Professional Sports

A breakthroughexamination of professional wrestling - its history, its fans, and its widercultural impact - that does for the sport what Chuck Klosterman did for heavymetal

The Squared Circle grows out of David Shoemaker'swriting for both Deadspin, where hestarted the column "Dead Wrestler of the Week" - a feature on the many wrestlingsuperstars who died too young because of the abuse they subjected their bodiesto - and Grantland,where he covers the pro-wrestling world and its place in the pop culturemainstream. Shoemaker's sports writing has since struck a nerve withgenerations of wrestling fans who, like him, grew up worshiping a sport oftenderided as "fake" in the wider culture. To them, these professional wrestlingsuperstars are not just heroes but an emotional outlet and the lens throughwhich they learned to see the world.

Starting in the early 1900s and exploring the path of prowrestling in America through the present day, The Squared Circle is thefirst book to acknowledge both the sport's broader significance and wrestlingfans' keen intellect and sense of irony. Divided into eras, each section offersa snapshot of the wrestling world, profiles some of the period's preeminentwrestlers, and examines the sport's influence on our broader culture. Throughthe brawling, bombast, and bloodletting, Shoemaker argues that pro wrestlingcan teach us about the nature of performance, audience, and, yes, art.

Full of unknown history, humor, and self-deprecatingreminiscence - but also offering a compelling look at the sport's rightful placein pop culture - The Squared Circle is the book that legions of wrestlingfans have been waiting for. In it, Shoemaker teaches us to look past thespandex and body slams to see an art form that can explain the world.

“Sometimes, I felt like I’d give it all up if we could just have a normal life, to have him next to me at night because Lord knows, I was so over sleeping in a cold bed...” - Alsina Knight Most women would kill to live the life of a baller’s wife, but Alsina knows all too well that everything that glitters ain’t gold. She found love in the most unexpected way, but with Jokari playing ball overseas for months at a time, Sina starts to wonder what really has his attention: basketball or another chick? Kari has big plans to make this Valentine’s Day epic, but will he get caught up ...

Written without collaborators and based on decades of tape recordings he made throughout his career, Hitman is Bret Hart's brutally honest, perceptive and startling account of his life in and out of the ring that proves once and for all that great things come in pink tights...

Breaking The Line is an emotionally charged contemporary romance set inside the unforgiving structure of professional sport, where control is currency and desire is a liability. Noah Bennett has built his life on structure. As a leader on Seattle’s professional rugby team, he trusts systems, discipline, and lines that hold under pressure. He doesn’t improvise. He doesn’t chase. And he definitely doesn’t let distractions through the wall he’s spent years perfecting. Then Maksim Volkov joins the team. Quiet, imposing, and relentlessly controlled, Maksim plays like a force of nature ...

I went to his penthouse to run a blood test. And ended up losing my V-card instead. The moment I crash into Nate Rourke, star tight end, I know I’m in trouble. He’s loud, cocky, impossibly gorgeous…and my best friend’s brother. I’m a new team physician for the NFL. He’s my patient and the last man I should be obsessing over. One reckless night in his penthouse turns my world upside down. A forbidden kiss. A mistake that feels far too good to regret. Suddenly resisting him is impossible. Because beneath his attitude is a loyal protector who makes me feel seen for the first time ...

Discover the transformative New York Times bestseller—a step-by-step manual for mastering your inner mind for peak performance and living your life to the fullest. As a professional baseball player, Jim Murphy’s sense of worth revolved around results. He was focused on achievement but also...

Fourth And Goal A SPICY GAY FOOTBALL ROMANCE Fourth and Goal is a sizzling, slow-burn, emotionally charged gay sports romance that blends high-stakes football with tender vulnerability, second chances, and the kind of chemistry that hits harder than any tackle on the field. Evan Marshall is America’s Quarterback—iconic, adored, and trapped. At 28, the world believes he has it all: fame, fortune, a spotless public image, and the strongest arm in professional football. But behind the confident interviews and carefully controlled smile lies a man terrified of losing everything if the truth...

No one knew it when their experiment began, but without any particular genius or acumen, the motley cast of billionaires and hucksters behind the modern Premier League struck gold. Pretty soon, everyone wanted to try their luck, from Russian oligarchs to Emirati sheikhs, American tycoons, and Asian Tiger titans. Some succeeded beyond their wildest dreams. Some lost everything. Today, players are sold for tens of millions, clubs are valued in the billions, and games are beamed out to nearly 200 countries, all while the league struggles to preserve its English soul.

The rousing story of two trailblazing superstars—Julius “Dr. J” Erving and Moses Malone—whose improbable alliance and unsung legacies shaped the wildest and most innovative era of basketball history. In the early 1970s, playground courts across the United States were jammed with hoops...

Owen Hartley shuts Luke Serrano down better than anyone in the league. That’s the problem. Because the only place Luke pushes harder than on the ice is in private — and Owen keeps letting him. They don’t date. They don’t talk about it. They don’t make promises. They just keep showing up. The rivalry never cools. And neither of them is willing to lose — on the scoreboard or in each other’s hands.

Lucas Byrne has built his life on control. Captain of his country’s rugby team. Relentless on the pitch. Disciplined off it. He knows how to carry pressure, how to lead men into collision, how to keep every want neatly folded away where it can’t cost him everything he’s worked for. Elijah Kaine is a problem. Too talented. Too open. Too easy with laughter and touch and the kind of attention Byrne has spent years convincing himself he doesn’t need. Kaine plays like he has nothing to lose—and looks at Byrne like he already knows the truth he refuses to name. They’re supposed to be ...

The follow-up to former WCW President Eric Bischoff’s first autobiography, 'Grateful' picks up where 'Controversy Creates Cash' left off! Produced in partnership with 'NITRO' author Guy Evans, 'Grateful' covers Bischoff’s post 2006-career, including his WWE return, AEW involvement, TNA experience and much more.

Confessions of a Golf Pro Round 2 takes up the story where book one ends as our hero leaves his private club to manage a daily fee course in Orlando, there he finds the course a total disaster, the employees mutinous and the competition fierce. No one would be dumb enough to buy a daily fee golf course in the land of the mouse, would they? Well, no one but an avid golfer who was also a doctor, a lawyer or airline pilot. Professions where they get to play god in everyday life and think that the superpowers they possess naturally transfer to running a golf course better than the last group, ...

Ballyhoo! The Roughhousers, Con Artists, and Wildmen Who Invented Professional Wrestling is a history of professional wrestling’s formative period in the U.S., from roughly 1874 to 1941, and the contested interplay of wrestlers and promoters who built the “sport” as we know it. During this period, the major conventions that would define wrestling to the present day were perfected and codified, as wrestling morphed from a rough sport practiced on farms and at town gatherings to melodramatic mass entertainment that reliably drew large crowds in cities across the nation.

Includes a bonus episode from the podcast I Am Kobe. The inside look at one of the most captivating and consequential figures in our culture—with never-before-heard interviews. Kobe Bryant’s death in January 2020 did more than rattle the worlds of sports and celebrity. The tragedy of that...

In the last two decades, innovation, data analysis, and technology have driven a tectonic shift in the sports business. Game of Edges is the story of how sports franchises evolved, on and off the field, from raggedly run small businesses into some of the most systematically productive companies around.

From rivals on the court to lovers in New Orleans... some games are worth playing. 🏀💕 When the Miami Starlight visits New Orleans, sparks fly between two of professional women's basketball's biggest stars. Evangeline "Eva" Boudreaux is the hometown hero—New Orleans Jazz's golden girl who carries the weight of an entire city's expectations on her shoulders. She's focused, driven, and definitely not looking for distractions. Sophia Chen is Miami's ice-cold point guard with deadly precision and a reputation for getting under opponents' skin. She's calculated, ambitious, and always ...

After sailing 300,000 miles and weathering dozens of storms in all the world's oceans, John Kretschmer has plenty of stories and advice to share. John's offshore training passages sell out a year in advance, and his entertaining presentations are popular at boat shows and yacht clubs all over the English-speaking world. John's talent for storytelling enchants his audience as it soaks up the lessons he learned during his often challenging voyages. Now you can take a seat next to John - at a lesser cost - and get the knowledge you need to fulfill your own dream of blue-water adventure.

Lex Luger, wrestling mega-sensation and three-time world heavyweight champion, ruled the ring for years as "The Total Package." Yet backstage, he was wrestling with addictions to sex, drugs, and alcohol - things he clung to even when his mistress died suddenly of a drug overdose and Lex went to jail. In Wrestling with the Devil, Lex Luger reveals never-before-told stories from his career, his struggle with personal demons, and how, through unexpected faith, grace, and redemption, he overcame all odds to fight the only battle that really matters.

Scuba Professional is not only for professionals. Serious divers who take more than a passing interest in their hobby and want to know what goes on behind the scenes will be fascinated by the topics addressed and the insights offered. From a dive safety point of view, Simon looks at the bigger picture and, in a series of chapters on avoiding and handling accidents, sets out a framework for developing the safety culture within our sport.