Product Description: The fights resonate still: The Fight of the Century, Down Goes Frazier!, The Rumble in the Jungle, The Thrilla in Manila. And the fighters, too—MUHAMMAD ALI, JOE FRAZIER, GEORGE FOREMAN—three complicated and competitive men who happened to be vying for sport's biggest prize when boxing was still a national reassurance and its champion a cultural resource...read more

Product Description: Sports Illustrated senior writer Richard Hoffer records the unforgettable athletic achievements of the 1968 U.S. Olympic team in Mexico City.

No longer quarantined in Las Vegas, gambling has become as local as our neighborhood cineplex. If there's not a casino around the corner, there's one on your laptop computer. You can bet on the turn of the card, a roll of the dice--but also the NFL, the NCAA, and which Olson twin marries first. It's no wonder that we spend more money gambling than we do on movies, music, sports, video games, and theme parks combined! Here, acclaimed sportswriter Hoffer takes us on a headlong tour, alternately horrifying and hilarious, across our landscape of luck, discovering just how determined we are to gamble. He also discovers that the very institutions that used to regulate this workout are now its biggest cheerleaders: yesterday's numbers racket is today's state lottery; yesterday's mob casino is now part of a Fortune 500 company. And he concludes that people are, mostly, having a good time.--From publisher description.An investigation into how gambling has become one of America's most popular and problematic entertainments tours the myriad forms of gambling, from lotteries and casinos to raffles and sports betting.

A well-known sportswriter examines the life and career of Mike Tyson inside the arena of professional boxing, looking closely at the personalities, deals, and profits that make up this world of sport and violence. 35,000 first printing. (view table of contents)