“Rob Miech has outdone himself with this poignant, behind-the-curtains revelation of a world of parlays and money-line wagers, of mob-ruled games, and characters named Lem and Lefty. The brilliant storyteller weaves insight from some of the world’s most prominent names in sports betting into a historic, entertaining, and informative journey.”—Ed Graney, six-time Nevada sportswriter of the year for the Las Vegas Review-JournalThe leg...

Phenom: The Making of Bryce Harper presents a look back at the controversial college season that launched the 2010 MLB #1 draft pick's professional career and earned the then 17-year-old phenom the Golden Spikes Award for the nation's top player.Before Bryce Harper was the top pick in the Major League Baseball draft, before he signed the sport's biggest contract ever for a first-year pro, he gambled his future on one make-or-break season.The Las Veg...

Ed O'Bannon had planned to help Nevada-Las Vegas establish a basketball dynasty. The national prep player of the year in 1990, courtesy of Basketball Times, O'Bannon yearned to help the Rebels defend their NCAA title in the 1990-91 season. Instead, twists of fate placed O'Bannon at UCLA, where through immense challenges and struggles - including his rehabilitation from a devastating knee injury whose mending would involve a complex procedure that is still considered controversial a...

"The remarkable story of Bryce Harper's unforgettable ride from Morse Stadium to the top of the baseball draft" (Jayson Stark, ESPN.com) updated from the hardcover edition ( The Last Natural) to include his Rookie of the Year season!Sporting a fresh cover and a bonus chapter that covers Harper's award-winning rookie season with the Washington Nationals, this expanded edition of Phenom (originally published as The Last Natural) gives fans ...

Every sporting event is an opportunity to win money. The legalization of sports wagering has increased the pot exponentially. But navigating the new systems can be tricky. If you're a newcomer ready to bet on sports as an occasional pastime, veteran sports writer and Las Vegas insider Rob Miech delivers a vital primer on terminology, options, and procedures. If you're already taking advantage of the sports betting world as a money-spinning career, he shares the latest approaches and all-ne...

The Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist looks at the life and times of the Chicago Bulls superstar—"The best Jordan book so far" ( The Washington Post ).New York Times BestsellerOne of sport's biggest superstars, Michael Jordan is more than an internationally renowned athlete. As illuminated through David Halberstam's trademark balance of impeccable research and fascinating...

The definitive, never-before-told story of the prep-to-pro generation, those basketball prodigies who from 1995 to 2005 made the jump directly from high school to the NBA.When Kevin Garnett shocked the world by announcing that he would not be attending college—as young basketball prodigies were expected to do—but instead enter the 1995 NBA draft directly from high school, he blazed a trail for a generation of teenage basketball players to head straight for the pros...

This New York Times bestseller follows Pete Maravich as he became basketball icon Pistol Pete and how his rise affected his family.Almost four decades have passed since Maravich entered the national consciousness as basketball’s boy wizard. No one had ever played the game like the kid with the floppy socks and shaggy hair. And all these years later, no one else ever has. The idea of Pistol Pete continues to resonate with young people today...

“An elegiac yet exuberant new memoir” (The New York Times Book Review)—Bill Walton’s New York Times bestselling memoir about his recovery from debilitating physical injury and how lessons from John Wooden at UCLA (and the music of the Grateful Dead) inspired his darkest hours.In February 2008, Bill Walton suffered a spinal collapse so devastating he was unable to get up. It was the culmination of a lifetime of injury. Although Walton had played fo...

A memoir from the controversial, confrontational, driven, and most accomplished male coach in women's basketball.Foreword by Diana TaurasiIn his relentless quest for excellence at the University of Connecticut, he has led the Huskies to five national championships. Yet his soul never rests. For Auriemma, life affords only the briefest moments of happiness—a good round of golf, forty minutes of great basketball, a day at the beach with his f...

Basketball Plays, Tricks and Gimmicks would be useful to coaches at all levels. Coach Coste covers the intricacies of both the instructional practice phase and the live game phase. His team free throw practice regimen is complete. After perusing his charity stripe suggestions the reader will want to test these techniques. Coach Coste discusses the important steps and facets to building a successful program, to creating plays in simple detail and providing those tricks, tips and gimmicks wh...

The definitive biography of basketball genius Julius Erving--the icon who transcended his sport and defined an eraJulius Erving, aka Dr. J, was a wizard with the basketball, performing feats the world had never seen before: midair spins and whirls punctuated by powerful slam dunks, which he was the first to glamorize. In a career that lasted from the 1970s well into the 1980s, he was one of the first players to make extemporaneous individual expression an integral ...