Players Books

This guide is a must have for any player who wishes to play in college. It has all the ins and outs of the recruiting process and offers great advice. Players, coaches and parents all should read this guide. I dont know what I would have done without it.

The softball recruiting process is such a confusing time, and this guide really helped simplify it for me! It's got some great advice in there for players, parents, and coaches. I definately recommend it to anyone interested in playing college sports.

Stacy Wilson has written a great introduction to hockey for girls of all ages. She reviews the basics including positioning, terminology and equipment needs. More importantly, she introduces the young reader to role models in women's hockey with profiles on past and current international stars. The book is laid out in a manner which makes it enjoyable for both kids and adults to read. I recommend this book for all young female athletes, but especially for those with an interest in hockey.

Stacy Wilson has written a great introduction to hockey for girls of all ages. She reviews the basics including positioning, terminology and equipment needs. More importantly, she introduces the young reader to role models in women's hockey with profiles on past and current international stars. The book is laid out in a manner which makes it enjoyable for both kids and adults to read. I recommend this book for all young female athletes, but especially for those with an interest in hockey.

With the retirement of Patrick Roy in May 2003, fans are seeking information, books, etc about him. This book is a delightful addition to any Patrick Roy collection. It is not an indepth account of his life but is more of a tribute. This is an easy read and has many colorful photos that capture again for us some of his more memorable moments in hockey. It is a definite must for a true Patrick Roy fan.

Andrew Podnieks provides the reader with an insightful look at the top rated goalie in our present game of ice hockey. From seven years old, Patrick Roy has had a unflinching desire to be a great goaltender in the National Hockey League. This book reviews Roy's illustrious career beginning with Montreal Canadiens and provides the reader with his carrer highlites up to his present team,The Stanley Cup winners, the Colorado Avalanche. It's a must read for any hockey fan young or old.

I loved this story of hardship and struggle. It made me realize if you have a dream go after it. I liked the reality of life portrayed in this book.I think that William and Aurthur and their families were perfect for this documentary. HOOP DREAMS HOOP DREAMS HOOP DREAMS

...Spinning, around the back swooping in for the lay-up. The kids swarmed around the b-ball court as Arthur plays ball with the other boys. He shoots lights out, drives past the defense.... Growing up, Arthur was always a top competitor. As he gets to high school he learns some hard lessons about life. As does William Gates, the other star basketball player. The book is filled with great details about the games, the dazzling life experiences, the realistic settings the book describes. The story of two boys: great basketball players growing up, living their lives through basketball, in and out of school. This book was really great; it taught me about how it is to live in bad conditions and to fight against odds to get what you want. I think everybody with a goal who is willing to work towards goals they set, should read this book.

great seller...i really appreciate it. fast shipping

I wasn't looking to buy the book when I went to the bookstore, but was struck by its nifty teal-colored cover that included a raised print of little tennis rackets. Cool! I have played a little tennis and seen and heard Tracy Austin on tennis telecasts, so I went ahead and bought the book. The nice thing about it is that it's not bogged down in a lot of technical jargon about how to hit shots. Instead it covers basics like terminology, the rules, etiquette, what clothes to wear, how to pick out a racquet, where to find the best instruction, and so forth. Also, it's not dry. All the book's info comes out in a fictional story that drives the book, telling of a tennis novice (Stacy, who's not to be confused with Tracy, I assume) who has moved to a new town and decides to take up tennis to make new friends. To get prepared, she goes to a tennis club and gets shuffled from expert to expert, each telling her the ins and outs of a particular aspect of tennis. Stacy's is a cute story and a neat way of getting all this stuff across. I don't know how much of the writing is Austin's and how much is Eubanks's, but it's pretty funny at times and certainly informative. It is also accompanied by notepad doodles and drawings, sort of reminiscent of the O.J. Simpson Legal Pad book that came out two years ago. Some of the drawings are a bit lame, but the book is definitely useful. A glossary in back is especially helpful as a reference tool. This book probably won't teach you how to play tennis like Tracy Austin, but it sure will allow you to understand and enjoy it more.

I found Randall's book to be a captivating, thoroughly enjoyable reading experience. From his early years in Santa Barbara to his career at UNLV, Randall paints a picture of a tough but exciting upbringing. He uses colorful stories combined with retrospective wisdom to illustrate how events in his formative years shaped him as an individual. He also details his misunderstood and often criticized career with the Philadelphia Eagles, as well as his views on fellow team members and other influential figures in his life. Without a doubt, one of the most important aspects of the book is Randall's relationship with God. He talks about the many dimensions of his Faith, and there influence on him both as a player and as a person. It is genuinely refreshing for someone so well-known to acknowledge the value of his beliefs as an instrument in his success. This book is an excellent read not only for football fans, but for anyone who enjoys stories of faith and overcoming the odds.

I highly recommend this book for anyone to get an understanding of one of the most maligned great athletes of all time. While much has happened in Randall Cunningham's career since the book was published in 1993; this book is still a very good read. Randall is by far the most talented quarterback to ever play in the NFL. He's done things in his career that were never done before. For example, he is the only NFL quarterback to LEAD his team in rushing in four consecutive seasons. He is the first NFL qb to rush for 4,000 yards in a career and needs only 78 to be the first to rush for 5,000, though missing half of his career due to injuries, benchings and politics. His touchdown/interception ratio 1.544 is fifth all-time behind only Steve Young 2.168, Joe Montana 1.964, Brett Favre 1.668 and Dan Marino 1.666. He is one of the greatest playmakers in NFL history, regardless of position. He has brought excitement and enjoyment to an increasingly regimented and boring game.

Contrary to "expert" and fan opinion, Randall Cunningham is also a winner. His career winning percentage as an NFL starting quarterback is .612 [Young .657, Favre .649, Marino .612, Elway .632, Kelly .632, Esiason .452, Aikman .569, Moon .505], comparable to great quarterbacks of his and any era. What's even more noteworthy is that during Randall's 11-year career with the Philadelphia Eagles, seven NFC East division teams won Super Bowl championships [NY Giants2, Washington Redskins 2 and Dallas Cowboys three. Had Randall's Eagles been in a far less competitive division in the AFC, who knows how many more wins and Super Bowl appearances Cunningham and his Eagles would have earned. Yet, he's always been maligned and vilified in the media.

Since leaving the Eagles, Cunningham has drifted to the Vikings, Cowboys and Ravens. Yet he has continued to maintain a high level of performance, even though he's had to put up with sitting behind inferior quarterbacks. This book is great for fans of Randall Cunningham. It will even give his detractors another viewpoint of this remarkably gifted athlete.

A great, gritty, compelling look at what it really takes to play tennis. We're not just talking technique, we're talking about what it takes to be a winner -- before, during and after matches. Filled with great anecdotes and insights into the game's great players (and near-greats), Fox has crafted a book guaranteed to improve your appreciation and talent at this exceptionally mental game. Joel Drucker

I read this as a fifteen year-old. More than 20 years later, it remains one of the best books I have read.

Don't think it's only about tennis or sport. It's about winning. I use the techniques in business, sport, and generally in life.

Written in the '70s, the examples are obviously very outdated, but the essense and content remain epiphanic.

Amazon unfortunately, doesn't carry it anymore. I suggest buying it from one of the other sport-media stores.

Wee Free Men is a children's book, but in the great tradition of British children's novels: it can be enjoyed by kids and adults alike. For my money, it is Pratchett's finest children's book. In the precocious, ferociously intelligent young witch Tiffany Aching he has created one of the great child protagonists in the genre. In the drinking, thieving, fighting and cussing Nac Mac Feegles, the Pictsies, the wee free men of the title, he has one of the comic forces of nature. The combination will make you laugh out loud. Repeatedly.

This 2008 edition brings Stephen Player's illustrations to Pratchett's 2003 novel. In some ways, some of the illustrations are a little too sweet. Tiffany Aching probably isn't that pretty, and I'm completely certain that Nac Mac Feegles are not nearly that clean or cute. But in other ways the illustrations are masterful. Tiffany's "unsuitable boots" are perfect. There are four delightful fold-out pages, the flashbacks are styled as diary pages, and the text of signs are set out as signs. The monsters are monsters, just short of terrifying, especially the dromes and the nightmares. And there's even a bit of new material for those of us who have read (and re-read) the book already.

The cameos by the Discworld's most famous witches at the end are spot-on. And Player's copy of "The Fairy Fellers' Master-Stroke" is inspired, even if the Feegle is being vulgar.

Too often, illustrations added later simply float over the story. Stephen Player's drawings, to a very considerable extent, add to the pleasure of the book. When Tiffany finds the way into Faerie, the fold-out drawing hides and reveals, just as Tiffany struggles to see with First Sight.

Player has brought new and additional delight to a delightful book. Very highly recommended.

Terry Pratchett's "Wee Free Men" in its original form has already been a wonderful appendix to the main Discworld book series, "Wee Free Men" being the first of the books written about Tiffany Aching, a young witch in-training and friend to the pictsies (think of drunken, thieving, fighting pixies with Scots accents; but never never never refer to them as "pixies" -- it would be safer to call the Librarian a "monkey"). As with all the best books written for a "young people" audience, the book is immensely enjoyable by an intelligent adult. Even in its original, text-only version it was a great pleasure, and now that enjoyment is enhanced thanks to the vivid, evocative illustrations in this new edition. I suppose it is impossible for an illustrator to exactly match the visual impressions already held by a reader, but Stephen Player does a good job at capturing the spirit of the thing. In several cases, the illustrations are cleverly integrated into the text, not presented merely as decorations.

If a reader is new to Discworld, this would be a good introduction (some of the later Discworld novels in the main series benefit from a previous familiariy with that peculiar world, although it does not delve into elephants on the back of a giant, space-swimming turtles; but a couple of popular characters from the main Discworld novels are on hand). And for long-time Discworld fans, it is simply a delight.

Wow! Imagine finally got made into a mass produced game! I am one of the original players of Imagine from back when it was just a small group of us gathered around Mike's dining table with the flimsy photocopied books on friday night. If this final version of Imagine is half as good as the version we played back then, then this is a must have book! I'm just surprised it took me this long to find out about it.

Congratulations, Mike! I mean that, I am happy to see one of your dreams come true.

From all the other Role Play Games, this one is one of the most accurate as far as reality. There is a factual account for all things that do not exist in the real world. This includes Magic, Magical Creatures, and World Design. I would recommend it to players ages 10 and up. It is a grand way for a family to get together and improve basic schooling skills such as: mathematics, reading, and mental creativity.

Though published through the regional University of Akron Press, the autobiography of Wayne Embry is essential reading for basketball fans, sports historians and those intrigued on how sports reflects the games played by the power brokers in society.

Embry was a professional player and climbed the corporate ladder in the NBA during eras when the racial divide was felt in locker rooms and in neighborhoods throughout the nation.

Perhaps mostly known nationally as the executive who traded Kareem Abdul-Jabbar - from the Milwaukee Bucks to the Los Angeles Lakers - Embry drew the ire of Cleveland Cavalier fans for the trading of Ron Harper, which is covered in depth.

But it's within the inside game on the hardwood floor of life - that needed the finesse of a swift ball-handling point guard and the sharp elbows of a tough power forward - where Embry ultimately excelled. He did not close the doors of opportunity when he maneuvered into a position to take advantage of a small opening, but has been a trailblazer by leading the way for many others into successful careers in pro basketball and the corporate world.

I just finished this book tonight, and it's one of the best sports autobiographies I've read in ages, and I read most of them. Wayne Embry is a pioneer, and a man that overcame a tremendous amount of racism and adversity in his life to become a power player (GM) of 2 NBA ballclubs.
I have had the pleasure of meeting Mr. Embry in passing at camps, and he was a kind gentleman. I always admired him but never knew all that he went through. To be fair in my review, I must say that in reading the book, he seems at times overly-sensitive in his analysis of some situations, especially those with Cavs ownership, and that he often seems to have felt slighted, when he may have just been a casualty of an underachieving ballclub, and NOT the victim of racism.
Either way, the man is an intellect, and also found success in business as a big-time McDonald's franchisee and sat on the BOD of several Fortune 500 companies, as well as a trustee of his alma mater, Miami of Ohio. A man who has been married to the same woman for almost 50 years. A man of conviction.
I say this for Embry, whether or not you agree or disagree with his views, he pulls no punches. He tells it like it is, and does not sugar coat things in this book. There's nothing worse than shelling out $20 or $30 for a book, and then you get nothing but cliche nonsense, or the same old fuzzy stories you already knew from the sports pages or internet.
This book is a must for old-time/vintage NBA fans or those who wonder what it's like to be a GM of a team. Wayne Embry was not only a physical specimen, but a cerebral giant of a man, and this is one helluva read. Kudos, Big Wayne. Regards, James R. Acho, Esq. www.cmda-law.com