With Father’s Day soon upon us, finding gifts for the sports nut in your family can be quite a challenge. What do you get for the sports fan that already has all the jerseys, hats, and gear that they could possibly want? The Best Damn Sports Show Period’s Twitter friend Books-A-Million gave us these suggestions for some sports-themed books that might fit the bill.
Frank Gifford pens an amazing account of the “Greatest Game Ever Played” in The Glory Game: How the 1958 NFL Championship Changed Football Forever. In Urban's Way: Urban Meyer, the Florida Gators, and His Plan to Win, Buddy Martin recounts the life of the Gator coach from his childhood to today. How Good Do You Want to Be?: A Champion's Tips on How to Lead and Succeed at Work and in Life gives readers Alabama coach Nick Saban’s tips for success at work and in life. From Sports Illustrated, The College Football Book includes stunning pictures, award-winning articles, and more, spanning the sport's history from its infancy in the 1800s right up to the postseason showdowns of 2008. In Beyond Belief: Finding the Strength to Come Back, Texas Rangers slugger Josh Hamilton details his 4-year nightmare of drugs and alcohol; estrangement from friends and family; his eventual suspension from baseball; and his spiritual journey through pain and heartbreak that led to the rebirth of his major-league career.
Not to be outdone, the staff of the Best Damn Sports Show Period put their heads together and came up with their own list of books that might make your holiday shopping a little easier. Here are their recommendations.
Alyssa Milano’s love letter to fandom, Safe at Home: Confessions of a Baseball Fanatic, delves into her relationship with her father and how sports brought them closer together, making it a perfect gift for fathers who share any degree of sports fandom with their children. Pulitzer Prize-winning political commentator and baseball fan George F. Will gives readers the ultimate insider's look at the exacting technique of both baseball players and managers in his bestseller Men at Work: the Craft of Baseball. In Moneyball: the Art of Winning an Unfair Game, Michael Lewis follows the 2002 Oakland A’s and their general manager, Billy Beane, as they try to field a competitive team with one of the league’s smallest payrolls. At the other end of the payroll spectrum, Yankees fans can wax nostalgic with Yankee Stadium: a Tribute by Les Krantz, which comes with a DVD narrated by Reggie Jackson, highlighting 85 years of memories at The House That Ruth Built. Former Yankees, Astros, and Pilots pitcher Jim Bouton’s bestselling Ball Four takes readers deep inside the world of baseball, a perspective only possible from a player’s point of view. Current Dodgers Manager Joe Torre recounts his experiences at his former job in the Yankee Dugout in The Yankee Years. An NFL player and former Best Damn Sports Show Period host reminisces about the difficulties of life in the deep south of the 1950s, and the obstacles black players once faced in the NFL in Headslap: The Life and Times of Deacon Jones. Another former Best Damn host, Michael Irvin, plays a role in Boys Will Be Boys: the Glory Days and Party Nights of the Dallas Cowboys Dynasty, Jeff Pearlman’s tell-all account of the Dallas Cowboys in the notorious 90's. Often called one of the “good guys” in the world of sports, running back Warrick Dunn tells his story of overcoming great loss to reach the NFL in his autobiography Running for My Life: My Journey in the Game of Football and Beyond. Jim Nantz writes about his rise to the pinnacle of sports broadcasting while watching his father succumb to Alzheimer’s disease in Always By My Side: A Father's Grace and a Sports Journey Unlike Any Other. David Halberstam’s The Education of a Coach reveals Bill Belichick’s life-long journey to the top of the NFL coaching ranks, from boyhood to the super bowl. Through his unsuccessful stint with the Boston Celtics; the loss of his best friend and brother-in-law on 9/11; and the depression that followed; Coach Rick Pitino gained a new perspective on life, which he shares in Rebound Rules: The Art of Success 2.0. For his book Seven Seconds or Less: My Season on the Bench with the Runnin' and Gunnin' Phoenix Suns, Sports Illustrated writer Jack McCallum spent the 2005-2006 season with the Suns, gaining unparalleled, behind the scenes access to the inner workings of the NBA. In The Punch: One Night, Two Lives, and the Fight That Changed Basketball Forever, John Feinstein uses the infamous Kermit Washington / Rudy Tomjanovich punch as a springboard to look at the two players’ lives, and to examine the pre-Magic/Bird NBA. World Champion boxer Oscar De La Hoya details his rise to the top, the pain of losing his mother, and the pitfalls of stardom in his memoir American Son: My Story. For NHL fans, Tales from the Farm and Ghost Stories, the first two volumes in Jeff Lemire’s brilliant Essex County graphic novel trilogy, deal heavily with hockey on both amateur and professional levels with tremendous emotion. Hailed by Sports Illustrated as one of the top ten sports books of all time (as was Ball Four), Ken Dryden’s The Game provides an inside look at the game of hockey and the lifestyle of an NHL player in the 1970s. For a look into the modern NHL, the memoir Jonesy: Put Your Head Down and Skate: The Improbable Career of Keith Jones by Keith Jones with John Buccigross depicts Jones’ ascent though the Junior ranks to the NHL, including anecdotes featuring superstars of the NHL. In Missing Links by Rick Reilly, a fictional foursome of working-class golf buddies makes a bet to see who will be the first to play a round at the exclusive Mayflower Club, and the guys stop at nothing to win the wager. Rick Reilly also takes on the golf world in Who's Your Caddy?: Looping for the Great, Near Great, and Reprobates of Golf, recounting his experiences caddying for both professional and celebrity amateur golfers. Bob Smiley followed the consummate professional, Tiger Woods, throughout his dominating 2008 season in Follow the Roar: Tailing Tiger for All 604 Holes of His Most Spectacular Season. Finally, for those just taking up golf, Peter Post explains the etiquette of the sport in Playing Through: A Guide to the Unwritten Rules of Golf.
Hopefully one of the books above will help you bring some joy to the dads on your shoping list. All of them should still be in print and readily available at bookstores across the nation and online. Happy Father’s Day from the Best Damn Sports Show Period!