The season’s must-have gift book Some sports seem to have a natural home. Soccer in Brazil, rugby in New Zealand, cricket in India. And Canada’s game? Why hockey, of course. But it wasn’t always that way. By 1982, the Soviets had won every World Junior Hockey Championship except one, while Canada had earned only a single bronze medal. And then Hockey Canada launched the Programme of Excellence, a national development system designed to help put together teams that would be able to square off against the Soviets. The result was immediate. To everyone’s surprise, when Canada took gold in 1982 the American hosts didn’t even have a copy of “O Canada” to play during the championship ceremony. But after that, no one would be surprised by a Canadian win. This Boxing Day will mark the thirtieth anniversary of the program that brought hockey fans many glorious memories and made household names of several of our players. Richly illustrated, Thirty Years of the Game at Its Best takes readers on a year by-year retrospective, with each tournament’s story told from the perspectives of the players, coaches, and journalists who were there. This book is an extraordinary keepsake, published just in time for the 2012 World Junior Hockey Championships. Contributors include Mike Babcock, Brendan Bell, Murray Costello, Damien Cox, Sheldon Ferguson, Gare Joyce, Terry Koshan, Roy MacGregor, Steven Milton, Frank Orr, Donna Spencer, Jesse Wallin, Tim Wharnsby and Ed Willes.

“I’m Third” – Synopsis "I'm Third" consists of the signature story and a collection of success secrets and anecdotes resulting from my 3 decades of serving as a motivational speaker, personal development coach and a corporate strategic planning consultant for business and industry ... the book is designed to be inspirational, informative and a "fun read." Readers will be left with new information that can help them to improve different facets of their lives. Each chapter is anchored with relevant quotes from celebrities, authors and business executives related to the topic being highlighted. There is also a sprinkling of my real-life experiences that help to support the validity of the information being shared with the reader.

Since 1875, southeastern Connecticut has played host to the oldest high school football rivalry in the nation: the Norwich Free Academy Wildcats versus the New London Whalers. This complex and competitive rivalry has inspired mayhem and merriment, from biased officials, cheating faculty and vandalism among students to disco-dancing coaches and marching band rallies. Learn how a fight during the 1951 meeting stopped the game for two years, how the Bulkeley Tigers (who became New London High School in 1951) finished their regular season in 1941 without a loss or tie and how the 1997 game ended a fourteen-game losing streak for the Norwich Free Academy. Join sportswriter Brian Girasoli as he recounts a spirit that transcends the ages and chronicles the evolution of this 135-year-old-rivalry.

Whether you are a baseball fan or not, reading Championing the Cause of Leadership will deepen your skillset as a leader and could dramatically improve the future of your team. If your organization is not performing at its best, this book is for you. It puts you right into the shoes of the leaders of the great baseball dynasties and demonstrates how they overcame challenges common to those in our own teams and groups. Topics include managing and motivating highly talented but dysfunctional individuals, turning around careers that have stalled late in life, better understanding the practical benefits of diversity and inclusion, and inspiring individuals to find their best within the context of their teams. Meyer combines his over thirty years representing some of the world’s top companies with his deep knowledge of baseball history and looks at leadership from a brand-new perspective. Learn the value of encouraging leadership from all levels in your organization. Discover the critical importance of leaders coming to terms with their own internal demons before they can reach their full potential. Unlock the secrets of how to out-perform the competition in times of intense pressure and how to find opportunity in times of crisis. The stories of the greatest teams of our greatest game are wildly entertaining and provide unique insight into our own success. Whether you are a baseball fan or not, reading Championing the Cause of Leadership will deepen your skillset as a leader and could dramatically improve the future of your team.

"In 'City of Hope, City of Rage: Miami, 1968-1994,' Seth A. Weitz examines the transformative period when the young city-founded under Jim Crow in 1896 and searching for an identity after the upheavals of the 1950s and 60s-began to strive for maturity. Tracing three turbulent decades marked by mass immigration, racially motivated uprisings, economic inequity, rising crime, and social change, 'City of Hope, City of Rage' tells the story of Miami's evolution from a predominantly white southern city and vacation community into what is now a global, predominantly Hispanic metropolis with an international tourist base-one which nevertheless remains one of the most segregated cities in the United States. Drawing on numerous primary sources, including one-on-one interviews with people who lived the history, Weitz assembles a kaleidoscopic portrait of his hometown's coming of age, returning again and again to the question of how Miami is defined, who gets to define it, and, by extension, the parameters of civic identity and belonging in an increasingly cosmopolitan network of communities"