La Sports

LA Sports brings together sixteen essays covering various aspects of the development and changing nature of sport in one of America’s most fascinating and famous cities. The writers cover a range of topics, including the history of car racing and ice skating, the development of sport venues, the power of the Mexican fan base in American soccer leagues, the intersecting life stories of Jackie and Mack Robinson, the importance of the Showtime Lakers, the origins of Muscle Beach and surfing, sport in Hollywood films, and more.

With multiple franchises in pro sports -- Lakers and Clippers (NBA), Dodgers and Angels (MLB), and Kings and Ducks (NHL) -- plus major interest in UCLA and USC athletics, LA's fans are some of the most sports-crazed in the country. Matt "Money" Smith and Steve Hartman -- two of the leading authorities on So-Cal sports -- stir up the scene with this entertaining compilation, including guest lists from Kobe Bryant, Phil Jackson, Luc Robitaille, Jeanie Buss, Steve Garvey, and many more.

LA Sports brings together sixteen essays covering various aspects of the development and changing nature of sport in one of America’s most fascinating and famous cities. The writers cover a range of topics, including the history of car racing and ice skating, the development of sport venues, the power of the Mexican fan base in American soccer leagues, the intersecting life stories of Jackie and Mack Robinson, the importance of the Showtime Lakers, the origins of Muscle Beach and surfing, sport in Hollywood films, and more.

NOlympians: Inside the Fight Against Capitalist Mega-Sports in Los Angeles, Tokyo and Beyond investigates the intersection of the global rise of anti-Olympics activism and the declining popularity of hosting of the Games. The Olympics were once buoyed by myths of luminous prosperity and upticks in tourism and jobs, but in recent years these assurances have been debunked. Now more than ever, it’s clear that the Olympics have transmogrified into a political-economic juggernaut that arrives with displacement, expanded policing, and anti-democratic backroom deals. Jules Boykoff – a former professional soccer player who represented the US Olympic soccer team – zooms in on Los Angeles, where the Democratic Socialists of America have launched the NOlympics LA campaign ahead of the 2028 Summer Games. Boykoff shows how DSA-LA’s anti-Olympics activism fits with the resurgence of socialism in the US and beyond. Boykoff’s research, based on more than 100 interviews with anti-Olympics activists, personal experiences at protests in Los Angeles, Rio de Janeiro, London, and Tokyo, academic research, mass- and alternative-media coverage, and Olympic archives, is the backbone for this story of activists fighting against the odds and embracing the transformative politics of democratic socialism.

For nearly sixty years, Bud Furillo wrote and talked about sports in Southern California. For fifteen of those years, he authored a popular column for the Los Angeles Herald Examiner called The Steam Room, which gave him the nickname that lasted him for the rest of his life: “the Steamer.” As a reporter, columnist, editor, and pioneer of sports talk radio, the Steamer dished out insight and understanding to Southern California sports fans while Los Angeles grew into a sports empire. On his watch, L.A. acquired the Rams from Cleveland, the Dodgers from Brooklyn, and the Lakers from Minneapolis. He covered them all while they won championships for the city. In The Steamer: Bud Furillo and the Golden Age of L.A. Sports, Furillo’s son, Andy, himself a longtime newspaperman, uses his father’s lens to give focus to the city’s rise as a sports empire. The Steamer is a history of a great sports town at its most dynamic, told from the point of view of a legendary reporter who used his phenomenal access to reveal the inside story of the greatest athletes and teams to ever play in Los Angeles.

For five decades, distinguished sportswriter Doug Krikorian chronicled LA's most transcendent sports moments. Revisit revered columns enshrining iconic achievements like when rookie Magic Johnson scored forty-two points and collected fifteen rebounds, leading the Lakers to the NBA title against the Philadelphia 76ers. Celebrate with the Angels all over again after their 2002 World Series victory. Reflect on momentous stories featuring Eric Dickerson, Wayne Gretzky, Muhammad Ali and many other illustrious personalities. From Wilt Chamberlain and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's fervent feud to Dodger Kirk Gibson's legendary game-winning 1988 World Series opener home run, relive the triumphs and tribulations of one of America's marquee sports towns.

100 great sports debates for each city—from who was the best coach to what was the best play of all time. The perfect gift for sports fans—the series that's sweeping the nation, and is already a hit in Boston, Chicago and New York. The best debates for rabid fans The Best Sports Arguments gives each city or region all the best arguments of their hometown teams, with expert answers from top sports media figures. In fact, the Best Sports Arguments series is the #1 sports debates series on the market! Why? -Each book features 100 debates, the most of any series! -Each city's book is written by authors well-known in the region, leading to fan recognition and media interest. -They make perfect gifts for sports fans of any age. -And the debates go on!

Newly Revised Edition as of December 1, 2021 Paige He was my first love and my greatest heartbreak. Now he’s my assignment. I’ve worked too hard to get my dream job at the largest paper on the west coast, and I won’t let Jack Fuller, the league’s most notoriously private quarterback ruin this chance for me. But the moment we lock eyes, all those old feelings come rushing back in a way I’m completely unprepared for and instead of holding onto my hurt, I find myself giving him another chance. When I push back against writing the article, my bosshole editor threatens to get what he wants, one way or another. The only way I can protect Jack is to spin the story myself. Will Jack be able to forgive me when I tell him what I’ve done? Jack A reporter and an extremely private quarterback shouldn’t mix, but she’s not just any reporter—she’s my ex and the only woman I’ve ever loved. Paige O’Malley has owned my heart since I was sixteen years old, but I was a dumb, cowardly kid and let her go when things got hard. Now she’s here and I know I only have one chance to win her back. I refuse to lose her again. Until I’m blindsided by an article I never saw coming and suddenly I question if any of it was real or if she was just using me for a story the entire time. In the Grasp is the first steamy standalone contemporary sports romance in the LA Wolves series.

A rollicking guided tour of one extraordinary summer, when some of the most pivotal and freakishly coincidental stories all collided and changed the way we think about modern sports The summer of 1984 was a watershed moment in the birth of modern sports when the nation watched Michael Jordan grow from college basketball player to professional athlete and star. That summer also saw ESPN's rise to media dominance as the country's premier sports network and the first modern, commercialized, profitable Olympics. Magic Johnson and Larry Bird's rivalry raged, Martina Navratilova and John McEnroe reigned in tennis, and Hulk Hogan and Vince McMahon made pro wrestling a business, while Donald Trump pierced the national consciousness as a pro football team owner. It was an awakening in the sports world, a moment when sports began to morph into the market-savvy, sensationalized, moneyed, controversial, and wildly popular arena we know today. In the tradition of Bill Bryson's One Summer: America, 1927, L. Jon Wertheim captures these 90 seminal days against the backdrop of the nostalgia-soaked 1980s, to show that this was the year we collectively traded in our ratty Converses for a pair of sleek, heavily branded, ingeniously marketed Nikes. This was the year that sports went big-time.