"The Funniest People in Sports: 250 Anecdotes About Sports" contains such anecdotes as the following: Umpire Beans Reardon once made a mistake. Richie Ashburn slid into second base and Billy Cox attempted to tag him. Beans yelled 'Safe," but at the same time he flung his arm in the 'Out" gesture. Mr. Ashburn asked, 'What the hell does that mean?" Mr. Reardon replied, 'Richie, you know you're safe. Billy, you know he's safe. But 30,000 fans see my arm. Richie, you're out." Figure skater Rosalynn Sumners has a tendency to put on weight. When she was skating for Disney, her contract required her to be weighed each week, and if she was three pounds over her desired weight, Disney fined her $10. After a while, Ms. Sumners began to stand on the scales each week with a $10 bill in her hand.

This book contains such anecdotes as these: 1) Bob Zuppke coached the football Illini for years. In a discussion of football rules, someone described a play and asked whether the officials had made the right call. Before answering, however, Mr. Zuppke asked, "Which team made the foul-Illinois or the other one?" 2) At a Westminster Dog Show in Madison Square Garden, a woman was selling an expensive coat made for dogs. Saying "We want her dog to look as smart as madame," the saleslady held up a pink cocktail coat made out of embroidered silk with a lining of mohair. Sportswriter Robert Lipsyte asked her, "When would a dog wear that?" The saleslady replied, "After five o'clock." 3) Shannon Martin was six years old when she won an age-12-and-under roping contest, for which she was written up in the "Roping Sports News." Because she hadn't learned to read yet, she kept saying to her father, "Come on, Dad. Read it again."

This is an easy-to-read retelling of William Shakespeare's "Richard II." People who read this version first will find the original play much easier to read and understand.

Jason and the Argonauts tells the story of their quest to find the Golden Fleece. They sail from Greece into the Black Sea. With the help of the sorceress Medea, they succeed in getting the Golden Fleece but then have to sail back home. This myth is one of the most important myths of ancient Greece.

This is an easy-to-read retelling of William Shakespeare's "1 Henry VI." People who read this version first will find the original much easier to read.

This is an easy-to-read retelling of William Shakespeare's ""A Midsummer Night's Dream,"" whose major theme is love and the silly things it makes us do: 1) Love can make us see a distinction where no real distinction exists. 2) Love can make us desire someone who is totally unsuitable for us. 3) Love can make us blind to the loved one's faults. 4) Love can make us jealous. 5) Love can make friends enemies. 6) Love can make us quarrelsome. 7) Love can make us fickle. 8) If we are rejected, love can make us have low self-esteem (e.g., Helena). 9) Love can make us chase after someone who hates us. 10) Love can make us attempt to use reason to explain love although love is a nonrational emotion. (Lysander does this.) 11) Love is not irrational, although it can make people act in silly ways. Love is nonrational. 12) One of the best comments on the nonrationality of love is made by Bottom: "And yet, to say the truth, reason / and love keep little company together nowadays."