Athletics Books

I have always heard (and observed) that runners have better endurance and overall fitness. I had tried jogging, mostly after dark, to try and get "up to speed" with other people in my biking club, but gave up after feeling faint. After reading this book, running doesn't seem as intimidating; I am gradually improving my cardiovascular fitness, so I can excel at the sports I love. The discussion about breathing, form, and stretching were especially helpful. The book was inspiring to me.

This is a superb book for beginners. Anyone who questions its "slow and easy" approach has never watched friends take on fitness programs with great enthusiasm, only to get hurt or lose interest a couple of months later. This book's number one goal is to keep that from happening by setting goals that Salazar describes as "so easy that you'll always be wanting more." It gains credibility coming from Salazar, who was renowned for his grueling training schedules. My guess is that a lot higher fraction of people who listen to him will be running a year from now than of those who risk an accelerated program not suitable for untrained beginners. The book is also loaded with answers to questions that beginners ask all the time, including many that will apply to beginning racers. If you've been running for a year or two, you may already know most of the answers, but in those first few months it's all new, and this book covers the ground nicely, in a pleasant, easy-to-read style. It's also loaded with entertaining a necdotes. Did you know that Salazar once ran several miles of a marathon with a side stitch so bad it hurt for weeks afterward? No wonder he had what it took to win! Also fun is the fact that Salazar shares the stage with his co-author, giving the book a mix of world-class and "average runner" perspectives. It's an unusual approach that works nicely, because the co-author can write from experience about issues that front-running Salazar never had to face. Bottom line: if you've been sedentary for a few years and are wanting to do something about it, this is your book. If you've been running for a few years (as I have), it's a great gift for that friend who's thinking about starting an exercise program.

Running always appealed to me but everytime I considered taking it up I had second thoughts because of all the injured friends I know who are runners. This didn't seem healthy, so I thought "Why run?".

I ran across this book in a book review in a local paper and was intrigued because it said you could run with a much reduced possiblity of injury by following the plan outlined in the book. Reading it made a lot of sense and I could see many places where my running friends had made mistakes that probably lead to their injuries. I've read other books that back up what the author says so he isn't advocating some "out there" method but rather a method that will allow you to run to improve your health, which is what most of us are probably looking for.

It's sad that one of the greatest distance runners of his generation has lent his name to a book that purports to require a couple of hundred pages to transform people into 12-15 mile per week fitness joggers.

Here's how to do it in 150 words, instead of 50,000:

(1) Buy appropriate running shoes from a running store (they'll tell you what's appropriate for you).

(2) Go outside and walk/jog for 15 minutes, or until you are really tired, whichever comes first.

(3) Repeat step (2) three to five times per week, increasing both the percentage of time you are jogging rather than walking, and the total time spent moving briskly, until you reach a point where you are jogging for at least 30 minutes without walking or stopping. Reaching this stage will take some people a few days and others several weeks. (Salazar recommends taking 52 weeks to reach this level, which is absurd).

That's all there is to it -- really. You don't need to pay a former world class marathoner for this information.

Book was received right away. It was a new copy, but the print on some of the pages is too light to read.

While the subject is quiet interesting, the book is poorly written and edited. The author keeps on repeating himself over and over and over and over again. And again. One is reminded of college papers where a student is stretching a 2 page point over 10 pages to fulfill the length requirement, constantly restating the same thought with synonymous nouns and adjectives. Could have been a much more fun 150 page read with some good editing, or a great 10 page New Yorker article. The book does improve in the second half.

I got to "meet" Fred Lebow and learn about his creation of the New York City Marathon and his impact on the world of distance running while working with author Ron Rubin's extensive material. "Fred Lebow was a dreamer...the kind of dreamer who pursued his dream and made it a reality. And today, more than thirty years later, the world is still reaping the rewards of his vision and hard work.... Fred Lebow's life was [truly] a story just waiting--and deserving--to be told." -- From the book's Preface.

Exactly what Fred's vision was and how he worked to bring it to fruition--the history of the marathoning culture as we know it today--is developed in the first 11 chapters of the book.

> According to KATHRINE SWITZER, who knew Lebow well:
"Lebow's lifetime creation, the New York City Marathon, parallels his life story, and nobody's told it better than Ron Rubin in 'Anything for a T-Shirt...'. Rubin shows us how this modest but complex man, who was himself exhilarated with the transforming effects of fitness, took an obscure footrace and turned it into an extravagant festival that brought joy to the world's most glamorous and competitive city and attracted millions of everyday people to distance running. It is a case study in sports marketing, event management and psychology..."

The remainder of the book is dedicated to the heartwarming story of Lebow's struggle with cancer and his momentous first running of his own marathon in 1992 -- a cancer survivor accompanied by a host of friends led by Grete Waitz.

> SWITZER's review of these final chapters states:
"The book's climax is superb, reeling the reader up very dramatically, day by day, then mile by mile. Rubin pulls no punches as to how Fishl-the name I always called him and the one he would return to before he died-ran in his own creation for the first time, between bouts with the brain cancer that eventually took him from us, on guts and will. 'Anything' paints a vivid picture of Lebow's inherent survival determination, heard from a dozen concerned voices in his entourage. While the whole book is well-written, this chapter is dazzling."

As Dick Traum wrote in his amazon review, "If you run, read this book!" As a non-runner who had never heard of Fred Lebow before working with the book, I can add:

"EVEN IF YOU DON'T RUN, read this book." I came to know both Fred & Fishl through the eyes of the 120-plus people Dr. Rubin interviewed and the numerous authors of articles and stories written during Lebow's illustrious life and in his memory. His life is an uplifting story of hope and inspiration.

Everything I've heard so far indicates that this book is truly the inspiring, motivating & heartwarming tribute to Fred Lebow that Ron Rubin set out to create. A relatively non-athletic, academic-type university professor, Rubin is himself one of the millions of middle- and back-of-the-pack runners who would have never considered attempting a marathon had it not been for Lebow's "creation." He wound up running NY six times!

I look forward to reading what YOU think -- about my review and about the book!

"ANYTHING for a T-Shirt" captures Fred's character as an artist might do with a brush and paint. While describing Fred's life, the author delves into his motivation and goals. He skillfully shows how Fred Lebow, an immigrant from Romania, progresses to developing the most exciting mass participation sporting event in the world.

If you run, read this book! This is the best book ever written on Fred Lebow and marathon running.

My book called Arther and the Best Coach Ever. It is for boys and girls.I will give this book five stars.If you like sports,you can read this book. It is a fun book! Elise

Are you a cell-phone toting, work-a-holic parent? Busy cutting business deals on the soccer field? Then this book will leave you feeling a little sheepish. I know of quite a few sports parents who could stand to read this book for the lesson it teaches. As for the kids, maybe what they learn is that they should keep trying their best no matter how miserable their coach is!

I have watched the episode based on the book. It was a great episode and I'm sure that the book would be just as good.

"Arthur and the Best Coach Ever" is the fourth of six books in the 2001 Arthur Good Sports series. This is a great series that teaches kids about sportsmanship in an interesting as well as humorous way. However, this book, "Arthur and the Best Coach Ever," shows are startling lack of coordination between those working on the television show and those were developing the book series.

Both the television story and the book share a couple basic plot points. The soccer coach for Lakewood Elementary is no longer able to coach the team and Ed Crosswire is brought in as a replacement. In both versions, none of the kids are very happy, as they liked the old coach and Ed's coaching abilities are rather questionable.

The similarities stop about right there. In the book, Ed is presented as an inept coach who knows nothing about soccer and is always ignoring the team while he tries to run his automotive business from the sidelines. The team members begin to feel like they don't care about them, although really he's just caught in a pickle because he has no understanding of basic soccer concepts, or how to coach a team.

The exact opposite happens in the television episode. In the TV version, Ed seems to be quite knowledgable of soccer, even having played in the past, and tries to run the team like a machine, putting them through overly demanding drills.

Overall, "Arthur and the Best Coach Ever" is an okay story and in my opinion, somewhat better than the television version. Still, the lack of synergy between the TV show and the book causes confusion among followers of the seires and I'm not entirely certain what exactly this particular book teaches kids about good sportsmanship. Also, some of the humor found in the other "Arthur" books is missing. Pass on this one, and try one of the other, better, "Arthur" books instead.

Blue Ribbon College Basketball Yearbook: 2002-2003 by Chris Dortch breaks down all the NCAA top level basketball teams for the coming season, and looks at the year before. It gives information on positions for players, likely minutes, depth, possible performance and a lot of other information you wouldn't find anywhere else in one source. An excellent book.

This book covers every single college in the country. On one hand that is great because it can be an excllent source of information. But on the other hand, it's too much to get a real review on the upcoming season.

There is not one person who can go out and syudy all of the teams, so what this author has to do is surf the internet, cut 7 paste and put together a patch work of basketball reviews for each team.

The bottom line is that you get a book that gives you data (teams, coaches, roster, previous records, etc.) But when it comes to acurately projecting the field, this book is worthless. Just look at who they predicted to "win-it-all". It's like predicting the weather. The sad part is that this book is really authored by people who really know nothing about the teams.

I began buying Blue Ribbon before the 1999-2000 season (when Michigan State won it all), and it is, without a doubt, a must have for any serious college basketball fan. The 2002-03 edition features some changes, though none of them dramatic. First, the traditional Top 40 section was trimmed to a Top 25 to be on a pair with the rest of the major polls, and to have some more space for the new schools that join the Division I this year. Also, the recruiting info is back, with rankings of the top 25 classes for 2002-03, top 200 high school players in the country and top freshmen entering college. The only major blow this year is the lack of the 2001-02 Division I individual statistics, which is, at least for me, a big omission. Overall, it's a great book to buy; it's amazing all the information that contains. It takes me almost half a year to completely read it all.

This annual tome is THE source for college basketball fans. This book has been published annually for 22 years by Chris Dortch. It covers ever division one team. In particular if you root for a mid or low major team then you cannot be without this book. It is the only comprehensive review of division one. It is written by regional experts that cover these teams for a living. It is well organized and absolutely full of useful and unique information on every division one team.

College President Dolores Cross takes marathoning to a different level with her candid autobiography of "breaking through the wall," both personally and professionally. This story is a must read for everyone, particularly young people and those who feel that the odds are often against them. Dolores Cross shows how the art of marathoning for her has served as a figurative and literal victory for her success. We can all gain a great deal from this woman's provocative, sometimes painful, journey through life.

Reaching a successful goal in higher education is not easy but can be accomplished. This fantastac story outlines the challenges and obstacles one face in overcoming life's problems, attending and graduation from college, and securing a higher degree beyond undergraduate.

I found this book to be very inspirational and motivating to anyone who has obstacles in life to overcome. Self determination, hard work and confidence break through walls that present challenges in life. As a result of reading Breaking Through The Wall: A Marathoner's Story, I made significant changes in my life.

I am a runner and a advid reader. I purchased this book hoping it would give me some insight as to how she completed and trained for a marathon. This was not the book's goal. It turns out to be her life's story.

This book was truly cool. Everything that happened in it happened for a reason. Some of the players on that team are now in the National Football League like Terry Glenn, Eddie George, Bobby Hoying, Orlando Pace, and Shawn Springs. John Cooper was coach who had his job up in the air. This is a great book if you like football.

Day to day, week to week review of events during the season becomes a bit monotonous in this account of a great year for buckeye faithful. But, what does come out, is the real personality of John Cooper in a way that up to this point in time, is rarely appreciated by football fans. Hardline buckeye fans, home grown Ohio boys who did not take to well to the southern accent in Woody Hayes's office, soften to the reality that this is the 1990's and this man, John Cooper, is a credit to himself, his program, and the university. Behind the scenes accounts of how he deals with players, life challenges are excellent. Inner workings of how the week goes to prepare for Saturdays game give a good flavor of college football life. Dealing with the heart- break of another Michigan loss, putting in perspective is attempted....but not dealt with very well. Overall, good book, if you still think John Cooper belongs in Tennessee, read it.

Coming off a second top-two finish in three years, Ohio State fans have begun to take for granted that our team will contend for the national title year-in and year-out.

How quickly we forget that John Cooper's early years at Ohio State were filled with mediocrity and losses to schools of the Little Eight! As recently as 1994, OSU lost four games and was even beaten by lowly Illinois.

Jeff Snook's book gives us a glimpse into the beginnings of the maturation of John Cooper's program-- the 1995 season.

While the 1993 team spent several weeks ranked among the Top 5, it was the 1995 team that truly signified that Cooper's program was at last capable of producing an absolute powerhouse.

1995 featured all of the hallmarks of Cooper's best teams: flashy NFL-caliber talent, clutch wins over big-name opponents, and a heart-breaking loss to an inferior Michigan team.

Not a great book, but certainly worth the money Amazon is asking.

Jeff Snook's chronicle of the 1995 Ohio State University Buckeyes' football season reads as a veritable "who's who" of the NFL: QB Bobby Hoying (Oakland), RB Eddie George (Tennessee), WR Terry Glenn (New England), CB Shawn Springs (Seattle), and others all feature in the Buckeye team pushing for an unbeaten season and a chance at the national championship. Coach John Cooper's players are a hard-working, clean-living bunch - admirable qualities, but ones that unwittingly conspire with other elements to drain the book of any real drama: there are no mercurial young players who clash with the coaching staff or have profound emotional issues to overcome: the pressure upon Cooper to deliver success is obvious, but not overwhelming. Neither are there desperate, against-the-odds struggles to upset stronger opposition - those match-ups that do test the team, including a season-finale clash with hated nemesis Michigan, suffer from Snook's failure with his spiritless prose to capture any of the on-field atmosphere and emotion. His reluctance as well to print bad language deprives the book of gritty realism and further negates his intention to tell "the inside story" of the team. Followers of Ohio State will enjoy the book as a means to reminisce over past glories, while Eddie George fans will savor the Herculean efforts that by season's end had made him a frontrunner for the Heisman Trophy. The more casual reader, however, will be disappointed by an uninspired and very ordinary book that, although occasionally diverting, ultimately fails to engage in any meaningful way.

I coach 7th and 8th grade girls basketball. I had high hopes for this book when I ordered it directly from the author. I bought it assuming that it might be helpful for our CYO program. It wasn't. After taking a look at it, I decided not to share it with either parents or fellow coaches. I was able to locate free publications from CYO and materials from our AAU program that handle the sportsmanship issues better. I believe that this book was represented to be more than it was. The author may have had good intentions, but this book just doesn't deliver.

This book deals with issues that aren't generally discussed at sport specific clinics and that many coaches don't learn until they've had a bad experience. The liability chapter alone was a huge eye opener to me. I'd recommend this book to any coach, regardless of sport or experience.

An excellent resource for every coach but especially the parent who never thought they would be a coach, but find themselves with a whistle around their neck. It is easy to read and has wonderful realistic examples of dealing with many situations not related to the game itself.

This book is great for those just starting to coach children and the weekend parent-coach. I've never coached children before and found the chapters to be concise and easy to follow. I especially liked the bulleted summary at the end of each chapter. I have confidence that I could be a successful youth coach and will have this book as a reference by my side!

I looked through lots of books at the Bookstore and I was looking more for ideas for practice and helping kids learn new skills. This book provides learning through games, strategies and many more useful tools. I think that keeping the kids busy and learning in practice with little idle time is essential. It also gives you a plan for the year per age group. This book has given me lots of ideas. Thanks.

A more appropriate title would have been "The Psychological Aspects of Coaching Youth Softball". This book's strength is in that area. However, I was very disapointed in it's minimal discussion of specific drills (batting, defense, base running etc.)

This book is a great book to discuss the pshycological aspect of coaching. The book discussed what it means to be a coach and how to deal with parents. It did have a few drills at the end of the book that were somewhat helpful but overall this book didn't have a lot of useful information for myself. If you want a great book for coaching, buy "The baffled Parents Guide To Coaching Youth Softball".

As a first time league softball coach, I was looking for some pointers on teaching basic skills, drills, and organizing practices. Boy, does this book deliver. In simple prose, and with helpful diagrams, this book lays out a thoughtful approach to teaching every aspect of the game, and making it fun. I am beginning my first season with more confidence having read this book. Play ball!

Great book about the Championship season of 88. Lou is a master motivater and takes you inside the college football world and tells what it takes to be a champion. If you give this a bad review, you must be one of the many Irish haters.

Lou Holtz is an excellent football coach. In this book he shows the reader what it takes to win in the high pressure sport of college football. The chapter on Lou Holz's view of life is worth the price alone.

Coach Holtz gives a great description of what his championship season at Notre Dame was like. From player quotes to narratives by outside sources, this book is well worth reading. Just as importantly, Holtz gives his view on the game of life and how to succeed in it.

I love Notre Dame football and am a huge fan of Lou Holtz. But this account of the Irish's championship run is excruciatingly dry to the point of frustrating. Lou's quoted many times saying "...he'll be a fine player..." ugh! Passion and wit were lacking throughout the book. If you want prose above a fifth grade level, save your money.

Are you kidding? People actually write books about one of the worst franchises in the history of sports? Please. The title should be "We are the professional underachievers of the modern era". The Red Sox and the word dreams should never go together in a sentence. Unless of course it's used in the context of destroying people's dreams. That would be correct. If you have any respect for baseball history you should just forget this book. It's a piece of garbage - don't even bother.

This book is really deceiving. There are tons of Red Sox books out this year and this book is not only the cheapest but the cover, except for the Fisk photo, is sort of a weird color. But it's one of the best Sox books I've ever read. The book is a collection of stories from 1901 until the present written by people covering the Red Sox. About 95% of it was new to me and about 95% of that was great. There are stories about the Red Sox world championships (!!!) in 1903 and 1918, Gammons and Ray Fitzgerald on the 1975 World Series, tons of stuff on the Impossible Dream team and even a really really funny poem about Bill Lee. There's a whole section on Ted Williams and the Jackie Robinson tryout, too. It's sort of like reading Red Sox history as it happened. When I showed it to my Dad he remembered some of the old writers and started telling me stories about them and we stayed up late skimming throuigh the book and talking about them. It was really fun.

This is a good anthology of Red Sox writing, but none of these excellent writers is able to change history so that the Red Sox win THE BIG ONE once in awhile. Read Bill Lee's The Little Red (Sox) Book to see a whole bunch of happy endings told in a hilarious way by the one and only Spaceman!

If you liked Red Sox Century then you will absolutely love this. This book is the best writing about the team ever put together, mostly from the newspapers, so it includes stories by guys who write now like Tony Maz and Buckley and Shaughnessy (not his obnoxious stuff) and old timers like Gammons, George Frazier and even Dave Egan. I'm a huge Sox fan but I hadn't read most of what is in here. Original stories from ther 1903 1912 and 1918 World Series, too. I mean this as a compliment, but it's perfect for the beach or the bathroom, or just to have next to your chair as you watch the Sox this summer. It's perfect to browse through while watching a game. I just wish it ended with the Red Sox finally winning the world series.