In every sport, in every country around the world, there are fans on the losing side who know that something other than skill and luck beat their favorite team or player. Sometimes they’re actually right. That’s why sports lovers will devour this inside look at the 25 biggest myths and scandals in professional and collegiate athletics. Elliott Kalb examines each potential outrage in detail, supporting and debunking popular beliefs along the way. In some cases, proof does exist that the “fix” was in—like the 1919 World Series thrown by the Chicago “Black” Sox players or the conspiracy to keep African Americans out of Major League Baseball until 1947. In others, there remain only whispers of wrongdoing and suspicious circumstances, including the Jets’ win in Super Bowl III and Muhammad Ali’s first-round knockout of Sonny Liston. This is sure to capture the imagination of anyone who has ever wondered what really happened behind the scenes.

In this book, long-time TV sports statistician and self-professed skeptic Elliot Kalb examines the most notorious conspiracies in sports history-in baseball and football, the NBA and the NHL, the racetrack and the prize ring, and beyond. Separating myth from fact, Kalb attempts to determine which of these long-held conspiracy theories hold water, and which ones fall flat under scrutiny. He thoroughly evaluates conspiracies like the possible fixing of Super Bowl III, Sonny Liston throwing his fights with Muhammad Ali, and why Michael Jordan retired from basketball the first time. In this updated addition, he also includes sections on Spygate, questioning whether or not the Patriots had footage of the Rams walk-through before Super Bowl XXXVI; the 1973 tennis match between Bobby Riggs and Billie Jean King, which Riggs may have thrown; and the controversy surrounding Roger Clemens, who has never failed a drug test, yet seems destined to be hanged with the steroids rope

In Kings of the Garden, Adam J. Criblez traces the fall and rise of the New York Knicks between the 1973, the year they won their last NBA championship, and 1985, when the organization drafted Patrick Ewing and gave their fans hope after a decade of frustrations. During these years, the teams led by Walt Frazier, Earl Monroe, Bob McAdoo, Spencer Haywood, and Bernard King never achieved tremendous on-court success, and their struggles mirrored those facing New York City over the same span. In the mid-seventies, as the Knicks lost more games than they won and played before smaller and smaller crowds, the city they represented was on the brink of bankruptcy, while urban disinvestment, growing income inequality, and street gangs created a feeling of urban despair. Kings of the Garden details how the Knicks' fortunes and those of New York City were inextricably linked. As the team's Black superstars enjoyed national fame, Black musicians, DJs, and B-boys in the South Bronx were creating a new culture expression—hip-hop—that like the NBA would become a global phenomenon. Criblez's fascinating account of the era shows that even though the team's efforts to build a dynasty ultimately failed, the Knicks, like the city they played in, scrappily and spectacularly symbolized all that was right—and wrong—with the NBA and the nation during this turbulent, creative, and momentous time.

As long as people have played games, there has been a temptation to win (or intentionally lose) by cheating. Infamous cases throughout the history of sport abound, from the "thrown" 1919 World Series to the recent doping confessions of track star Marion Jones. In this entertaining and informative book, sports historian Fran Zimniuch recalls the notorious scandals that have tainted our most popular sports, concluding that such incidents are often a reflection of the times. Benefiting from personal interviews with many figures either involved in or on the periphery of recent scandals, including BALCO''s Victor Conte, Crooked presents a pageant of infamy as rich as the history of modern sports itself.

Though Americans spend more than $25 billion a year on sports and sporting events, this book argues that the influence of sports on our lives is even more profound than this huge figure would seem to suggest. Exploring such topics as the role of sports in the creation of mass culture, cheating, the abuse of illegal drugs, the strange and fascinating role that numbers play in sporting events, and the future of spectator sport, this book surveys the outsized impact that sports have on American culture. The author draws from new work in such fields as history, economics, politics, sociology, psychology, and ethics to support his claims. Instructors considering this book for use in a course may request an examination copy here.

This is the definitive history of thoroughbred racing's three premier events, which have never before been explored in such detail. This book gives the history of America's classic races from the inaugural Belmont Stakes in 1867 through 2013, identifying which equine participants were truly worthy of lasting acclaim and which were one-hit wonders. Perhaps even more compelling are the stories of the men and women who rode, trained, owned, or bred classic winners, including their exploits on the turf and their triumphs and failures in arenas far removed from horse racing.

What if Babe Ruth had not been sold to the Yankees in 1920 and instead played his entire career in Boston? What if Muhammad Ali had lost or quit in his first fight against Sonny Liston? What if the Brooklyn Dodgers and New York Giants had never moved to the West Coast? What if Vince Lombardi had become head coach of his hometown Giants instead of heading to Green Bay? How would sports history, and our perception of it, be different today? These are some of the questions asked and answered in this entertaining book of alternate history, the first book of its kind in the field of sports. It is sure to appeal to every thoughtful sports fan. Skyhorse Publishing, as well as our Sports Publishing imprint, are proud to publish a broad range of books for readers interested in sports—books about baseball, pro football, college football, pro and college basketball, hockey, or soccer, we have a book about your sport or your team. Whether you are a New York Yankees fan or hail from Red Sox nation; whether you are a die-hard Green Bay Packers or Dallas Cowboys fan; whether you root for the Kentucky Wildcats, Louisville Cardinals, UCLA Bruins, or Kansas Jayhawks; whether you route for the Boston Bruins, Toronto Maple Leafs, Montreal Canadiens, or Los Angeles Kings; we have a book for you. While not every title we publish becomes a New York Times bestseller or a national bestseller, we are committed to publishing books on subjects that are sometimes overlooked by other publishers and to authors whose work might not otherwise find a home.