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.

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...

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...

He's Buffalo's hometown hero. She's the one who got away. When fate and a little Christmas magic bring them back together, love might just score the biggest comeback of all. A Pro Quarterback, a Magical Baker and a Talking Cat. This Christmas the games not over yet... When Buffalo’s hometown quarterback Nash Jordan gets traded back just before Christmas, his career—and his heart—are both on thin ice. A lingering injury threatens his future, until help arrives in the most unexpected form: Eden Landers, the woman he never stopped loving. Eden’s a talented chef with a hint of magic in ...

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.

“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 ...

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.

In 1996, professional wrestling was one of the most watched sports on cable television, with more than 5 million people tuning in every week. And in the late 1990s, pro-wrestling was the hottest thing in American pop culture, with companies making millions in action figures, video games, and simple black t-shirts emblazoned with three little letters: NWO. The NWO, or New World Order, became a business like no other, and was responsible for the explosive ratings and rabid fanbase.

This audiobook is the window into the underground world of cheating at the highest levels, which set off a frenzy of activity and hand-wringing in the offices of Major League Baseball and Congress. Through the authors' pursuit of sources and documents, they were able to open for public view a world in which elite athletes trade money and risk their health for the edge that will allow them to run faster, hit harder, and compete longer, and then cash in on the fame and wealth.

The definitive biography of Vince McMahon, former WWE chairman and CEO, charts his rise from rural poverty to the throne of one of the world’s most influential media empires—and features exclusive interviews with more than 150 people who witnessed, aided, and suffered from his ascent.

Being a personal trainer is a full-time job, and it is because of this; a personal trainer should be, among other things, well-grounded in his work. The person should know his onions, and a professional body should attest to that. In this case, it is the national association of sports medicine where the NASM comes in. The National Academy of Sports Medicine Certified Personal Trainer Exam prepares would-be personal trainers to get the required certification to do their work effectively.

Former collegiate star, sports agent, and NFL Executive Michael Huyghue recounts his journey in professional sports and shows how race and racism operate among the rich and the white and extend way beyond the NFL and the world of sports executives. With a deep, abiding love for sports, Huyghue...

The Final Lap He’s my boss… Boone Rivers is NASCAR royalty. When his little sister hires me as his assistant, I leap at the chance. His instant rejection doesn’t frighten me. After all, he needs my help to be the next racing hotshot. It’s not like I’d fall for a grumpy race car driver like Boone, right? There’s only one problem. I’m keeping a secret that could wreck his career. Telling him the truth will destroy us both. She’s my distraction… All that matters is my next win. It’s time to create a legacy separate from my famous father. I don’t do girlfriends, and I ...

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.

When we first meet the young man at the center of this extraordinary and moving story, he is one of 13 children by a mother addicted to crack; he does not know his real name, his father, his birthday, or any of the things a child might learn in school. And he has no serious experience playing organized football.

Enter the City of Brotherly Love and see how the NBA's Philadelphia 76ers trusted The Process–using a bold plan to get to first by becoming the worst. When a group of private equity bigwigs purchased the Philadelphia 76ers in 2011, the team was both bad and boring. Attendance was down. So...

No Bathroom Breaks in the NFL: What it Takes to Play in the National Football League, is an All Pro’s perspective of what goes on behind the scenes in the NFL. Today’s football league–and its players are entirely different than when the game originated. Authors Jason Babin and Matthew Cooper lift the curtain on the minutiae you may have often wondered...but did not know who to ask. Together they expose everything from how players are picked and how many Superbowl tickets players in the NFL receive, to how much players pay to wear their favorite jersey number and the definition of ...

In 1968, nine sailors set off on the most daring race ever held: to single-handedly circumnavigate the globe nonstop. It was a feat that had never been accomplished and one that would forever change the face of sailing. Ten months later, only one of the nine men would cross the finish line and earn fame, wealth, and glory. For the others, the reward was madness, failure, and death. In this extraordinary book, Peter Nichols chronicles a contest of the individual against the sea, waged at a time before cell phones and electronic positioning systems.

This New York Times bestselling memoir examines an NFL player's rise and fall from the Patriots to prison, recounting the first-degree murder conviction that led to his untimely death—and shocking posthumous CTE diagnosis. Aaron Hernandez was a college All-American who became the youngest...

No man has affected more runners in more ways than Bill Bowerman. During his 24-year tenure as track coach at the University of Oregon, he won four national team titles and his athletes set 13 world and 22 American records. He also ignited the jogging boom, invented the waffle-sole running shoe that helped establish Nike, and coached the US track and field team at the 1972 Munich Olympic Games.