Sports & Recreation Audiobooks

Only a few years ago, Alex Honnold was little known beyond a small circle of hardcore climbers. Today, at the age of thirty, he is probably the most famous adventure athlete in the world. In that short time, he has proven his expertise in many styles of climbing and has shattered speed records, pioneered routes, and won awards within each discipline. More spectacularly still, he has pushed the most extreme and dangerous form of climbing far beyond the limits of what anyone thought was possible. Free soloing, Honnold's specialty, is a type of climbing performed without a rope, a partner, or hardware?such as pitons, nuts, or cams?for aid or protection. The results of climbing this way are breathtaking, but the stakes are ultimate: if you fall, you die. In Alone on the Wall, Honnold recounts the seven most astonishing climbing achievements so far in his still-evolving career. He narrates the drama of each climb, along with reflective passages that illuminate the inner workings of his highly perceptive and discerning mind. We share in the jitters and excitements he feels waking in his van (where he lives full time) before a climb; we see him self-criticize in his climbing journal (a veritable bible for students of the sport); and we learn his secrets to managing fear. Veteran climber and award-winning author David Roberts writes part of each chapter in his own voice, and he calls on other climbers and the sport's storied past to put Alex's tremendous accomplishments in perspective. Whenever Honnold speaks in public, he is asked the same two questions: "Aren't you afraid you're going to die?" and "Why do you do this?" Alone on the Wall takes us around the world and through the highs and lows in the life of a climbing superstar to answer those fascinating questions. Honnold's extraordinary life, and his idiosyncratic worldview, have much to teach us about risk, reward, and the ability to maintain a singular focus, even in the face of extreme danger. "Alex Honnold's climbing feats are astonishing. They are also absolutely horrifying. Reading about some of his ascents made me physically ill. As this riveting book makes clear, however, Honnold is neither crazy nor reckless. Alone on the Wall reveals him to be an utterly unique and extremely appealing young man."-Jon Krakauer, author of Into the Wild, Into Thin Air, and Missoula

Alex Honnold (Author), Andrew Eiden, Andrew Eiden, Will Damron (Narrator)

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Bradley Wiggins: My Hour

For 60 minutes this summer, the British public stopped what they were doing switched on their radios, their TVs, refreshed their Twitter feeds and followed Bradley Wiggins's attempt to break one of sport's most gruelling records: The Hour. The premise is simple enough: how far can you cycle in one hour. But it is thought to be one of the toughest events an athlete can endure, both physically and psychologically. Eddy Merckx, cycling's über-champ, called it the hardest thing he ever did. Wiggins, like many before him, discovered the unique pain of pushing yourself as hard as you can for 60 minutes.In this revealing book, Bradley Wiggins takes you behind the scenes of his record attempt. From planning to preparation, to training to execution, Bradley shares his thoughts on his sacrifices, his heroes, and the people who have supported him along the way as well as what's to come as he heads towards the twilight of his stellar career.My Hour is a fitting celebration of one of Britain's best-loved sportsmen in his finest hour.

Bradley Wiggins (Author), Tom Watt (Narrator)

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Play Better Golf

Randy Charach (Author), Randy Charach (Narrator)

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Master Martial Arts

Randy Charach (Author), Randy Charach (Narrator)

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Above the Line: Lessons in Leadership and Life from a Championship Season

Lessons on leadership and team-building from Ohio State's head football coach, drawing heavily on the 2014 season and his team's remarkable run to the championship in the face of adversity Since he took over at Bowling Green fourteen years ago, Urban Frank Meyer III has established himself as one of the elite coaches in the annals of college football. With three national championships and a record of 142-26, he has achieved remarkable results with many teams. But it is Meyer's recent work at The Ohio State University that has elevated him into the realm of such iconic coaching names as Paul (Bear) Bryant, Knute Rockne and OSU's own Woody Hayes. Never was that work more successful than in the 2014 season, which ended with Meyer's Buckeyes capturing the inaugural College Football Playoff Championship with a 42-20 victory over Oregon. That the triumph came with a third-string quarterback at the helm-and after OSU had suffered a brutal early-season loss and endured the tragic loss of a teammate-only made the achievement that much more extraordinary. How did Ohio State, a school many thought did not even deserve to be in the playoffs, end up at the summit of college football? In Above the Line, Urban Meyer answers this question and many more. Pulling back the curtain on the high-profile, high-pressure world he operates in, he offers readers a groundbreaking game plan for creating a culture of success that engages and inspires the people around them - the very game plan he followed every day in the Buckeyes' historic 2014 season. A student of psychology long before he became a coach, Meyer believes that trust is the bedrock of great achievements and healthy relationships, and explains how to build it, step by step-whether in a team, a family, or a Fortune 500 company. With trust in place, a deep bond unites us in common purpose, and cultivates what he calls "above the line" behavior-a learned, empowered response to the challenges we face every day. Writing with his customary candor and humility, Meyer delivers insights both practical and profound-and applicable far beyond the football field. Packed with real-life examples from a storied season, Above the Line offers wisdom and inspiration for taking control and turning setbacks into victories.

Urban Meyer, Wayne Coffey (Author), Jason Culp (Narrator)

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I Feel Like Going On: Life, Game, and Glory

Ray Lewis, legendary Baltimore Ravens linebacker and one of the greatest defensive players of his generation, holds nothing back on the state of football as well as his troubled childhood, his rise to athletic greatness, the storm that threatened to ruin his NFL career, and the devastating injury that nearly cost him a final moment of glory.A lot of folks, they know my game, but they don't know my deal. This book right here, it tells the story of my seventeen-year NFL career. It tells of my two Super Bowls, the mark I was blessed to be able to make on the game, on the city of Baltimore. But it also tells the story of how I grew up-abandoned by my no-account father, raised with my siblings by our God-fearing, hardworking single mother. It tells how I sometimes struggled off the field. It tells of the anguish and controversy that found me away from the game. Mostly, it tells how heartbreak can sometimes lift you to greatness and glory-if you find a way to put your focus in faith, and faith in your focus. When I left the game, confetti raining down on me and my teammates after winning the Super Bowl, I made a promise to myself to show how the game is really played at the highest level. That's what you'll find in these pages-a raw, honest look at the business of football and a look behind the scenes at some of the most torturous aspects of the game. The grind of the NFL-that's what shines through. My deal? That grind is a given. Every player who wears an NFL uniform has to slog through the same battles just to get to the league. But it's how you prepare for those battles that defines you-and here I hope to show how an unwavering trust in God and an unbreakable sense of purpose can lift you from tragedy to triumph. From strength to strength, man-that's the deal.

Daniel Paisner, Ray Lewis (Author), JD Jackson (Narrator)

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Got to Give the People What They Want: True Stories and Flagrant Opinions from Center Court

"I want to start conversations, and even better, arguments." - From the Introduction One of the most outspoken and original voices in sports sounds off while revealing his incredible life story. Jalen Rose has never been quiet. Not as a kid growing up in Detroit in the 70"s and 80"s. Not as the brash, trash-talking leader of the legendary "Fab Five" at the University of Michigan. Not as the player under the stewardship of Hall of Famers Larry Bird, Isiah Thomas and others throughout his 13-year NBA career. And certainly not as a commentator and analyst on ABC/ESPN and Grantland. In Got to Give the People What They Want, no topic is off limits. Honest, unfiltered, unbiased. Raw, refreshing, real. This colorful collection of stories and opinions about basketball and life gives people the kind of insight and understanding they don"t get anywhere else in the sports world.

Jalen Rose (Author), Jalen Rose (Narrator)

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Find a Way

On September 2, 2013, at the age of sixty-four, Diana Nyad emerged onto the sands of Key West after swimming 111 miles, nation to nation, Cuba to Florida, in an epic feat of both endurance and human will, in fifty-three hours. Diana carried three poignant messages on her way across this stretch of shark-infested waters, and she spoke them to the crowd in her moment of final triumph: 1. Never, ever give up. 2. You

Diana Nyad (Author), Diana Nyad (Narrator)

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Leading: Learning from Life and My Years at Manchester United

After an astonishing career-first in Scotland, and then over 27 years with Manchester United Football Club- Sir Alex Ferguson delivers Leading, in which the greatest soccer coach of all time will analyze the pivotal leadership decisions of his 38 years as a manager and, with his friend and collaborator Sir Michael Moritz, draw out lessons anyone can use in business and life to generate long-term transformational success. From hiring practices to firing decisions, from dealing with transition to teamwork, from mastering the boardroom to responding to failure and adversity, Leading is as inspiring as it is practical, and a go-to reference for any leader in business, sports, and life.

Alex Ferguson, Michael Moritz (Author), James MacPherson (Narrator)

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Speed Kings: The 1932 Winter Olympics and the Fastest Men in the World

A story of risk, adventure, and daring as four Americans race to win the gold medal in the most dangerous competition in Olympic history. In the 1930s, as the world hurtled toward war, speed was all the rage. Bobsledding, the fastest and most thrilling way to travel on land, had become a sensation. Exotic, exciting, and brutally dangerous, it was the must-see event of the 1932 Winter Olympics at Lake Placid, the first Winter Games on American soil. Bobsledding required exceptional skill and extraordinary courage-qualities the American team had in abundance. There was Jay O'Brien, the high-society playboy; Tippy Grey, a scandal-prone Hollywood has-been; Eddie Eagan, world champion heavyweight boxer and Rhodes Scholar; and the charismatic Billy Fiske, the true heart of the team, despite being barely out of his teens. In the thick of the Great Depression, the nation was gripped by the story of these four men, their battle against jealous locals, treacherous US officials, and the very same German athletes they would be fighting against in the war only a few short years later. Billy, in fact, went on to talk his way into the Royal Air Force-despite their Brits-only policy-and was there to fight the Nazis during the Battle of Britain. King of speed to the end, he would become the first American fighter pilot killed in WWII. The exploits of Billy and his teammates make up a story that spans the globe, from Golden Age Hollywood to seedy New York gambling dens, to the most fashionable European resorts, the South Seas, and beyond. Evoking the glamour and recklessness of the Jazz Age, Speed Kings will thrill readers to the last page.

Andy Bull (Author), Eric Meyers (Narrator)

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The Three-Year Swim Club: The Untold Story of Maui's Sugar Ditch Kids and Their Quest for Olympic Gl

For readers of Unbroken and The Boys in the Boat comes the inspirational, untold story of impoverished children who transformed themselves into world-class swimmers. In 1937, a schoolteacher on the island of Maui challenged a group of poverty-stricken sugar plantation kids to swim upstream against the current of their circumstance. The goal? To become Olympians. They faced seemingly insurmountable obstacles. The children were Japanese-American, were malnourished and barefoot and had no pool; they trained in the filthy irrigation ditches that snaked down from the mountains into the sugarcane fields. Their future was in those same fields, working alongside their parents in virtual slavery, known not by their names but by numbered tags that hung around their necks. Their teacher, Soichi Sakamoto, was an ordinary man whose swimming ability didn't extend much beyond treading water. In spite of everything, including the virulent anti-Japanese sentiment of the late 1930s, in their first year the children outraced Olympic athletes twice their size; in their second year, they were national and international champs, shattering American and world records and making headlines from L.A. to Nazi Germany. In their third year, they'd be declared the greatest swimmers in the world, but they'd also face their greatest obstacle: the dawning of a world war and the cancellation of the Games. Still, on the battlefield, they'd become the 20th century's most celebrated heroes, and in 1948, they'd have one last chance for Olympic glory. They were the Three-Year Swim Club. This is their story.

Julie Checkoway (Author), Alex Chadwick (Narrator)

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The Greatest Game Ever Played: Harry Vardon, Francis Ouimet, and the Birth of Modern Golf

Francis Ouimet and Harry Vardon came from different worlds and different generations, but their passion for golf set them on parallel paths that would collide in the greatest match their sport had ever known. A young Massachusetts native, Francis was only three years removed from his youthful career as a lowly caddie. Harry was twice his age, the greatest British champion in history, and innovator of the modern grip and swing. Through exacting hard work, perseverance, and determination, Harry Vardon had escaped a hopeless life of poverty; the unknown Ouimet dared to dream of following in his hero’s footsteps. When the two men finally came together in their legendary battle at the 1913 US Open, its heart-stopping climax gave rise to the sport of golf as we know it today. Weaving the stories of Ouimet and Vardon as his narrative, Mark Frost creates a uniquely involving, intimate epic that is equal parts sports biography, sweeping social history, and emotional human drama. The Greatest Game Ever Played is a must-listen for millions of sports and history fans—and all who have ever dared to reach for their dreams. “All the page-turning excitement of a blockbuster novel.”—Publishers Weekly

Mark Frost (Author), Robertson Dean (Narrator)

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