Sports bios

[Selina]

Does anyone here read them?

I notice they are quite popular genre especially in NZ ones about rugby players, who are like gods here.
But not being a rugby fan or sports spectator in general they dont interest me that much. I have read a few though.

I read one on the Williams sisters Venus and Serena, Venus and Serena: Serving From The Hip: 10 Rules for Living, Loving, and Winning they co-wrote it.
It was more about being sisters than it was about sport. Which is why I picked it up. But it did have some biographical details on how they became tennis champions. Short answer - lots of practice and coaching by their dad.

It just seems every professional player these days has a ghostwritten memoir about their illustrious sporting career, how they won the olympics Gold medal or world cup championship etc.

[Koren]

I'm not much of a sports fan so I dont read many. I remember one I read by Andre Agassi who is a tennis player and was more of a celebrity I think. The memoir was ok but I was totally bored when he went into detail about his tennis matches.

I read one by Lance Armstrong and another one by Kirby Puckett who was a well-known baseball player from my state. That's all I can remember.

[Julie]

I am not a big sports fan but I have read a few sports bios.

[Selina]

I read one about a guy that ran all these different marathons like he was addicted to them...Keep on Running: The Highs and Lows of a Marathon Addict, it was interesting.

I also read one about Peter Blake a sailor who was famous for winning the Americas Cup yacht race, written by his widowed wife.

I dont know if you can call it sport, but ballet seems quite competitive, as is ballroom dancing. This one is quite good Ballroom!: Obsession and Passion inside the World of Competitive Dance

[Selina]

I saw the movie 'the Blindside' it was based on the book about this american football players mum who adopted him. BUt I havent read the book. I wonder if its any good...? Not knowing hardly anything about american football...

In some circles if you are at the top of your game in sport I guess everyone wants to know how you got there. The Blind Side: Evolution of a Game

[Fishface]

I think the only one of this subgenre I have ever read was Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson. It was very good, about the very unusual and complicated life of the world's first black world heavyweight boxing champion. Unless you can count The Lost Dogs: Michael Vick's Dogs and Their Tale of Rescue and Redemption, which is only about Michael Vick's illegal sporting activities, not the legal ones.

[Lady ♥ Belleza]

I read one about Bobby Orr (hockey player), but most of the time if I read a sports book it's about the sport or a team, or a significant game, or season, oh I did read about two pitchers, it was comparing their year. Let me see if I can find out the titles.

Lefty: An American Odyssey
The Bad Guys Won! about the Mets
Bottom of the 33rd: Hope, Redemption, and Baseball's Longest Game
One Shot at Forever: A Small Town, an Unlikely Coach, and a Magical Baseball Season
Living on the Black
Baseball's Natural: The Story of Eddie Waitkus
Hank Greenberg: The Hero Who Didn't Want to Be One
Fear Strikes Out: The Jim Piersall Story

I forgot I had read all these, they are all about baseball for some reason ......

Searching for Bobby Orr

[Fishface]

To read your shelves, Bel, I would have said YOU were all about beisbol!

[Selina]

My sister just ran the Berlin marathon, and she did it in 4 hours 20 minutes which is a pretty good time.

I remember reading this one Short Fat Chick to Marathon Runner by Kerre Woodham

You dont have to be a professional athlete to run a marathon. Just need determination I think. She gives all sorts of tips about training and what its like to run one. Myself, am not that keen but running is one of those things you dont need a lot of outlay to do...well at first.

[Lady ♥ Belleza]

Fishface wrote: "To read your shelves, Bel, I would have said YOU were all about beisbol!"

:P