Benchwarmer is a story about an Arkansas youngster who grows up to become a nationally recognized sports editor and the numberone authority on the Arkansas Razorback football program. It is a suspense novel with many layers built around colorful characters who weave in and out of Taylor Prescott's roller-coaster life. The main character faces many hurdles and lands a job in scenic Fayetteville, Arkansas, where he overcomes personal tragedy to witness the greatest college football game of all time between the Arkansas Razorbacks and the Texas Longhorns. What leads this intrepid reporter to the final big stage on the day of the championship game and where does he fit in with President Reagan and the crazy Cuban exile? Is it another practical joke from his boyhood friend Winky, and will the wicked newspaper war in Little Rock play a pivotal role in the dramatic conclusion? Will the beloved Hogs finally win the big one for Coach Wimberly, and will Taylor's sweetheart and young son be left alone at the hospital? The Secret Service must react swiftly as the drama unfolds on national TV, bombastic broadcaster Howard Bizell at the microphone. Everyone is watching and history is being made as violence erupts in Razorback land.

A moving, funny, inventive parenting memoir, written in a surprising form: an encyclopedia of failure in sports What can a new father learn about parenthood from reading sports almanacs? For most dads, the answer to this question is: nothing. But to Josh Wilker, whose life and writing have been defined by sports fandom, all of the joy, helplessness, and absurdity of parenthood are present between the lines. After all, what better way to think about losing control than Eugenio Velez's forty-five consecutive at-bats without a hit? How better to understand ridiculous joy than the NFL career of Walter Achiu, whose nickname was "Sneeze"? In the stories of sports figures large and small, Wilker finds the pathos in success and the humor in losing. As the terrified father of a one-day-old, Wilker recalls the 1986 World Series, when the moment was too big for the Red Sox. When he finds himself stealing away for an hour of alone time, Wilker thinks of boxer Roberto Duran, so beaten by Sugar Ray Leonard that he finally gave up. And yet, even as the frustrations and anxieties build, Wilker remembers Mets pitcher Anthony Young, who broke the baseball record for most consecutive losses -- and never stopped showing up. Finding the richness of life in obscure wrestling maneuvers and pop-ups lost in the sun, Benchwarmer is a book of unique humanity and surprising wisdom.

Are you feeling stuck right now? You have many hopes and dreams for your life, but they feel so out of reach. No matter how many steps you take, you feel like you’re still in the same place, anxiously awaiting to get accepted into at least one medical school, sending your music to labels hoping to get a callback, working hard to turn your first profit, or swiping right on Tinder wondering when you’ll finally find your match. All the while, it seems as if everyone else around you is succeeding. Do you feel frustrated, impatient, or at times discouraged, wondering when it will be your turn to shine? You, my friend, are what we call a Benchwarmer. Trust me, you’re not alone! Everyone finds themselves on the bench at some point. The question is, what do you do when you’re on the bench of life? The answer is. . . well you’ll have to read the book to find out, but know that what you do on the bench will determine what happens when your moment in the game finally comes. In this book, Ammishaddai gives clear and concrete steps to help you make the most of your time on the bench and achieve your dreams and purpose. After reading this book, you will have an awakened sense of clarity, optimism, and determination toward your goals. Are you ready ?

TOBY WHEELER LOVES basketball and playing pickup games at the local rec center. No coaches, no practices, just nonstop action with his best friend, JJ, at his side. But lately JJ's been acting like he's too busy for Toby, and Toby knows it will only get worse once basketball season begins at their junior high. That's because JJ is the star of their school team, while Toby is just an ordinary gym rat.When Coach Applewhite offers Toby a chance to join the team, Toby's eager to prove he can keep up with JJ. But then the coach announces the lineup, and Toby's hopes of playing ball with JJ are history: he's an eighthgrade benchwarmer! Befriending the coach's daughter only makes matters worse. Now the only way Toby will get in the game is if he starts thinking like a team player, on and off the court.

The definitive work on the language of baseball—one of the “Five Best Baseball Books” (Wall Street Journal). Hailed as “a staggering piece of scholarship” (Wall Street Journal) and “an indispensable guide to the language of baseball” (San Diego Union-Tribune), The Dickson Baseball Dictionary has become an invaluable resource for those who love the game. Drawing on dozens of nineteenth- and early twentieth-century periodicals, as well as contemporary sources, Dickson’s brilliant, illuminating definitions trace the earliest appearances of terms both well known and obscure. This edition includes more than 10,000 terms with 18,000 individual entries, and more than 250 photos. This “impressively comprehensive” (The Nation) book will delight everyone from the youngest fan to the hard-core aficionado.

It’s game on in uncovering the many sports-inspired terms, expressions, sayings and images that populate our everyday language! That’s the challenge that this book takes on, using a playbook for each sport. It kicks off with an opening run through the game of football, then it’s out of the gate with wire-to-wire coverage of horse racing. After going for the fences and covering all the bases in the sport of baseball, the ball is kept rolling, despite many a sticky wicket, through the long-running game of cricket. A blow-by-blow account of the sweet science of boxing is followed by play-by-play accounts of 35 more sports that have been added to the roster. At the finish line, the top three sports, are scored on their relative contributions to everyday language, and declared win, place and show. The discussion is enlivened by lots of sports humour and anecdotes along with quotations from sports personalities some of which may sound quite familiar, much like déjà vu all over again.

Train your young person's spirit. Help him or her grow stronger in faith and in commitment to God. Every sport presents us with moments to meet God. Wins give us moments for gratitude. Losses give opportunities to learn. Conflict with family and team members can lead us to deeper relationships. Through stories, prayers, and reflections, the pocket-sized More Than a Game helps young athletes find God, inner strength, and confidence at all these crossroad moments.

In The Essentials of Sports Reporting and Writing, authors Scott Reinardy and Wayne Wanta employ their own professional experience as sports writers and editors to give students a useful and practical view of the sports writing profession. The text is divided into readily digestible sections, covering essential topics such as types of stories; background and preparation; interviewing; the beginning stages of writing; and conclusion writing. Through real-life examples, readers learn the in-and-outs of writing columns, advances and follows, sidebars, profiles, and features, as well as the stylistic and ethical considerations that go into writing sports content. New to the second edition are: "Professional Perspectives" where working sports journalists give their insiders’ look at the work they do. A chapter on the intricacies of international event reporting A chapter providing an honest view of what life as a sport journalist entails. A companion website also accompanies the text. It includes supplemental materials for students and pedagogical support for instructors, including slide presentations, quizzes, and sample assignments. Intended for journalism students planning a career in sports reporting, this text offers key insights on the practical and personal aspects of the work.

This sequel to The Doublecross delivers another hilarious, action-packed superspy adventure, featuring a rag-tag group of spies and an underdog protagonist to root for. Hale, who turned double-agent against the corrupt spy organization he was raised in, knows his super-spy parents can't come home until the Sub Rosa Society is neutralized--and that he and his friends are all that's standing between SRS and their worldwide crimes. So Hale wants to hit the bad guys where it hurts: their bank account. Hale and his allies all travel to Switzerland and discover that this won't be a smash-and-grab job like they expected. SRS doesn't have any actual money that can be taken--it's all hidden in secret digital accounts. Oh, and some super heavy gold bars. To take them down, Hale's crew will have to undo SRS's crimes and get to the inside man at the bank, all while artfully evading SRS's notice. There's plenty of action, a big fluffy show dog, a nefarious clown, and, as readers expect from this series, all kinds of comedic, high-stakes adventure.