Yes, It's Hot in Here explores the entertaining history of the mascot from its jester roots in Renaissance society to the slapstick pantomime of the Clown Prince of Baseball, Max Patkin, all the way up to the mascots of the slam-dunk, rock-and-roll, Jumbotron culture of today. Along the way, author AJ Mass of ESPN.com (a former Mr. Met himself) talks to the pioneers among modern-day mascots like Dave Raymond (Phillie Phanatic), Dan Meers (K. C. Wolf), and Glenn Street (Harvey the ...

In the 1950s, in Las Vegas, a businessmen’s conglomerate dominating a $25 million-a-year sports industry hid their illegal practices from the U.S. Department of Justice until they were caught. The sport that privileged cold hard cash over honest competition was professional wrestling, and the conspirators were members of the famed National Wrestling Alliance.National Wrestling Alliance: The Untold Story of the Monopoly that Strangled Pro Wrestling examines the NWA promote...

Pitchers are the heart of baseball, and John Feinstein tells the story of the game today through one season and two great pitchers working in the crucible of the New York media market. Tom Glavine and Mike Mussina have seen it all in the Major Leagues and both entered 2007 in search of individual milestones and one more shot at The World Series-Glavine with the Mets, Mussina five miles away with the Yankees. The two veterans experience very different seasons -- one on a team dealing with t...

A marathon runner and writer for The Simpsons offers sage advice for those who want to push their limits . . . even if they lag behind everyone else.In How to Lose a Marathon, Joel Cohen takes readers on a step-by-step journey from being a couch potato to becoming a couch potato who can finish a marathon. Through a hilarious combination of running tips, narrative, illustrations, and infographics, Cohen breaks down the misery that is forcing yoursel...

Australian sportsmen are known worldwide for their hilarious and, quite frankly, inspired sledges. Over the years, there have been some classic lines uttered on a variety of sporting fields and arenas, whether it's across the cricket pitch or on the footy field.Now, for the first time, we have the ultimate collection of sporting insults brought together by a man with a reputation for his humorous witticisms and cutting sledges: Merv Hughes.Merv Hughes' Best Sporting Ins...

'Exquisite, powerful . . . I can think of no better way of commemorating British exploration's culminating triumph.' Simon Winchester This classic account offers a breathtakingly intimate evocation of the most famous of all mountaineering exploits - and of perhaps the last great old-fashioned Fleet Street scoop. 'It was Morris who broke the news that a British-led expedition had conquered Mount Everest the day before the Queen's coronation in 1953 . . . Allied to physical courage in gettin...

A passionate, haunting and moving work that tells the breathtaking story of how Dutch Jews survived the unspeakable and came to play a strong role in the rise of the most exciting and revolutionary style of soccer -- "Total Football" -- the world had ever seen.When most people think about the Netherlands, images of tulips and peaceful pot smoking residents spring to mind. Bring up soccer, and most will think of Johan Cruyff, the Dutch player thought to rival Pele i...

TAKE THEM OUT OF THE BALL GAME–PLEASE!From star running back Bryon “Bam” Morris’s interesting (and totally illegal) sideline career to the 1950s Kansas City A’s sneaky relationship with the New York Yankees; from French golfer Jean Van de Velde’s epic choke on 18 at the 1999 British Open to the infamous Cleveland Ten-Cent Beer Night riot of 1974; from Hungary’s bloody 1956 Olympic water polo match with the Soviet Union to the definitive analysis of basketball coach Larry Brown’s sa...

On 5 February 1958, the Guardian's football writer HD 'Donny' Davies filed his report from Yugoslavia. "At Belgrade today in warm sunshine and on a grass pitch where the last remnants of melting snow produced the effect of an English lawn flecked with daisies, Red Star and Manchester United began a battle of wits and courage." He wrote of a team of extraordinary young talents, a side destined for years of success. 24 hours later, he, and seven of the players he had watched, were dead.The trag...

In 'Cricket, A Very Peculiar History' Jim Pipe uniquely explores one of the second biggest spectator sport on the planet. From the hazy bat-and-ball origins of the game to the biggest celebrity players of today, this book is a fascinating insight into the popular sport. Filled to the brim with quirky quotes, fantastic facts and surprising statistics, 'Cricket, A Very Peculiar History' is the perfect book for any fan of the game. You'll discover bizarre cricket lingo, politics and rivalries...

The fascinating sports history of defunct teams in baseball, hockey, basketball and more!THEY’RE GOING, GOING, GONE. . . .Their names roll off the tongue, a litany of the damned: the Providence Steam Roller, the Wilmington Quicksteps, the Cincinnati Porkers. They are the lost squads of professional sports history—teams forsaken by fans, fleeced by owners, or forgotten by time. Until now.Kiss ’Em Goodbye unearths the real stories of ...

An irreverent testament to the millions of anglers who ever hooked something they oughta notta, lost a really big one, or told a whopperFishing is the No. 1 sport for fun—and spectacular snafus. Whether it’s a pro like Ray Scott or a presidential angler like George Bush, the deck is stacked to make buffoons of the best. So cast off on an ocean of hooks, lines, and stinkers as fishing guides, charter boat captains, game wardens, and weekend fishermen spill the wacky...