Kirjahaku

In the tradition of The Boys of Summer and The Bronx Is Burning, New York Times sports columnist Harvey Araton delivers a fascinating look at the 1970s New York Knicks--part autobiography, part sports history, part epic, set against the tumultuous era when Walt Frazier, Willis Reed, and Bill Bradley reigned supreme in the world of basketball. Perfect for readers of Jeff Pearlman's The Bad Guys Won , Peter Richmond's Badasses, and Pat Williams's Coach Wooden, Araton's revealing story of the Knicks' heyday is far more than a review of one of basketball's greatest teams' inspiring story--it is, at heart, a stirring recreation of a time and place when the NBA championships defined the national dream.

"Funny, revealing, and surprising . . . Anything that brings new Yogi Berra stories is a good book."--MLB.comDriving Mr. Yogi is the story of a unique friendship between two New York Yankees legends--a pitcher and catcher--who share rides, meals, and a bond that transcends the twenty-five-year difference in their ages.The story begins in 1999, when Hall of Famer Yogi Berra is reunited with the Yankees after a long self-exile, the result of being unceremoniously fired by team owner George Steinbrenner fourteen years before. A reconciliation between Berra and the boss means that Berra will once again attend spring training. Retired-pitcher-turned-pitching-coach Ron Guidry knows the club's young players will benefit from "Mr. Yogi's" encyclopedic knowledge of the game, just as Guidry had during his playing days, so he encourages his old mentor to share his insights. In Yogi, Guidry finds not just a personable dinner companion or source of amusement--he finds a best friend. At turns tender and laugh-out-loud funny, and teeming with unforgettable baseball yarns that span more than fifty years, Driving Mr. Yogi is a universal story about the importance of wisdom being passed from one generation to the next, as well as a reminder that time is what we make of it and compassion never gets old. "Lovingly documented . . . You'll find yourself wishing it ain't over till it's over." --Parade "A warm, sentimental look at a baseball icon."--The Tampa Tribune

The revolution began with the simple act of a mother kicking a ball to her daughter. An English soccer trainer noticed, and praised her form. "Too bad," she replied, "there's no soccer league for mothers." Who could know that so many lives would change as a result of that simple exchange?In the suburban enclave of Montclair, New Jersey, as in so many communities around America, there was nothing new in the sight of mothers driving their minivans to soccer practice. What was new was that these women were driving to their own practices instead of dropping off their kids and watching from the sidelines. For the generation that grew up before Title IX's mandate of equal athletic opportunity, the field of play was a male preserve; girls watched and cheered. The lessons that sports are supposed to teach -- team spirit, overcoming adversity, playing to win without rancor or anger -- were restricted to this young boys' network; how could women help win the Battle of Waterloo when they'd been kept off the playing fields of Eton? The women of Montclair were mostly of that pre-Title IX generation, and many of them had never played competitive sports in their lives. In Alive and Kicking, Harvey Araton follows these women through their turbulent first two seasons. He turns his keen sportswriter's eye onto the battles, both on the field and in the psyche, that these women wage as they try to play a sport without compromising their values. He also shows the divisions that wrack the league when a slightly younger generation gets involved in the games, a generation raised without ambivalence about beating an opponent, willing to take a dangerous chance for a winning goal, even if it means running over the woman in their way. But most of all he describes the women who gain in confidence and ambition, like one of the league's pioneers, who finds the strength to leave a tired marriage, buoyed by her accomplishments on the field -- as well as the few who find themselves left behind by the achievers, those for whom this exposure to sport will leave the scars known to all who've been the last to be selected for a pickup game.The rise of women's sports -- symbolized by the ecstatic reaction to the U.S. Women's World Cup soccer team -- has been a significant change in the social landscape. This thoughtful, thought-provoking book examines the questions that should underlie this radical change, but too often have not: As sports change women, can women change sports? Is the male play-to-win model the only one that works? Does it work? Through the experiences of these smart, mature women, we learn much about the workings of games and societies -- and the difficulty of questioning patterns so deeply entrenched that we barely know we can question them at all.

Unflinching, timely, and authoritative, Crashing the Borders is the beginning of a much-needed conversation about sport and American culture. For those who care about both, this book will be the must-read work of the season.The game of basketball has gone global and is now the world’s fastest-growing sport. Talented players from Europe, Asia, South America, and Africa are literally crashing the borders as the level of their game now often equals that of the American pros, who no longer are sure winners in international competition and who must compete with foreign players for coveted spots on NBA rosters. Yet that refreshing world outlook stands in stark contrast to the game’s troubled image here at home. The concept of team play in the NBA has declined as the league’s marketers and television promoters have placed a premium on hyping individual stars instead of teams, and the players have come to see that big-buck contracts and endorsements come to those who selfishly demand the spotlight for themselves. In this taut, simmering book, Harvey Araton points his finger at the greed and exploitation that has weakened the American game and opens a discussion on the volatile, undiscussed subject that lies at the heart of basketball’s crisis: race. It begins, he argues, at the college level, where, too often, undereducated, inner-city talents are expected to perform for the benefit of affluent white crowds and to fill the coffers of their respective schools in what Araton calls a kind of “modern-day minstrel show.” Harvey Araton knows the players well enough to see beyond the stereotypes, and by combining passion and knowledge he calls on the NBA to heal itself and, with a hopeful sense of the possible, he points the way to a better future.

Harvey Araton writes, with keen insight, of a time when power was ebbing fast from both newspapers and their unions. It's an especially bittersweet tale he tells of the people who had grown up in newspapers and unions, as they struggle to adapt to this evolving new order. And, of course, what makes this even more evocative, is that we're still trying to sort this all out. -- Frank Deford, author of Everybody's All-American, NPR commentator"Father and son face their demons, each other, and a depressingly realistic publisher in a newspaper yarn that made me yell "Hold the Front Page" for Harvey Araton's rousing debut as a novelist." -- Robert Lipsyte, author of An Accidental SportswriterIn times of change, American novelists return to old themes. In Cold Type--as in Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman--a son and his father struggle to hold onto what they think is right. It's mid-1990s; and "cold type" technology, a.k.a. computerized typesetting, wreaks havoc among workers in the newspaper industry. A fabulously wealthy Briton buys the New York City Trib and immediately refuses to negotiate with the truck drivers' union. In solidarity, all the other blue collar unions take to the streets. Jamie Kramer is a reporter for the Trib. His father is a hardcore shop steward (unusual for a Jew in Irish-dominated unions) from the old day of "hot type," but who has become a typographer in a world he doesn't understand. His father expects Jamie not to cross the picket line. It would be an act of supreme disrespect. But that's not so easy for Jamie. His marriage has fallen apart, he desperately needs his paycheck for child support, and he needs to make his own life outside the shadow of his father.Harvey Araton is a celebrated sports reporter and columnist for the New York Times. He authored the New York Times best-seller Driving Mr. Yogi: Yogi Berra, Ron Guidry, and Baseball's Greatest Gift; plus When the Garden Was Eden: Clyde, the Captain, Dollar Bill, and the Glory Days of the New York Knicks. Araton also finds time to serve as adjunct professor in sports writing at Montclair State University in New Jersey where he lives.

The moving story of a bond between sportswriter and fan that was forged in a shared love of basketball and grew over several decades into an extraordinary friendship "This is a story about friendship, sports, aging, and ultimately time itself--the things it strips away and the things it cannot touch. I loved it."--Wright Thompson, author of The Cost of These Dreams Harvey Araton is one of New York's--and the nation's--best-known sports journalists, having covered thousands of Knicks games over the course of a long and distinguished career. But the person at the heart of Our Last Season, Michelle Musler, is largely anonymous--except, that is, to the players, coaches, and writers who have passed through Madison Square Garden, where she held season tickets behind the Knicks bench for 45 years. In that time, as she juggled a successful career as a corporate executive and single parenthood of five children, she missed only a handful of home games. The Garden was her second home--and the place where an extraordinary friendship between fan and sportswriter was forged. That relationship soon grew into something much bigger than basketball, with Michelle serving as a cherished mentor and friend to Harvey as he weathered life's inevitable storms: illness, aging, and professional challenges and transitions. During the 2017-18 NBA season, as Michelle faces serious illness that prevents her from attending more than a few Knicks games, Harvey finally has the chance to give back to Michelle everything she has given him: reminders of all she's accomplished, the blessings she's enjoyed, and the devoted friend she has been to him. Chock-full of anecdotes from behind the scenes and cameos from Knicks legends--from Frazier, King, and Ewing to Riley, Van Gundy, and many more--the story of Harvey and Michelle's nearly four decades of friendship is a delight for basketball fans. But at its core, Our Last Season is a book for all of us, offering a poignant and inspiring message about how to live with passion, commitment, and optimism.