Books of Olympic proportion Women were an afterthought to the modern Olympic Games that began in 1896. Almost one-third of the new century had elapsed before women were allowed to participate in track and field events.

In the years since, women have come into their own. Today Olympic hopefuls such as Marion Jones, the most recent of the athletic divas-in-waiting, achieve superstar status before they ever compete in the Games.

In a recent biography, See How She Runs (Algonquin, $21.95, ISBN 1565122674), author Ron Rapoport explains why the basketball star turned track star has received so much attention, both for her private life and her dazzling athletic skills. In another biography of the sprinting sensation, written for children, Marion Jones (Pocket, $4.99, ISBN 074341876X), experienced sports writer Bill Gutman offers a brief, but inspiring, profile of “The Fastest Woman in the World.” These books are just two of many published in time for the 2000 Olympics in Sydney.

In The Complete Book of the Summer Olympics: Sydney 2000 Edition (Overlook, $23.95, ISBN 1585670464) Olympics historian David Wallechinsky provides readers with every statistic they could ever possibly want. The narrative texts that accompany the stats offer examples of the social concerns that often plagued the games in years past, especially involving race and gender. Did you know that when the first woman’s track contestants ran out onto the field in 1928, many of them hugged and kissed each other, sending the predominantly male audience into near hysterics? Or did you know that the first female winner of the 100-meter event, 16-year-old Elizabeth Robinson of Riverdale, Illinois, was “discovered” while running for a train? Another comprehensive guide is The Olympic Games (DK, $29.95, ISBN 0789459752). It covers the games from their 1896 debut in Athens to the events scheduled this year. The color photographs are several notches above the newspaper quality images we are accustomed to seeing and they add an increased element of humanity to the events. Especially useful are the charts and statistics that take up the final one-third of the book.

Also noteworthy is The Olympic Marathon (Human Kinetics, $27.95, ISBN 0880119691) in which authors David Martin and Roger Gynn offer a definitive guide to this popular event.

Books of Olympic proportion Women were an afterthought to the modern Olympic Games that began in 1896. Almost one-third of the new century had elapsed before women were allowed to participate in track and field events.

In the years since, women have come into their own. Today Olympic hopefuls such as Marion Jones, the most recent of the athletic divas-in-waiting, achieve superstar status before they ever compete in the Games.

In a recent biography, See How She Runs (Algonquin, $21.95, ISBN 1565122674), author Ron Rapoport explains why the basketball star turned track star has received so much attention, both for her private life and her dazzling athletic skills. In another biography of the sprinting sensation, written for children, Marion Jones (Pocket, $4.99, ISBN 074341876X), experienced sports writer Bill Gutman offers a brief, but inspiring, profile of “The Fastest Woman in the World.” These books are just two of many published in time for the 2000 Olympics in Sydney.

In The Complete Book of the Summer Olympics: Sydney 2000 Edition (Overlook, $23.95, ISBN 1585670464) Olympics historian David Wallechinsky provides readers with every statistic they could ever possibly want. The narrative texts that accompany the stats offer examples of the social concerns that often plagued the games in years past, especially involving race and gender. Did you know that when the first woman’s track contestants ran out onto the field in 1928, many of them hugged and kissed each other, sending the predominantly male audience into near hysterics? Or did you know that the first female winner of the 100-meter event, 16-year-old Elizabeth Robinson of Riverdale, Illinois, was “discovered” while running for a train? Another comprehensive guide is The Olympic Games (DK, $29.95, ISBN 0789459752). It covers the games from their 1896 debut in Athens to the events scheduled this year. The color photographs are several notches above the newspaper quality images we are accustomed to seeing and they add an increased element of humanity to the events. Especially useful are the charts and statistics that take up the final one-third of the book.

Also noteworthy is The Olympic Marathon (Human Kinetics, $27.95, ISBN 0880119691) in which authors David Martin and Roger Gynn offer a definitive guide to this popular event.

Books of Olympic proportion Women were an afterthought to the modern Olympic Games that began in 1896. Almost one-third of the new century had elapsed before women were allowed to participate in track and field events.

In the years since, women have come into their own. Today Olympic hopefuls such as Marion Jones, the most recent of the athletic divas-in-waiting, achieve superstar status before they ever compete in the Games.

In a recent biography, See How She Runs (Algonquin, $21.95, ISBN 1565122674), author Ron Rapoport explains why the basketball star turned track star has received so much attention, both for her private life and her dazzling athletic skills. In another biography of the sprinting sensation, written for children, Marion Jones (Pocket, $4.99, ISBN 074341876X), experienced sports writer Bill Gutman offers a brief, but inspiring, profile of “The Fastest Woman in the World.” These books are just two of many published in time for the 2000 Olympics in Sydney.

In The Complete Book of the Summer Olympics: Sydney 2000 Edition (Overlook, $23.95, ISBN 1585670464) Olympics historian David Wallechinsky provides readers with every statistic they could ever possibly want. The narrative texts that accompany the stats offer examples of the social concerns that often plagued the games in years past, especially involving race and gender. Did you know that when the first woman’s track contestants ran out onto the field in 1928, many of them hugged and kissed each other, sending the predominantly male audience into near hysterics? Or did you know that the first female winner of the 100-meter event, 16-year-old Elizabeth Robinson of Riverdale, Illinois, was “discovered” while running for a train? Another comprehensive guide is The Olympic Games (DK, $29.95, ISBN 0789459752). It covers the games from their 1896 debut in Athens to the events scheduled this year. The color photographs are several notches above the newspaper quality images we are accustomed to seeing and they add an increased element of humanity to the events. Especially useful are the charts and statistics that take up the final one-third of the book.

Also noteworthy is The Olympic Marathon (Human Kinetics, $27.95, ISBN 0880119691) in which authors David Martin and Roger Gynn offer a definitive guide to this popular event.

Books of Olympic proportion Women were an afterthought to the modern Olympic Games that began in 1896. Almost one-third of the new century had elapsed before women were allowed to participate in track and field events.

In the years since, women have come into their own. Today Olympic hopefuls such as Marion Jones, the most recent of the athletic divas-in-waiting, achieve superstar status before they ever compete in the Games.

In a recent biography, See How She Runs (Algonquin, $21.95, ISBN 1565122674), author Ron Rapoport explains why the basketball star turned track star has received so much attention, both for her private life and her dazzling athletic skills. In another biography of the sprinting sensation, written for children, Marion Jones (Pocket, $4.99, ISBN 074341876X), experienced sports writer Bill Gutman offers a brief, but inspiring, profile of “The Fastest Woman in the World.” These books are just two of many published in time for the 2000 Olympics in Sydney.

In The Complete Book of the Summer Olympics: Sydney 2000 Edition (Overlook, $23.95, ISBN 1585670464) Olympics historian David Wallechinsky provides readers with every statistic they could ever possibly want. The narrative texts that accompany the stats offer examples of the social concerns that often plagued the games in years past, especially involving race and gender. Did you know that when the first woman’s track contestants ran out onto the field in 1928, many of them hugged and kissed each other, sending the predominantly male audience into near hysterics? Or did you know that the first female winner of the 100-meter event, 16-year-old Elizabeth Robinson of Riverdale, Illinois, was “discovered” while running for a train? Another comprehensive guide is The Olympic Games (DK, $29.95, ISBN 0789459752). It covers the games from their 1896 debut in Athens to the events scheduled this year. The color photographs are several notches above the newspaper quality images we are accustomed to seeing and they add an increased element of humanity to the events. Especially useful are the charts and statistics that take up the final one-third of the book.

Also noteworthy is The Olympic Marathon (Human Kinetics, $27.95, ISBN 0880119691) in which authors David Martin and Roger Gynn offer a definitive guide to this popular event.

Books of Olympic proportion Women were an afterthought to the modern Olympic Games that began in 1896. Almost one-third of the new century had elapsed before women were allowed to participate in track and field events.

In the years since, women have come into their own. Today Olympic hopefuls such as Marion Jones, the most recent of the athletic divas-in-waiting, achieve superstar status before they ever compete in the Games.

In a recent biography, See How She Runs (Algonquin, $21.95, ISBN 1565122674), author Ron Rapoport explains why the basketball star turned track star has received so much attention, both for her private life and her dazzling athletic skills. In another biography of the sprinting sensation, written for children, Marion Jones (Pocket, $4.99, ISBN 074341876X), experienced sports writer Bill Gutman offers a brief, but inspiring, profile of “The Fastest Woman in the World.” These books are just two of many published in time for the 2000 Olympics in Sydney.

In The Complete Book of the Summer Olympics: Sydney 2000 Edition (Overlook, $23.95, ISBN 1585670464) Olympics historian David Wallechinsky provides readers with every statistic they could ever possibly want. The narrative texts that accompany the stats offer examples of the social concerns that often plagued the games in years past, especially involving race and gender. Did you know that when the first woman’s track contestants ran out onto the field in 1928, many of them hugged and kissed each other, sending the predominantly male audience into near hysterics? Or did you know that the first female winner of the 100-meter event, 16-year-old Elizabeth Robinson of Riverdale, Illinois, was “discovered” while running for a train? Another comprehensive guide is The Olympic Games (DK, $29.95, ISBN 0789459752). It covers the games from their 1896 debut in Athens to the events scheduled this year. The color photographs are several notches above the newspaper quality images we are accustomed to seeing and they add an increased element of humanity to the events. Especially useful are the charts and statistics that take up the final one-third of the book.

Also noteworthy is The Olympic Marathon (Human Kinetics, $27.95, ISBN 0880119691) in which authors David Martin and Roger Gynn offer a definitive guide to this popular event.

For swingers Quit the nine-to-five job, cash in the IRA, buy an Airstream, and set out to conquer the best public golf courses in the country. Golf Magazine’s Top 100 Courses You Can Play by Brian McCallen grows out of articles in Golf Magazine, highlighting the best 100 golf courses that are public and therefore accessible to the reader, regardless of handicap or country club credentials. But these are not the publinx of old where yeoman folk in tank tops walked ragged fairways pulling their bags on carts. These are golf courses almost biblical in their creation deserts have bloomed; swamps, marshes, and prairies have flourished with manicured fairways and sculptured greens. Lavishly photographed, the book encompasses all regions of the country and presents the layout and local lore of each of the courses in loving detail. Recognizing that comfortable accommodations, fine food and drink, and entertainment must sustain the golfer’s daily labors, the author describes hotels, resorts, and restaurants that are located near each course. Also, the author branches out and describes other courses in the area that may deserve a try. From #1 at Pebble Beach to #100 at Cordillera, Colorado, and every place in between, you need only an adventuresome spirit and a high credit card limit to enjoy the riches spread before you in Top 100 Courses You Can Play.

Listen up, sports fans Joe Garner is the author/compiler of We Interrupt This Broadcast, a popular collection of audio highlights with accompanying text from some of the biggest news stories in the past 65 years. It doesn’t take a leap of imagination to figure out what the follow-up should be, since the formula worked so well. Sports events are made for this sort of project, and some of their biggest moments are brought back to life nicely in And the Crowd Goes Wild: Relive the Most Celebrated Sporting Events Ever Broadcast, narrated by Bob Costas. It’s easy to figure out why this volume works even better than the original. With a few exceptions, newscasts don’t feature live descriptions because they aren’t planned. In sports, however, broadcasters are usually on site to tell audiences about history-making events. It’s wonderful, then, to hear the original emotion in the voices of announcers describing such events as Bobby Thomson’s 1951 playoff home run, the New York Mets’ 1969 World Series championship, Jack Nicklaus’s 1986 Masters triumph, and Mark McGwire’s 62nd home run of 1998. There won’t be many avid sports fans who will be able to resist giving this a listen or a read.

In a society where many men are reluctant to show emotion, bonding activities between fathers and sons can be few. One place to find common ground is baseball. Cleveland sportswriter Terry Pluto and his father Tom shared a love of the Cleveland Indians, which became increasingly important in the last few years after the elder Pluto suffered a stroke, as detailed in Our Tribe.

To say the Cleveland Indians are a star-crossed franchise is a vast understatement. In 1954, the Indians won 111 games (an American-league record that stood until last year), but the Indians would not play another playoff game until 1995. Inept management, lopsided trades, injury, and just plain bad luck conspired to keep the Tribe in or near the basement of the American league for more than four decades. Pluto highlights some of the more painfully entertaining seasons in Cleveland’s history, and his anecdotes make the reader root for the Indians no matter who their favorite team is. Baseball fans learn much about the franchise, including its original association with a player currently banned for life from baseball, its steps to become the first American League team to sign an African American, and its decision to let a 24-year-old star shortstop manage the team.

These stories make the book fun to read for any baseball fan who wants to know more about the Indians, but the book is much more than a baseball guide. The relationship between Tom and Terry Pluto is highlighted, as Terry intertwines stories of the Indians’ rise and fall with the day-to-day of his father’s life. Readers come to identify with the trials the Indians suffer, and also with the struggles of the Plutos as they deal with Tom Pluto’s stroke.

Dean Miller is a reviewer in Carmel, Indiana.

During its 50-year history, NASCAR has metamorphosed from dirt track, Saturday night, fairgrounds racing into a national spectator sport. It has become a very big business, but it has not lost its rural, southern roots. A panel of NASCAR stalwarts assembled a list of stock car racing’s 50 best (and often most colorful) drivers, representing each of the five decades of NASCAR’s history. With NASCAR 50 Greatest Drivers, writers Bill Center and Bob Moore provide a thumbnail history of each driver and his era, along with a sidebar of vital statistics and a collage of photographs from sepia-toned black and whites from the early years to bold color shots of today. Yesteryear’s heroes such as Junior Johnson and Fireball Roberts, current superstars like Jeff Gordon and Dale Earnhardt, and the timeless King, Richard Petty they’re all here, and they’re all legends. This is a book that any NASCAR fan would be happy to own.

In today’s climate of giveittomeasfastasyoucan information, sports fans can be forgiven for being unaware that once upon a time, before sports cable TV, before sports radio, before the Internet, the only way to find out about your favorite player or team was by reading all about it. What we’ve come to expect (and demand) as the norm was preceded by thoughtful men of words who painted images of players and events in magazines and newspapers.

It’s therefore very welcome when a book like The Best American Sportswriting of the Century comes along, giving some a chance to reminisce and others the opportunity to discover a brave old world of sports journalism.

Pulitzer Prize winner David Halberstam, author of several sports books, as well as more serious works, does a marvelous job of collecting these pieces to weave a full tapestry of sports reading.

The book is divided into distinct sections. In The Best of the Best, we have the likes of Gay Talese writing on Joe DiMaggio’s life after baseball; Tom Wolfe on race car driver Junior Johnson; and Brad Darrach on chess master Bobby Fischer. In Columns and Writing on Deadline we have examples from Red Smith, Grantland Rice, and Westbrook Pegler, among others, to remind us why they are considered masters of the (typewriter) keyboard.

Features and Longer Pieces include contributions from such sports reporting icons as Ring and John Lardner, Roger Angell, George Plimpton, and Frank Deford. Regular journalists are well represented, too: Hunter Thompson demolishes the sacred rituals surrounding the Kentucky Derby; Mike Royko, Chicago’s curmudgeon laureate, lambasts a book by perennial all-star Keith Hernandez; and John Updike says his own goodbye in the celebrated Hub Fans Bid Kid Adieu, one of the most reprinted sports pieces of all time.

There’s also an entire section devoted to Muhammad Ali, who was recently selected as the all-time favorite athlete by consumers of a renowned breakfast cereal.

The Best American Sports Writing is a true treasure that fans of sports and good writing will surely savor.

Ron Kaplan is a reviewer in Montclair, New Jersey.

Martial artists in movies often overcome overwhelming odds to meet their goals, from taking on hordes of black-garbed stuntmen to fighting a deadly showdown with a megalomaniac master. In The Way of Aikido, George Leonard overcomes an obstacle no less daunting: sidestepping the media-fueled perceptions of martial arts to describe the way its practitioners use their training every day without fighting. In this slim volume, Leonard lays out the spiritual benefits gained by practicing the Japanese art of Aikido, which he describes as protecting both the defender and the attacker. And he presents these benefits in a way that anyone can incorporate into their lives to achieve spiritual equilibrium.

The do in aikido means way, indicating that study of a martial art is a lifelong path. Leonard pulls no punches in describing the intensive physical training required to achieve competence in what is considered one of the most difficult martial arts. But the real lesson is the sense of inner peace and confidence that comes with following the way. In this philosophy, seeing oneself as the center of the universe is not an ego trip, but the ultimate act of humility, as one then becomes in harmony with the universe and conflict is not possible.

Leonard breathes new life into concepts as familiar as chop-socky film cliches. In asserting that conflict with others is essentially conflict with oneself, he recounts events in which an aikidoist prevents an attack merely by standing, calm and centered, while the aggressor’s inner turmoil turns to impotence. He returns frequently to the central concept of ki, or spirit (the ki in Aikido), the reservoir of energy that martial artists envision as residing in the body’s center of gravity. And there’s action, too, as aikido masters seem to disappear from in front of slashing sword attacks or a circle of charging black belts, only to be seen standing calmly to the side as the attackers look up from where they’ve fallen. Readers unfamiliar with martial arts may be surprised to read Leonard’s emphasis on avoiding conflict by blending with an adversary. Leonard recounts numerous martial artists who overcome adversaries both on the practice floor and in tense business meetings by seeming to yield, but in actuality allowing aggressive thrusts to dissipate far from them. Leonard urges his readers, martial artists and otherwise, to apply the principles of blending and centeredness to everyday life. Simple experiments demonstrate the power a change in mental focus can provide.

Gregory Harris, a writer and editor living in Indianapolis, is a third degree black belt and instructor in Taekwondo.

Discover NFL football It’s that time of year. The time that all professional football fans anticipate most of all: September NFL Football season. Perhaps your child is around nine to 12 years old, new to football, and has expressed interest in learning more about it. You’ve tried and tried to explain why quarterbacks call audibles at the line of scrimmage and how the Chicago Bears won the 1986 Super Bowl with a 46 defense but you’re still not getting through to your kid? Here’s the solution.

DK Eyewitness Books Football helps anyone (child or adult) discover the world of football, from the history of how the sport began to the ultimate prize The Super Bowl. Created by NFL Publishing and written by James Buckley, Jr., this sharp, colorful, easy-to-read guide gives you information on the teams, from the newly named Tennessee Titans to the legendary Green Bay Packers, and the stars, from John Elway to Walter Payton.

Get the low-down on almost every aspect of football, like the make-up of a football field and the football itself, the history of the uniform, football strategy, the equipment, the officials, the fans, the stadiums, football on TV, and more.

There are several things that are just understood in baseball. All players get involved in a brawl. All hitters will go through a slump at some time. And, probably the most understood, all pitchers are strange.

Because of their very strangeness, pitchers certainly have interesting stories to tell. They are equal to the quarterback on a football team. They handle the ball on every play and have the attention of everyone watching.

Seth Swirsky’s ongoing love of baseball led him to dive deeper into the game’s rich history after writing Baseball Letters: A Fan’s Correspondence with His Heroes. For Every Pitcher Tells a Story, Swirsky wrote to nearly 300 pitchers, including some heavy hitters, receiving about 200 replies that demonstrate the degree to which ballplayers have long seen themselves as the custodians of baseball’s history. The result is a book with actual letters from players in their own handwriting, along with vivid photos of the players themselves.

The book begins with a letter from Montreal Expos pitcher Carl Pavano. His name may not ring a bell until you remember that he was the one that gave up home run number 70 to Mark McGwire in 1998. Here’s a sample of what appears in his letter: I said to myself all along if I get a chance to pitch against McGwire, I will not walk him. I will challenge and beat him! . . . First pitch, CRACK-GONE, #70. And the rest is history. As Swirsky states, This book does not require you to have a great knowledge of the game of baseball. It does ask you, however, to use your imagination to transport yourself to the moment that each player wrote about. Some letters are long, some are short. Each, with the help of imagination, tells a story. Some of the better-known pitchers included are Cy Young, Steve Carlton, Roger Clemens, Pedro Martinez, David Cone, Tom Glavine, and Kerry Wood. In addition, some great sluggers like Reggie Jackson and Jeff Bagwell add their observations about pitchers they’ve faced.

Every Pitcher Tells a Story is so comprehensive it even includes an appearance from that lovable loser, Charlie Brown. Who knew that he would get nervous pitching in front of his lifelong crush, the little red-haired girl ? Scott Grissom is still waiting to order his Chicago Cubs World Series tickets.