In the Anaheim Ducks' home arena, a big duck with a special hockey mask drops from the rafters to the ice. A big, fluffy moose with huge antlers pumps up the crowd at the Winnipeg Jets' arena. A huge purple octopus drops to the ice at the Detroit Red Wings' rink to strike fear into the opposition. Hockey fans love the pranks and stunts of these and many other colorful mascots. Join the party and learn all about the weirdest hockey mascots!

In the Dallas Cowboys' stadium, the crowd cheers a cowboy with a huge hat who roars onto the field on a four-wheeler. In Kansas City, a big, furry wolf breaks into a rowdy dance the Chiefs' stadium. In the Tampa Bay Buccaneers' stadium, a fearsome pirate stalks the sidelines as if he's protecting the home team's turf. Football fans enjoy the goofy antics of these and many other colorful mascots. Have a good laugh while learning about the funniest football mascots!

He never saw her coming … After almost a year away from hockey, Bastian Durand’s return to the game should be a triumph. Instead he’s taken down by the Chicago Rebels mascot. It can’t get worse. Or maybe it can. Because the human inside the Rowdy Rebel costume is none other than Pepper Calhoun. His friend’s sister. His coach’s daughter. And the woman Bastian has wanted for the longest time. Pepper has always been a magnet for bad luck and now she’s ruined superstar Bast Durand’s big comeback. So that tracks. Everyone, from her father and brother to the fans and press, heck, even the NHL commissioner, hates her. Everyone but the one guy who should. Hiding away is the only thing she can think of, except Bast has the same idea. To her utter dismay, he’s determined to protect Pepper from anyone who dares breathe a word against her. And to convince her that crashing on the ice isn’t all that different from … falling in love.

Yes, It's Hot in Here explores the entertaining history of the mascot from its jester roots in Renaissance society to the slapstick pantomime of the Clown Prince of Baseball, Max Patkin, all the way up to the mascots of the slam-dunk, rock-and-roll, Jumbotron culture of today. Along the way, author AJ Mass of ESPN.com (a former Mr. Met himself) talks to the pioneers among modern-day mascots like Dave Raymond (Phillie Phanatic), Dan Meers (K. C. Wolf), and Glenn Street (Harvey the Hound) and finds out what it is about being a mascot that simply won't leave the performer. Mass examines what motivates high school and college students to compete for the chance to wear a sweaty animal suit and possibly face the ridicule of their peers in the process, as well as women who have proudly served as mascots for teams in both the pro and amateur ranks. In the book's final chapter, Mass climbs inside a mascot costume one more time to describe what it feels like and, perhaps, rediscover a bit of magic.

During the 1980s, the geography of minor-league professional hockey changed radically, moving from its roots in the Canadian Maritime provinces, New England and the Midwestern states into the American south. In addition to cities like Dallas, Charlotte, Norfolk and Oklahoma City, which had long traditions of minor-league hockey, unlikely places such as Biloxi, Baton Rouge, Little Rock and Augusta hosted teams. Over an 18-year period, minor-league hockey was played in 72 different southern cities, and at one point there were more minor-league teams in Texas than in all of Canada, making Texas the place where many players learned their hockey skills. Hockey Night in Dixie examines this phenomenon with a historical overview of the period, including interviews with people involved in the founding and early years of each of the 13 leagues. There are also in-depth portraits of four teams, one from each of the four lower minor leagues that played during the 2005–06 season. These portraits feature interviews with owners, coaches, players, officials, fans and reporters. Amply illustrated with photographs, Hockey Night in Dixie paints a vivid picture of this extraordinary development in minor-league sports.

Three bestselling Brooklyn Hockey Novels Are Included. Book 1: Overnight Sensation Everyone knows the girl is off limits. But it's so good to be bad He’s a hockey player, she’s an intern. Well really, she’s the league’s commissioner’s daughter. But the way she looks at him is probably illegal in several states. Book 2: Superfan Sometimes lady luck shakes your hand, and sometimes she smacks your face. Sometimes she does both on the same day. Three years ago, he met the most amazing girl… and then had to jump on a plane. Now he’s a hockey player, and she’s a superstar. When their paths cross again, he’ll show her he’s playing to win. Book 3: Sure Shot She has a five-year plan, indexed and color-coded. But she didn’t count on him. On the eve of her thirtieth birthday, successful sports agent Bess Beringer is ready to make some changes. Falling for a big, tall, ripped hunk of hockey was not a part of her plans. They’re both falling hard, until she asks for the one thing he can’t give her… Three complete stories. For more details, visit www.sarinabowen.com for full descriptions.

A wildly evocative chronicle of the decade that changed hockey forever. "Lady Byng died in Boston" read a sign in the Garden arena in 1970, a cheery dismissal of the NHL trophy awarded the game's most gentlemanly player. A new age of hockey was dawning. For 30 years, hockey was an orderly and (relatively) well-behaved sport. There was one Commissioner, six teams and five colours--red, white, black, blue and yellow. Oh, and one nationality. Until 1967, every player, coach, referee and GM in the NHL had been a Canadian. And then came NHL expansion, the founding of the WHA, and garish new uniforms. The Seventies had arrived: the era that gave us not only disco, polyester suits, lava lamps and mullets but also the movie Slap Shot and the arrest of ten NHL players for on-ice mayhem. But it also gave us hockey's greatest encounter (the 1972 Canada-Russia Summit), its most splendid team, the 1976-77 Montreal Canadiens, and the most aesthetically satisfying game--the three-all tie on New Year's Eve, 1975, between the Canadiens and the Soviet Red Army. Modern hockey was born in the sport's wild, sensational, sometimes ugly Seventies growth spurt. The forces at play in the decade's battle for hockey supremacy--dazzling speed vs. brute force--are now, for better or worse, part of hockey's DNA. This book is a welcome reappraisal of the ten years that changed how the sport was played and experienced. Informed by first-hand interviews with players and game officials, and sprinkled with sidebars on the art and artifacts that defined Seventies hockey, the book brings dramatically alive hockey's most eventful, exciting decade.