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Post by ajfreakz on Jan 1, 2009 21:53:12 GMT -5
a few months back i picked up "beyond belief"... josh hamilton's tell all book of his lifes ups & downs.. halfway through very good read so far. usually when i read or watch something i usually look up things about it or the persons involved.. so i went online and read a 2004 article from ESPN The Magazine.. also a great read enjoy!! sports.espn.go.com/espnmag/story?id=3488605
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$heriff Tom
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Post by $heriff Tom on Jan 1, 2009 23:10:10 GMT -5
I also have that book, but mine is signed. Went to see him when he was scribbling sigs at Barnes and Noble, down round the Wall Street way, a couple of months back. Have not read it yet, but its on the agenda, and I was just thinking of it again when I saw him interviewed on the Hot Stove show on MLB Network this eve.
Thanks for that link -
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Post by ajfreakz on Jan 1, 2009 23:19:14 GMT -5
for the same reasons as getting the book i dvr'd the homerun derby and probably once a week i'll watch josh rack all those balls in the derby.. wish i could've been there that night
but on my couch watching it..i still get chills.. and after reading a few more chapters just now it truely is an amazing thing..
some may think coming back from drugs and alcohol doesn't seem that hard or if you do comeback from it, you shouldn't be praised.. i just think its an amazing talent and im glad he figured out how to keep his life going so we could witness something pretty cool..
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$heriff Tom
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Post by $heriff Tom on Jan 2, 2009 0:32:37 GMT -5
When I met him I mentioned how I had followed him since before he was drafted....almost a decade now, and how happy I was that he was realizing his projections. I mean, this guy was the goods all along. After I left I regretted not telling him this - I DVRd the derby for ONE reason - to watch him hit in it. In fact, its the only part of the derby I did watch. Obviously, after the fact, I was thrilled I ran the tape on it. He did what I thought he very well could do.
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$heriff Tom
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Post by $heriff Tom on Jan 4, 2009 16:28:52 GMT -5
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Post by yanksgooner on Jan 4, 2009 18:36:39 GMT -5
cool book...much better than the ones recently put out by other 80's - 90's rockers. pretty believable. That Nikki Sixx Heroin Diaries was a load of shit.
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$heriff Tom
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Post by $heriff Tom on Jan 4, 2009 19:46:24 GMT -5
Yeah, I was talking to you about Heroin Diaries just this week. I happened to read it cause someone lent me a copy, it was not even on my wants, and they just handed it to me as a good read. I liked it, but i was wondering how he kept such a good account of things while he was totally strung out.
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Post by yanksgooner on Jan 4, 2009 22:48:33 GMT -5
I happened to read it cause someone lent me a copy, it was not even on my wants, and they just handed it to me as a good read
And that someone would be....ta-da.......me, handing it to you with the disclaimer that it was an interesting read but it was sort of malarky.
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$heriff Tom
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Post by $heriff Tom on Jan 5, 2009 0:00:06 GMT -5
LOL! I went to give it back to my main book source at work, and he was like, "uh uh, not me." Im like, are you sure? He owned the book, went home to check, and confirmed it. And I swear I had no idea who lent me the book.
LOL again! Well, Im done with it, and will return when I see ya.
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Post by 9 on Jan 15, 2009 12:54:50 GMT -5
Just read one of the best books I've read in quite some time, centered on a Boston cop right before the Boston Police Department went on strike in 1919, and featuring several cameos by Babe Ruth:
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$heriff Tom
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Post by $heriff Tom on Jan 15, 2009 13:41:10 GMT -5
Dana is a big Dennis Lehane fan. She just did pick up his latest tome.
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Post by 9 on Jan 15, 2009 14:05:01 GMT -5
After reading that book, I have become one, too. I will definitely pick up some of his other work the next time I hit a bookstore.
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Post by baldvinny on Jan 15, 2009 14:11:36 GMT -5
yo, i wanna borrow that nikki sixx book. i saw it a b&n recently and skimmed a few pages. i was interested, but i too wondered how he remembered all that shit
that slash book was pretty good. i wish i had time to read the clapton book. i got like 5 chapters in and haven't been able to get back to it
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$heriff Tom
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Post by $heriff Tom on Jan 22, 2009 15:58:48 GMT -5
Gooner, lets get that Sixx book through you, and to the Bald Baron. Hey, this is my latest read, or one of a half-dozen books I am plodding through right now. I got this on a trip to Borders, where I had $15 on a gift-card to spend. So I grabbed this fairly new tome, which looked interesting and quirky, and was not really low enough to grab on Amazon used instead - HOW THE STATES GOT THEIR SHAPES. Im through Alabama, it covers them all, and the reasons are quirky and cool, and the maps are illuminating.
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Post by Chris on Jan 22, 2009 16:21:11 GMT -5
Keep us posted.
I'm interested to know how some of the SQAURE-ish states came to be.
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$heriff Tom
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Post by $heriff Tom on Jan 22, 2009 16:43:40 GMT -5
I believe, from the intro, that had to do with uniformity, when the lines were being drawn. A lot of states bought in at the same time, they wanted to equal out the land. But here's a quirk, look at how Alabama starts with a straight line on one border, and then it angles. Why the angle? Its in the book.
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Post by Chris on Jan 22, 2009 17:04:11 GMT -5
Alabama looks like it had some of it's precious space bogarted by Florida, much like Wyoming did to Nevada.
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$heriff Tom
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Post by $heriff Tom on Feb 2, 2009 9:31:18 GMT -5
So in a sense of anticipation for this much ballyhooed Joe Torre tome coming out, I decided to pull out his last book for another read. Figure I could knock it off in no time, surely by the time the new one hits my mailbox. I have long told people it was the worst baseball book I have ever read. Not sure that is fair, but its how I remembered it. Granted, its been 10 years, when I read it it was new, and it was released in 98. I think the part that made me groan was all the magic stuff from 96, the adulation of Frank, and all the stuff with Sister Marguerite and such. The early part, which I am back in now, is fine. Tales of his childhood and such, he had an interesting time of it. His Dad smacked his Mom around, he was a fat kid, 8 years younger his next youngest sib. I'll have more to say on it as I read through, see if it was as bad as I remember, or if time just treated it harshly.
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MSBNYY
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Post by MSBNYY on Feb 2, 2009 9:35:26 GMT -5
Did you hate Torre as much then as you do now? If so, maybe that affected your judgment.
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$heriff Tom
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Post by $heriff Tom on Feb 2, 2009 9:38:43 GMT -5
No, not at all. I was not a Torre hater from the git-go. It was in the later years when his laziness became apparent that I gravitated off the bandwagon. I just though the book was boring. I think its possible that after reading all the wild tales from Sparky Lyle, Bill Lee, and even Jay Johnstone, that his book was tame and bored me.
I read things much differently now. On Amazon the book got tremendous reviews, so I am looking to see if I am short-selling it.
Here is the Amazon editorial review of what is to be found in this book.
Product Description "Maybe the good Lord was just waiting for me to put on the pinstripes."
When Joe Torre was fired as manager of the St. Louis Cardinals in 1995, he thought his career in baseball was over. After more than three decades and 4,200 games as a player and manager, one thing had always eluded him--winning a World Series.
He had all but given up his dream when the New York Yankees made him an offer to manage their 1996 club. Encouraged by his wife and others, he accepted, and so began one of the greatest seasons in the fabled history of the New York Yankee franchise and one of the most inspiring, heartwarming stories in all of baseball.
Here is the ultimate insider's record of that unforgettable season by the man whose personal struggles captured the hearts and imaginations of fans everywhere. Tough, gritty, but always fair and honest, Torre vividly reveals how he turned a potentially volatile mix of talented youngsters such as Andy Pettitte and Derek Jeter, seasoned veterans like Wade Boggs and Paul O'Neill, and so-called "problem" players like Darryl Strawberry and Dwight Gooden into a cohesive unit that cared more about winning than personal egos. He explains how he played his hunches and earned his team's confidence and respect as he focused his players from spring training on toward one goal: the World Series. And he did it all in a pressure-filled sports city that expects nothing less than a champion.
But how he did it is only part of this remarkable story. For at the same time that Torre was overcoming the odds on the field, his family was facing much greater hardships off the field. He speaks candidly and emotionally of the tragedy of his oldest brother Rocco's sudden death, and the agonizing ordeal of his other older brother, Frank, who waited for the heart transplant that could save his life. It was his wife, Ali, who gave him the faith to believe anything was possible. Together with his sisters Rae and Sister Marguerite, a nun from Queens, they dared to dream the impossible. In a fairy-tale ending not even the best Hollywood scriptwriter could imagine, Frank Torre got his new heart the day before the Yankees won their first World Series championship since 1978--and Joe Torre won his first ever.
Here is Joe Torre's own story--told for the first time in his own words--from his early childhood in Brooklyn, to his celebrated baseball career playing with the likes of Hank Aaron and Bob Gibson, to his stint as the first native New Yorker ever to manage the Yankees. Offering a rare behind-the-scenes look at a season to remember and a man who went through so much to reach the pinnacle of his profession, Chasing the Dream is more than just another sports story. It is a poignant reminder of why we love the game--and how, sometimes, nice guys do finish first.
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MSBNYY
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Post by MSBNYY on Feb 2, 2009 9:59:54 GMT -5
The worst baseball book I ever read was the Yogi Berra book. It was written the way he talks, and while Yogisms are funny, they are annoying as hell in book form. I think I stopped reading by the end of the second or third chapter, never to pick it up again.
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Post by 9 on Feb 9, 2009 13:59:42 GMT -5
Catching up on some old Stephen King books I'd never gotten to. This one was really, really interesting. This won't spoil it, but nothing that happens in the book is supernatural or science-fiction-like. Everything in the book is 100% plausible. And it was written purely in the voice of one person speaking, which was interesting. Fun read.
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Post by Ms. Jericho on Feb 14, 2009 17:36:37 GMT -5
Currently reading:
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$heriff Tom
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Post by $heriff Tom on Feb 27, 2009 11:52:21 GMT -5
Once again in the middle of a handful of different books, but this is currently the "series" I am engufled in. I have finished the book below, which Dana dubs as the "Jesus book" due to the appearance of the gent on the cover, but its not a Jesus book. In fact, dark things abound! I am currently in the early stages of book 2 of 4. Editorial ReviewsAmazon.com Review The Briar King, Greg Keyes's latest elegant entry into the world of high fantasy, lays the groundwork for what promises to be a mesmerizing four-book series--the Kingdoms of Thorn and Bone. Keyes spins his tale in a meticulously crafted fantasy realm on the brink of apocalyptic change. The Briar King, a legend cobbled from children's stories and rural folklore, is waking from his slumber to an unknown but cataclysmic end. Dark agents are afoot in the land, stirring war and edging an ancient prophecy closer to fulfillment. In destiny's path are a king's woodsman, his headstrong lover, a bookworm priest, a cocksure swordsman, and the embattled (from within and without) kingdom of Crotheny. Keyes masterfully intertwines far-off courtly intrigue with the personal quest of the woodsman and his brave companions who seek to unravel the secret of the Briar King before all is lost. Although The Briar King will suffer the inevitable comparison with George R.R. Martin's Song of Ice and Fire series, it should be said that Keyes's work is no mere rip-off. This is excellent world building, applied with a dark, powerful touch that should convince Martin fans to become Keyes fans, too. --Jeremy Pugh --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From Publishers Weekly
The author of the bestselling Age of Unreason tetralogy (The Waterborn, etc.) inaugurates the Kingdoms of Throne and Bone quartet with this epic high fantasy. The inhabitants of this splendid and dauntingly complex parallel world, Everon, are mostly descended from folk magically transported from our world. This is not quite the land of Faerie, although the Briar King resembles the old Celtic horned god Cernunnos, while Keyes brings his expertise as a fencing teacher to the swordplay, here called dessrata. The Empire of Crotheny faces war with its arch-rival, the Hanzish, and magical intrigues aimed at preventing the land from having a born queen (as opposed to a king's consort). By book's end, Princess Anne, the daughter of the Crotheny king, is fleeing for her life with Austra, her maid, and Cazio, a young Vitellian nobleman, having earlier experienced the pains of discipline in a convent and the horrors of having her family butchered. With aplomb, the author employs one of the most classic fantasy plots: the heir(ess) with a destiny and a necessarily huge cast of supporters. Keyes mixes cultures, religions, institutions and languages with rare skill. The main theme may emerge with formidable slowness, but patient readers will find the rewards enormously worthwhile.
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Post by crazilyz on Mar 31, 2009 13:31:02 GMT -5
This is a shameless plug on my part. My cousin's book came out yesterday and can be purchased on Amazon and bn.com. I will start reading it tonight.
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Post by 9 on Mar 31, 2009 15:57:34 GMT -5
Really great read, written by a guy who pitched in the Angels' system, with a lot of current Major Leaguers, for one season:
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$heriff Tom
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Post by $heriff Tom on Mar 31, 2009 18:39:16 GMT -5
Problem with that book...if you dig deeper this guy is being buried for making stuff up worse than the Oprah guy was, or the Indian girl who wrote that book about that young girl "getting a life."
From most accounts that book is a "fun romp" but more than half is in serious question.
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Post by 9 on Mar 31, 2009 19:13:48 GMT -5
Oh, well, it was still a fun read. He really made Bobby Jenks look like an imbecile. I wonder how much was exaggerated.
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Post by yanksgooner on Apr 1, 2009 9:01:14 GMT -5
I just picked this one up last week on Amazon. In the last 10 years or so, there's been alot of books released about graffitti by the artists themselves. This one is a little bit different. It's written by one of the top cops in the NYPD Vandal Squad and it's his account of what graffiti has become over the last 20 years, and how he collared some of the greatest bombers of all time. It's a pretty good read, apart from being on a high school reading level, and it has loads of pictures. I literally the entire thing on my flight down to Tennessee last week. What I'm having trouble understanding from this police point of view is....are you part of the game, or are you against it?? You put these guys through central booking, they get released with community service, no real punishment to speak of.... To me it's just part of the game.
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Post by baldvinny on Apr 1, 2009 9:11:41 GMT -5
ron darling was on the q1043 morning show today talking about his new book.....apparently it's more of those stories of the mid-80's mets squads. drug use, partying, sex...you know, baseball!
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