The Great New York Sports Debate

Two top authorities slug it out over the fifty hottest debates in New York sports New Yorkers are notoriously opinionated, and nothing spurs their argumentative side quite like sports. David Lennon of Newsday and Roger Rubin of The New York Daily News—two New York sportswriters, add gasoline to the fire with The Great New York Sports Debate, a raucous and spirited examination of the fifty most contentious issues in New York athletics. Longtime friends and rivals, Lennon and Rubin engage in heated debate on a wide range of topics, including: • Is George Steinbrenner good or evil? • Which athlete is the biggest villain in New York? • New York’s greatest quarterback: Namath or Simms? • Can a New Yorker like “both teams”? Touching on every aspect of New York sports—including baseball, basketball, boxing, and the New York Marathon—The Great New York Sports Debate is guaranteed to spark lively discussion among sports fans everywhere.

Two New York sportswriters offer a spirited overview of the fifty most contentious issues in New York athletics, engaging in a heated debate over such topics as Is George Steinbrenner good or evil?, Which athlete is the biggest villain in New York?, and Can a New Yorker like both teams? Original. 35,000 first printing.

Jeffrey A. Kroessler's comprehensive and entertaining time line stretches from the pastoral entertainments of the Dutch to the corporate captivity of professional sports. He chronicles events ranging from the truly heroic to the heartbreaking, from moments of municipal greatness to inescapable social change. Through it all he plants the world of sport at the very center of New York's story. Fully illustrated, The Greater New York Sports Chronology covers the spectacle of blood sports like bullbaiting to the birth of baseball, the now-forgotten six-day pedestrian contests, and today's New York City Marathon. Alongside great moments like the Mets' "amazin'" World Series win in 1969, Joe Louis's historic bouts with Max Schmeling, Jackie Robinson's breaking of baseball's color line, and Secretariat's remarkable Triple Crown win at Belmont, we encounter the point-shaving scandals of college basketball and the corrupting influence of organized crime in professional boxing. Beyond immortals like Lou Gehrig and Joe Namath, we also find such once well known figures as Joe Lapchick, Marty Glickman, Gertrude Ederle, and Toots Shor. Year by year, this chronology recounts chess matches, America's Cup races, dog shows, golf tournaments, polo matches, tennis games, and more. Kroessler describes the historic venues, boxing arenas, gyms, stadiums, ballparks, and racetracks that have come and gone, yet made New York the undisputed capital of American sport. Witnessing it all, of course, are the greatest fans in the world.

Any sports fan knows that nothing brings on more passion and opinion than a good old-fashioned debate. Drew Sharp and Terry Foster are no different, as they take on the top debates of all time in Detroit sports.

Handrinos looks at the great debates from the most-loved sports of the Big Apple, such as: Should Yankee Stadium be moved to Manhattan? What were the five greatest games/events at Madison Square Garden? Is Steinbrenner the best or worst owner in NY history?

"Pick a sport -- baseball, professional or college football or basketball, horse racing, boxing, or tennis -- and in every case New York has consistently had front-row seats for every major development and many of the most memorable events in sports history." -- from the introduction It's every New York sports fan's dream: a chance to analyze, debate, and rank the top 100 sports events in New York history. A list to settle all arguments. What would you choose? First of all, where to start? Babe Ruth hitting the first home run in Yankee Stadium? Arthur Ashe winning the first U.S. Open? Muhammad Ali versus Joe Frazier at Madison Square Garden? Over the years, New York has been at the center of seemingly every major sporting event. From the integration of baseball to the heyday of boxing and horse racing to the rise of professional sports -- it all happened in New York. The journalist Stuart Miller, a native New Yorker and sportswriter, guides us through the pivotal events with illuminating analysis and colorful detail. Based on extensive research, this richly illustrated book is filled with vivid and authoritative prose. Highlights include: * Willie Mays makes "the Catch" in the 1954 World Series * Jimmy Connors turns back the clock at the 1991 U.S. Open * Willis Reed rescues the Knicks in the 1970 NBA Finals * Joe Namath and the Jets win the 1968 AFL Championship * Mookie Wilson's slow grounder to first is a Mets miracle in the 1986 World Series All of the celebrated franchises are here, from the Yankees and the Mets to the Knicks and the Giants, as well as sports ranging from horse racing to tennis to boxing to the New York City Marathon. There are additional lists and analyses, such as "On the Road: The Top 25," featuring events such as Bucky Dent's 1978 homer over the Green Monster in Fenway Park. "Fearsome Foes" highlights epic performances by the opposition, like Michael Jordan's 55-point night at the Garden in 1992. Miller also gives us the bad side of sports, in "Worst Days," such as when Benny Paret died in the ring at the hands of Emile Griffith. Exhaustively researched and endlessly entertaining, The 100 Greatest Days in New York Sports is a book destined to be on the shelf of every New York -- and every American -- sports fan.