The Olympic's Most Wanted


Book Description

Dive into amusing Olympic moments both high and low




Basketball's Most Wanted™


Book Description

All-American George Glamack was known as the "Blind Bomber" because his eyesight was so poor that he couldn’t see the basket. Bobby Bailey once fouled out of a game in three minutes. The first professional basketball player, Fred Cooper, earned sixteen dollars per game. Swedish player Mats Wermelin scored all 272 points in a game. Boston Celtics coach Red Auerbach punched out the owner of the St. Louis Hawks prior to a game. Dennis Rodman dressed like a bride for his book signing. Wilt Chamberlain, who scored 100 points in an NBA game, claimed to have had 20,000 lovers. The 1936 Olympic basketball gold medal game was played on a muddy court during a driving rainstorm. Former vice president Al Gore played college basketball at Harvard. Basketball's Most Wanted™ chronicles 700 of the most outlandish players, coaches, and fans in basketball history. Its seventy lists describe in humorous detail basketball’s top-ten worst shooters, strangest plays, bizarre nicknames, politicians who played, little-known records, unlikely NBA teams, and more.




Tennis's Most Wanted


Book Description

Tennis history is filled with unusual, bizarre, and unbelievable stories. Tennis's Most Wanted chronicles 700 of the most outrageous players, coaches, and officials in tennis history. Its seventy lists describe in detail tennis's colorful characters, surprising matches, inept players, bizarre nicknames, outrageous outfits, embarrassing losses, errant shots, terrible tantrums, and more. Only here will you learn that Joshua Pim won Wimbledon in 1893 and 1894 under an assumed name because he was afraid that being a tennis player would hurt his medical practice. Frank Riesley and Sydney Sm.




The Idealist: The Story of Baron Pierre de Coubertin


Book Description

In its narrative scope, The Idealist spans two centuries, covering the 74 years of Coubertin's lifefrom his birth in Pairs in 1863 to his death in Geneva in 1937. It reveals how the transformation of Paris into the capital of modernity helped fire a young man's imaginationand how the drumbeats of war sounded by the German hosts of the 1936 Berlin Olympics spoiled an old man's dreams, and left him bereft of hope for the Movement he created to foster peace among nations.




Mixed Martial Arts' Most Wanted


Book Description

Mixed martial arts hasn t been dubbed the world 's fastest growing sport for nothing. It 's noticeably rocked the sporting world since the creation of the Ultimate Fighting Championship nearly two decades ago and has even shaken up the pop culture scene. Who would have expected popular MMA fighter Chuck Liddell to trade in his sparring gloves for dance shoes on "Dancing with the Stars"? A combo of grappling, punching, kneeing, and kicking, this sport looks like it will be grounding and pounding, sprawling and brawling, for some time to come."Mixed Martial Arts Most Wanted " steps into the cage and brings you round after round of fighting deeds and details worthy of a sport known for bloody battles and ingenious tactics. Authors Adam T. Heath and David L. Hudson Jr. have knocked out sixty top-ten lists detailing the low blows, grappling greats, human anomalies, and fighting females that make up the compelling world of mixed martial arts.There 's no need to be an insider Heath and Hudson bring you all of the sport 's best bouts, dirtiest moves, and brainscrambling kayos in a book that will keep MMA enthusiasts reeling for months.




Baseball's Most Wanted™ II


Book Description

Baseball has so many stars and scrubs, quotables and notables - so many that one book just isn’t enough to cover them all. Enter Baseball's Most Wanted™ II. Starting where Baseball's Most Wanted™ left off, version 2.0 introduces even more colorful characters, inept fielders and hitters, and forgotten stars as well as all the teams, fans, managers, and even announcers who are a vibrant part of baseball’s past, present, and future. You’ll read top-ten lists of the best and worst hitters and pitchers, the most unique memorabilia, and the most obsessed fans. Learn which president vowed to never play the game again after he got shelled in a semipro game. Find out if Tony Suck lived up to his name or rose above it. Discover the secret lure of the no-hitter and how even usually inept pitchers can catch lightning in a bottle and reach Nirvana. You’ll read about these as well as hundreds of other people, places, and events. With more than sixty lists of trivia to amuse and amaze, Baseball's Most Wanted™ II is a wonderful celebration of America’s love of baseball, warts and all.




Inside the Olympics


Book Description

A candid look at how the Olympic rings got so tarnished-from a top IOC insider Bribery, illicit drugs, tainted judges, dirty politics . . . the Olympics have come a long way from ancient Greece. Far from the vaunted symbol of athletic excellence, the Olympic games have become awash in scandal (from doping and judging scandals, questionable selection practices for future sites) that have given it a tawdry luster only cynics and news junkies would relish. Now, Dick Pound, a former Olympic medalist and twenty-five year member of the IOC gives an insider's account of the politics within the IOC as well as an unsensationalistic look at what went on behind the headlines. As controversial as the games themselves have become, Inside the Olympics is a fascinating, no-holds-barred look at just how the Olympics and their legacy have foundered.




Games' Most Wanted


Book Description

Ever thought about capturing a queen, amassing real estate gold, or striking down a zombie or two? For centuries, games have stimulated the imagination. They have divided, and they have united. They have driven our competitive spirit and indulged our fancy. Live an entire lifetime in a few rolls of the dice. Push a few buttons and sustain perfect health. Essentially, games have and will continue to provide people worldwide a break from the everyday grind. With more than forty chapters, Games' Most Wanted whisks readers away into the fantasyland of games. Learn more about board games that have been passed through generations, video games that predict the future, and card games that have brought down the house. Ben H. Rome and Chris Hussey also reveal the culture behind the entertainment-the codes of conduct, the language, the conventions, and the workshops-proving that leisure can be a lifestyle. Something they won't reveal: how to rescue the princess. Regardless of the hand you're dealt, Games' Most Wanted is sure to cure any boredom.




The World Series' Most Wanted


Book Description

Celebrate the 100th anniversary of the first World Series with The World Series Most Wanted M/i>. You'll find fascinating facts, oddball tales, and record-breaking achievements from that initial World Series between the Boston Americans and the Pittsburgh Pirates all the way up to the 2003 World Series. The next in a long line of vaunted Most Wanted books from Potomac. THE The World Series Most Wanted tells the tale of October glory and heartbreak, of heroes and goats, and of the thin line between success and failure on baseball's grandest stage. With a hopping sixty top-ten lists.




10 Things You Might Not Know About Nearly Everything


Book Description

A compendium of outrageous, hilarious or just plain shocking trivia about everything from history and politics to arts, religion, technology and much more. For years, the Chicago Tribune’s “10 Things You Might Not Know” column has been informing and entertaining readers on a diverse range of subjects. This volume collects the best of these columns, offering readers obscure, fascinating facts on universal topics that will appeal to everyone from sports fans to history buffs, foodies, and more. Expertly researched and thoroughly entertaining, 10 Things You Might Not Know About Nearly Everything contains a plethora of surprising trivia on numerous topics, with an especially close look into Chicago-area history and facts. For example, in Zion, Illinois it was once illegal to spit, eat oysters, wear tan-colored shoes, or whistle on Sundays. 10 Things You Might Not Know About Nearly Everything will leave readers brighter, wittier, and curious to learn more about myriad subjects and stories they will never forget.