In The ESPN Mighty Book of Sports Knowledge, Steve Wulf, acclaimed author and founding editor of ESPN The Magazine, delivers an arena’s worth of sporting wisdom, trivia, best-of lists, curiosities, legendary feats, and sacred objects–from the magic of Lou Gehrig’s farewell speech to the lore of hockey’s Stanley Cup to the art of the perfectly thrown Wiffle Ball pitch. Written to remind us all why we love the games, this indispensable reference features contributions from the finest minds at ESPN, as well as guidance from actual professionals. Inside you’ll discover • twenty-five of the greatest sporting nicknames • the keys to being a mascot • what happens during a pit stop • the five best (worst?) on-field temper tantrums • a tour of Donovan McNabb’s locker • how Wayne Gretzky tapes his sticks • the unbeatable secret of rock-paper-scissors • how to tape an ankle, fold a paper football, hit a hole in one, whistle with your fingers, throw a knuckleball, jump rope like a champ, and oil a baseball glove • advice from star athletes–learn to run routes like Jerry Rice, take a penalty kick like Landon Donovan, fake opponents out like Chris Paul, and put on your socks the John Wooden way The ESPN Mighty Book of Sports Knowledge is the perfect antidote to our video-game culture and an essential gift for any fan who ever dreamed of throwing a tight spiral in a Super Bowl, closing out a World Series game, or lining up a putt to win a major. In other words, it’s a book for the young and the young at heart.

Big television contracts in the 1960s created the Super Bowl, as well as the 1970 merger of the National Football League with the pass-oriented American Football League. Since then, professional football has been America's most popular televised team sport, developing into a wide-open passing game by the 21st century. Handling the completion side of the aerial game, receivers are not often as celebrated as quarterbacks or coaches, even in the era of San Francisco 49er Jerry Rice's supremacy. This book provides a history of pro pass receiving and its influence on the game prior to the televised era. The author studies pro football's formative and mid-20th century years, highlighting the players who pulled pigskins from flight, like the legendary Don Hutson, Gibby Welch, Johnny Blood, Ray Flaherty, Crazy Legs Hirsch, Mac Speedie, Choo Choo Roberts and many others.

Readers who loved The Fourteenth Goldfish will cheer for Olivia Bean as she strives to win kids’ week Jeopardy! Olivia Bean knows trivia. She watches Jeopardy! every night and usually beats at least one of the contestants. If she were better at geography, she would try out for the show’s kids’ week. Not only could she win bundles of money, she’d get to go to the taping in California, where her dad, who left two years ago and who Olivia misses like crazy, lives with his new family. One day Olivia’s friend-turned-nemesis, Tucker, offers to help her bulk up her geography knowledge. Before Olivia knows it, she’s getting help from all sorts of unexpected sources: her almost-stepdad, super-annoying Neil; her genius little brother, Charlie; even her stressed-out mom. But will the one person she wants to impress more than anyone else show up to support her?

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • The NBA according to The Sports Guy—now updated with fresh takes on LeBron, the Celtics, and more! Foreword by Malcom Gladwell • “The work of a true fan . . . it might just represent the next phase of sports commentary.”—The Atlantic Bill Simmons, the wildly opinionated and thoroughly entertaining basketball addict known to millions as ESPN’s The Sports Guy, has written the definitive book on the past, present, and future of the NBA. From the age-old question of who actually won the rivalry between Bill Russell and Wilt Chamberlain to the one about which team was truly the best of all time, Simmons opens—and then closes, once and for all—every major pro basketball debate. Then he takes it further by completely reevaluating not only how NBA Hall of Fame inductees should be chosen but how the institution must be reshaped from the ground up, the result being the Pyramid: Simmons’s one-of-a-kind five-level shrine to the ninety-six greatest players in the history of pro basketball. And ultimately he takes fans to the heart of it all, as he uses a conversation with one NBA great to uncover that coveted thing: The Secret of Basketball. Comprehensive, authoritative, controversial, hilarious, and impossible to put down (even for Celtic-haters), The Book of Basketball offers every hardwood fan a courtside seat beside the game’s finest, funniest, and fiercest chronicler.

An inspiring anthology of sports short stories for any father, daughter or parent Thank heavens for Title IX. That dusty piece of 1970s legislation not only made an entire generation of American women fitter and stronger and more self-confident, but it also gave fathers throughout the country a greater opportunity to bond with their daughters. The evidence fills the covers of this collection of essays by a stellar roster of sports journalists, champion athletes, and celebrated writers. In the Introduction, basketball star Rebecca Lobo recalls how her dad’s advice continued to ring in her ears long after she last played hoops with him on the gravel driveway of their Massachusetts home. Sportswriting legend Dan Shaughnessy celebrates his daughters’ eye-opening softball exploits. Chris Evert recounts how her tennis coach father, Jimmy, taught her coolness under fire. Bill Simmons proudly bequeaths his love of the NBA to his preschool-aged daughter. Doris Kearns Goodwin explains how the not-so-simple act of filling in a scorecard for a father can be an act of love. Mike Veeck, minor-league team owner (and son of baseball’s great impresario, Bill Veeck), writes about the terrifying disease that blinded his daughter, Rebecca, and how they learned from his own father’s example in dealing with disability. A companion volume to the acclaimed ESPN Books anthology, Fathers & Sons & Sports, Fathers & Daughters & Sports will appeal to everyone who has been either a father or a daughter, or can see himself or herself in these engaging and emotional vignettes. Whether the stories take place on a court, rink, diamond, in the dressage arena, or in the press box, they are universal in appeal, and will touch the hearts of anyone who has ever shot hoops, kicked the ball around, or played catch with a parent or child—and has seen the positive effect these games have on us.

Within these articles is a wealth of knowledge that enlightens the mind and that provides the insight necessary to fully understand the forces at work in the world today. 1. Mind Control Theories and Techniques used by Mass Media 2. The Order of the Illuminati: Its Origins, Its Methods and Its Influence on the World Events 3. The Hidden Hand that Shaped History 4. Origins and Techniques of Monarch Mind Control 5. The World of Mind Control Through the Eyes of an Artist with 13 Alter Personas 6. Who is Baphomet? 7. Aleister Crowley: His Story, His Elite Ties and His Legacy 8. The Mysterious Connection Between Sirius and Human History 9. Dumbing Down Society Part I: Foods, Beverages and Meds 10. Dumbing Down Society Part 2: Mercury in Foods and Vaccines 11. Dumbing-Down Society Part 3: How to Reverse its Effects 12. The Hidden Life of Marilyn Monroe, the Original Hollywood Mind Control Slave (Part-I) 13. The Hidden Life of Marilyn Monroe, the Original Hollywood Mind Control Slave (Part-II) 14. The Agenda Behind Bruce Jenner’s Transformation 15. NXIVM: The Powerful Cult That Turns Rich Women Into Mind Controlled Slaves