Pitching Around Fidel: A Journey into the Heart of Cuban Sports Review

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(More customer reviews)I was moved to tears by S.L. Price's poignant and unique view into the Cuban life. S.L. clearly drew on his sincere personal interest in Cuban culture to gain unprecedented access to compelling figures like Teofilo Stevenson and Lazaro Valle. We all know about El Duque, but Valle's bittersweet story, recounted with giddy mirthful hilarity behiond a dilapidated garage, left a haunting impression of perhaps the world's greatest pitcher, reduced to sneaking change out of a waiter's tip. Sweet as lemon pie.

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When Saturday Comes: The Half Decent Football Book (When Saturday Comes Magazine) Review

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(More customer reviews)An encyclopedia of British football compiled by the staff of When Saturday Comes, one of the best-written and engaging soccer periodicals on the market. If you're not interested in every club in the United Kingdom, or if you feel no affinity to British culture, this book is not for you. But if you enjoy the writing of Nick Hornby or Ian Plenderleith, this is a great A to Z guide of British football (current only through the 2005-06 season, the year the work was published).

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The best chants, the funniest nicknames, the greatest headlines and enough little-known facts to keep the average football supporter entertained and entertaining for several seasons. This is the story of the greatest game on earth, from abandoned matches' to Yeovil Town', via celebrity fans, mascots, punditry and superstitions, written from the fan's point of view and with a separate entry for every club in the English and Scottish leagues. Who cares why, if Torquay United's strikers had been more prolific in the 1950s, England may never have won the World Cup; or where football hooliganism actually began; or who the hell Captain Henry Blythe Thornhill Wakelam is? We do. Because as every true student of the game knows: it's important.

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The Fix: Soccer and Organized Crime Review

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(More customer reviews)I started reading this book on Sunday night, and I finished it on Monday night. I ate this book up like a hungry lover of the most beautiful game in the world; hungry for information, hungry for nostalgia but most of all, hungry for the truth. Declan Hill has written a book which is astounding in all its parts; the meticulous research, skill in following leads, tying up various and diverse pieces of information, a thorough and intelligent analysis of the game, the power structures of corruption, the legal obstacles and the people. Not only is his writing fluid and his reasoning logical, it is also accessible. He presents a highly complex subject in plain English which allows the reader to follow him on a journey around the world in concrete, rational and credible steps, to reach his or her own conclusion. This book does not tell you what to think, it gives you the information, and the freedom to do so.


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The Fix is the most explosive story of sports corruption in a generation. Intriguing, riveting, and compelling, it tells the story of an investigative journalist who sets out to examine the world of match-fixing in professional soccer.From the IntroductionUnderstand how gambling fixers work to corrupt a soccer game and you will understand how they move into a basketball league, a cricket tournament, or a tennis match (all places, by the way, that criminal fixers have moved into). My views on soccer have changed. I still love the Saturday-morning game between amateurs: the camaraderie and the fresh smell of grass. But the professional game leaves me cold. I hope you will understand why after reading the book. I think you may never look at sport in the same way again.From the Hardcover edition.

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The Billion Dollar Game: Behind the Scenes of the Greatest Day In American Sport - Super Bowl Sunday Review

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(More customer reviews)The subtitle on this book states that it will take you "behind the scenes of the greatest day in American sport...Super Bowl Sunday". Well, author Allen St. John delivered superbly on that promise.
Basically, this book takes you through the lion's share of the preparation that goes into pulling off perhaps the biggest logistical nightmare in sporting history...the NFL Super Bowl. From choosing a stadium (heck, BUILDING a stadium!), coordinating the crowd, throwing the parties, and broadcasting the on-field action, among many other areas, St. John takes you along for the ride as he begins to truly understand the magnitude of the events he is witnessing.
As a lifelong football fan, I have always watched the Super Bowl, but never really researched the kind of work that goes into making it all run smoothly (or at least as close to that definition as possible). St. John actually makes it fun, too, as his interviews with the key orchestrators of the event are always revealing without being pushy or overly dramatic...he's just a guy trying to wrap his head around everything.
There are really only two complaints I have about the book: First, is the prolonged focus on the building of the new stadium in Tempe, Arizona to host the Big Game. It almost seemed as if St. John's original goal was to show the kind of economic impact a new stadium could have on a particular reason, but then decided to broaden his scope. Also, I was left a little bit wanting by the ending; more specifically the fact that so little was actually written about the actual Super Bowl in question. St. John does a remarkable job of showing his readers the build-up to the event, but fizzles a bit when actually describing the events that made it all pay off.
All in all, though, this book is a fun little read for all NFL fans (or anyone in the marketing/advertising/production fields!) that will leave you wondering how it will all come together this February.

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The Game of Their Lives Review

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(More customer reviews)I felt the book was good and it showed how guys with desire and determination can win even though the odds are against them. Also, the fact that 5 of the starting players on the team were from St Louis, Missouri, and knew each other helped bring together a winning combination. Walter Bahr and Ed McElvinney played together for the Philadelphia Nationals, as well as John Souza and Ed Souza who played together in Falls River,Massachusetts. In previous years, many of us have played against each other. The 1950 game was a most memorable experience for me as goalie for the USA team.

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Stealing Lives: The Globalization of Baseball and the Tragic Story of Alexis Quiroz Review

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(More customer reviews)I found Stealing Lives a great book and I will recomend it to everyone who wants to know the dark side of baseball in its relationship with Latinoamerica. A reviewer claimed that the office established by the Commissioner's Office in the Domincian Republic is not discussed in the book when actually is deeply analysed in several chapters. ...

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While some Latin American superstars have overcome discrimination tostrike gold in baseball's big leagues, thousands more Latin American players nevermake it to "The Show." Stealing Lives focuses on the plight of one Venezuelanteenager and documents abuses that take place against Latin children and young menas baseball becomes a global business. The authors reveal that in their efforts tosecure cheap labor, Major League teams often violate the basic human rights ofchildren.As a young boy growing up in Venezuela, Alexis Quirozdreamed of playing in the Major Leagues. Alexis's dreams were like those ofthousands of other boys in the Dominican Republic and Venezuela, and Major Leagueteams encouraged such dreams by recruiting Latin children as young as 10 and 11years old. Determined to become a big league player, Alexis finished high schoolearly and dedicated himself to landing a contract with a Major League team. Alexissigned with the Chicago Cubs in 1995 at age 17 and then began a harrowing ordeal ofexploitation, mistreatment, and disrespect at the hands of the Chicago Cubs,including playing for the Cubs' Dominican Summer League team in appalling livingconditions. Alexis's baseball career came to an abrupt end by an injury for whichthe Cubs provided no adequate medical treatment. The story continues, however, withAlexis's pursuit of justice in the United States to ensure that other Venezuelan andDominican boys do not encounter similar experiences.What happenedto Alexis is not an isolated case-Major League teams routinely deny Latin childrenand young men the basic protections that their U.S. counterparts take for granted.This exploitation violates international legal standards on labor standards and thehuman rights of children. Stealing Lives concludes by analyzing various reforms toredress the inequities big league baseball creates in its globalization.

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