Most Raptors fans have attended a game at Scotiabank Arena, seen highlights of a young Vince Carter, and of course watched every minute of the team's historic run to the 2019 NBA championship. But only die-hards remember the first Raptors game in 1995, can tell you where they were for the 2000 NBA Dunk Contest, or have camped out to get a prime viewing spot at Jurassic Park. 100 Things Raptors Fans Should Know & Do Before They Die reveals the most critical moments and important fa...

NATIONAL BESTSELLER"Doug Smith always gets the first question in any Raptors press conference--as the dean of our press corps, he's been in the front row for every development over the past 25 years. There's no one better placed to write a history of our team's first quarter century."--Nick Nurse, head coach, Toronto RaptorsBringing Jurassic Park to your home, a celebration of Canada's most exciting team.

Nick Nurse distills the wisdom, insight, and experiences that helped him lead the Toronto Raptors to the NBA championship in his first year as head coach.Foreword by Phil Jackson.NBA fans had low expectations for rookie coach Nick Nurse and his Toronto Raptors. But what those naysayers didn't realize was that Nurse had spent the past thirty years proving himself at every level of the game, from youth programs and college ball to the NBA D League an...

The inside story of the Los Angeles Lakers from 1996 through 2004, when Kobe Bryant and ShaquilleO’Neal combined—and collided—to help bring the Lakers three straight championships and restore the teamas a powerhouse franchiseIn modern sports, there have never been two superstar teammates who loathed one another the way Shaq loathedKobe and Kobe loathed Shaq. There was whispered—and outspoken—sniping and sparring. Taunts. Physicalaltercations. The recurri...

Blue Monday: one of the most unforgettable days in Canadian baseball history.Danny Gallagher leads readers up to that infamous day in October 1981 when Rick Monday of the Los Angeles Dodgers hit a home run off of Montreal Expos pitcher Steve Rogers in the ninth inning, giving the Dodgers a berth in the World Series. Readers will be taken back to 1976 when a five-year plan for winning the National League championship was set in place by the Expos with the hiring of ...

This book is made up of thirty-three chapters. Each chapter is a different basketball question that needs to be answered. Some of them are obviously crucial (Example: What's the Most Important NBA Championship?) and some of them are secretly crucial (Example: Was Kobe Bryant a Dork?). But all of them are approached in ways that (I hope you think) are smart and fun and nuanced. Also, you should know ahead of time that some of the pieces go a bit sideways sometimes, like the chapter that end...

The series you thought you knew: the first book written with the complete co-operation of the whole team“They’d stolen our beer and our steaks, and then to make it worse . . . they give us this Russian beer—the warm, skunky sh*t, and not the good, cold Labatts our sponsor sent. I remember thinking, ‘These pricks will never beat us again! They are not going to win another f*cking game.’”—Rod GilbertWhen the Summit Series began on September 2, 1972, Cold War ...

"Pasha Malla writes like a reincarnated Kafka." —Ian Williams, winner of the Giller Prize for ReproductionDouglas Adams meets David Lynch in this ingenious, witty fable about one of North America's most surreal inventions—the local mall.After writing a letter in praise of malls, our eccentric narrator is offered a residency at a shabby suburban shopping centre. His mission: to occupy the mall for several weeks, splitting his time b...

The definitive biography of Steve Kerr, the championship-winning basketball player and head coach of the record-breaking Golden State WarriorsFew individuals have had a career as storied, and improbable, as Steve Kerr. He has won eight NBA titles—five as a player and three as a coach—for three different franchises. He played alongside the best players of a generation, from Michael Jordan to Shaquille O’Neal to Tim Duncan, and learned the craft of basketball...

In the most candid and compelling sports memoir since Andre Agassi’s riveting bestseller Open, former San Francisco 49er, Super Bowl champion, NFL MVP, and Hall of Famer Steve Young gives readers an unprecedented and stunning inside look at what it takes to become a super-elite professional quarterback.Steve Young was not expected to become one of the greatest quarterbacks of all time. A devout Mormon, he had a perfect GPA in school, studied Latin and calc...

The life and legacy of pioneering international basketball superstar Hakeem Olajuwon, a two time NBA champion whose Hall of Fame career forever changed the game, both in the United States and around the globe—from the New York Times bestselling author of Giannis.It’s now the norm for NBA and collegiate teams to have international players dotting their rosters. The Olympics are no longer a gimme for Team USA. Both via fans streaming from all over t...

*A LitHub Most Anticipated Book of 2022*The definitive biography of Charles Barkley, exploring his early childhood, his storied NBA career, and his enduring legacy as a provocative voice in American pop cultureHe’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...