Take Back The Game

A close look at how big money and high stakes have transformed youth sports, turning once healthy, fun activities for kids into all-consuming endeavors—putting stress on children and families alike Some 75% of American families want their kids to play sports. Athletics are training grounds for character, friendship, and connection; at their best, sports insulate kids from hardship and prepare them for adult life. But youth sports have changed so dramatically over the last 25 years that they no longer deliver the healthy outcomes everyone wants. Instead, unbeknownst to most parents, kids who play competitive organized sports are more likely to burn out or suffer from overuse injuries than to develop their characters or build healthy habits. What happened to kids' sports? And how can we make them fun again? In Take Back the Game, coach and journalist Linda Flanagan reveals how the youth sports industry capitalizes on parents’ worry about their kids’ futures, selling the idea that more competitive play is essential in the feeding frenzy over access to colleges and universities. Drawing on her experience as a coach and a parent, along with research and expert analysis, Flanagan delves into a national obsession that has: Compelled kids to specialize year-round in one sport. Increased the risk of both physical injury and mental health problems. Encouraged egregious behavior by coaches and parents. Reduced access to sports for low-income families. A provocative and timely entrant into a conversation thousands of parents are having on the sidelines, Take Back the Game uncovers how youth sports became a serious business, the consequences of raising the stakes for kids and parents alike--and the changes we need now.

A competitive athlete trains for one thing- the game. Having the skills and knowing how to play aren't enough- you need to perform when it matters. Yet so many of those same athletes live in a spiritual offseason. They have faith. They know the Word. But they sit back and watch others take the lead. Get in the Game encourages athletes to transfer their drive and determination to the spiritual realm and shows that there is far more than a game on the line.

A group biography of seven enduring and beloved games, and the story of why—and how—we play them. Checkers, backgammon, chess, and Go. Poker, Scrabble, and bridge. These seven games, ancient and modern, fascinate millions of people worldwide. In Seven Games, Oliver Roeder charts their origins and historical importance, the delightful arcana of their rules, and the ways their design makes them pleasurable. Roeder introduces thrilling competitors, such as evangelical minister Marion Tinsley, who across forty years lost only three games of checkers; Shusai, the Master, the last Go champion of imperial Japan, defending tradition against “modern rationalism”; and an IBM engineer who created a backgammon program so capable at self-learning that NASA used it on the space shuttle. He delves into the history and lore of each game: backgammon boards in ancient Egypt, the Indian origins of chess, how certain shells from a particular beach in Japan make the finest white Go stones. Beyond the cultural and personal stories, Roeder explores why games, seemingly trivial pastimes, speak so deeply to the human soul. He introduces an early philosopher of games, the aptly named Bernard Suits, and visits an Oxford cosmologist who has perfected a computer that can effectively play bridge, a game as complicated as human language itself. Throughout, Roeder tells the compelling story of how humans, pursuing scientific glory and competitive advantage, have invented AI programs better than any human player, and what that means for the games—and for us. Funny, fascinating, and profound, Seven Games is a story of obsession, psychology, history, and how play makes us human.

"Jefferson Bethke delivers a powerful critique of the nuclear family ideal and calls for a sweeping new paradigm that brings not only longed-for stability but also radical blessings to the world"--

"There's too much nature in that ballpark"--Harry Chiti And make no mistake, whether it's the wind full-tilt off Lake Michigan, an early-season snowstorm at Waveland and Sheffield, or spring ivy hiding the batted balls of the visiting nine, nature seems to have Wrigley Field and the Cubbies under its thumb. In this book, John Skipper talks with 35 former Chicago Cubs who relive their ball-playing days and speculate on the eternally middling and undeniably popular Northsiders. This troop of now-grizzled bears, including Claude Passeau, Hank Wyse, Alvin Dark, Don Kessinger, Joe Niekro, Pete LaCock, and slugger Hank Sauer, hold forth on the front office moves, gruelling day-game scheduling and sometimes agonizing play of one of baseball's oldest, unluckiest and yet most revered franchises.

How did we become football fans? Savage Enthusiasm traces the evolution of the football fan from the sport's earliest origins right up to the present day, exploring how football became the world's most popular spectator sport, and why it became the undisputed game of the people.

For anyone who has ever sung ?Take Me Out to the Ball Game? during the seventh-inning stretch and wondered why we sing it when we are already at the ball game, this entertaining book supplies the answers. And why did this song become the sport?s anthem rather than one of hundreds of other baseball songs, such as George M. Cohan?s ?Take Your Girl to the Ball Game,? written the same month? This story, told here in full for the first time, evokes the bright hope of turn-of-the-century America, the backstage drama of vaudeville, and the beguiling charm of baseball itself. Amy Whorf McGuiggan supplies the fascinating details behind the song?s beginnings in 1908, when Jack Norworth, a vaudeville headliner and Tin Pan Alley songwriter who had never even been to a game, was inspired by a subway advertisement to create the song that, though a hit in its day, did not become a time-honored tradition until broadcaster Harry Caray and team owner and marketing genius Bill Veeck Jr. reintroduced it during the 1970s. Here is America?s game and the American century seen through the prism of one impossibly catchy tune and illustrated throughout with vintage photographs, advertising images, and sheet music culled from America?s premier collections.

In today's world, much unlike the world of long ago, before the 1980s--where women probably and seemingly didn't play as many games and didn't scheme as much as the women of today--one can clearly see, witness, and attest to the ever-present and overwhelming amount of game playing and scheming ways of most of the females we know, know of, see, and interact with on a day-to-day basis. Most every man, at one point or some point in his life, has fallen victim to a game or scheme of a female whom he has either tried to get with or hook up with, and many guys get hit with games and schemes even with those that they are married to or in relationships with. Practically no man is exempt. We all at some point will find ourselves faced with a woman whose sole purpose is to either go for what's in our pockets or bank accounts, or to try to get us to do something for them for free or to get us to buy them stuff without them appreciating it and then turning around and buying us stuff too as well. That's a big part of the world we live in as far as men interacting with women, and the sole purpose of this book is to at least get guys to recognize when they are being played and to not fall for the simple games that women play twenty-four hours a day.

Let Stephen Curry, Charles Barkley, Grant Hill, Reggie Miller, and more, tell you what it was like to take the floor against one of the Greatest of All Time. With a Foreword by Jerry West, and a new tribute from the author about Kobe’s tragic death. When he entered the NBA in 1996 as a high-school star from Lower Merion, Pennsylvania, Kobe Bryant faced enormous expectations. No one can deny that he rose to the challenge. Today Bryant’s status as a future Hall of Fame player is assured. During his stellar career, Bryant won five NBA championships; was a seventeen-time All-Star, NBA MVP, and two-time NBA Finals MVP. He led the league in scoring in 2006 and 2007. Now for the first time, hear stories from opponents, teammates, and players about what it was like to go against Kobe in Remembering Kobe Bryant. Contributors include: Chris Webber Jeff Van Gundy Rick Barry Doc Rivers Dwayne Wade Draymond Green Giannis Antetokounmpo Russell Westbrook Carmelo Anthony And many more Kobe Bryant was the greatest basketball player of his generation—a former schoolboy prodigy whose moves are now imitated in gyms and playgrounds around the world. Remembering Kobe Bryant provides an unprecedented glimpse into what it was like to play against one of the best of all time. Skyhorse Publishing and our Sports Publishing imprint is proud to publish a range of books for readers interested in sports—baseball, pro football, college football, pro basketball, college basketball, hockey, soccer, and more, 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.

The evolution of the video game is incredible; from a two-colored screen with paddle and pong to fully immersive alternate playing worlds, it is one technology that seems to be constantly evolving. This volume explains the history of video games, the considerations of their impact on players and society, and how they can be used as educational tools. Readers will learn about the future of video games as well.