Random House New Releases - Sports - Between November 28, 2008 and December 28, 2009.

The 64 Hands of Bagua Zhang by Nigel Sutton

2009-12-22T00:30:00-05:00

The 64 Hands of Bagua Zhang Fighting Techniques of Liu Dekuan
Written by Gao Jiwu and Nigel Sutton

The art of Bagua Zhang is best known for its circular forms, yet linear fighting techniques have been incorporated into Bagua practice by many renowned masters. Liu Dekuan, a student of Dong Haichuan (the founder of Bagua Zhang), was one such master, devising a set of 64 techniques performed in straight lines. These techniques were collected and preserved by Master Liu’s disciple Gao Wencheng and his family, passed down from generation to generation.

In The 64 Hands of Bagua Zhang, author Gao Jiwu—the grandson of Gao Wencheng—brings these techniques to the English-speaking world. Well known for his expertise in the 64 Hands form, Master Gao explains the history of the art, his family’s place in it, and the key principles for practice. The heart of the book is the complete set of Liu Dekuan’s 64 techniques; the solo forms are each explained in detail and then elaborated on to demonstrate their practical applications. Clear photographs fully illustrate the movements of the complete form and practice drills. Translated by Nigel Sutton, who has studied with the Gao family since the early 1980s, The 64 Hands of Bagua Zhang helps readers fully understand this form of Bagua Zhang.

Outcasts United by Warren St. John

2009-12-01T00:30:00-05:00

Outcasts United An American Town, a Refugee Team, and One Woman's Quest to Make a Difference
Written by Warren St. John

The extraordinary tale of a refugee youth soccer team and the transformation of a small American town

Clarkston, Georgia, was a typical Southern town until it was designated a refugee settlement center in the 1990s, becoming the first American home for scores of families in flight from the world’s war zones—from Liberia and Sudan to Iraq and Afghanistan. Suddenly Clarkston’s streets were filled with women wearing the hijab, the smells of cumin and curry, and kids of all colors playing soccer in any open space they could find. The town also became home to Luma Mufleh, an American-educated Jordanian woman who founded a youth soccer team to unify Clarkston’s refugee children and keep them off the streets. These kids named themselves the Fugees.

Set against the backdrop of an American town that without its consent had become a vast social experiment, Outcasts United follows a pivotal season in the life of the Fugees and their charismatic coach. Warren St. John documents the lives of a diverse group of young people as they miraculously coalesce into a band of brothers, while also drawing a fascinating portrait of a fading American town struggling to accommodate its new arrivals. At the center of the story is fiery Coach Luma, who relentlessly drives her players to success on the soccer field while holding together their lives—and the lives of their families—in the face of a series of daunting challenges.

This fast-paced chronicle of a single season is a complex and inspiring tale of a small town becoming a global community—and an account of the ingenious and complicated ways we create a home in a changing world.

From the Hardcover edition.

Qigong for Lifelong Health by Bruce Frantzis

2009-11-24T00:30:00-05:00

Qigong for Lifelong Health Standing, Dissolving, and Opening the Energy Gates of Your Body
Written by Bruce Frantzis
Narrated by Bruce Frantzis

Does your mind wander all over the place? Does your body fidget when you try to practice Standing? In CD-1, Lineage Master Bruce Frantzis helps you focus on correcting your body alignments and releasing negative emotions. Standing is the foundation of Opening the Energy Gates of Your Body chi gung/qigong and many other chi gung sets.

In CD-2, Frantzis guides you through the complete Energy Gates program including Standing chi gung, Cloud Hands, the Three Swings, and the unique Taoist Spine Stretch—particularly useful for those with back injuries.

Taoist Breathing for Tai Chi and Meditation by Bruce Frantzis

2009-11-24T00:30:00-05:00

Taoist Breathing for Tai Chi and Meditation Twenty-Four Exercises to Reduce Stress, Build Mental Stamina, and Improve Your Health
Written by Bruce Frantzis
Narrated by Bruce Frantzis

Breathing can transform your life and make you a healthier, more relaxed human being. Dr. Bruce Frantzis has developed a Longevity Breathing program from traditional Taoist breathing methods to help you improve lung capacity, massage your internal organs, and relax your nerves with each breath.

Progression of 24 Sessions
Bruce Frantzis leads you through a progression of 24 sessions that help you extend the length of your breath and fully bring oxygen to the back and sides of your lungs, areas rarely engaged by shallow breathers.

CD-1 teaches you to feel your breath and avoid holding your breath. Next, you learn how to inhale into different parts of your body to strengthen and massage your internal organs and spine. In CD-2, Dr. Frantzis takes you further by teaching you how to lengthen your breath. Taoist breathing techniques enable you to become aware of your emotions and deepen your meditative focus.

This CD set is a companion to the breathing lessons in the TAO Meditation series: Relaxing into Your Being, The Great Stillness and TAO of Letting Go.

Open by Andre Agassi

2009-11-09T00:30:00-05:00

Open An Autobiography
Written by Andre Agassi

From Andre Agassi, one of the most beloved athletes in history and one of the most gifted men ever to step onto a tennis court, a beautiful, haunting autobiography.

Agassi’s incredibly rigorous training begins when he is just a child. By the age of thirteen, he is banished to a Florida tennis camp that feels like a prison camp. Lonely, scared, a ninth-grade dropout, he rebels in ways that will soon make him a 1980s icon. He dyes his hair, pierces his ears, dresses like a punk rocker. By the time he turns pro at sixteen, his new look promises to change tennis forever, as does his lightning-fast return.

And yet, despite his raw talent, he struggles early on. We feel his confusion as he loses to the world’s best, his greater confusion as he starts to win. After stumbling in three Grand Slam finals, Agassi shocks the world, and himself, by capturing the 1992 Wimbledon. Overnight he becomes a fan favorite and a media target.

Agassi brings a near-photographic memory to every pivotal match and every relationship. Never before has the inner game of tennis and the outer game of fame been so precisely limned. Alongside vivid portraits of rivals from several generations—Jimmy Connors, Pete Sampras, Roger Federer—Agassi gives unstinting accounts of his brief time with Barbra Streisand and his doomed marriage to Brooke Shields. He reveals a shattering loss of confidence. And he recounts his spectacular resurrection, a comeback climaxing with his epic run at the 1999 French Open and his march to become the oldest man ever ranked number one.

In clear, taut prose, Agassi evokes his loyal brother, his wise coach, his gentle trainer, all the people who help him regain his balance and find love at last with Stefanie Graf. Inspired by her quiet strength, he fights through crippling pain from a deteriorating spine to remain a dangerous opponent in the twenty-first and final year of his career. Entering his last tournament in 2006, he’s hailed for completing a stunning metamorphosis, from nonconformist to elder statesman, from dropout to education advocate. And still he’s not done. At a U.S. Open for the ages, he makes a courageous last stand, then delivers one of the most stirring farewells ever heard in a sporting arena.

With its breakneck tempo and raw candor, Open will be read and cherished for years. A treat for ardent fans, it will also captivate readers who know nothing about tennis. Like Agassi’s game, it sets a new standard for grace, style, speed, and power.

Open by Erik Davies

2009-11-09T00:30:00-05:00

Open An Autobiography
Written by Andre Agassi
Read by Erik Davies

Open by Erik Davies

2009-11-09T00:30:00-05:00

Open An Autobiography
Written by Andre Agassi
Read by Erik Davies

The Book of Basketball by Malcolm Gladwell

2009-10-27T00:30:00-05:00

The Book of Basketball The NBA According to The Sports Guy
Written by Bill Simmons
Foreword by Malcolm Gladwell

There is only one writer on the planet who possesses enough basketball knowledge and passion to write the definitive book on the NBA.* Bill Simmons, the from-the-womb hoops addict known to millions as ESPN.com’s Sports Guy, is that writer. And The Book of Basketball is that book.

Nowhere in the roundball universe will you find another single volume that covers as much in such depth as this wildly opinionated and thoroughly entertaining look at the past, present, and future of pro basketball.

From the age-old question of who actually won the rivalry between Bill Russell and Wilt Chamberlain to the one about which team was truly the best of all time, Simmons opens–and then closes, once and for all–every major pro basketball debate. Then he takes it further by completely reevaluating not only how NBA Hall of Fame inductees should be chosen but how the institution must be reshaped from the ground up, the result being the Pyramid: Simmons’s one-of-a-kind, five-level shrine to the ninety-six greatest players in the history of pro basketball. And ultimately he takes fans to the heart of it all, as he uses a conversation with one NBA great to uncover that coveted thing: The Secret of Basketball.

Comprehensive, authoritative, controversial, hilarious, and impossible to put down (even for Celtic-haters), The Book of Basketball offers every hardwood fan a courtside seat beside the game’s finest, funniest, and fiercest chronicler.

* More to the point, he’s the only one crazy enough to try to pull it off.

The Book of Basketball by Malcolm Gladwell

2009-10-27T00:30:00-05:00

The Book of Basketball The NBA According to The Sports Guy
Written by Bill Simmons
Foreword by Malcolm Gladwell

Don Cherry's Hockey Stories and Stuff by Al Strachan

2009-10-27T00:30:00-05:00

Don Cherry's Hockey Stories and Stuff
Written by Don Cherry
As told to Al Strachan

#1 National Bestseller

Don Cherry has been named a National Hockey League Coach of the Year with a winning percentage of over .600 and also received Coach of the Year honours in the American Hockey League. His comments on Hockey Night in Canada’s "Coach's Corner" routinely make headlines as they entertain, educate, and often upset some fans throughout North America. He may be controversial, but no one can deny the popularity he enjoys; popularity that was reflected in his top 10 ranking in the competition to determine "The Greatest Canadian."

Now from Grapes himself comes the book that hockey fans of all ages have been waiting for. Written with veteran sports journalist Al Strachan, here are Don Cherry's favourite stories from his career in hockey. And you can imagine the stories he has to tell.

From the Hardcover edition.

Hockey by Michael McKinley

2009-10-27T00:30:00-05:00

Hockey A People's History
Written by Michael McKinley

Now in paperback, updated with a new final chapter!

Lavishly illustrated, beautifully designed, impeccably researched, and wonderfully written, Hockey: A People’s History is the altogether irresistible companion book to the CBC-Television series of the same name, airing in Fall 06. A must-have for every fan!

Hockey is not just Canada’s national game, it is part of every Canadian’s psyche, whether we like it or not. Watching it, playing it, coaching it, and talking about it are up there with eating on the list of the top ten things Canadians do most. In the first half of the last century it mirrored our increasing confidence as a nation and in the last years of the 1900s, which saw an aggressive but unsettling expansion of the game south of the border, it reflected our growing wariness of American influence on Canada.

Hockey: A People’s History, like the ten-part CBC series it accompanies, tells the story of this breathtakingly fast game from its hotly contested origins, and the surge in its popularity after 1875, when it was first taken inside, through the rise and fall and rise again of women’s hockey, the sagas of long-lost leagues, such as the Pacific Coast Hockey League and, more recently, the World Hockey Association, to the present day and the first-ever lockout of players by the one remaining league. In that time, while play has changed only slightly (every generation of Canadians has complained about the growing violence of the game) hockey itself has been transformed from a rough and ready winter sport to a business worth many billions of dollars, played by millionaires.

But Hockey: A People’s History is not a business story, rather, it is the story of the men and woman who helped make the game what it is today.

It also tells the story of all the great moments in hockey: not just the unforgettable 1972 victory against Russia, but victories no less glorious at the time, such as the Leafs’ previously unheard-of third consecutive Stanley Cup in 1949. Through its lavishly illustrated pages skate the players, the coaches, the owners, many of them still legendary, too many of them almost forgotten. They are the reason why Canadians have stayed true to the game.

Jacques Plante by Todd Denault

2009-10-27T00:30:00-05:00

Jacques Plante The Man Who Changed the Face of Hockey
Written by Todd Denault

The first full-scale biography of a legendary and award-winning NHL goalie who transformed the game.

“There are a lot of very good goalies, there are even a fair number of great goalies. But there aren’t many important goalies. And Jacques Plante was an important goalie.” Ken Dryden

On and off the ice Jacques Plante was a true original; he was extremely talented, boastful, defiant, mysterious, and complex. Throughout his tumultuous career as a goalie, he played for Montreal, New York, St. Louis, Toronto, Boston, and Edmonton. His contributions to and impact on the game were extensive and are reflected in today’s rules, equipment, and style of play. Thoroughly investigated through archival and primary research, and including interviews with figures such as Jean Béliveau, Henri Richard, Dickie Moore, and Scotty Bowman, this biography sheds light on one of the most pivotal figures in the history of hockey.

Jacques Plante by Todd Denault

2009-10-27T00:30:00-05:00

Jacques Plante The Man Who Changed the Face of Hockey
Written by Todd Denault

Ocho Cinco by Jason Cole

2009-10-27T00:30:00-05:00

Ocho Cinco What Football and Life Have Thrown My Way
Written by Chad Ochocinco and Jason Cole

The moment I walked out of that tunnel that first time I was in the NFL and saw that 70,000 people, I said, "This is me, this is mine, this is what I was meant to do." Some people get scared that first time. Me? Scared my ass. I was loving it.

NFL superstar Chad Ochocinco is one of the most feared weapons in football, having amassed six consecutive 1,000-yard receiving seasons and made it to five straight Pro Bowls. And he does things his way–always big, always fun, always outrageous.

Take Ochocinco’s extravagant touchdown celebrations: performing the Riverdance jig, mock-proposing to a cheerleader, tossing presents into the crowd on Christmas Eve, performing CPR on the football, putting on a gold sport coat that says "Future Hall of Famer." Or his sense of style: the blond Mohawk, the gold teeth, the nude photo shoot for a sports magazine. Or his trash-talking: People tell me I have to tone it down. Man, do you know what I’ve been through to get here? You’re going to tell me to stop having fun? Sorry, it’s not happening. Or his unabashed self-confidence: I got six paintings of myself in the living room of my town house in Cincinnati. Why? Because I love me. I’m great and I know it.

In Ocho Cinco, Chad offers his blunt take on his life and career and on the bizarre game–and business–of football. He takes us back to his days growing up in a poor, dangerous section of Miami, where he was raised by his stern grandmother: You want to know how I turned out like this? Don’t talk to me, talk to my grandmom. A high school quarterback, he went to two junior colleges before landing for a single year at Oregon State. From there he was drafted by the Cincinnati Bengals, a team he eventually helped lead to the playoffs for the first time in fifteen years.

Ochocinco reveals what really goes on in the locker room, on the field, and in the clubs where so many of his fellow athletes get in trouble. He talks about fights with teammates, coaches, and owners. He offers his honest observations on drugs, cheating, and women: You get all this money and you get all these women at your disposal. . . . You’re going to do your thing, trust me. You’re going to do it. And he deals frankly with his reputation as a malcontent and drama king: People want to be entertained, but the minute you open up about it and have some fun, they bash you for it. They want you to play inside this little box, and if you ever dare step outside this little box you’re in trouble. Well, there is no box for me. I am completely out of the box.

Ocho Cinco gives fans a rare inside look at pro football, presented by a singular athlete who’s not afraid to speak his mind: What I do may be funny, but nothing I do is a joke.

Ocho Cinco by Jason Cole

2009-10-27T00:30:00-05:00

Ocho Cinco What Football and Life Have Thrown My Way
Written by Chad Ochocinco and Jason Cole

Beyond the Fairway by Jeff Wallach

2009-10-21T00:30:00-05:00

Beyond the Fairway Zen Lessons, Insights, and Inner Attitudes of Golf
Written by Jeff Wallach

The Fishing Hall of Shame by Allan Zullo

2009-10-21T00:30:00-05:00

The Fishing Hall of Shame
Written by Bruce Nash and Allan Zullo

The Montreal Canadiens by D'Arcy Jenish

2009-10-20T00:30:00-05:00

The Montreal Canadiens 100 Years of Glory
Written by D'Arcy Jenish

National Bestseller

The definitive history of the Montreal Canadiens – to coincide with their Centenary in 2009.

Before there were slapshots, Foster Hewitt, or even an NHL, there were the Canadiens. Founded on December 4, 1909, the team won its first Stanley Cup in 1916. Since then, the Canadiens have won 23 more championships, making them the most successful hockey team in the world. The team has survived two wars, the Great Depression, NHL expansion, and countless other upheavals, thanks largely to the loyalty of fans and an extraordinary cast of players, coaches, owners, and managers.

The Montreal Canadiens captures the full glory of this saga. It weaves the personalities, triumphs, heartaches, and hysteria into a compelling narrative with a surprise on every page. It sheds new light on old questions – how the team colours were chosen, how the Canadiens came to be known as the Habitants – and goes behind the scenes of tumultuous recent events still awaiting thorough examination: why Scotty Bowman was passed over as general manager after Sam Pollock resigned; why Pollock’s successor, Irving Grunman, failed; why Serge Savard was dumped as GM so hastily despite his record.

Colourful and controversial, The Montreal Canadiens is the history of a team that has been making news for 100 years – and continues to do so with the return of legendary player Bob Gainey as general manager, determined to bring the Stanley Cup back to Montreal.

From the Hardcover edition.

The Montreal Canadiens by D'Arcy Jenish

2009-10-20T00:30:00-05:00

The Montreal Canadiens 100 Years of Glory
Written by D'Arcy Jenish

National Bestseller

The definitive history of the Montreal Canadiens – now updated with the inside story of the tumultuous 2009 season.

Before there were slapshots, Foster Hewitt, or even an NHL, there were the Canadiens. Founded on December 4, 1909, the team won its first Stanley Cup in 1916. Since then, the Canadiens have won 23 more championships, making them the most successful hockey team in the world. The team has survived two wars, the Great Depression, NHL expansion, and countless other upheavals, thanks largely to the loyalty of fans and an extraordinary cast of players, coaches, owners, and managers.

The Montreal Canadiens captures the full glory of this saga. It weaves the personalities, triumphs, heartaches, and hysteria into a compelling narrative with a surprise on every page. It sheds new light on old questions – how the team colours were chosen, how the Canadiens came to be known as the Habitants – and goes behind the scenes of tumultuous recent events still awaiting thorough examination: why Scotty Bowman was passed over as general manager after Sam Pollock resigned; why Pollock’s successor, Irving Grunman, failed; why Serge Savard was dumped as GM so hastily despite his record.

Colourful and controversial, The Montreal Canadiens is the history of a team that has been making news for 100 years – and continues to do so with the return of legendary player Bob Gainey as general manager, determined to bring the Stanley Cup back to Montreal.

The Blind Side by Grover Gardner

2009-10-13T00:30:00-05:00

The Blind Side The Evolution of a Game
Written by Michael Lewis
Read by Grover Gardner

In football, as in life, the value we place on people changes with the rules of the games they play.
When we first meet the young man at the center of this extraordinary and moving story, he is one of thirteen children by a mother addicted to crack; he does not know his real name, his father, his birthday, or any of the things a child might learn in school. And he has no serious experience playing organized football.

What changes? He takes up football, and school, after a rich, Evangelical, Republican family plucks him from the mean streets. Their love is the first great force that alters the world's perception of the boy, whom they adopt. The second force is the evolution of professional football itself.

In The Blind Side, Lewis shows us a largely unanalyzed but inexorable trend in football working its way down from the pros to the high school game, where it collides with the life of a single young man to produce a narrative of great and surprising power.

Random House New Releases - Sports - Between November 28, 2008 and December 28, 2009.

The 64 Hands of Bagua Zhang by Nigel Sutton

The 64 Hands of Bagua Zhang Fighting Techniques of Liu DekuanWritten by Gao Jiwu and Nigel Sutton

Outcasts United by Warren St. John

Outcasts United An American Town, a Refugee Team, and One Woman's Quest to Make a DifferenceWritten by Warren St. John

Qigong for Lifelong Health by Bruce Frantzis

Qigong for Lifelong Health Standing, Dissolving, and Opening the Energy Gates of Your BodyWritten by Bruce Frantzis Narrated by Bruce Frantzis

Taoist Breathing for Tai Chi and Meditation by Bruce Frantzis

Taoist Breathing for Tai Chi and Meditation Twenty-Four Exercises to Reduce Stress, Build Mental Stamina, and Improve Your HealthWritten by Bruce Frantzis Narrated by Bruce Frantzis

Open by Andre Agassi

Open An AutobiographyWritten by Andre Agassi

Open by Erik Davies

Open An AutobiographyWritten by Andre Agassi Read by Erik Davies

Open by Erik Davies

Open An AutobiographyWritten by Andre Agassi Read by Erik Davies

The Book of Basketball by Malcolm Gladwell

The Book of Basketball The NBA According to The Sports GuyWritten by Bill Simmons Foreword by Malcolm Gladwell

The Book of Basketball by Malcolm Gladwell

The Book of Basketball The NBA According to The Sports GuyWritten by Bill Simmons Foreword by Malcolm Gladwell

Don Cherry's Hockey Stories and Stuff by Al Strachan

Don Cherry's Hockey Stories and Stuff Written by Don Cherry As told to Al Strachan

Hockey by Michael McKinley

Hockey A People's HistoryWritten by Michael McKinley

Jacques Plante by Todd Denault

Jacques Plante The Man Who Changed the Face of HockeyWritten by Todd Denault

Jacques Plante by Todd Denault

Jacques Plante The Man Who Changed the Face of HockeyWritten by Todd Denault

Ocho Cinco by Jason Cole

Ocho Cinco What Football and Life Have Thrown My WayWritten by Chad Ochocinco and Jason Cole

Ocho Cinco by Jason Cole

Ocho Cinco What Football and Life Have Thrown My WayWritten by Chad Ochocinco and Jason Cole

Beyond the Fairway by Jeff Wallach

Beyond the Fairway Zen Lessons, Insights, and Inner Attitudes of GolfWritten by Jeff Wallach

The Fishing Hall of Shame by Allan Zullo

The Fishing Hall of Shame Written by Bruce Nash and Allan Zullo

The Montreal Canadiens by D'Arcy Jenish

The Montreal Canadiens 100 Years of GloryWritten by D'Arcy Jenish

The Montreal Canadiens by D'Arcy Jenish

The Montreal Canadiens 100 Years of GloryWritten by D'Arcy Jenish

The Blind Side by Grover Gardner

The Blind Side The Evolution of a GameWritten by Michael Lewis Read by Grover Gardner

The 64 Hands of Bagua Zhang Fighting Techniques of Liu Dekuan
Written by Gao Jiwu and Nigel Sutton

Outcasts United An American Town, a Refugee Team, and One Woman's Quest to Make a Difference
Written by Warren St. John

Qigong for Lifelong Health Standing, Dissolving, and Opening the Energy Gates of Your Body
Written by Bruce Frantzis
Narrated by Bruce Frantzis

Taoist Breathing for Tai Chi and Meditation Twenty-Four Exercises to Reduce Stress, Build Mental Stamina, and Improve Your Health
Written by Bruce Frantzis
Narrated by Bruce Frantzis

Open An Autobiography
Written by Andre Agassi

Open An Autobiography
Written by Andre Agassi
Read by Erik Davies

Open An Autobiography
Written by Andre Agassi
Read by Erik Davies

The Book of Basketball The NBA According to The Sports Guy
Written by Bill Simmons
Foreword by Malcolm Gladwell

The Book of Basketball The NBA According to The Sports Guy
Written by Bill Simmons
Foreword by Malcolm Gladwell

Don Cherry's Hockey Stories and Stuff
Written by Don Cherry
As told to Al Strachan

Hockey A People's History
Written by Michael McKinley

Jacques Plante The Man Who Changed the Face of Hockey
Written by Todd Denault

Jacques Plante The Man Who Changed the Face of Hockey
Written by Todd Denault

Ocho Cinco What Football and Life Have Thrown My Way
Written by Chad Ochocinco and Jason Cole

Ocho Cinco What Football and Life Have Thrown My Way
Written by Chad Ochocinco and Jason Cole

Beyond the Fairway Zen Lessons, Insights, and Inner Attitudes of Golf
Written by Jeff Wallach

The Fishing Hall of Shame
Written by Bruce Nash and Allan Zullo

The Montreal Canadiens 100 Years of Glory
Written by D'Arcy Jenish

The Montreal Canadiens 100 Years of Glory
Written by D'Arcy Jenish

The Blind Side The Evolution of a Game
Written by Michael Lewis
Read by Grover Gardner