Showing results by publisher "Phoenix Books" in Sports & Outdoors

They've called Barry Switzer a "rogue, pirate, hustler, and con man", but they also say he's "next to God." He's one of the most successful coaches in NCAA history, winning multiple college championships and a Super Bowl, and possibly the most revered figure in the state of Oklahoma. The "outlaw" of college football, Switzer was both praised and reviled by the media, but everyone agrees that he was undeniably one of the all-time best recruiters, strategists, and motivators ever to deliver a halftime speech.

Millions of American baseball fans know, with absolute certainty, that umpires are simply overpaid galoots who are doing an easy job badly. Millions of American baseball fans are wrong. As They See 'Em is an insider's look at the largely unknown world of professional umpires, the small group of men (and the very occasional woman) who make sure America's favorite pastime is conducted in a manner that is clean, crisp, and true.

In The First Star, acclaimed sports writer Lars Anderson recounts the thrilling story of Harold "Red" Grange, the Galloping Ghost of the gridiron, and the wild barnstorming tour that earned professional football a place in the American sporting firmament.

In you are fan of action—adventure movies with the accent on action—then you no doubt love watching Jackie Chan risk his life to create sensational cinema. As one of the biggest stars to burst into U.S. theaters, Jackie has put America's hottest heroes to shame, wowing audiences with the breathless death-defying stunts that are the highlight of such movies as Rumble in the Bronx, Supercop, Operation: Condor, and his newest blockbuster Rush Hour. But who really is the boyishly handsome, lightening-fast Charlie Chaplin of martial arts movie making?

With his body-covering tattoos and ever-changing fluorescent hair, Dennis Rodman—one of the NBA's greatest rebounders—dishes on everything from fame, money, and race relations to sex, drugs, and rock-n-roll. Rodman's sideline antics and celebrated benchings captivated sports fans as much as his record-breaking on-court performances and earned him a reputation as a rebel with a penchant for shocking behavior. In Bad as I Wanna Be, Rodman tells his unique, uncompromising life story, demonstrating why he is one of a kind and unforgettable.

At the 1984 Olympics, the United States rowing team—for the first time in nearly 30 years—had a serious chance to win an Olympic medal in the single sculls. Four genuine challengers emerged for the opportunity to represent the US. They competed fiercely in a sport that held no promise of financial reward. What drove these men to endure a physical pain known to no other sport?

As head coach of the Oklahoma Sooners, Barry Switzer was the fourth most successful coach in NCAA history. Both praised and reviled by the media as the "outlaw" of college football, Switzer was characterized as the "greatest rogue, pirate, hustler, and con man" ever to command a football team. As head coach for the Dallas Cowboys, he led America's team to victory in Superbowl XXX. In Bootlegger's Boy, Switzer gets the chance to tell it all from his point of view.

Leigh Perkins bought Orvis in 1965 and over the next thirty years would revolutionize the catalog industry as he successfully blended his love for the outdoors with his business acumen. A Sportsman's Life is the story of a man, his company, and his love of the outdoors, his commitment to conservation, and his infectious enthusiasm for the good life.

By the age of 20, Anicka Bakes was earning her living as a model in the fashion capitals of the world - Paris, Milan, Tokyo, and New York. Beautiful, wealthy, but still innocent in the ways of the heart, she met a sensitive and talented athlete on the rise named Dennis Rodman. The two fell in love. In seven tumultuous years, their daughter Alexis was born, Anicka suffered from a tragic car accident ending her modeling career, Dennis and Anicka married, and the two engaged in many vicious private and some very public fights.

In the 1980s, editor Lee Eisenberg redefined Esquire magazine and positioned it for its phenomenal popularity. In the '90s, he took on what was perhaps an even more daunting task: to devote 18 months of his life to the mastery of golf. Breaking Eighty is a witty and practical golf guide that resulted from his crash course, told uniquely not from a teacher's point of view, but from a learner's. Millions of weekend hackers will delight in Eisenberg's pursuit of golf's holy grail: the elegant, effective, and repeatable swing.

For more than twenty-five years, paleontologist Stephen Jay Gould wrote a column called “The View of Life” for Natural History magazine. More than thirty entries from that column comprise this collection, which covers topics from dinosaurs to baseball and nearly everything in between related to natural history and evolution.

In September 2002, Mexican writer Ernestina Sodi and her sister, actress Laura Zapata, were kidnapped at gunpoint in Mexico City. Deliver Us from Evil is a first-person account of the living nightmare endured by the two women. Blindfolded for much of her ordeal, Ernestina Sodi learns to identify the members of this well-organized, brutal, and professional kidnapping gang by voice and smell. Plunging listeners into the dark world of crime, rage, and violence without mercy, this real-life drama culminates in a thrilling and truly unforgettable climax.

For years, the legendary sports journalist pulled no punches. Cosell said of himself, "Arrogant, pompous, obnoxious, vain, cruel, verbose, a showoff. There's no question that I'm all of those things." His blustery, cocksure personality ensured that this larger-than-life sports commentator remains as well known today as many of the athletes he covered. His keen insights, ability to see past the glitz, and direct manner earned him widespread respect and admiration. Above all, one-of-a-kind Howard Cosell was entertaining.

Larry King was a true-blue baseball fanatic. A lifelong love affair began the night he attended a Dodgers game at Ebbets Field as a kid in 1940s Brooklyn. That was a simpler era in America's history, a time when tickets to a game cost fifty cents and parish priests prayed for Gil Hodges to break out of a slump. In this heartfelt valentine to America's favorite pastime, King recalls the many pleasures the game brought him for more than sixty years. This ode to baseball is a must for all fans and will be treasured by lovers of the game everywhere.

Best-selling golf writer and golf historian Don Wade returns with another collection of real-life golf stories from the greatest golfers ever to play the game. This audio brings together living legends, past champions, and current top-of-the-leader board stars in one entertaining book of truth—a refreshing change of pace in a field dominated by how-to-books.

Don Wade has indeed proved himself to be golf's master storyteller. And now he returns once again with this truly delightful collection of real-life stories from and about the world's greatest golfers. And Then the Shark Told Justin... brings together past heroes like Ben Hogan and Sam Snead and living legends like Chi Chi Rodriguez and Jack Nicklaus with current stars of today like Tiger Woods and Nick Price.

In the current wave of seafaring literature, no fictional sailor's story can match this true real-life adventure. With Charles Tyng's Before the Wind we roam the world of the early 19th century: visit Lord Byron in Italy, King Tamehameha in Hawaii, and skirt Napoleon's prison isle of St. Helena. We learn to siphon rum from the captain's cask, relive the historic battle of The Bulwark and The Chesapeake, and witness an encounter with a mermaid.

On Thursday, August 28, 1947, a 30-year-old millionaire named Manuel Laureano Rodriguez—Manolete—and a Miura bull named Islero killed each other. The Death of Manolete recounts the extraordinary life and demise of this young bullfighter, from the childhood that made the Spanish boy and the sacrifice that made the man to the girl who brought him love and the acclaim that brought him incredible success.

Defeat and joy, struggle and serenity, fear and confidence, the emotions that arise in the practice of sports make it a fitting paradigm for life as a whole. In this unique work, Bob Mitchell looks at the mysteries and challenges of the Game and what it has to teach us. He makes a compelling comparison between the experience of participating in sports and the effortless action that lies at the heart of the Tao. The result is a highly practical and imaginative work that is part philosophy, part poetry, part common sense.

For Robert Hughes fishing was a lifelong obsession and the pastime that he loved best. In A Jerk on One End he brings the wit and insight that have characterized his art criticism to the subjects of fish and fishing. He traces his love of fishing to his boyhood on Sydney Harbour and recounts the high and low points of his career with rod and reel, from his first catch to hair-raising tales of shark hunts he has picked up from other fishermen.