— The Podium

Welcome to The Podium: A Sports Book Club. Before I get stuck in, if you hadn’t worked it out already this this isn’t a betting website! It’s a bookclub.

January is a busy month for sports but I thought we should keep it pretty friendly and find a book everybody would be interested in reading. I’ve gone as safe as possible choosing American Football, Cricket, Cycling, Soccer and Tennis.

Below are January’s 5 books. Make sure to vote at the bottom of the page. The results will be revealed on the 7th. Hopefully that will give you enough time to go out and purchase the book and read it before the end of the month.

Resurrection: The Miracle Season That Saved Notre Dame by Jim Dent

Dent interviewed Parseghian as well as many of the surviving players and painstakingly researched the newspaper and national press coverage the team received during its Phoenix-like resurrection. The genuinely engaging game accounts—usually momentum killers in sports books—are peppered with specific player memories that add urgency and excitement…we have an inspirational underdog saga, humor, pathos, tragedy, and triumph. – Booklist

On January 7th 2013, Notre Dame could claim their first BSC National Championship since 1988 when they face 2011 and 2009 BCS National Championship Alabama Crimson Tide in Miami Gardens, Florida.

Resurrection by Jim Dent tells the story of Notre Dame in a completely different scenario to the current setup.

Back in the 1960s, Notre Dame’s football program was in shambles. For five straight years, from 1958 through 1963, the home of Knute Rockne and Frank Leahy could not produce one winning season. Plagued by a series of bad coaching choices, inept management, and a loss of institutional support, no one could be sure if the Fighting Irish would ever return to glory. When “Touchdown Jesus” was erected in 1964, it presided over a team so hopeless that the entire football program was on the brink of collapse. – Book Description, Amazon.com

Notre Dam Vs Alabama Crimson Tide – January 7th