More than the world heavyweight championship was at stake when Joe Louis fought Max Schmeling on 22 June 1938. In a world on the brink of war, the contest was projected as a test of nationalistic, racial and political ideals. It was black man against white man, a showdown between democracy and totalitarianism.No single event in the history of boxing generated as much excitement or such extremes of emotions. It was the night Louis hit a peak of fistic perfection, hardly missing a pu...

"Covering many of the biggest names and greatest events in sports, it's a wonderful collection of yarns and reminiscences, told in Perk's inimitable style" ( Postmedia News ).Dave Perkins was once told by a bluntly helpful university admissions officer: "You don't have the looks for TV or the voice for radio. You should go into print." Which he did, first at the Globe and Mail, and then for thirty-six well-travel...

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • The “captivating” (People) true story of the Miracle on Ice and the last U.S. men’s hockey team to win gold, at the 1980 Winter Olympics—with a new afterword by Ken Morrow for the fortieth anniversary of the Miracle on Ice“A wonderfully detailed enrichment of the greatest sports moment of the twentieth century.”—Al MichaelsOnce upon a time, they taught us to believe. They were the 1980 U.S. Olym...

“Football is force and fanatics, basketball is beauty and bounce. Baseball is everything: action, grace, the seasons of our lives. George Vecsey’s book proves it, without wasting a word.”—Lee Eisenberg, author of The NumberIn Baseball, one of the great bards of America’s Grand Old Game gives a rousing account of the sport, from its pre-Republic roots to the present day. George Vecsey casts a fresh eye on the game, illuminates its foibles a...

A New York Times bestseller: The "entertaining" memoir by the legendary American sportswriter (Chicago Tribune).Frank Deford joined Sports Illustrated in 1962, and over the following decades became one of the most beloved figures in sports journalism—renowned for everything from his NPR commentaries to his status as a Lite Beer All Star.From the Mad Men-like days of SI in the sixties, to the early NBA, to Deford's visit to apartheid South Africa with Arthur...

The Berlin Olympic Games, more than 70 years on, remain the most controversial ever held. This book creates a vivid account of the disputes, the personalities, and the events which made these Games so memorable. Ironically, the choice of Germany as the host nation for the 1936 Olympics was intended to signal its return to the world community after defeat in World War I. In actuality, Hitler intended the Berlin Games to be an advertisement for Germany as he was creating it,...

It was called the "series of the century" and out of it came the greatest goal ever scored. Incredibly, the Summit Series, featuring Canada and the Soviet Union in a hockey showdown, is now 40 years old, but time has only strengthened and immortalized those eight games that changed the game. No moment has faded, and no series of games since has had the same profound effect on a country, a culture and a sport.Using its best NHL stars, Canada was supposed to win all eight games, but ...

In 2008, the Vancouver Canucks were Team Modern, revolutionizing the NHL under their new GM, former player agent Mike Gillis. Cool, calculating, and unsparing with the media, the onetime number one draft pick of the old Colorado Rockies swept away the tangled psychological past of the Canucks with bold innovation, remodeling Vancouver as a destination city for NHL star players. To do so, he built the Canucks from a non-playoff team in 2008 to the best in hockey from 2010-2012. He modernize...

What were the ten most fantastic knockouts in boxing history? Which pugilist had the greatest jab of all time? What were the sport's most intense rivalries? Who scored the biggest upsets in the sport's annals? Which fighters have the best nicknames? These questions and many others are answered in this bold collection of ranked lists from two of boxing's most popular commentators. Each list has an introductory paragraph followed by a number of ranked entries, with each entry featuring a bri...

In 1972, after enduring years of embarrassing defeat at the hands of Soviet "amateurs," Canadian officials convinced their Moscow counterparts to allow a pre-season, eight-game series between the best hockey players from both nations. For Team Canada, this meant a chance to assemble a "dream team" of NHL professionals and show the world that they still owned ice hockey.Cold War takes you to the back rooms of the diplomats and apparatchiks who sanctioned th...

Updated & expanded—this entry in the bestselling bathroom reader series is full of hockey trivia on the sport's colorful history, legendary players, and more.The Bathroom Readers' Institute has added seventy all-new pages to this collection of tales and trivia about the Greatest Game on Ice. You'll find loads of new articles, plus updated facts throughout. So tighten your laces and grab your stick—it's Hockey Time! Read about . . .· Octopuses, rubber rats, ...

Phil and Tony Esposito, Paul Henderson, Ken Dryden, Frank and Peter Mahovlich, Ron Ellis, Yvan Cournoyer, Rod Gilbert, Bobby Clarke, Guy Lapointe, Stan Mikita, Brad Park - these are some of the Team Canada heroes who struggled mightily to defeat the Soviet Union's formidable superstars. For most of September 1972, Canadians were riveted to their television screens in what became one of the most-watched events in Canadian history.At first, in Canada, the Canadians floundered so badl...