Keep Your Eye On The Ball

"Keep your eye on the ball!" may be good advice--but it is impossible to do. The batter can track the ball until it is about five feet in front of the plate, but then he falls behind because the ball is moving too fast. In Keep Your Eye on the Ball, Robert G. Watts and A. Terry Bahill--engineers by vocation, baseball fans by avocation--have devised a series of experiments that put some of baseball's most cherished myths to the test. By applying physics, psychology, physiology, and other scientific principles to baseball, the authors have resolved, once and for all, some of the controversial issues that have intrigued fans for decades, including: * Do curveballs really curve? Do fastballs rise? * How do knuckleballs and spitballs work? * What exactly happens when the ball hits the bat? * Does corking the bat really help a hitter? * Are aluminum bats more dangerous than wooden bats? * Can certain physiological factors help predict success for a hitter? * Why are more home runs being hit than ever before? * Are today's players better than yesterday's? Completely revised and updated to include recent statistics, new research, and additional historical commentary, Keep Your Eye on the Ball is a highly informative and entertaining guide to the science of baseball that all fans of the game--regardless of scientific background--will enjoy.

Renowned NFL analysts' tips to make football more accessible, colorful, and compelling than ever before More and more football fans are watching the NFL each week, but many of them don't know exactly what they should be watching. What does the offense's formation tell you about the play that's about to be run? When a quarterback throws a pass toward the sideline and the wide receiver cuts inside, which player is to blame? Why does a defensive end look like a Hall of Famer one week and a candidate for the practice squad the next? These questions and more are addressed in Take Your Eye Off the Ball 2.0, a book that takes readers deep inside the perpetual chess match between offense and defense. This book provides clear and simple explanations to the intricacies and nuances that affect the outcomes of every NFL game. This updated edition contains recent innovations from the 2015 NFL season.

Clear the hurdles Roll with the punches Batting a thousand Have you ever heard these crazy expressions? People use them even when they're not running races, facing a prizefighter, or hitting every single pitch. That's because these sayings are idioms—phrases that mean something different from what the words in them actually say. But don't let idioms make you drop the ball. Let's explore a variety of sports-related idioms and figure out what people really mean when they use them.

Davey, a blind student, refuses all help from his new classmates, even while playing kickball at recess, until they find a way to help without doing everything for him.

Explore a variety of idioms related to sports and figure out what people really mean when they use them.

Two athletes willingly shut themselves inside a large, white box. Armed with what look like large flyswatters, they chase a dead rubber ball, banging it against a wall until they are half-dead with exhaustion -- and then they do it again. In "Keep Eye on Ball, Is Most Important One Thing I Tell You, " editor Chris Widney combines the teachings of squash legend Hashim Khan with the drawings of artist Richard Pitts in order to unravel some of the mystery behind this game that no one can seem to explain or stop playing. The result is a book that will leave squash fanatics laughing all the way to the court, and may even help them win a point or two when they get there.

Readers can get inside the minds of the stars of the diamond in this extraordinary tour of brain power, psyche, and sheer will of Major League players. 20 illustrations.