From award-winning Boston Herald sports columnist Steve Buckley comes Wicked Good Year, an insightful, celebratory look at Boston's mega-successful 2007-2008 sports season, during which the Red Sox swept the World Series, the Patriots went undefeated during the regular season, and the Celtics won the NBA Championship. Wicked Good Year looks at the three teams through the eyes of the players, coaches, and team personnel and also a variety of personalities and fans...

Every Boston fan knows that the only thing better than watching sports is arguing about them--picking the best, the worst and who will come out on top. And no city tears its sports teams apart like we do in Beantown!Veteran Boston sportswriters Steve Buckley and Jim Caple take you inside the 100 best debates in Boston sports. Covering the Red Sox, Celtics, Patriots, Bruins and beyond, every question you want to debate is here--as well as a few surprises.Arguments include:

Bill Belichick is one of the titans of today’s game of football. Now, sports commentator and bestselling author Michael Holley follows three NFL teams—the New England Patriots, Kansas City Chiefs, and Atlanta Falcons—from training camp 2010 through the Super Bowl and into the April draft, opening a new window into Belichick’s influence on the game. This one-of-a-kind exploration takes football fans behind the scenes of the most popular sport in America, with unprecedented insider access to...

The New York Times bestseller "for devoted New England fans or those interested in the makings of a professional football organization" ( Boston Globe ).When Bill Belichick arrived in New England, the Patriots were a laughingstock, an organization with a losing record and a roster of overpaid, underperforming players. So how did a head coach with a questionable record transform ...

For twenty-five years, Ken Kaiser was the most colorful umpire in the major leagues. Planet of the Umps is his sidesplitting tale of life behind the plate."Two things nobody wants to grow up to be are an umpire and broke. Thanks to my career in baseball, I got both."After calling balls, strikes, and outs for thirty-six baseball seasons and more than three thousand major-league games, umpire Ken Kaiser finally called it a career. From the first day ...

A treasury of witty quotes and wild stories covering decades of baseball history.Baseball is a funny game. No other sport can compare to the national pastime's vast catalog of silly quotations, unforgettable characters, memorable nicknames, and inventive pranks.Alphabetized by topic, The Funniest Baseball Book Ever captures the game in all its humorous glory. It's simply the most complete, contemporary resource for over a century of the sport's histo...

The Rivals marks the first joint project from the top sports writers of New York Times and the Boston Globe--and what better subject than the two baseball teams whose crossed fortunes obsess and define each city.**A Struggle for the Ages. . .BOSTON GLOBE JANUARY 6, 1920RED SOX SELL RUTH FOR $100,000 CASH--------Demon Slugger of American League, Who Made 29 Home Runs Last Season, Goes to New York Yankees--------...

The inside story of the most colorful decade in NFL history—pro football’s raging, hormonal, hairy, druggy, immortal adolescence.Between the Immaculate Reception in 1972 and The Catch in 1982, pro football grew up. In 1972, Steelers star Franco Harris hitchhiked to practice. NFL teams roomed in skanky motels. They played on guts, painkillers, legal steroids, fury, and camaraderie. A decade later, Joe Montana’s gleamingly efficient 49ers ushered in a new era: the corporate, scripted...

Not since 1957 has one major league team's pitching staff boasted three pitchers (Roy Halladay, Cliff Lee, and Roy Oswalt) in the Top Ten in career winning-percentage. Plus, the Philadelphia Phillies' 2011 rotation also happens to include Cole Hamels -- the 2008 NLCS and World Series MVP -- and an alternating fifth starter.This awe-inducing rotation has been the talk of baseball since coming together in December 2010. They were featured on the cover of Sports Illustrated's ...

BLOOPER: BALL SQUIRTS THROUGH BILLY BUCKNER'S LEGS.BLUNDER: BILLY BUCKNER'S MANAGER LEFT HIM IN THE GAME.Baseball bloopers are fun; they're funny, even. A pitcher slips on the mound and his pitch sails over the backstop. An infielder camps under a pop-up...and the ball lands ten feet away. An outfielder tosses a souvenir to a fan...but that was just the second out, and runners are circling the bases (and laughing). Without these moments, the highlight reels wouldn't...

There is no football game more exciting than the Super Bowl, the match that pits the best AFC team against the best NFC in a battle for the NFL championship. THrilling last-second victories, curshing defeats, jaw-dropping touchdown catches-and misses!-the Super Bowl has it all. In this action-packed volume, young readers can relive forty years of Super Bowl history. It chronicles the rise of such dynasties as the San Francisco 49ers and the New England Patriots as well as the agony felt by...

Examines the personal life and football career of the quarterback for the Denver Broncos.