Birmingham, Alabama - the Football Capital of the South - has likely had more pro football teams than any other city. None have been in the NFL, and all have failed. Quickly. As veteran sportswriter Scott Adamson can attest, loving an off-brand team is the triumph of hope over experience. Having decided at an early age that tackle football was the greatest sport man has yet to invent, Adamson takes on a fan's-eye view of life with Brand X football. The Home Team: My Bromance with Off-Brand Football is the funny, somewhat tortured, journey of a fanatic's life long quest for a hometown team of his own. The Home Team: My Bromance with Off-Brand Football is filled with trivia, history, heartache, and more trivia. And how game day hotdogs can be fatal to young romance. Adamson's account of Birmingham's unsinkable quest for pro football is for any fan whose hometown's reach has exceeded its grasp.

In the tenth installment of the best-selling Eric Walters basketball series, Nick, Kia and their teammates embark on a letter writing campaign to persuade the Toronto Raptors community relations department to send one or more of the players to visit Clark Boulevard Elementary School. Unfortunately they are too late in applying and the team's school program has already been set for the year. But Nick and Kia do not give up easily, and their efforts become increasingly dramatic until Nick finally comes up with an idea that the team will be unable to ignore.

Cassie must learn that you can’t “fix” someone else after a girl with Aspergers joins her softball team in the fourth and final book of the Home Team series from New York Times bestselling author and sports-writing legend Mike Lupica. Cassie Bennett is great at being in charge. She always knows what to do to lead her teams to victory, keep her many groups of friends together, or fix any problem that comes her way. So when Sarah Milligan, an autistic girl with unreal softball skills, joins Cassie’s team, Cassie’s sure she can help her fit in with the team. But before long it’s obvious that being around so many people is really hard for Sarah, and the more Cassie tries to reach out and involve her, the more Sarah pushes her away, sometimes literally. It doesn’t help that Cassie’s teammates aren’t as interested in helping Sarah as they are in making sure they make it to the new softball All-Star Tournament that’ll be televised just like the Little League World Series. Soon no one besides Cassie seems to even want Sarah on the team anymore, and the harder Cassie tries to bring everyone together, the worse things seem to get. Cassie Bennett never backs down from a challenge, but can she realize that maybe the challenge isn’t fixing a problem in someone else, but in herself? Or will her stubbornness lead her to lose more than just softball games?

Can a young baseball star maintain his love of the game after the loss of his brother? Find out in this start to the Home Team series about a small town with high hopes, from New York Times bestselling author and sportswriting legend Mike Lupica. Jack Callahan is the star of his baseball team and seventh grade is supposed to be his year. Undefeated season. Records shattered. Little League World Series. The works. That is, until he up and quits. Jack’s best friend Gus can’t understand how Jack could leave a game that means more to them than anything else. But Jack is done. It’s a year of change. Jack’s brother has passed away, and though his family and friends and the whole town of Walton thinks baseball is just the thing he needs to move on, Jack feels it’s anything but. In comes Cassie Bennett, star softball player, and the only person who seems to think Jack shouldn’t play if he doesn’t want to. As Jack and Cassie’s friendship deepens, their circle expands to include Teddy, a guy who’s been bullied because of his weight. Time spent with these new friends unlocks something within Jack, and with their help and the support of his family and his old friends, Jack discovers sometimes it’s more than just the love of the game that keeps us moving forward—and he might just be able to find his way back to The Only Game, after all.

Delve deep into to the grass roots of baseballs—the Minor League—and you’ll find Cannibals, Shoemakers, and Zephyrs! From the Coal Sox Nation to the Texarkana Casketmakers, Root for the Home Team brings you the most oddly original team names and the stories behind them. Root for the Home Team includes profiles of more than 150 teams and lists of hundreds more—plus fun facts, action shots, and team logos. Impress your baseball buddies with your depth of knowledge! Did you know? - The Altoona Curve were dubbed without ever throwing a breaking ball, thanks to local railroad history. - The Wichita Izzies had a fan so fanatical they named the team after him. - The Mudville Nine were named after the fictitious team in the poem “Casey at the Bat.” Root for the Home Team is a unique book any baseball fan will love.

The New York Times bestseller that's "heaven in hardcover" (New Orleans Times-Picayune) for Saints fans. In the devastation of Hurricane Katrina, no symbol of disaster was more potent than New Orleans' Superdome: it became a horrific shelter of last resort where the utterly desperate rode out the storm. Four years later, in that very stadium, the New Orleans Saints won the NFC championship and earned their first-ever trip to the Super Bowl, where they defeated the favored Indianapolis Colts 31-17. This is the inspirational true story of a city recovering from disaster and a team with a history of heartbreak, as seen through the eyes of the coach who would help elevate them both to long- forgotten greatness.

As the economy becomes increasingly global, businesses need employees who can work in teams that cross borders and transcend physical spaces. In Where in the World Is My Team, fictional character Will Williams shares entertaining anecdotes and practical advice to accustom readers to the challenges of a global, virtual workplace. This easy-to-follow guide, ideal for managers and those interested in succeeding in a global economy, introduces new technologies but focuses especially on the six Key Performance Zones for global team collaboration with briefing report summaries to emphasize key points.