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Irresistibly Yours: A scorching office romance from the author of The Prenup! (Oxford #1)
by Lauren LayneFans of Julie James, Carly Phillips and Chanel Cleeton - meet the men of Oxford magazine! In the first captivating spin-off of Lauren Layne's bestselling Sex, Love & Stiletto series, Irresistibly Yours, a not-so-friendly battle of the sexes turns into a scorching office romance.Hotshot sports editor Cole Sharpe has been freelancing for Oxford for years, so when he hears about a staff position opening up, he figures he's got the inside track. Then his boss drops a bombshell: Cole has competition. Female competition, in the form of a fresh-faced tomboy who can hang with the dudes-and write circles around them, too. Cole usually likes his women flirty and curvy, but he takes a special interest in his skinny, sassy rival, if only to keep an eye on her. And soon, he can't take his eyes off her.Penelope Pope knows all too well that she comes off as just one of the guys. Since she's learned that wanting more usually leads to disappointment, Penelope's resigned to sitting on the sidelines when it comes to love. So why does Cole make her want to get back in the game? The man is as arrogant as he is handsome. He probably sees her as nothing more than a barrier to his dream job. But when an unexpected kiss turns into a night of irresistible passion, Penelope has to figure out whether they're just fooling around - or starting something real.Want more fun, fresh, flirty and very sexy rom-com? Check out all the titles in the Oxford series: Irresistibly Yours, I Wish You Were Mine and Someone Like You, and don't miss the warm, witty and sexy Wedding Belles series.Can a guy and a girl really be 'just friends'? You won't want to miss Lauren Layne's sexy take on this timeless question in Blurred Lines.
Is Enough Being Done To Protect Athletes From Concussions?
by Christine WilcoxExperts estimate that at least 10 percent of all contact sports athletes sustain concussions every year. Through objective discussion, numerous direct quotes, and full-color illustrations this title examines What Are the Origins of the Concussion Controversy in Sports? How Dangerous Are Concussions? Are Adult Leagues Doing Enough to Protect Players? Are Schools and Youth Leagues Doing Enough to Protect Kids? Who Is to Blame for Concussion Risks to Athletes?
Is He All That?
by Adrian DurhamOutspoken talkSPORT host Adrian Durham vents his explosive opinions on the biggest debates in the history of football, at the same time revealing some unbelievable facts and hitherto unknown stories about the brilliant game. Here's a book that challenges some of football's most widely accepted wisdom. Was Sir Alf Ramsey really a good manager - or, to quote Durham's own catchphrase on talkSPORT, 'IS HE ALL THAT?' Why doesn't anybody ask the obvious question about Gary Lineker? Did Italy really deserve all their four World Cups? Who called a top-flight professional footballer 'a bottler'? Whether it's the myth of the Arsenal 'Invincibles', the true worth of David Beckham, or Jose Mourinho's supposed brilliance as a manager, you can be sure that Durham has a view on the matter. What's more, he's ready to unveil a medley of intriguing reasons as to why he's right. Lively comment, scintillating debate, outrageous assumptions, passion about the game - it's all here in a book that football fans will love to read, and want to argue about. 'Anyone who listens to Drive on a regular basis, like I do, will know Adrian can make you laugh out loud or shout at your radio in despair. . . ' Jamie Carragher
Is There Life After Football?: Surviving the NFL
by James A Holstein Richard S Jones George E Koonce JrAn award-winning book that takes us &“inside the lives of NFL players to show why so many wind up in dire straits after their time on the field&” (New York Post). 2016 Best Book Award, North American Society for the Sociology of Sport In this book, two social scientists team up with former linebacker and University of Wisconsin athletic director George Koonce to put a human face on the realities of life after professional football, exploring the challenges players face as well as the factors that can enable them to establish a successful post-NFL career. Drawing upon the experiences of hundreds of former players who describe their lives while playing the sport and after their football days are over, it shows how the &“bubble&”-like conditions of privilege that NFL players experience often leave them unprepared for the real world once they retire and must manage their own lives. The book also reveals the difficulties affecting former NFL players in retirement: social isolation, financial concerns, inadequate career planning, psychological challenges, and physical injuries. From players who make reckless and unsustainable financial investments during their very few high-earning years, to players who struggle to form personal and professional relationships outside of football, the stories in the book are both poignant and enlightening. Koonce weaves in his own story throughout, explaining the challenges he encountered and decisions that helped him succeed after leaving the sport. Ultimately, Is There Life After Football? concludes that, despite the challenges players face, it is possible for them to find success after leaving the NFL if they have the right support, education, and awareness of what might await them. &“A timely exploration that will be of interest to football fans looking to better understand the complex culture of the NFL.&” ―Booklist
Is This a Great Game, or What?: From A-Rod's Heart to Zim's Head—My 25 Years in Baseball
by Tim KurkjianESPN's Tim Kurkjian has spent over twenty-five years covering almost 3,000 Major League Baseball games and interviewing about that many players, coaches, managers and executives. In Is This a Great Game, or What?, Kurkjian combines his years of experience, uncanny knowledge and deep love of the game, to create a book filled with some of the most fascinating insight into Major League Baseball this side of Jim Bouton's bestseller, Ball Four. Whether he's explaining what goes through a ballplayer's mind when he faces a fastball in the chapter "My Face Was Crushed by a Bowling Ball Going 90mph", detailing bizarre rituals and superstitions performed by some of baseball's greatest players, or taking us into the locker room to see what transpires in the clubhouse of a Major League team, Kurkjian's tales are at times hilarious, other times horrifying, yet always entertaining.Kurkjian has spoken to some of the greatest ballplayers ever over the years and they have revealed details about themselves and the game they love with a candor that readers won't find anywhere else. Filled with anecdotes and fascinating insight, this is an essential book for baseball fans or anyone curious about America's pastime.
Is Your Horse 100%?
by Margret Henkels100% ability is in your hands! Conformation Balancing is amazingly simple. With patient, conscientious placement of your hands on specific areas of the horse's body, you can bring about profound change in his physical and mental well-being. The secret? The internet-like web of fascia beneath the skin. Fascia is the connective tissue that &“holds everything together&”—it wraps around, attaches, and stabilizes muscles and internal organs, communicating with all parts, while providing structure and organization. But here's the thing: Fascia also is a reservoir for emotional trauma and tension. This means that when you help a horse find a physical release in a &“stuck&” area of strain or stiffness, you invite psychological healing, as well.
Is that Bike Diesel, Mate?: One Man, One Bike, and the First Lap Around Australia on Used Cooking Oil
by Paul CarterOi, mate, is that monstrosity diesel? From the author of the bestsellers Don't Tell Mum I Work on the Rigs, She Thinks I'm a Piano Player in a Whorehouse and This Is Not a Drill, this is the eagerly awaited next installment of Paul Carter's rollicking life.Take one mad adventurer and a motorbike that runs on bio fuel (cooking oil i.e. chip fat to you and me) and send them with one filmmaker on a road trip around Australia just to see what happens. What you get is a story full of outback characters, implausible (but true) situations, unlikely events and unfortunate breakdowns, all at a break neck pace. Never one to sit still for long, this is what Paul Carter did next.Whether you've been shocked, delighted, entertained, horrified - or all of the above - by Paul's stories whether from oil rigs or the road one thing is for sure, they are always high octane adventures.
Isaac Murphy: The Rise and Fall of a Black Jockey (Black Lives)
by Katherine C. MooneyThe rise and fall of one of America&’s first Black sports celebrities Isaac Murphy, born enslaved in 1861, still reigns as one of the greatest jockeys in American history. Black jockeys like Murphy were at the top of the most popular sport in America at the end of the nineteenth century. They were internationally famous, the first African American superstar athletes—and with wins in three Kentucky Derbies and countless other prestigious races, Murphy was the greatest of them all. At the same time, he lived through the seismic events of Emancipation and Reconstruction and formative conflicts over freedom and equality in the United States. And inevitably he was drawn into those conflicts, with devastating consequences. Katherine C. Mooney uncovers the history of Murphy&’s troubled life, his death in 1896 at age thirty-five, and his afterlife. In recounting Murphy&’s personal story, she also tells two of the great stories of change in nineteenth-century America: the debates over what a multiracial democracy might look like and the battles over who was to hold power in an economy that increasingly resembled the corporate, wealth-polarized world we know today.
Isabel “Lefty” Alvarez: The Improbable Life of a Cuban American Baseball Star
by Kat D. WilliamsKat D. Williams traces Isabel &“Lefty&” Alvarez&’s life from her childhood in Cuba, where she played baseball with the boys on the streets of El Cerro, to her reinvention as a professional baseball player and American citizen. Isabel &“Lefty&” Alvarez gives the reader a look into Alvarez&’s young life in Cuba during the turbulent years leading up to Castro&’s revolution, as political differences tore families apart. Alvarez came to the United States at fifteen, speaking no English, and experienced the challenge of immigration as her mother pushed her to become a professional athlete in her newly adopted country. Through all the changes and upheaval, Alvarez found acceptance and success as a player in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League, where she was called &“the Rascal of El Cerro.&” After the league ended, Alvarez struggled with an undiagnosed learning disability that limited her options. She persevered and reinvented herself as a factory worker but later battled alcoholism and depression until baseball returned to her life and she was able to reconnect with her former teammates and become part of the active community of former players. Alvarez&’s life story illustrates the struggle and strength of a young Latina immigrant and the importance of sport to her transition to her new country and her enduring identity.
Island Story
by J. D. TaylorWhat is life like on this island? With a tent and a rusty bike, J.D. Taylor set off to find out.No other subject has spilt so much ink as Britain today. But whilst assuming a monopoly on national identity, a London-based elite has proven a poor forecaster of the political weather around the island.Skeptical and inquisitive, Taylor instead cycled all round Britain, interviewing and staying with strangers from all walks of life. Without a map and travelling with the most basic of gear, the journey revels in serendipity and schadenfreude.Island Story weaves histories, experiences and ideas to tell another kind of story: one of rebellion and retail parks, migration and inertia, pessimism and disappearing ways of life, and a fiery, unrealized desire for collective belonging and power.Think you know the island? Island Story will have you think again.From the Trade Paperback edition.
Islands Apart: A Year on the Edge of Civilization
by Ken McalpineAuthor Ken McAlpine stands in his front yard one night in Ventura, California, trying to see the stars. His view is diminished by light pollution, making it hard to see much of anything in the sky. Our fast-paced, technologically advanced society, he concludes, is not conducive to stargazing or soul-searching. Taking a page from Thoreau's Walden, he decides to get away from the clamor of everyday life, journeying alone through California's Channel Islands National Park. There, he imagines, he might be able to "breathe slowly and think clearly, to examine how we live and what we live for."In between his week-long solo trips through these pristine islands, McAlpine reaches out to try to better understand his fellow man: he eats lunch with the homeless in Beverly Hills, sits in the desert with a 98-year-old Benedictine monk, and befriends a sidewalk celebrity impersonator in Hollywood. What he discovers about himself and the world we live in will inspire anyone who wishes they had the time to slow down and notice the wonders of nature and humanity.To learn more about the author, visit his website at www.kenmcalpine.com.
Isokinetics: Muscle Testing, Interpretation and Clinical Applications
by Zeevi DvirIn this fully revised third edition of Isokinetics: Muscle Testing, Interpretation and Clinical Applications, a group of international experts cover the main developments that have taken place in the field of isokinetics in the last 20 years. Isokinetic dynamometry is well recognized as the standard in assessing muscular strength status and particularly its variation following intervention. Key features of this Third Edition; New chapter on multiple joint isokinetic testing New chapter on isokinetic reconditioning in the clinical setting New chapter on isokinetics in neurological disorders New chapter on isokinetics in neuromuscular diseases New chapter on isokinetic testing and training in the elderly New chapter on isokinetic testing in children Isokinetics Third Edition provides a wealth of essential information for those especially concerned with the assessment of muscle function due to disease or injury and its rehabilitation. This fully revised book is essential reading for orthopedic and sports physicians, neurologists, physical therapists, exercise physiologists and related professionals who will find the 3rd edition an important clinical reference for their effective practice.
Issei Baseball: The Story of the First Japanese American Ballplayers
by Robert K. FittsBaseball has been called America&’s true melting pot, a game that unites us as a people. Issei Baseball is the story of the pioneers of Japanese American baseball, Harry Saisho, Ken Kitsuse, Tom Uyeda, Tozan Masko, Kiichi Suzuki, and others—young men who came to the United States to start a new life but found bigotry and discrimination. In 1905 they formed a baseball club in Los Angeles and began playing local amateur teams. Inspired by the Waseda University baseball team&’s 1905 visit to the West Coast, they became the first Japanese professional baseball club on either side of the Pacific and barnstormed across the American Midwest in 1906 and 1911. Tens of thousands came to see &“how the minions of the Mikado played the national pastime.&” As they played, the Japanese earned the respect of their opponents and fans, breaking down racial stereotypes. Baseball became a bridge between the two cultures, bringing Japanese and Americans together through the shared love of the game.Issei Baseball focuses on the small group of men who formed the first professional and semiprofessional Japanese baseball clubs. These players&’ story tells the history of early Japanese American baseball, including the placement of Saisho, Kitsuse, and their families in relocation camps during World War II and the Japanese immigrant experience.
Issues in Physical Education (Issues in Teaching Series)
by Susan Capel Susan PiotrowskiIssues in Physical Education stimulates student-teachers, NQTs and practising physical education teachers to reflect on issues important to improving teaching in physical education. It encourages reflection and debate as an important part of professional development. Issues discussed include: aims as an issue in physical education breadth, balance and assessment in the physical education curriculum equality and the inclusion of pupils with special needs in physical education progression and continuity in physical education between primary and secondary schools community initiatives in physical education physical education, health and life-long participation in physical activity.
Isto é Tai Chi: 50 Perguntas e Respostas Essenciais
by Paul ReadO Tai Chi é uma arte incrível de se aprender, mas do que se trata realmente? O que significa? Quais são as suas origens e quão práticas são as suas lições neste mundo acelerado e frenético em que vivemos hoje em dia? Estas são algumas das 50 perguntas simples, porém importantes, que são respondidas neste fascinante livro cheio de anedotas, fatos e humor, que não somente o ajudará a entender esta ancestral e nobre arte, mas mais importante, o permitirá escolher a classe de Tai Chi correta para você. O livro está dividido em nove assuntos para fácil referência: 1. O Básico 2. História 3. O Tai Chi como uma Arte Marcial 4. Benefícios para a saúde 5. Fontes de energia 6. Forma 7. Prática 8. Estilos 9. Aplicações Com mais de 20 anos de experiência ensinando Tai Chi (incluindo aulas mensais para completos novatos), Paul Read explica o que é o Tai Chi de uma forma simples e ainda assim perspicaz que o ajudará primeiro a entender, e depois a aplicar essas habilidades facilmente aprendidas à sua vida cotidiana.
It Ain't Cheating If You Don't Get Caught: Scuffing, Corking, Spitting, Gunking, Razzing, and Other Fundamentals of Our National Pastime
by Dan Gutman Lew BurdetteStories of how people cheat at baseball.
It Ain't Over 'Til It's Over: The Baseball Prospectus Pennant Race Book
by Steven Goldman Baseball ProspectusPennant races are arguably the most important aspect of baseball. Players, teams, and franchises are all after one goal: to win the pennant and get into the post-season. But what really determines who wins? Statistical analyses of baseball abound: different ways of breaking down everyone's individual performance, from hitters and pitchers to managers and even owners. But surprisingly, team success-what makes some teams winners over an entire season-has never been looked at with the same statistical rigor. In It Ain't Over 'Til It's Over, The Baseball Prospectus Team of Experts introduce the Davenport Method of deciding which races were the most dramatic-the closest, the most volatile-and determine the ten greatest races of modern baseball history. They use these key races (and a few others) to answer the main question: What determines who wins? How important are such things as mid-season trades, how much a manager overworks his pitchers, and why teams have winning and losing streaks? Can one player carry a team? Can one bad player ruin a team? Can one bad play ruin a team's chances? This fascinating and illuminating book will change your perception of the game.
It Happened!: A Uniquely Lucky Life in Sports Television
by Art Chansky Jim LampleyFrom HBO&’s ringside face and voice of boxing, comes a first-person, blow-by-blow account of the evolution of sports television chock full of famous names, history-making events, and never-before-told stories from the world of sports.Jim Lampley&’s story is a 50-year travelog of an unlikely career that catalogs the evolution of sports television—from his emergence as the first sideline reporter, through hosting and covering 14 Olympics, to working with all major sports networks. It Happened! charts Jim&’s notable career, with highlights including: Becoming the first live reporter on the sideline of a nationally televised college football game Following in the footsteps of Jim McKay as host on ABC&’s Wide World of Sports and Howard Cosell as halftime host for ABC&’s Monday Night Football Partnering with ABC, CBS, NBC, Turner, and HBO Ascending to host of HBO&’s Wimbledon weekday telecasts Reaching &“icon&” status as the 30-year face and voice of HBO World Championship Boxing Learn how Jim&’s brilliance as an announcer and his revolutionary nature led to innovations in sportscasting, three sports Emmys, and induction into the International Boxing Hall of Fame. Personal anecdotes and hard-earned lessons combine as Jim digs deep and shares celebrity stories from the upper echelons of superstar athletes and Hollywood hotshots, but also offers an introspective look at his personal life and trials.
It Never Rains in Tiger Stadium: Football and the Game of Life
by John Ed Bradley"The best sports book of the year." - Sports Illustrated. "John Ed Bradley says that all he ever wanted to do was to leave behind a pretty piece of writing. Here it is--a wonderful blend of honest introspection, passionate reporting, and superb storytelling. One of the best books I have read in years." - Jeffrey Marx, Pulitzer Prize-winning author, Season of Life. Inspired by a classic essay about a visit to a dying coach, It Never Rains in Tiger Stadium explores in gorgeous detail the inescapable pull of college football--the cocky smiles behind the face masks, the two-a-day drills, the emotionally charged bus rides to the stadium, the curfew checks, the film-study sessions, the locker room antics, and the yawning void left in one's soul the moment the final whistle sounds. To understand why it's so painful to give up the game, you must first understand the intimacy of the huddle. "It ends for everybody," writes John Ed Bradley, "and then it starts all over again, in ways you never anticipated. Marty Dufresne sits in his wheelchair listening to the Tiger fight song... Ramsey Darder endures prison by playing the games over in his head... Big Ed Stanton never took up the game of golf, and yet he rides the streets of Bayou Vista in a cart nearly identical to Coach Mac's, recalling the one time the old man invited him for a ride." Far more than a memoir, It Never Rains in Tiger Stadium is a brutally honest, profoundly moving look at what it means to surrender something you love. An Amazon Editors' Best Book of 2007. "John Ed Bradley is a rare gem, a gifted writer trapped in the body of a football player. It Never Rains in Tiger Stadium will send chills down the back of anyone who loves the game and will echo in the minds of former players long after they've put it down." -Tim Green, best-selling author and member of the College Football Hall of Fame. "A mesmerizing read... achingly sentimental in some parts, brutally truthful in others..." - Chicago Tribune. "The best memoir I have ever read on how a particular game, win or lose, can linger with us." - Josh Levin, Slate. "An unsparing and often beautiful chronicle of [Bradley's] attempt to join polite society." - Play Magazine. "A lyrical memoir... about his teammates, his coaches, his parents and the magnetic power of football in Louisiana." - National Public Radio. "Heart-wrenching, honest, insightful and hard to put down."- The Franklin Sun.
It Shouldn’t Happen to a Manager
by Harry RedknappAfter 40 years in football management, there’s not a lot I haven’t seen. There’ve been big highs, but a fair share of lows too. When I have to make difficult decisions, I make a point of avoiding newspapers, phone-ins, Twitter – all of it. But there’s always a load of armchair-pundits waiting to start on me. Being a manager has never been easy, but between the fans and the media it often feels impossible to get it right.In It Shouldn’t Happen to a Manager, I talk about how different the job is now from what it was like when I used to play. For one, managers used to drive up and down motorways all day to scout for players – now there’s so much analysis and global scouting. It’s a different thing, completely. In this book, I share everything I’ve learnt from a lifetime of both wins and losses, and wisdom from greats like Cloughie and Ferguson. I’ll tell you about what actually happens in the dressing room, including when Clough smashed the door off its hinges; the bust-ups at full-time, like when I kicked a tray of sandwiches on Don Hutchinson’s head; and the times when I had to swap an arm round a player’s shoulder for a boot up the arse. It’s my guide to being a manager, the Harry way.
It Started with a Diamond: The Maverick Fakes A Bride! Do You Take This Cowboy? It Started With A Diamond (Drake Diamonds #3)
by Teri WilsonAn heiress nabs a polo star in this scintillating romance from the USA Today–bestselling author of The Princess Problem and His Ballerina Bride.A Page Six Exclusive Report Stunning world-class equestrian Diana Drake has stayed out of the family business for decades. But now Diana has the inside track on a coveted diamond . . . not to mention a polo-playing partner in crime in Franco Andrade. And after mere weeks, the city’s most eligible bachelor is engaged to the jewelry heiress! Still, this whirlwind romance may not be as glittering as the jewels in Drake’s. After all, we hear that Franco’s first love has always been the polo team that unceremoniously sacked him. And Diana’s still recovering from the loss of the sport she’s always cherished. Can the handsome Argentine help his new fiancée capture the diamond of the century . . . and in the process repair her shattered heart?
It TAKES ALL SORTS: Celebrating Cricket’s Colourful Characters
by Peter RoebuckA personal selection of Peter Roebuck's favourite cricket characters past and present, written in his own inimitable style and from his vantage point as both player and commentator. In It Takes All Sorts, Peter Roebuck meanders through his 25-year career in reporting cricket, to reveal the people and the personalities who have touched his life and contributed to his life-long passion for the game. Roebuck provides warts-and-all insights into the comings and goings, greats and not-so-greats, debuts and retirements, the controversies of recent professional cricket and great innings in between. Roebuck has seen it all and isn’t afraid to comment: he’s interviewed Sir (or is that Saint?) Garfield Sobers’ mum, was on the scene (and on the front page) when Gilchrist walked, poked gentle fun at Inzamam’s fielding, and touched many with his account of young Sri Lankan boys playing cricket on a beach in Galle. Peter Roebuck pulls no punches - whether friend or foe, all his subjects are linked by the great and noble game of cricket and he is not afraid to tell it how he sees it.
It Takes More Than Balls: The Savvy Girls' Guide to Understanding and Enjoying Baseball
by Diedre Silva Jackie KoneyFor years, Deidre Silva and Jackie Koney figured that men simply knew more about baseball than they did. They tried to reconcile their love of baseball with their second-class fan status, but they finally realized that not getting in a tizzy over the 1952 World Series didn't mean that they weren't "real" fans. As loyal-but not insane or stat-obsessed-spectators, they simply had a different perspective. In It Takes More Than Balls they share their brand of baseball passion with lifelong fans and the "baseball curious" of either gender. Offering anecdotes and gossip from the ballpark, the book also explains the nuances of today's game that will help readers enjoy their next (or first) baseball outing.
It Takes What It Takes: How to Think Neutrally and Gain Control of Your Life
by Trevor Moawad Andy StaplesForeword by Seattle Seahawks quarterback Russell WilsonFrom a top mental conditioning coach—"the world’s best brain trainer” (Sports Illustrated)—who has transformed the lives and careers of elite athletes, business leaders, and military personnel, battle-tested strategies that will give you tools to manage and overcome negativity and achieve any goal.He knows how to win. More, he knows the many ways-subtle, brutal, often self-inflicted-we lose. As the most trusted mental coach in the world of sports, Trevor Moawad has worked with many of the most dominant athletes and the savviest coaches. From Nick Saban and Kirby Smart to Russell Wilson, they all look to Moawad for help finding or keeping or regaining their competitive edge. (As do countless business leaders and members of special forces.) Now, at last, Moawad shares his unique philosophy with the general public. He lays out lessons he's derived from his greatest career successes as well as personal setbacks, the game-changing wisdom he's earned as the go-to whisperer for elite performers on fields of play and among men and women headed to the battlefield. Moawad's motivational approach is elegant but refreshingly simple: He replaces hardwired negativity, the kind of defeatist mindset that's nearly everybody's default, with what he calls "neutral thinking." His own special innovation, it's a nonjudgmental, nonreactive way of coolly assessing problems and analyzing crises, a mode of attack that offers luminous clarity and supreme calm in the critical moments before taking decisive action. Not only can neutral thinking raise your performance level-it can transform your overall life. And it all starts, Moawad says, with letting go. Past failures, past losses-let them go. "The past isn't predictive. If you can absorb and embrace that belief, everything changes. You'll instantly feel more calm. And the athlete-or employee or parent or spouse-who's more calm is also more aware, and more times than not ... will win."
It Was Always a Choice: Picking Up the Baton of Athlete Activism
by David SteeleThe recent flashpoint of Colin Kaepernick taking a knee renews a long tradition of athlete-activists speaking out against racism, injustice, and oppression. Like Kaepernick, Jackie Robinson, Paul Robeson, Muhammad Ali, Bill Russell, Tommie Smith, and John Carlos—among many others, of all races, male and female, pro and amateur—all made the choice to take a side to command public awareness and attention rather than “shut up and play,” as O. J. Simpson, Michael Jordan, and Tiger Woods did. Using their celebrity to demand change, these activists inspired fans but faced great personal and professional risks in doing so. It Was Always a Choice traces the history and impact of these decisive moments throughout the history of U.S. sports. David Steele identifies the resonances and antecedents throughout the twentieth century of the choices faced by athletes in the post-Kaepernick era, including the advance of athletes’ political organizing in the era of activism following the death of George Floyd. He shows which athletes chose silence instead of action—“dropping the baton,” as it were—in the movement to end racial inequities and violence against Black Americans. The examples of courageous athletes multiply as LeBron James, Megan Rapinoe and the activist-athletes of the NBA, WNBA, and NFL remain committed to fighting daily and vibrantly for social change.