Football League
- By: Keith Dunnavant
- Narrated by: Jay Snyder
- Length: 13 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 32
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 30
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 30
No one can touch Bart Starr's record setting 5 NFL Championships including 3 straight. America's Quarterback tells the story of the man who helped create the legend of Vince Lombardi and the Green Bay Packers. This biography traces Starr’s life from childhood in Alabama to stardom in Green Bay and beyond. Not a simple sports story, Dunnavant traces the story of one man reaching for the American dream while professional football emerged from the shadows to capture the nation’s imagination.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
awesome
- By Anthony nyman on 03-30-15
By: Keith Dunnavant
-
Pistol
- The Life of Pete Maravich
- By: Mark Kriegel
- Narrated by: Lloyd James
- Length: 12 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 231
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 164
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 167
Pistol is more than the biography of a ballplayer. It's the stuff of classic novels: the story of a boy transformed by his father's dream and the cost of that dream. Even as Pete Maravich became Pistol Pete, a basketball icon for baby boomers, all the Maraviches paid a price. Now acclaimed author Mark Kriegel has brilliantly captured the saga of an American family: its rise, its apparent ruin, and, finally, its redemption.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Extremely Good!
- By steve on 12-12-12
By: Mark Kriegel
-
Furious George
- My Forty Years Surviving NBA Divas, Clueless GMs, and Poor Shot Selection
- By: George Karl, Curt Sampson
- Narrated by: Danny Campbell
- Length: 8 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 184
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 163
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 162
A man of deep passion and intensity, George Karl earned his bad boy reputation while playing at the University of North Carolina, a rap that continued through the five years he spent with the San Antonio Spurs - and long after he stopped playing. Karl's beery nights, fistfights, and barking followed him into a 35-year coaching career. In a game defined by big stakes and bigger egos, rabid fans and an unforgiving media, Karl was hired and fired a dozen times.
-
1 out of 5 stars
-
Pathetic little black book.
- By Brad Howard on 04-20-20
By: George Karl, and others
-
Dream Team
- How Michael, Magic, Larry, Charles, and the Greatest Team of All Time Changed the Game of Basketball Forever
- By: Jack McCallum
- Narrated by: Dick Hill
- Length: 12 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 470
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 414
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 414
In Dream Team, acclaimed sports journalist Jack McCallum delivers the untold story of the greatest team ever assembled: the 1992 U.S. Olympic men's basketball team that captivated the world, kindled the hoop dreams of countless children around the planet, and remade the NBA into a global sensation. As a senior staff writer for Sports Illustrated, McCallum enjoyed a courtside seat for the most exciting basketball spectacle on earth, covering the Dream Team from its inception to the gold medal ceremony in Barcelona.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Great insight into the great basketball team ever.
- By James O'Brien on 09-04-12
By: Jack McCallum
-
Scribe
- My Life in Sports
- By: Bob Ryan
- Narrated by: Bob Ryan
- Length: 11 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 82
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 72
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 74
Ever since he joined the sports department of the Boston Globe in 1968, sports enthusiasts have been blessed with the writing and reporting of Bob Ryan. Tony Kornheiser calls him the "quintessential American sportswriter". For the past 25 years, he has also been a regular on various ESPN shows, especially The Sports Reporters, spreading his knowledge and enthusiasm for sports of all kinds.
-
2 out of 5 stars
-
No my idea of a memoir
- By Michael Friedman on 12-19-14
By: Bob Ryan
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They were America's Team - the high-priced, high-glamour, high-flying Dallas Cowboys of the 1990s, who won three Super Bowls and made as many headlines off the field as on it. Led by Emmitt Smith, the charismatic Deion "Prime Time" Sanders, and Hall of Famers Troy Aikman and Michael Irvin, the Cowboys rank among the greatest of all NFL dynasties.
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1 out of 5 stars
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This is a football book right?
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The Bad Guys Won
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 136
It was 1986, and the New York Mets won 108 regular-season games and the World Series, capturing the hearts (and other assorted body parts) of fans everywhere. But their greatness on the field was nearly eclipsed by how bad they were off it. Led by the indomitable Keith Hernandez and the young dynamic duo of Dwight Gooden and Darryl Strawberry, along with the gallant Scum Bunch, the Amazin's left a wide trail of wreckage in their wake-hotel rooms, charter planes, a bar in Houston, and most famously Bill Buckner and the hated Boston Red Sox.
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3 out of 5 stars
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Maybe 3.5
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Gunslinger
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 451
Gunslinger tells Brett Favre's full, definitive story for the first time, drawing on more than 500 interviews, including many from the people closest to Favre. Jeff Pearlman charts Favre's journey, from his rough rural childhood and lackluster high school football career to landing the last roster spot at Southern Mississippi to a late-night car accident that nearly took his life. Favre clawed back, getting drafted into the NFL, first to Atlanta, then to Green Bay, where he restored the Packers to greatness and inspired a fan base as passionate as any in the game.
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4 out of 5 stars
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1 out of 5 stars
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The United States Football League was the last football league to not merely challenge the mighty NFL but also to cause it to collectively shudder. It spanned three seasons, featured as many as 18 teams, secured multiple television deals, drew millions of fans, and launched the careers of legends - but then it died beneath the weight of a particularly egotistical and bombastic owner, a New York businessman named Donald Trump. Jeff Pearlman draws on more than 400 interviews to unearth all the salty, untold stories of one of the craziest sports entities to have ever captivated America.
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Ahhh the USFL
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1 out of 5 stars
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1 out of 5 stars
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Football for a Buck
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Ahhh the USFL
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 521
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3 out of 5 stars
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A Bit Disappointing
- By Justin Aultman on 11-29-22
By: Chris Herring
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When the Game Was Ours
- By: Earvin "Magic" Johnson, Jackie MacMullan, Larry Bird
- Narrated by: Dick Hill
- Length: 13 hrs
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 664
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 509
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 508
From the moment these two players took the court on opposing sides, they engaged in a fierce physical and psychological battle. Their uncommonly competitive relationship came to symbolize the most compelling rivalry in the NBA. These were the basketball epics of the 1980s - Celtics vs Lakers, East vs West, physical vs finesse, Old School vs Showtime, even white vs black. Each pushed the other to greatness - together Bird and Johnson collected eight NBA Championships and six MVP awards.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Great story; stilted delivery
- By Amazon Customer on 08-07-15
By: Earvin "Magic" Johnson, and others
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Sweetness
- The Enigmatic Life of Walter Payton
- By: Jeff Pearlman
- Narrated by: Malcolm Hillgartner
- Length: 18 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 265
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 227
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 227
At five feet ten inches tall, running back Walter Payton was not the largest player in the NFL, but he developed a larger-than-life reputation for his strength, speed, and grit. Nicknamed “Sweetness” during his college football days, he became the NFL’s all-time leader in rushing and all-purpose yards, capturing the hearts of fans in his adopted Chicago.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Honest Accounting Of A Fascinating Life
- By RevInTampa on 08-19-15
By: Jeff Pearlman
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The Last Folk Hero
- The Life and Myth of Bo Jackson
- By: Jeff Pearlman
- Narrated by: JD Jackson
- Length: 22 hrs
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 375
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 338
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 338
From the mid-1980s into the early 1990s, the greatest athlete of all time streaked across American sports and popular culture. Stadiums struggled to contain him. Clocks failed to capture his speed. His strength was legendary. His power unmatched. Video game makers turned him into an invincible character—and they were dead-on. He climbed (and walked across) walls, splintered baseball bats over his knee, turned oncoming tacklers into ground meat.
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5 out of 5 stars
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If you are a sports fan and over 35 years old, you have to listen/read this. Awesome!
- By betty sammons on 06-29-23
By: Jeff Pearlman
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Playing for Keeps
- Michael Jordan and the World He Made
- By: David Halberstam
- Narrated by: JD Jackson
- Length: 20 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
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Overall5 out of 5 stars 236
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 207
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Story5 out of 5 stars 205
In Playing for Keeps, David Halberstam takes the first full measure of Michael Jordan's epic career, one of the great American stories of our time. A narrative of astonishing power and human drama, brimming with revealing anecdotes and penetrating insights, the audiobook chronicles the forces in Jordan's life that have shaped him into history's greatest basketball player and the larger forces that have converged to make him the most famous living human being in the world.
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5 out of 5 stars
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If You Liked "The Last Dance," You Will Love This
- By John on 06-13-20
By: David Halberstam
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I'll Show You
- By: Derrick Rose, Sam Smith - with
- Narrated by: David Sadzin
- Length: 6 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 102
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 78
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 79
In 2012, Derrick Rose was on top of the world. After growing up in Chicago's Englewood neighborhood, Rose achieved an improbable childhood dream: being selected first overall in the NBA draft by his hometown Chicago Bulls. The point guard was a phenom, winning the Rookie of the Year award and electrifying fans around the world. In 2011, he became the youngest MVP in league history. Rarely had a bond between a player and fans been so strong, as the city wrapped its arms around the homegrown hero.
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3 out of 5 stars
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Written in his voice
- By Alethia on 02-23-22
By: Derrick Rose, and others
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Showboat
- The Life of Kobe Bryant
- By: Roland Lazenby
- Narrated by: Ron Butler
- Length: 21 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 586
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 510
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 510
The definitive portrait of Kobe Bryant, from the author of Michael Jordan. Eighteen-time All-Star, scorer of 81 points in a single game, MVP, and one of the best shooting guards in NBA league history: Kobe Bryant is among basketball's absolute greatest players, and his importance to the sport is undeniable. Third on the NBA career scoring list and owner of five championship rings, he is an undisputed all-time great, one deserving of this deep and definitive biography.
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5 out of 5 stars
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KOBE BEAN BRYANT
- By Allaeldien Abdelrahman on 12-14-18
By: Roland Lazenby
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The Last Cowboy
- A Life of Tom Landry
- By: Mark Ribowsky
- Narrated by: Peter Berkrot
- Length: 27 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 51
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 47
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Story4 out of 5 stars 47
As the coach during professional football’s most storied era, Tom Landry transformed the gridiron from a no-holds-barred battlefield to the highly-technical chess match it is today. With his trademark fedora and stoic facade, he was a man of faith and few words, for twenty-nine years guiding “America’s Team” from laughingstock to well-oiled machine, with an unprecedented twenty consecutive winning seasons and two Super Bowl titles.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Great research!
- By Reyes Baeza Cano on 11-05-15
By: Mark Ribowsky
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Not a Game
- The Incredible Rise and Unthinkable Fall of Allen Iverson
- By: Kent Babb
- Narrated by: Michael Butler Murray
- Length: 10 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 98
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 88
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 87
Through extensive research and interviews with those closest to Iverson, acclaimed Washington Post sportswriter Kent Babb gets behind the familiar, sanitized, and heroic version of the hard-changing, hard-partying athlete who played every game as if it were his last.
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5 out of 5 stars
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So sad.
- By jonathan meharg on 05-05-20
By: Kent Babb
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The Victory Machine
- The Making and Unmaking of the Warriors Dynasty
- By: Ethan Sherwood Strauss
- Narrated by: Ethan Sherwood Strauss
- Length: 6 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 366
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 309
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 309
The Golden State Warriors dominated the NBA for the better part of a decade. Since the arrival of owner Joe Lacob, they won more championships and sold more merchandise than any other franchise in the sport. And in 2019, they opened the doors on a lavish new stadium. Yet all this success contained some of the seeds of decline. Ethan Sherwood Strauss' clear-eyed exposé reveals the team's culture, its financial ambitions and struggles, and the price that its players and managers have paid for all their winning.
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3 out of 5 stars
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Mediocre book
- By tim on 04-27-20
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More Than a Game
- By: Phil Jackson, Charley Rosen
- Narrated by: Phil Jackson, Charley Rosen
- Length: 4 hrs and 36 mins
- Abridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 92
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 58
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 57
Phil Jackson has done it again, led the L.A. Lakers to an NBA championship victory. For him, it's More Than a Game. Also, listen to a recent Fresh Air interview with Jackson.
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5 out of 5 stars
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More than a game
- By Jose B. on 03-11-04
By: Phil Jackson, and others
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Billy Ball
- Billy Martin and the Resurrection of the Oakland A's
- By: Dale Tafoya
- Narrated by: Barry Abrams
- Length: 8 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 45
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 40
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 40
In the early 1970s, the Oakland Athletics became only the second team in Major League Baseball history to win three consecutive World Series championships. But as the decade came to a close, the A's were in free fall, having lost 108 games in 1979 while drawing just 307,000 fans. Free agency had decimated the A's, and the team's owner, Charlie Finley, was looking for a buyer. First, though, he had to bring fans back to the Oakland Coliseum. Enter Billy Martin.
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2 out of 5 stars
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Better Options
- By Mark on 03-08-22
By: Dale Tafoya
What listeners say about Three Ring Circus
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Eric L. Baker
- 06-21-21
Enjoyable trip down memory lane
I loved that era of Lakers basketball, and the drama was like a soap opera on the floor. Narrator mispronounced a handful of names, which as an NBA diehard at the time drove me a little crazy, but outside of that his performance was outstanding.
Was hard to read about a young Kobe right after his untimely death.
Still, this book was like a time capsule for me.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance3 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Owo
- 10-18-20
Great stories, tough to listen to now tho
The stories and insight were great, unforgivingly honest, but with his passing it was genuinely hard to hear Kobe's name that many times.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance2 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Derek
- 09-26-20
A++ Book Horrible Narrator
Book is so good. Best of Pearlman’s so far, and I’ve loved the all. That said narrator’s inability to pronounce any nba player’s name was unreal. So distracting and he wasn’t even close. Too bad.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance3 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Steve Quiroz
- 09-30-20
Great Insider info.
Great Read, very detailed, even on the games. Goes season by season, year by year starting with the 1995-1996 season, but does skip a lot of the the in-game drama of the final 2 seasons imo.
Not for the Typical Kobe fan-boys, it gives you the truth and may be a bit too blunt for casual Kobe fans.
Great sports read, especially if you grew up on that Late 90s/Early 2000s basketball.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Jon
- 11-25-22
Amazing
Amazing story and well written. Changed my outlook on the Laker team I grew up loving.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Amazon Customer
- 12-31-22
Lakers will be Lakers
This is very similar to Showtime and Boys Will Be Boys. If you enjoyed either of those books, then you’ll certainly enjoy this. I’m not even a huge basketball fan.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Brian Johnson
- 06-04-23
Well written
A well written book with some interesting insights.
Narrator was 90% good. A few slips in pronunciation of names. Not obscure names, famous names. Small thing but obvious to NBA fans.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance2 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Michael Mansur
- 07-26-23
Great story not so great narration
Provided an interesting retrospective of the 3-peat era, but the narrator’s inability to pronounce names was not ideal. They should consider narrators who actually know a little bit about what they’re narrating.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- L.S.
- 02-08-24
Very objective perspective
A lot of great insights I'd never heard. Great reporting and writing from Jeff Pearlman. From someone that disliked this team at the time I still highly recommend this book to any basketball/NBA/Lakers fan!
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance1 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Amazon Customer
- 10-09-20
Great book, bad liaten
The narrator really could've used a pronunciation guide for the player's names. Good story though.
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1 person found this helpful