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umassaddict · Sophomore Joined: 03 Aug 2004 Posts: 101 Location: Amherst

I just started reading "When the Game was Ours" by Jackie MacMullin, which is a tremendous read and it got me thinking about what my favorite sports reads have been. What are your favorite sports books?

On my side table waiting to be read are:

Let Me Tell You A Story: A Lifetime in the Game by Red Auerbach & John Feinstein

Luckiest Man: The Life and Death of Lou Gehrig by Jonathon Eig
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senior citizen · Junior Joined: 27 Nov 2005 Posts: 333

A great new topic. Though the book is now forty-two years old, I still remember the eye-opening feeling I had when I read Jim Bouton's Ball Four. Up till then, most books on sports were simply reverential as was sports reporting. Suddenly we got on insider's view of what went on behind the scenes. The book had a major impact on sports reporting.

Kosty · Posted: Mon Feb 13, 2012 6:47 pm Post subject:

This is a fantastic book about the inner workings of The Masters.....

http://www.amazon.com/Masters-Money-Power-Augusta-Georgia/dp/0375753370/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1329173071&sr=1-1

This is a fantastic book about the PGA Tour in general by Feinstein.....

http://www.amazon.com/Good-Walk-Spoiled-Days-Nights/dp/B00008RWAO/ref=pd_vtp_b_8

Another by Feinstein written about the Open at Bethpage.....

http://www.amazon.com/Open-Inside-Ropes-Bethpage-Black/dp/B000FILMDQ/ref=pd_vtp_b_8

ShadesOf96and98 · Posted: Mon Feb 13, 2012 10:27 pm Post subject:

Friday Night Lights - my favorite book period.

Will second the notion on Ball Four. Even reading it some 30 years after it was written and long after all of the hoopla had died down, it is an amazing experience for true baseball fans.

For those of you interested in college football, civil rights, the south and the maniacal process of high school recruiting, another of my favorites is "The Courting of Marcus Dupree"
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lane one · Junior Joined: 17 Aug 2003 Posts: 674

Cal Ripkin wrote a great book called "Parenting Young Athletes the Ripkin Way" (Gotham Books). I strongly recommend it to anyone who has kids starting to play organized sports. If you don't buy into his fundamental premise that its your kid's childhood, not yours, you probably wouldn't read the book anyway, but beyond that philosophy there are some really great tactical points that I think are really insightful.

Kosty · Posted: Mon Feb 13, 2012 11:01 pm Post subject:

There's also this little book called "Going Bigtime"......don't know if anyone had heard about it....it's by Marty Dobrow..... Cool

Swampy · Hall of Fame Joined: 02 Apr 2003 Posts: 2446

Rick Reilly makes me laugh...

"Who's Your Caddy? Looping for the Great, Near Great and Reprobates of Golf"

BullmooseGEO · Junior Joined: 22 Sep 2007 Posts: 412 Location: Amherst

"The Greatest Game Ever Played: Harry Vardon, Francis Ouimet, and the Birth of Modern Golf" by Mark Frost is one of my favorites. It's the story of Francis Ouimet, a caddy and the last amateur to win the US Open (in 1913). This book is extra special to me since I've caddied at the Brae Burn Country Club in Newton MA for five seasons and earned the scholarship bearing Ouimet's name...
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m626t · Posted: Tue Feb 14, 2012 7:59 pm Post subject:

hands down, no contest...Semi Tough by Dan Jenkins.
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Kosty · Posted: Tue Feb 14, 2012 9:36 pm Post subject:

This is a faaaaaaaantastic book about the Dook-UNC rivalry.

http://www.amazon.com/Blue-Blood-Duke-Carolina-Storied-Rivalry/dp/0312327889/ref=sr_1_9?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1329269640&sr=1-9

And the book by Dan Patrick and Keith Olberman, The Big Show, is pretty good as well.

http://www.amazon.com/Big-Show-Keith-Olbermann/dp/0671009192/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1329269802&sr=1-2

This is a pretty good read about the ABA......

http://www.amazon.com/Loose-Balls-American-Basketball-Association/dp/141654061X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1329269712&sr=1-1

And this is a pretty funny read about life bouncing around to different basketball teams by Paul Shirley.......

http://www.amazon.com/Can-Keep-Jersey-Countries-Basketball/dp/0345495705/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1329269772&sr=1-1

LS71 · Posted: Tue Feb 14, 2012 9:40 pm Post subject:

umassaddict I loved both:
Let Me Tell You A Story: A Lifetime in the Game by Red Auerbach & John Feinstein
Larry Bird Earvin Magic Johnson: When the Game was Ours" by Jackie MacMullan

Kosty, I loved:
Loose Balls - The Short Wild Life of the American Basketball Association as Told by the Players, Coaches, and Movers and Shakers Who Made it Happen - Terry Pluto
Going Big Time - Marty Dobrow

Other favorites include:

Summer of '49-David Halberstam
October 1964 - David Halberstam
Muhammad Ali - Thomas Hauser
Mickey Mantle - My Favorite Summer 1956- Mickey Mantle & Phil Pepe
Bombers, An Oral History of the New York Yankees - Richard Lally
The Bronx Zoo - Sparky Lyle & Peter Golenbock
October Men - Roger Kahn
Steinbrenner, The Last Lion of Baseball - Bill Madden
Babe - Robert W. Creamer
Dynasty - The New York Yankees 1949-1964 - Peter Golenbock
Season of Glory, The Amazing Saga of the 1961 New York Yankees - Ralph Houk & Robert W. Creamer
The Baseball Hall of Shame, volumes 1 & 2 - Bruce Nash & Allan Zullo

I want to get:

The Teammates: A Portrait of a Friendship - David Halberstam
Red and Me: My Coach, My Lifelong Friend - Bill Russell & Alan Steinberg
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Kosty · Posted: Tue Feb 14, 2012 9:44 pm Post subject:

Hey LS, good thing you don't have a lot of Yankee books listed.......HA!! Cool

LS71 · Posted: Tue Feb 14, 2012 9:54 pm Post subject:

What can I say...UMass hoops, the Yankees, the Celtics and Muhammad Ali. Cool

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UMass02 · Hall of Fame Joined: 11 Nov 2003 Posts: 2144

I thought this thread was about gambling.

Jack · Hall of Fame Joined: 23 Aug 2006 Posts: 3030

Lombardi - David Maraniss
Going Long - The story of the AFL - Jeff Miller
Johnny U by Callahan
The Bad Guys Won - '86 Mets - Jeff Pearlmann
long ball - (the amazing summer of '75) - tom adelman

There are many excellent books on horse racing in my collection

seabisciuit- hillenbrand

Wild Ride by ann hagedorn is an unbelievably great book on the business and how greed & stupidity destroyed calumet farm

also Man o War by Dorothy Squires and
Woulda coulda shoulda by dave feldman (hilarious)