The Podium

The Shouting Match

By: Ronan

02-04-2013

1986

When I picked up A Season on the Brink: A Year with Bob Knight and the Indiana Hoosiers by John Feinstein the first thing I noticed were the handful endorsements on the book jacket. Many reputable publications like The Boston Globe, Sports Illustrated, Chicago Tribune and USA Today had lots of nice things to say about this supposed ‘classic’. Naturally I was excited.

John Feinstein followed Bob Knight everywhere he went for the ’85-’86 season, he attended every team practice, meeting and game. This book is the result of that. It is the story of Knight’s unwavering passion for basketball. Knight was obsessed with the game and insisted on it being played the way he liked it. As A Season on the Brink demonstrates, Sometimes this would go according to plan but most of the time it didn’t. If Knight’s team couldn’t live up to his, at times, unrealistic expectations of performance, they knew about it.

March’s Book: A Season on the Brink

By: Ronan

07-03-2013

Selected Books

The Book for March is A Season on the Brink: A Year with Bob Knight and the Indiana Hoosiers by John Feinstein.

The results were spread out as follows: A Season on the Brink 36%, Senna Versus Prost 25% and Ruby, Inside Edge and The Club all received 13%.

I’ve been looking forward to reading this book, it’s an American Sports classic afterrall. After publication, the National Collegiate Athletic Association passed a rule banning media from being in a team’s locker room before or during a game. There was one exception; if one member of the media gained access, then the locker room was opened up to all members of the media.

March Madness

By: Ronan

04-03-2013

Nominated Books

March Madness is an expression used in American College Basketball. March is the busiest month for the single-elimination college basketball tournament and usually one top seeded team will be outdone by an underdog.

Below I have short-listed 5 books for our March Book. This month we’re looking at Basketball, F1, Gaelic Games, Horse Racing and Ice Skating books. Quite different to what we’ve seen previously! Admittedly, I found picking these 5 books difficult but with difficultly comes possibility. I hope you are interested in what you see below.

March’s book will be revealed on Thursday the 7th. For your say, please vote at the bottom of the page.

A Season on the Brink: A Year with Bob Knight and the Indiana Hoosiers by John Feinstein

A Season on the Brink

John Feinstein was allowed to follow the Indiana Hoosiers for one season, what happened changed the sport and created one of most talked about American sports books of all time. Key dates for the College Basketball season can be viewed here.

About John Feinstein John Feinstein is one of the nation’s most successful and prolific sports authors who has written 24 books to date. His most recent work Are You Kidding Me? , written with Rocco Mediate, was released on May 18, 2009, and is presently on the shelf at bookstores everywhere. In addition, he is an award-winning columnist and regular contributor in both radio and television.

Book Description

A Season on the Brink chronicles the basketball season that John Feinstein spent following the Indiana Hoosiers and their fiery coach, Bob Knight. Knight granted Feinstein an unprecedented inside look at college basketball-with complete access to every moment of the season. Feinstein saw and heard it all-practices, team meetings, strategy sessions, and midgame huddles-during Knight’s struggle to avoid a losing season. A Season on the Brink not only captures the drama and pressure of big-time college basketball but paints a vivid portrait of a complex, brilliant coach walking a fine line between genius and madness. John Feinstein has written for Sports Illustrated, The Washington Post, The Sporting News, and Inside Sports and is currently the main feature writer for The National. He has won twelve U.S. Basketball Writers awards. Book jacket.

February’s Fixture

By: Ronan

29-01-2013

Nominated Books

So here we go again. Five books have been selected loosely based on sporting events happening next month. Please read the below and then vote for the one you would like to see as February’s book of the month.

A few sports have managed to stay on the list from last month but you will notice the new titles all have a slightly different focus. This month the books are in line with the Super Bowl, NBA All-Star’s game, Soccer’s Champions League, Rugbys RBS 6 Nations and FIS Skiing.

Below are the nominated books. You can vote for the one you’d most like to read at the bottom. The results will be revealed on the 4th of February.

When Pride Still Mattered: A Life of Vince Lombardi by David Maraniss

Publisher: Simon & Schuster Australia; 1st Touchstone Ed edition (30 Sep 2000)

whenpridestillmattered

Ron Fimrite Sports Illustrated Forges a near-perfect synthesis of fine writing and fascinating material. May be the best sports biography ever published.

There are hundreds (perhaps thousands!) of books available that deal with different aspects of the NFL. There are books about championship teams, losing teams, managers, players, economics, politics and race. One name that jumped out at me though when I was researching for this month’s titles, was Vince Lombardi. Vince Lombardi was not only a legend of NFL but his is also the name on the trophy handed to the winning team of the Super Bowl. Lombardi is one of the greatest coaches of all time.

A Look at February

By: Ronan

17-01-2013

Coming Up

I hope everyone is enjoying Tylor Hamilton and Daniel Coyle’s The Secret Race, I’m just over half way through and it’s pretty full on. A complete page turner. And it’s just in time for Lance Armstrong to enter the Oprah Winfey Thunder Dome! I hope to have my review up on Monday the 27th of January.

Moving on.

Below are a list of major sporting events happening next month. If anyone has any suggestions for other events and books then please leave a message in the comment area below. On Thursday the 24th I’ll put up the 5 nominated books for February. Then after you all vote, the chosen book will be revealed on Thursday the 31st.

Super Bowl XLVII

By February 3rd, 2 teams will have reached the Super Bowl. At the moment there’s a handful of teams still playing. On Sunday 20th January San Francisco play at Atlanta and Baltimore play at New England.

NFL on ESPN

NFL.com

FIS Alpine World Ski Championships 2013, Nordic World Ski Championships 2013

To be honest I could write everything I know about Skiing on the back of a napkin. If there are any skiing enthusiasts out there, please fill us in. Especially about what we should be putting on the bookshelves.

— The Podium

The Shouting Match

March’s Book: A Season on the Brink

March Madness

A Season on the Brink: A Year with Bob Knight and the Indiana Hoosiers by John Feinstein

February’s Fixture

When Pride Still Mattered: A Life of Vince Lombardi by David Maraniss

Ron Fimrite Sports Illustrated Forges a near-perfect synthesis of fine writing and fascinating material. May be the best sports biography ever published.

A Look at February

Super Bowl XLVII

FIS Alpine World Ski Championships 2013, Nordic World Ski Championships 2013

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