Hang Time: My Life in Basketball by Elgin Baylor

Title: Hang Time: My Life in Basketball

Author: Elgin Baylor (with Alan Eisenstock)

Genre: Autobiography, Sports

Before Michael Jordan and Julius Erving there was Elgin Baylor. In a thirteen year NBA career (the final two cut short by injuries), Baylor proved to be one of the greatest players in league history. During his career he averaged an incredible 27.4 points and 13.5 rebounds in an era when there was no three-point shot and NBA players took as much pride in playing defense as they did scoring points.

Baylor recounts his upbringing in Washington, D.C. where he learned the game on the playgrounds, being drafted into the army at age 24, as well as his many and varied experiences - first as a player and later as a general manager in the NBA. Some of those experiences were negative - dealing with racism and bigotry on a regular basis, as well as exciting - Baylor an active participant in an NBA that was transitioning into a major sports entertainment option. This is an engaging read that reminds professional basketball fans of all ages that each generation has its stars. Although Elgin Baylor never won a championship, "Hang Time: My Life In Basketball"  serves as proof that one of the games greatest players was a winner - both within the game and outside the sport. 

- Mike

Check out Hang Time: My Life in Basketball @ the library.

Salt & Silver by Johannes Riffelmacher and Thomas Kosikowski

Title: Salt & Silver: Latin America

Author: Johannes Riffelmacher and Thomas Kosikowski

Genre: Travel, Cooking, Sport

Salt & Silver chronicles the adventures of two surfers, Johannes and Thomas, as they surf, eat, and travel through Latin America and beyond. At each stop they make, the duo shares delicious recipes, stories, and prime surf spots that inspire a sense of wanderlust in the reader. Salt & Silver gives an interesting look at how daily life and cooking vary from region to region, and might just inspire the reader to try something new!

- Jamie

Check out Salt & Silver: Latin America @ the library.

Ice Bowl '67: The Packers, the Cowboys, and the Game That Changed the NFL by Chuck Carlson

Title: Ice Bowl '67: The Packers, the Cowboys, and the Game That Changed the NFL

Author: Chuck Carlson

Genre: Sports

Professional football fans in general and Green Bay Packer fans in particular are well-versed with the NFL Championship game played on New Year's Eve in 1967. Accurately known as the Ice Bowl, the temperature in Green Bay that day was minus 15 degrees, with a wind chill that stood at -45 at kickoff and dipped to -65 by game's end. The conditions made for a legendary game that pitted not only players from the Green Bay Packers against the Dallas Cowboys, but players vs the elements.

Author Chuck Carlson does a good job of reviewing the scenarios leading up to the game, including the legendary coaches Tom Landry vs Vince Lombardi. This would be Lombardi's last hurrah - succumbing to cancer two and a half years later after coaching the Washington Redskins in 1969. For the Packers, the game would prove to be an end of an era, with the team having to endure thirty years of futility before winning a Super Bowl in 1997.The Cowboys, despite the loss, would move on to greater success over the next few decades - taking on the moniker of "America's Team."

Carlson breaks the book up into sections covering the game from the view of coaches, players and fans. The book concludes with the impact on both teams and how the ice bowl grew to almost mythical status among fans. In a nice addition, the author covers the current status of key players from the game.

The Ice Bowl '67 is an easy read that provides a nice overview of one of the most important football games in NFL history. 

- Mike

Check out Ice Bowl '67: The Packers, the Cowboys, and the Game That Changed the NFL @ the library.

Carry On by Lisa Fenn

In 2009 ESPN showed a short human interest film featuring a blind wrestler who would carry his legless teammate to and from the mats at meets. The powerful portrayal of hope and friendship caused many people to take an interest into the two boys from Ohio who had every disadvantage one could imagine. One of those people was the producer of the story, Lisa Fenn.

Dartanyon Crockett's larger than life statute was able to hide the fact that he could barely see, and his physical presence on the athletic field gave him a place in a world where he would have few things. He held on to hope, because he wanted to make his diseased mother proud. Leroy Sutton lost his legs in a tragic train accident, and spent his life with his mother squandering what resources should have helped him. He used humor to hide pain, and arm strength to show he could do what anyone else could. These boys became brothers, and we rarely seen without each other. 

When Lisa Fenn was sent the short article from the paper about the boys from her father, a Cleveland local, she knew there was a story there. As a producer for ESPN she knew this was something special, and convinced her boss to see what she saw. What she didn't know is that her life was going to be changed as much as the boys were. With out knowing what she was doing, she started looking out for these boys, hoping to elevate them out of their life of poverty and give them a better life. 

If you are looking for a powerful true story, in the same vein as The Blindside, check out Carry On by Lisa Fenn.

End of the Perfect 10 by Dvora Meyers

In 1976, Nadia Comaneci did the impossible. She performed on the uneven bars so well, she was awarded a score of 10. This was so revolutionary, the score board did not have the option to show a 10. 40 years later we still remember Nadia's name, yet the "Perfect 10" is no longer a possible Olympic score. In 2016 we see Simone Biles doing impossible routines scoring 15.933, and we wonder it means. What happened in gymnastics that something so iconic was changed, and how do we understand the new scores?

Author Dveora Meyers takes a look at the history of gymnastics through the lens of scoring. From what happened before the 1976 Olympics, to 2016, and what this means for the future. The names of the current Olympians are all mentioned, as well as many international and American gymnasts. The focus is on scoring in woman's gymnastics, however it could easily be read as a primer of Olympic Gymnastics from 1976 to 2016 as well. Beyond Olympic gymnastics, NCAA gymnastics is looked at as well due to the fact that they still use the 10 point scoring system.

From four years fans to full quad followers, The End of the Perfect 10 is something all fans of gymnastics should check out.

Slow Getting Up by Nate Jackson

Have you ever wondered what it's like to be on a professional football team? Maybe not a starter like Aaron Rodgers or Clay Matthews, but that guy who sits on the bench and gets paid to play? Did you ever wonder how hard can it be? If that thought has ever crossed your mind, then Slow Getting Up by Nate Jackson is the book for you.

Like the sub-title implies, this is a story of NFL survival. He may not have been a star, and unless you were in Denver while he was playing you might not know who he is, he was out there, some weeks getting into some games, and earning a world of hurt.

For Nate Jackson, football was just a part of life, and he would do anything to be able to keep playing. When he was cut from the Cal Poly team, he transferred to a Division III school. His coaches there saw professional talent, and before he knew it, the 49ers were calling him. Sure he was un-drafted, traded to Denver and barely made the practice squad, but he was a professional athlete.

Slow Getting Up it is the perfect book a the football fanatic or just a fan of the game. Nate Jackson gives a behind the scenes tour of a NFL football team in this memoir, and after reading it you'll be happy you just have to watch the game from the comfort of your living room.

Check out Slow Getting Up @ the library!

Like a Rose by Rick Telander

Rick Telander is a sports columnist for the Chicago Sun-Times, who has written for Sports Illustrated, and has penned a number of sports-related books, most memorably Heaven Is A Playground – named one of Sports Illustrated’s top 100 sports books of all time. Like A Rose finds the author reflecting on his short stint as a prospective defensive back in the 1971 training camp of the National Football League’s Kansas City Chiefs. Subtitled, “Life Lessons from a Training Camp with Hank Stram and the Kansas City Chiefs,” the author cleverly juxtaposes his experiences playing football at the high school, college, and (albeit briefly) professional levels, with that of his own son’s passion for the game and the inherent dangers of the sport. Telander is at times conflicted between his love of football, the life lessons he took from the experience, and the increasingly publicized concerns about head injuries that his son faces while playing the sport. In between, Telander weaves an interesting story about finding a 15 cent spiral notebook diary he kept during his training camp with the Chiefs, and reflects on how the experience influenced the husband, father, and writer he became. Particularly poignant is Telander’s reconnection with his high school football coach and the author’s search for reasons why he became the star quarterback of his suburban Chicago school over thirty years prior. Throughout the book Telander throws out thoughtful gems of wisdom relating to the sport of football and lasting lessons it can teach. Perhaps most thought provoking is the idea that the game of football itself cannot exist without the very real potential for injury. Telander writes, “The possibility of injury – even severe injury – on any play was the very key to the game. If you couldn’t get hurt, if you didn’t stand the chance of hurting someone else….why play at all?” After his teenage son Zack is knocked unconscious during a game, Telander is left questioning the game he loves, “His eyes are closed and he is not moving. I look at his little boy’s face through his big man’s armor, and I feel as though I am looking at all my sins, all my stupidity, all my ignorance.” In the end, the author concludes that he cannot hold back his son’s passion for the game anymore than his own father could, and that for Telander the sport of football remains a teaching tool. Telander writes, “Football teaches you that life is hard, but it can be immensely rewarding….even thrilling.” Like A Rose is a short, easy read that will pleasantly surprise in the wealth of insight contained within.

The Silver Linings Playbook by Matthew Quick

Pat has goals.  To work on being a kinder person, to get fit and stay buff, to read the great American classic works of literature that he didn't get around to when he was supposed to be reading them in high school, to keep his anger under control, and to get Nikki back.  Actually, all of his goals are really about getting Nikki back and ending apart time.

When Pat's mother comes and gets him from the neural health facility in Baltimore where he's been for... well, he doesn't actually know how long, but awhile, he knows the end of apart time has to be close.  He's out of the bad place and living at home in Philadelphia, where his mom has bought him pretty much a complete gym-in-a-basement, complete with the Stomach Master 6000.  He's got a new therapist, Dr. Patel, and even though his dad's not talking to him (unless it's specifically related to Eagles football), he's building a relationship with his brother and (who got him his old seat back at the Eagles home games) and hanging out with his best bud Ronnie again, even if Ronnie's wife Veronica is not exactly his favorite person.  Sure, his mom claims that all his and Nikki's wedding photos were stolen by a burgler (they were in very expensive frames), and all signs point to him having been in the bad place way longer than a couple of months, but he's pulling it together for Nikki.

So when Veronica's sister Tiffany is invited to dinner one night, Pat is confused.  Tiffany is angry, volatile, uncomfortably direct, swears like a sailor and is more than a little odd.  She's also in therapy, because her husband died a few years ago, and she's also living at home, because she got fired from her job.  Pat is a married man, so even though everyone seems to be encouraging him to cheat on Nikki with Tiffany, which is confusing, he knows he can't date her.  But he does decide to be her friend - after all, it's the kind thing to do.

This is the story of how friendship, love, raisin bran, a deep hatred of Kenny G., modern dance and serious Eagles football fandom all come together to heal two people who need each other.  Quirky, fun, heartbreaking and hilarious, Matthew Quick's first novel is fabulous.  Whether you saw the movie and loved it, want to read the book before you see the movie, or (like me!) are a huge fan of author Matthew Quick (check out our reviews of Sorta Like a Rock Star and this year's Milwaukee County Teen Book Award nominee Boy21!), you've got to add The Silver Linings Playbook to your reading list!  It's the perfect way to kick-start your weekend and ignore the fact that it's snowing... again.

Gold by Chris Cleave

Olympic cyclists Kate and Zoe have been rivals and best friends since they met at the Elite Prospects Programme at age 18.  Kate missed the 2004 Athens Olympics to stay home with her baby daughter, Sophie, and took a miss again at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, when Sophie was diagnosed with leukemia.  Instead of competing in front of the world with her husband and her best friend, Kate chose to be the one to take her very ill daughter home.  Zoe took gold in both Olympics - as did Kate's husband (and Zoe's old flame), Jack.  At age 32, this will be Kate, Zoe, and Jack's last Olympics.

All three are planning to go out in a blaze of gold glory - until the Olympic Committee changes the rules, and only one female cyclist will be allowed to compete in the Olympics.

From the author of the best-selling Little Bee comes this gripping, heart-wrenching, and surprisingly funny story of family, love, friendship, and fierce competition.  Driven, self-destructive Zoe, sweet, feisty fighter Kate, their tough-as-nails coach Tom, and determined, Star Wars-obsessed Sophie (who is pretty sure that her returning leukemia is just a side effect of the midochlorians in her blood turning her into a Jedi) all have to figure out how to shift their worlds to the rules change without crashing their lives out on the track. 

This review is based on an advanced reader's copy received from the publisher.  Gold will be published on July 10, 2012.

The Art of Fielding by Chad Harbach

The faculty and students at Westish College (a small school on the Wisconsin edge of Lake Michigan) are all earnest and endearing. But problems arise because some of them tend to put all their eggs in one basket.  Henry, a slick-fielding shortstop, is attending Westish solely to play for its baseball team. But he loses his ability to throw the ball accurately just as major league scouts start to show an interest in him. Schwartz, the erudite but rough-around-the-edges catcher, has applied to only a few of the top law schools in the country and been rejected by all. Pella, the school President’s daughter, had quit high school to elope with an older man. Now, four years later, she flees the stifling relationship, returning to her father’s home without education or skills. And the school president himself feels compelled to put his long academic career and reputation at risk to pursue an illicit love affair. These decisions lead to a long unhappy baseball season for all, straining the love and friendship they feel for one another. But a summer of emotional and physical pain teaches them that part of The Art of Fielding requires reacting to a bad hop. Life goes on in unexpected ways.

Born to Run by Christopher McDougall

For runners who run 3 blocks or 300 miles, twice a day or twice a year, as well as athletes, adventurers, anthropologists, world and armchair travelers, and pretty much anyone who loves a fantastic adventure story, Born to Run: A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World has Never Seen is a must-read!  You'll want to make a salad for breakfast and hit the trail after finishing this tale of the world's most awesome ultramarathons.