God X Basketball

God X Basketball
Author: Nick Graham
Publisher:
Total Pages: 262
Release: 2020-09-29
Genre:
ISBN: 9781632964007

As you develop your relationship with God, you will learn that while basketball is a lifestyle, it's not life. God is. This book of basketball-themed devotionals accepts readers where they are and encourages them to continually strengthen their personal relationship with God. God x Basketball will help you: - develop Christ-led character on and off the court. - discover a deeper purpose through your role in sports. - allow God to lead you through the peaks and valleys of life and sports. - use basketball as a vehicle to support you in your faith walk. - place God first in your life. Readers will learn that their talents should never compromise the continued development of their Christ-like character, which is the spirit in which basketball was invented. Knowing what to do in the game is one thing. Know what to do in life is another.

Black Gods of the Asphalt

Black Gods of the Asphalt
Author: Onaje X. O. Woodbine
Publisher: Columbia University Press
Total Pages: 254
Release: 2016-05-24
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 0231541120

J-Rod moves like a small tank on the court, his face mean, staring down his opponents. "I play just like my father," he says. "Before my father died, he was a problem on the court. I'm a problem." Playing basketball for him fuses past and present, conjuring his father's memory into a force that opponents can feel in each bone-snapping drive to the basket. On the street, every ballplayer has a story. Onaje X. O. Woodbine, a former streetball player who became an all-star Ivy Leaguer, brings the sights and sounds, hopes and dreams of street basketball to life. He shows that big games have a trickster figure and a master of black talk whose commentary interprets the game for audiences. The beats of hip-hop and reggae make up the soundtrack, and the ballplayers are half-men, half-heroes, defying the ghetto's limitations with their flights to the basket. Basketball is popular among young black American men but not because, as many claim, they are "pushed by poverty" or "pulled" by white institutions to play it. Black men choose to participate in basketball because of the transcendent experience of the game. Through interviews with and observations of urban basketball players, Onaje X. O. Woodbine composes a rare portrait of a passionate, committed, and resilient group of athletes who use the court to mine what urban life cannot corrupt. If people turn to religion to reimagine their place in the world, then black streetball players are indeed the hierophants of the asphalt.

God, Family & Basketball

God, Family & Basketball
Author: Chris Elsberry
Publisher:
Total Pages: 168
Release: 2020-10-25
Genre:
ISBN: 9781949616156

For 50 years at St. Joseph's High School, Vito Montelli was a coach, a mentor, a father figure, a friend and so much more. He was a shoulder to lean on, a shoulder to cry on, someone who would always be there with an encouraging word. Vito Montelli didn't just teach basketball, he taught life. He is New England and Connecticut's all-time winningest basketball coach, going 878-329. He coached in 1,207 games. He is the only Connecticut and New England coach to surpass 850 wins. His teams won 11 Connecticut state championships, were runner-up six times and lost in the semifinals six times.There have been just five losing seasons in Montelli's 50-year coaching career at St. Joseph. A total of 33 players were named to the All-State team and 27 were named McDonald's All-Americans.

Basketball Gods

Basketball Gods
Author: Lance Allred
Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform
Total Pages: 268
Release: 2016-09-20
Genre:
ISBN: 9781537782713

In the sequel to the critically acclaimed memoir, Longshot, Lance Allred returns where his journey left off, sharing his stories and experiences in the NBA as well as dealing with a major publisher for his first book, as life continues to take him around the world through the game of basketball, challenging his dreams at every turn. Basketball Gods is a book about acceptance and picking up the pieces as you go along while providing insight into the supposedly glamorous world of professional sports. It is a book about basketball. And a story about spirituality as well as forgiveness and self-empowerment. Most of all, it is a story about life.

Lead . . . for God's Sake!

Lead . . . for God's Sake!
Author: Todd Gongwer
Publisher: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.
Total Pages: 258
Release: 2011-10-24
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 141437058X

If you’ve ever asked yourself why you do what you do, or wondered what your purpose is in life, this book is for you. The lives of an intensely-driven basketball coach, an ultra-successful CEO, and an unassuming janitor all intersect in this captivating parable about leadership, relationships, and the pursuit of success. An unforgettable story packed with profound truths, LEAD . . . for God’s Sake! will challenge you to think deeply about who you are as a leader, what success means to you, and why you do what you do. Whether you’re leading a business, a team, or your own family, this book is the first and most important step to becoming the leader you were meant to be.

The Book of Basketball

The Book of Basketball
Author: Bill Simmons
Publisher: ESPN
Total Pages: 754
Release: 2010-12-07
Genre: Sports & Recreation
ISBN: 0345520106

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • The NBA according to The Sports Guy—now updated with fresh takes on LeBron, the Celtics, and more! Foreword by Malcom Gladwell • “The work of a true fan . . . it might just represent the next phase of sports commentary.”—The Atlantic Bill Simmons, the wildly opinionated and thoroughly entertaining basketball addict known to millions as ESPN’s The Sports Guy, has written the definitive book on the past, present, and future of the NBA. 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.

Character Driven

Character Driven
Author: Derek Fisher
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Total Pages: 374
Release: 2009-09-08
Genre: Sports & Recreation
ISBN: 1439149151

The Three Time NBA Champion and starting point guard for the Los Angeles Lakers shares his Christian faith and inspirational values for success and happiness. Since his inaugural season with the NBA in 1996, Derek Fisher has had a dramatic impact on the great success of the Lakers. Playing alongside legendary players like Kobe Bryant, Shaquille O’Neal, and Lamar Odom, Fisher has held his position at point guard, participating in some of the most dramatic post-season games and moments in recent memory. In 2007 Derek Fisher and his wife Candace’s lives were upturned by news that their eleven-month-old daughter, Tatum, had been diagnosed with a degenerative and rare form of eye cancer called retinoblastoma. Although his team, the Utah Jazz, was in the midst of a heated playoff series, Fisher immediately put his family first to be with his daughter at the time of her required emergency surgery and chemotherapy. Nominated the best moment in the 2007 ESPY Awards, Derek was able to make a dramatic late entrance and performance in the fourth quarter of game 2 to help the Jazz to an emotional victory. Following the season, Fisher asked the Jazz to release him of his contract so he could devote his energies to fighting his daughter’s retinoblastoma without knowing if he would ever play basketball again. Fisher officially rejoined the Lakers, resuming his role as point guard, and provided a veteran influence alongside Kobe Bryant to a relatively young Lakers squad. In his compelling new book, Fisher shares the Christian values that have guided him on the court and off. With anecdotes from his personal and professional life, Fisher offers lessons learned along the way. Drawing on the power of faith, he shows how anyone can play for a successful team: whether that team is family, community, or just happens to be one in the NBA.

O God of Players

O God of Players
Author: Julie Byrne
Publisher: Columbia University Press
Total Pages: 313
Release: 2003
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0231127480

This is the remarkable story of the first stars of women's basketball. In the early 1970s, few women participated in organized athletics, but in Catholic Philadelphia, women's basketball was already a well-established, thirty-year tradition. In this vivid account of Immaculata basketball, Julie Byrne explores the unusual lives of these young women, the rare opportunities and pleasures they were allowed, their religious culture, and the broader ideas of womanhood that they inspired and helped redefine.

God and Starbucks

God and Starbucks
Author: Vin Baker
Publisher: HarperCollins
Total Pages: 234
Release: 2017-07-11
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 0062496832

Vin Baker, an NBA all-star, Olympic gold medalist, and clean-cut preacher’s son, harbored a dark secret: a dependence on drugs and alcohol that began shortly after he turned pro. Eventually becoming a full-blown yet functional alcoholic, Vin convinced himself that he played better under the influence—until his addiction cost him his basketball career, his fortune, and his health. But Vin’s story isn’t a tragic fall from grace. It is an enthralling testimony of salvation. For Vin, hitting rock bottom was a difficult yet transformative experience that led him to renew his relationship with God and to embrace life. Howard Schultz of Starbucks and Calvin Butts of Abyssinian Baptist Church offered Vin a helping hand and led him to find more security and happiness in his ordinary working life than he did in all of his years in the glamorous world of professional basketball. God and Starbucks is a wise, unflinching look at addiction and at the necessity of taking charge and claiming one’s blessings. It is a powerful memoir about reaching the top and beginning again from the bottom—an inspiring personal tale of humility and grace that reminds us of what is truly important.

Stuff Good Players Should Know

Stuff Good Players Should Know
Author: Dick DeVenzio
Publisher: BookPros, LLC
Total Pages: 322
Release: 2006
Genre: Sports & Recreation
ISBN: 9781933538518

STUFF Good Players Should Know may very well be the best book ever written for basketball players. It is conversational and easy to understand, yet filled with subtle insights into the game of basketball. STUFF is page after page of creative concepts, common sense, and special tips that can not be found anywhere else. ? How do you guard a stronger player? ? How do you set up a game-winning steal? ? How do you ?strip? a rebound? ? How do you score with a strong-handed dribble while going to the weak side? ? How do you practice shooting for maximum game effectiveness? ? How do you recognize defensive changes? STUFF is like having a coach right beside you, in your room, discussing the fine points of the games. How do you think in the minutes of the game? How do you react to mistakes? What is your attitude about fouls? Eating? Superstitions? Injuries? All this and more makes STUFF a book that players will find indispensable. Basketball fans will enjoy it, but players won't do