Sports

This is a true story about a boy whose life revolved around God and basketball. Matt Espinoza aka “Noza” was taught about the game of basketball at a very young age. During that time he faced many obstacles, the most difficult one being that he lost his mom to brain cancer when he was nine years old. His dad raised him and his brother and continued developing them for basketball. Other challenges would confront Matt. He was dealing with a blood platelet condition he had not grown out of yet. Matt had a love for the game of basketball but his body was not developing as fast as most kids. In his younger years things were going great. But when he got to Jr. High other kids seem to be passing him up and he was struggling for playing time. Matt would always tag along with his older brother, Jake, but always found himself watching and not playing. When Matt was a freshman and a sophomore he almost didn’t make McNary High School’s basketball team. His dad speaks of the challenges and lessons learned in this amazing story. Matt was always trying to keep up with his older brother Jake. They would eventually battle it out in a college basketball game. This is an inspirational, encouraging, and an amazing story of a young man that believed in himself and was not going to be denied. Matt set goals for himself and he worked hard to reach those goals. His attitude of never giving up, and having faith paid off big time.

The only multi-million dollar bass fishing tournament in the world brought Stan Bones back to the Grand Lake of the Cherokees in northeast Oklahoma. He worked in the area one summer while he was in college fifteen years earlier, but had not been back since. He came back to familiarize himself with the lake and increase his chances to win the major money in the biggest bass tournament in the world.

Many things changed in the lives of the people he knew so long ago. The people who once opened their hearts and homes to a brash young college student welcomed him back again. His old friends helped him deal with the demons that haunted his heart for the past two years and he helped them protect their way of life in the rural area.

Ride along with Stan Bones and his fishing partner as they demonstrate their profound personal prowess in piscatorial pursuits along the trail to “The Bass Bum’s Bonanza!”

Picture yourself clad in your favorite bathing suit relaxing on a sleek sailing yacht anchored in crystal clear water off white sandy beaches. Cool drink in hand, you’re soaking up the brilliant sunshine, trying not to awaken from this impossible dream. An impossible dream?? Not at all!!

A former couple from Endwell, New York not only had this dream but actually lived it.

Dorothy and Richard Kiegler lived aboard and cruised the Caribbean aboard their sailing Trimaran the “Malo Folau” for over seven years.

This fascinating memoir tells their story and includes original poetry by Richard Kiegler.

This book takes a humorous look at the game of golf. Everything from equipment to the rules are explored and exploited. Your golf game may not improve significantly, but your attitude may be altered for the better. Golf is a game for life, but is not a game of life or death. Laugh and enjoy yourself, your golfing partners and the wonderful game of golf. I invite you to join me on this journey from the ridiculous to the sublime.

If you baseball fans out there have ever wondered who the best players, who are the best teams, and what were the best pennants races, wonder no more. I’ve done all the work for you as I, the world’s biggest baseball fan, give you my humbled opinion of the best and worst in baseball history. I rank the best and worst teams, the most lopsided trades, and the best players at every position in the history of baseball. See why baseball is still the best sport.

The goal of this book is to provide an overview of the college recruiting process by sharing knowledge that has helped me to secure NCAA Division I athletic scholarships for both of my sons, one in tennis and one in track and field.

Collegiate recruiting is a business and a big business. The University of Texas’ athletic ticket sales for the 2004-2005 academic year was $33,507,576. The football recruiting budget for the average Mid-American Conference (MAC) University is $90,000. For example, the Georgia Bulldogs spent $500,000 on football recruiting for its 2004 class.

It will behoove any athlete to approach collegiate athletic recruiting as a business person. This book will explore several business gambits and teach strategies that will facilitate the achievement of your dream, an athletic scholarship

• Learn how to negotiate from a position of power like a business person, rather than a high school athlete.
• Learn how to be noticed by coaches.
• Learn how to objectify your college visits and evaluations with a ranking system.
• Learn what questions to ask while on campus visits.
• Learn the academic requirements needed for athletic recruitment.
• Learn where to find federally mandated crime statistics for individual universities.
• Learn the advantages and disadvantages of early versus late recruiting dates.
• Learn why red shirting can cost an athlete as much as $73,000.
• Learn negotiation skills that facilitate opportunities.
• Learn why you should not select a university solely on the basis of the coaching staff.
• Learn how to do a self evaluation to identify your positioning in the recruiting market place.

You do not have to be a blue chip athlete to secure a scholarship. With the proper knowledge you can create your own opportunities.

The Adventures and Misadventures of Juan Loco is a collection of stories about the excitement, and sometimes the danger, of hunting – by a man who has hunted all over the United States (including Alaska), Canada, New Zealand and Africa. This book is filled with tales reflecting a love of the sport and the environment, flavoring by large doses of humor. Any hunter would surely enjoy and relate to the adventures and misadventures as much as the author did living them.

The adventures also contain humorous stories about the author’s youth; including tipping over outhouses on Halloween and his father’s burning of the outhouse!

Here are some excerpts:

“Uncle Bill took off his hunting coat and began to root around in the back. He pulled out the small thermos he had placed there and began to try and wipe the rabbit hair off the cup…the more he wiped, the more blood and hair he smeared around…the rabbit hair and blood gave the cup the look of some devils chalice being offered up after a sacrifice. “Here you go boy,” said Uncle Bill as he handed me the cup.

“Crisscrossing the valley to head for the next waterhole to try and head off the elephants…we came upon a small family dwelling of mud huts…naked and dirty children were in a constant game of hide and seek or pelted the chickens with dirt clods. As Rory began to ask the elders about elephants, I began to hand out bright, yellow butterscotch candies to the kids…. I feel a tug on my pants and one boy is holding out a piece of colored string. His gift to me is all he has in the world…I am humbled by the magnitude of his gesture.”

“The roar of the lioness came from ten yards to my rear and the sound of it raised the hair on my neck and vibrated my entire body. I could hear the brush as it slid along her body and her claws rattling on the rocks as she came. She was close, so very close. I vainly spun knowing the shot would be measured in inches and one shot was all there would be time for.”

Josh Stanton is a distance runner. When he was young, he tortured himself mercilessly on the track and, even though his goal of making an Olympic team always seemed just out of reach, he struggled to maximize his potential. While racing, every second was precious and no sacrifice was too large. The training paid off and, in his early twenty’s, Josh ran hundreds of races from the mile to the marathon, consistently improving and winning.

Then, at age 23 it was over. During a routine track workout, a nagging achilles problem escalated into a career ending injury. Knowing his best performances were behind him, he reluctantly retired from racing and tried to bury his dreams.

20 years later, by chance, Josh stumbles into the fringe sport of ultra-marathoning and rekindles his lost passion for running. After a few years of learning the ropes, he enters the Hellgate endurance run, a 66-mile trail race in the Virginia Mountains. Unable to come up with the performance he expects, Josh is compelled to answer a simple question. Why is he here? At age 43, Josh has to re-evaluate his motivation for running. Can he run for the pure joy of it, or is he to be forever tortured by the lost glory of his past. He has to search his soul to find answers to the questions that have haunted him ever since he started his comeback.

The 20th anniversary of the 1986 World Champion New York Mets has arrived and with this momentous occasion comes a flood of wonderful memories. Resurrected by Daniel J. Erickson with the sole intention of adding a dash of joy for everyone who feasts upon his offering.

This is the story of Harry Kahn, also known as Bobbie Ray or Soldier Ray. His life began in 1903, the year Soldier Ray was born on a ship coming to America from Finland. During his fascinating life he became the welterweight champion of the Armed Forces – not just once, but twice. After leaving the US Army he did what many boxers did in those days, he went to work for the Mob. There are a lot of stories that need to be told and this is one of them.