The Sports & Outdoors category has 1,991 audiobooks on Listento.it, with an average listener rating of 4.5★ across 11,712 ratings. The most-rated is Burke's Law.
The Truth About Aaron
Summary
The unvarnished true story of the tragic life and death of Aaron Hernandez, the college All-American and New England Patriots star convicted of murder, told by one of the few people who knew him best, his brother. To football fans, Aaron Hernandez was a superstar in the making. A standout at the University of Florida, he helped the Gators win the national title in 2008. Drafted by the New England Patriots, in his second full season with the team he and fellow Patriots’ tight end Rob Gronkowski set records for touchdowns and yardage, and with Tom Brady, led New England to Super Bowl XLVI in 2012. But Aaron’s NFL career ended as quickly as it began. On June 26, 2013, he was arrested at his North Attleboro home, charged with the murder of Odin Lloyd, and released by the Patriots. Convicted of first-degree murder, Aaron was sentenced to life in prison without parole. On May 15, 2014, while on trial for Lloyd's murder, Aaron was indicted for two more murders. Five days after being acquitted for those double murders, he committed suicide in his jail cell. Aaron Hernandez was 27 years old. In this clear-eyed, emotionally devastating biography - a family memoir combining football and true crime - Jonathan (formerly known by his nickname DJ) Hernandez speaks out fully for the first time about the brother he knew. Jonathan draws on his own recollections as well as thousands of pages of prison letters and other sources to give us a full portrait of a star athlete and troubled young man who would become a murderer, and the darkness that consumed him. Jonathan does not portray Aaron as a victim; he does not lay the blame for his crimes on his illness. He speaks openly about Aaron’s talent, his sexuality, his crimes and incarceration, and the CTE that ravaged him - scientists found that upon his death, Aaron had the brain of a 67-year old suffering from the same condition. Filled with headline-making revelations, The Truth About Aaron is a shocking and moving account of promise, tragedy, and loss - of one man’s descent into rage and violence, as told by the person who knew him more closely than anyone else.
©2018 Jonathan Hernandez (P)2018 HarperCollins Publishers
The Grasshopper Trap
Summary
Often compared to Garrison Keillor and Mark Twain, Patrick F. McManus maintains just the right balance between baffled innocence and conspiratorial confidence. Since 1979, this humorist has been delighting readers with hilarious stories recounting his childhood in rural Idaho and relating his misadventures in the great outdoors. Whether you're a sportsman or a couch potato, he will have you laughing out loud at his escapades. In this collection of 30 tall tales, McManus introduces you to the perils of Trailer Trials and Mean Tents. Like Hemingway, McManus hunts the big fish in "Down and Way Out in Brazil". The title tale, "The Grasshopper Trap", unveils an ingenious invention for catching fish bait in motion. And in "Hunting Camp Etiquette", McManus becomes a rustic Miss Manners. Narrator Norman Dietz adds additional spice to each impish line. You won't want to miss the other audio productions of McManus' works, including Never Sniff a Gift Fish and The Night the Bear Ate Goombaw.
©1989 Patrick F. McManus (P)2000 Recorded Books, LLC
Training for Ultra
Summary
This book has a single purpose - to inspire you to run! Through sharing a detailed account of my first three years of pursuing running from the middle to back of the pack, it will hopefully show you you are capable of much more than you may think. After my dad's major health scare, it was time for me to change everything. Little did I know how much I would learn after taking on some physical exercise. A radical diet change allowed me to lose a forth of my body weight and it gave me boundless energy to get outside and explore. It’s not clear to me why I chose running ultra marathons of all forms of exercise, since I was unable to run beyond one mile just a few years prior. But since that fateful day, I’ve never looked back. I was finding that sometimes the experiences of training for ultra could be just as rich and fulfilling as the ultra event itself.
©2019 Robert Steger (P)2019 Robert Steger
The Cubs Way
Summary
With inside access and reporting, Sports Illustrated senior baseball writer and FOX Sports analyst Tom Verducci reveals how Theo Epstein and Joe Maddon built, led, and inspired the Chicago Cubs team that broke the longest championship drought in sports, chronicling their epic journey to become World Series champions. It took 108 years, but it really happened. The Chicago Cubs are once again World Series champions. How did a team composed of unknown young players and supposedly washed-up veterans come together to break the Curse of the Billy Goat? Tom Verducci, twice named National Sportswriter of the Year and cowriter of The Yankee Years with Joe Torre, will have full access to team president Theo Epstein, manager Joe Maddon, and the players to tell the story of the Cubs' transformation from perennial underachievers to the best team in baseball. Beginning with Epstein's first year with the team in 2011, Verducci will show how Epstein went beyond "Moneyball" thinking to turn around the franchise. Leading the organization with a manual called "The Cubs Way", he focused on the mental side of the game as much as the physical, emphasizing chemistry as well as statistics. To accomplish his goal, Epstein needed manager Joe Maddon, an eccentric innovator, as his counterweight on the Cubs' bench. A man who encourages themed road trips and late-arrival game days to loosen up his team, Maddon mixed New Age thinking with Old School leadership to help his players find their edge. The Cubs Way takes listeners behind the scenes, chronicling how key players like Rizzo, Russell, Lester, and Arrieta were deftly brought into the organization by Epstein and coached by Maddon to outperform expectations. Together, Epstein and Maddon proved that clubhouse culture is as important as on-base percentage and that intangible components like personality, vibe, and positive energy are necessary for a team to perform to their fullest potential. Verducci chronicles the playoff run that culminated in an instant classic Game Seven. He takes a broader look at the history of baseball in Chicago and the almost supernatural element to the team's repeated loses that kept fans suffering but also served to strengthen their loyalty. The Cubs Way is a celebration of an iconic team and its journey to a World Championship that fans and listeners will cherish for years to come. PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.
©2017 Tom Verducci (P)2017 Random House Audio
Running with the Mind of Meditation
Summary
As a Tibetan lama and leader of Shambhala (an international community of 165 meditation centers), Sakyong Mipham has found physical activity to be essential for spiritual well-being. He's been trained in horsemanship and martial arts but has a special love for running. Here, he incorporates his spiritual practice with running, presenting basic meditation instruction and fundamental principles he has developed. Even though both activities can be complicated, the lessons here are simple and designed to show how the melding of internal practice with physical movement can be used by anyone - regardless of age, spiritual background, or ability - to benefit body and mind.
©2012 Mipham J. Mukpo (P)2016 Tantor
I Think, Therefore I Play
Summary
Andrea Pirlo is one of the finest footballers of his generation - a World Cup and Champions League winning playmaker who has redefined his position at the base of midfield, and one of the most deadly free-kick takers the game has known. This is his story, in his words. It is written with a level of humour and insight which confound his image as a dead-eyed assassin on the field of play. All the big names are in there: Lippi, Ancelotti, Conte, Maldini, Shevchenko, Seedorf, Buffon, Kaka, Nesta, Balotelli, Costacurta, Gattuso, Berlusconi and Ronaldo ('the real one'). But they're not always in their work clothes. We hear Berlusconi playing the piano and telling 'various types of jokes' at Milan's training ground. We see Pirlo and Daniele De Rossi drawing Nesta's ire as they take him on a mystery tour of the German countryside in a hire car days before a World Cup semifinal. And we smell the aftermath of Filippo Inzaghi's graphically described prematch routine. With the 2014 World Cup being his last international tournament, this is a timely salute to a special talent who may yet have one final chapter left to write.
©2014 Andrea Pirlo (P)2017 Audible, Ltd
The Blind Side
Summary
In football, as in life, the value we place on people changes with the rules of the games they play. When we first meet the young man at the center of this extraordinary and moving story, he is one of 13 children by a mother addicted to crack; he does not know his real name, his father, his birthday, or any of the things a child might learn in school. And he has no serious experience playing organized football. What changes? He takes up football, and school, after a rich, Evangelical, Republican family plucks him from the mean streets. Their love is the first great force that alters the world’s perception of the boy, whom they adopt. The second force is the evolution of professional football itself. In The Blind Side, Lewis shows us a largely unanalyzed but inexorable trend in football working its way down from the pros to the high school game, where it collides with the life of a single young man to produce a narrative of great and surprising power.
©2006 Michael Lewis (P)2006 Books on Tape
Spartan Up!
Summary
Twenty-six point two miles isn’t enough anymore. Obstacle course racing, which combines the endurance challenges of a marathon with the mind-bending rigors of overcoming obstacles along the way, is taking the world by storm. At the center of this phenomenon is Joe De Sena, the driving force behind the enormously popular Spartan Race. De Sena offers a simple philosophy: commit to a goal, put in the work, and get it done. From that philosophy, as played out first in his own life and now for millions across trails, through mud, and up mountainsides, Spartan Race was born. Now in Spartan Up! De Sena gives you a life strategy guide that takes you out of your comfort zone and into a combat zone. As he breaks down obstacles from his many races, detailing how each parallels real life experiences, you will learn how to: Conquer your greatest obstacle - your will Embrace your greatest friend - discipline Make limitations vanish and establish a new normal Achieve the ultimate: obstacle immunity Other events breed sheep; Spartan Race breeds wolves. Filled with unforgettable stories of Spartan racers as well as hard-won truths learned along the course, Spartan Up! will help anyone reach their full potential - in life, business, relationships, indeed anything one sets out to do. It is the blueprint that takes you right past Go, to your finish line.
©2014 Spartan Race, Inc. (P)2014 Audible Inc.
The Comeback
Summary
In July of 1986, Greg LeMond stunned the sporting world by becoming the first American to win the Tour de France, the world's pre-eminent bicycle race, defeating French cycling legend Bernard Hinault. Nine months later, LeMond lay in a hospital bed, his life in peril after a hunting accident, his career as a bicycle racer seemingly over. And yet, barely two years after this crisis, LeMond mounted a comeback. In 1989, he once again won the Tour - by the almost impossibly narrow margin of eight seconds over another French legend, Laurent Fignon. It remains the closest Tour de France in history. The Comeback chronicles the life of this great American athlete, from his roots in Nevada and California to the heights of global fame. With the kind of narrative drive that propels books like Moneyball and a fierce attention to detail, Daniel de Vise reveals the dramatic, ultra-competitive inner world of a sport rarely glimpsed up close, building a compelling case for LeMond as its great American hero.
©2018 Daniel de Vise (P)2018 Dreamscape Media, LLC
Above the Clouds
Summary
"Kilian Jornet is the most dominating endurance athlete of his generation." (New York Times) "Inspiring and humbling." (Alex Honnold) The most accomplished mountain runner of all time contemplates his record-breaking climbs of Mount Everest in this profound memoir - an intellectual and spiritual journey that moves from the earth’s highest peak to the soul’s deepest reaches. Kilian Jornet has broken nearly every mountaineering record in the world and twice been named National Geographic Adventurer of the Year. In 2018 he summitted Mount Everest twice in one week - without the help of bottled oxygen or ropes. As he recounts a life spent studying and ascending the greatest peaks on earth, Jornet ruminates on what he has found in nature - simplicity, freedom, and spiritual joy - and offers a poetic yet clearheaded assessment of his relationship to the mountain...at times his opponent, at others, his greatest inspiration.
©2020 Kilian Jornet (P)2020 HarperCollins Publishers
Dark Summit
Summary
In early May 2006, a young British climber named David Sharp lay dying near the top of Mount Everest while forty other climbers walked past him on their way to the summit. A week later, Lincoln Hall, a seasoned Australian climber, was left for dead near the same spot. Hall's death was reported around the world, but the next day he was found alive after spending the night on the upper mountain with no food and no shelter. If David Sharp's death was shocking, it was not singular: despite unusually good weather, ten others died attempting to reach the summit that year. In this meticulous inquiry into what went wrong, Nick Heil tells the full story of the deadliest year on Everest since the infamous season of 1996. He introduces Russell Brice, the outfitter who has done more than anyone to provide access to the summit via the mountain's north side---and who some believe was partially responsible for Sharp's death. As more climbers attempt the summit each year, Heil shows how increasingly risky expeditions and unscrupulous outfitters threaten to turn Everest into a deadly circus. Written by an experienced climber and outdoor writer, Dark Summit is both a riveting account of a notorious climbing season and a troubling investigation into whether the pursuit of the ultimate mountaineering prize has spiraled out of control.
©2008 Nick Heil (P)2008 Tantor
Life's Too Short to Go So F*cking Slow
Summary
Susan and Carlos were unlikely friends. She was a young, overweight college professor and a bit of a trainwreck - juggling a divorce, a pack-a-day habit, and hiding empty boxes of wine under her bed. He was her boss, an Ironman triathlete, with life figured out. She was a whiner, he was a hard-ass. He had his shit together, she most assuredly did not. Trash-talking workouts, breakdowns, a devastating diagnosis - this heartwarming story of training buddies reveals a deep and abiding friendship that traversed life, sport, and everything in between. Their journey reveals the inspiring power of sports and friendship to change lives forever. Amusing and poignant, Life's Too Short to Go So F--king Slow is about running and triathlon, growth and heartbreak, and an epic friendship that went the distance.
©2017 Susan Lacke (P)2018 Tantor
Surf Is Where You Find It
Summary
Written by one of the most revered surfers of his generation, Gerry Lopez's Surf Is Where You Find It is a collection of stories about a lifetime of surfing. But more than that, it is a collection of stories about the lessons learned from surfing. It presents 38 stories about those who have been influential in the sport - surfing anytime, anywhere, and in any way. Lopez, an innovator in stand up paddle (one of the fastest growing water sports in the world), now shares his stories about pioneering that sport. Written with Gerry's unique voice, this audiobook is a classic for surf enthusiasts everywhere.
©2015 Gerry Lopez (P)2017 Random House Audio
Seabiscuit
Summary
Number-one New York Times best seller From the author of the runaway phenomenon Unbroken comes a universal underdog story about the horse who came out of nowhere to become a legend. Seabiscuit was one of the most electrifying and popular attractions in sports history and the single biggest newsmaker in the world in 1938, receiving more coverage than FDR, Hitler, or Mussolini. But his success was a surprise to the racing establishment, which had written off the crooked-legged racehorse with the sad tail. Three men changed Seabiscuit’s fortunes: Charles Howard was a onetime bicycle repairman who introduced the automobile to the western United States and became an overnight millionaire. When he needed a trainer for his new racehorses, he hired Tom Smith, a mysterious mustang breaker from the Colorado plains. Smith urged Howard to buy Seabiscuit for a bargain-basement price, then hired as his jockey Red Pollard, a failed boxer who was blind in one eye, half-crippled, and prone to quoting passages from Ralph Waldo Emerson. Over four years, these unlikely partners survived a phenomenal run of bad fortune, conspiracy, and severe injury to transform Seabiscuit from a neurotic, pathologically indolent also-ran into an American sports icon. “Fascinating.... Vivid.... A first-rate piece of storytelling, leaving us not only with a vivid portrait of a horse but a fascinating slice of American history as well.” (The New York Times) “Engrossing.... Fast-moving.... More than just a horse’s tale, because the humans who owned, trained, and rode Seabiscuit are equally fascinating.... [Laura Hillenbrand] shows an extraordinary talent for describing a horse race so vividly that the reader feels like the rider.” (Sports Illustrated) “Remarkable.... Memorable.... Just as compelling today as it was in 1938.” (The Washington Post)
©2010 Laura Hillenbrand (P)2010 Random House Audio
Fast Girl
Summary
The former middle-distance Olympic runner and high-end escort speaks out for the first time about her battle with mental illness and how mania controlled and compelled her in competition but also in life. This is a heartbreakingly honest yet hopeful memoir reminiscent of Manic, Electroboy, and An Unquiet Mind. During the 1990s three-time Olympian Suzy Favor Hamilton was the darling of American track and field. An outstanding runner, a major sports-apparel spokesperson, and a happily married wife, she was the model for an active, healthy, and wholesome life. But her perfect facade masked a dark truth: manic depression and bipolar disorder that drove her obsession to perform and win. For years after leaving the track, Suzy wrestled with her condition as well as the loss of a close friend, conflicted feelings about motherhood and her marriage, and lingering shame about her athletic career. After a misdiagnosis and a recommendation for medication that only exacerbated her mania and made her hypersexual, Suzy embarked on a new path and assumed a new identity. Fueled by a newfound confidence, a feeling of strength, and independence and a desire she couldn't tamp down, she became a high-priced escort in Las Vegas, working as "Kelly". But Suzy could not keep her double life a secret forever. When it was eventually exposed, it sent her into a reckless suicidal period where the only option seemed out. Finally, with the help of her devoted husband, Suzy got the proper medical help she needed. In this startling, frank memoir, she recounts the journey to outrun her demons, revealing how a woman used to physically controlling her body learned to come to terms with her unstable mind.
©2015 Suzy Favor Hamilton (P)2015 HarperCollins Publishers
Basketball
Summary
A sweeping and revelatory history of basketball, drawing upon hundreds of hours of interviews with the greatest players, coaches, executives, and journalists in the history of the game. In an effort to tell the complete story of basketball in all its fascinating dimensions, acclaimed authors Jackie MacMullan, Rafe Bartholomew, and Dan Klores have compiled nearly a thousand hours' worth of interviews with a staggering number of basketball greats. They've talked to hundreds of legendary players, such as Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, and Magic Johnson, and spoken with renowned coaches, including Phil Jackson and Coach K, as well as numerous executives, commissioners, and journalists. Most impressive was the extraordinary quality of the interviews. Again and again, players spoke candidly about secrets and told stories they'd never before discussed on the record. The audiobook that grew out of those interviews is an extraordinary project and quite possibly the most ambitious basketball work ever made. At once a definitive oral history and something far more literary and intimate, this is the never-before-told story of how basketball came to be and about what it means to those who've given their lives to the game. Read by James Fouhey, Jim Frangione, Sullivan Jones, Pete Larkin, January LaVoy, and Carol Monda.
©2018 Jackie MacMullan, Rafe Bartholomew, and Dan Klores (P)2018 Random House Audio
Run the Mile You're In
Summary
Journey with Olympian Ryan Hall as he reflects on the joys and trials of the running life and, along the way, shows you how his faith has helped him win in his workouts, races, and overall mindset. Ryan Hall is an Olympic athlete and American record holder in the half marathon (59:43). But as a kid, Ryan hated running. He wanted nothing to do with the sport until one day, he felt compelled to run the 15 miles around his neighborhood lake. He was hooked. Starting that day, Ryan felt a God-given purpose in running. He knew he could, and would, race with the best runners in the world and that his talent was a gift to serve others. These two truths launched Ryan's 20-year athletic career and guided him through epic failures and exceptional breakthroughs to competing at the highest level. Now a coach, speaker, and nonprofit partner, Ryan shares the powerful faith behind his athletic achievements and the lessons he learned that helped him push past limits, make space for relationships that enrich life on and off the running trails, and cultivate a positive mindset. Lessons such as: Learning how to focus on your purpose and say no to distractions Select and strive for the right goals - goals for the heart and the body How to deal with defeat and disappointment How to endure immense pain and build resilience Running as if you've already won Ryan's story is one of encouragement and inspiration for listeners of any age and level of running ability - or none at all. It's a story that shows that you, too, can change your outlook, see God's hand in your life, and run the race that really matters.
©2019 Ryan Hall (P)2019 Zondervan
Wrestling for My Life
Summary
In Wrestling for My Life, WWE superstar Shawn Michaels shares from his heart the highs and lows of his life inside the WWE. Included are some never-before-shared stories and an intimate look into his career as well as stories of hunting, family, and faith. With millions of fans, Michaels had adulation and all the attention he could ask for, but he discovered there was something more. When he became a committed Christian during his years in the WWE, it had to affect everything. Michaels reveals what it is like to be a man of faith in this unusual world and shares insights for all of us.
©2015 Zondervan (P)2015 Zondervan
Girl in the Woods
Summary
Girl in the Woods is Aspen Matis' exhilarating true-life adventure of hiking from Mexico to Canada - a coming-of-age story, a survival story, and a triumphant story of overcoming emotional devastation. On her second night of college, Aspen was raped by a fellow student. Overprotected by her parents who discouraged her from telling of the attack, Aspen was confused and ashamed. Dealing with a problem that has sadly become all too common on college campuses around the country, she stumbled through her first semester - a challenging time made even harder by the coldness of her college's "conflict mediation" process. Her desperation growing, she made a bold decision: She would seek healing in the freedom of the wild, on the 2,650-mile Pacific Crest Trail leading from Mexico to Canada. In this inspiring memoir, Aspen chronicles her journey, a five-month trek that was ambitious, dangerous, and transformative. A 19-year-old girl alone and lost, she conquered desolate mountain passes and met rattlesnakes, bears, and fellow desert pilgrims. Exhausted after each 30-mile day, at times on the verge of starvation, Aspen was forced to confront her numbness, coming to terms with the sexual assault and her parents' disappointing reaction. On the trail and on her own, she found that survival is predicated on persistent self-reliance. She found her strength. After a thousand miles of solitude, she found a man who helped her learn to love and trust again - and heal. Told with elegance and suspense, Girl in the Woods is a beautifully rendered story of eroding emotional and physical boundaries to reveal the truths that lie beyond the edges of the map.
©2015 Aspen Matis (P)2015 HarperCollins Publishers
Harvey Penick's Little Red Book
Summary
Harvey Penick's life in golf began when he was eight years old, caddying at the Austin, Texas, Country Club. Eight decades later, he is still there, dispensing wisdom to pros and beginners alike. His stature in the golf world is reflected in the wide array of champions that he has worked with, including those featured in this audio program. And it is not for nothing that the Teacher of the Year Award given by the Golf Teachers Association is called the Harvey Penick Award. After sixty years of keeping notes on the things he's seen and learned and on the golfing greats he's taught, Penick lets the secrets in his Little Red Book be heard by the golf world in this classic work. His simple, direct, practical wisdom pares away all the hypertechnical jargon that's grown up around the game, and lets all golfers play their best - whatever their level.
©1993 Harvey Penick, Bud Shrake, and Helen Penick, All Rights Reserved (P)1993 Simon & Schuster Inc., All Rights Reserved, AUDIOWORKS Is an Imprint of Simon & Schuster Audio Division, Simon & Schuster Inc.