Wooden: A Lifetime of Observations and Reflections on and Off the Court Review

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(More customer reviews)Listen to anyone who speaks about him, or read anything that anyone writes about him, and you will instantly know that John Wooden is truly a national treasure. This book of Wooden's wisdom and life philosophies is definitely on my short list of the best books of all time about character and leadership.
This book is a collection of the simple and direct beliefs and observations of John Wooden, arguably the best (college) basketball coach of all time. Interestingly, very little of what Wooden wants to teach is about basketball. His quick stories, short vignettes, and detailed memories focus on life and relationships with others.
Coach Wooden is a gentle man with the courage and discipline to live his life according to his deepest held ideals, values, and principles. Despite his teams' unbelievable success (10 NCAA national basketball championships in 12 years (including 7 in a row!), 88 consecutive victories, and 38 straight NCAA tournament victories), and his own fame (many coach-of-the-year honors, "Sports Illustrated's" sportsman of the year, a lifetime winning percentage of over 80%, and the first man to be elected to college basketball's hall of fame as both a player (3-time All-American at Purdue) and coach), he resisted the public pressures and temptations to stay true to himself and his beliefs.
Coach Wooden defines success as the "peace of mind that is a direct result of self-satisfaction in knowing you did your best to become the best you are capable of becoming." The book finishes with 30 pages devoted to Wooden's legendary "Pyramid of Success" and another 5 pages of his favorite sayings - 35 priceless pages in a priceless book.
At a time when America is re-defining and searching for true heroes to lead us forward from our darkest days, this book is a beacon of hope and guidance and should serve as a blueprint for making heroes of us all.

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When You Come to a Fork in the Road, Take It: Inspiration and Wisdom From One of Baseball's Greatest Heroes Review

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(More customer reviews)Yogi Berra is our modern day version of Will Rogers. He talks about life and what he sees, and captures a fundamental truth and humor that tickle our fancy and our sense of what's right.
This book contains many of Yogi's most famous aphorisms, followed by essays that explain what he means . . . in other words.
Here are some of my favorites among his aphorisms in this book (which double as titles for the essays):
"We Have a Good Time Together, Even When We're Not Together."
"If People Don't Want to Come Out to the Park, Nobody's Going to Stop Them."
"Ninety Percent of the Game Is Half Mental."
"You Observe a Lot by Watching."
"It's Deja Vu All Over Again."
"We Made Too Many Wrong Mistakes."
"It Gets Late Early Out Here."
"Nobody Goes There Any More, It's Too Crowded."
"I Love Movies When I Like Them."
"If the World Were Perfect, It Wouldn't Be."
"Always Go to Other People's Funerals, Otherwise They Won't Go to Yours."
"Ninety Percent of Short Putts Don't Go In."
The beauty of Yogi's aphorisms is that we know exactly what he means, which we don't always appreciate about what more learned types have to say. The unusual content also jolts us into paying attention, instead of putting us into a mild doze.
About the aphorisms themselves, Yogi says this, "I don't think I ever said anything intentionally humorous in my life."
You could sum up his philosophy as "I really have no regrets." Yogi basically suggests that you take life as it comes, make the best of what it offers, and move on. His most beautiful aphorism is here also, "There Is Always Some Kid Who May Be Seeing Me for the First or Last Time. I Owe Him My Best." The essay describes how Joe DiMaggio always played the hero's role in public, and how much Yogi admired him for it.
The book also contains the famous story of how Yogi refused to reenter Yankee Stadium for 14 years after being summarily fired as manager in mid-season in 1985 (after being told this would not happen). George Steinbrenner finally met with Yogi and apologized. Yogi began coming to Yankee Stadium again. That struck me as very consistent with his sense of what's right and wrong.
Yogi chose to leave school at a very young age. He thought he didn't have much of a future there, and he felt he liked and could do a lot of other things better. That's the story behind the book's title. But Yogi reminds us, "People shouldn't forget where they came from." In fact, the essays double as an autobiography of Yogi.
I enjoyed his stories about the glory days of the five straight World Championships, and how he improved as a catcher while being lambasted by the sportswriters. Having listened to Don Larsen's perfect game against the Dodgers, it was fun to read what Yogi had to say about catching the game. I didn't know he called Larsen "Gooney Bird."
His essay about talking to players, pitchers and umps is also a classic.
Anyone would benefit from his advice about losing. "If [you]lose . . . , shake their hand and try harder next time."
He also maintains that it's not true he was ever in a hitting slump. He just wasn't getting many hits. That's an extension of his focus on keeping a positive outlook.
Each essay is preceded by a small black-and-white photograph. These add a nice personal touch to the essays.
After you read this book, think about where you need to take a fork in the road with courage and enthusiasm. Think of Yogi when you take that fork. He'll be pulling for you.
If the stick in your eye is hurting you, there's no law that says you have to keep holding it in there!


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The Story Behind the Glory: Winning Quotes from Sports Greats on the Game of Life Review

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(More customer reviews)Behind every great sportsman is a system of values: hard work, self-improvement, service to his community. Those values help drive an athlete (or a coach, or even a sportswriter) to greatness, and the distillation of those values are reflected in a person's outlook, and in his words.
Bill Cairo has assembled the famous quotations from eleven sports greats, athletes who excelled at everything from golf, football, and baseball to coaching, teaching, and jotting purple poetry about the ups and downs of teams and their fortunes on the field of play. But this is not simply a book of quotations; if it were, Cairo coul have written the chapters about Yogi Berra and Mohammed Ali and called it a day. SportsWise also conveys the biographies of the sports figures included on its "Top Ten"-style listing, allowing the reader a fuller understanding of what the book's subtitle calls "The Story Behind the Glory."
Cairo clearly understands the different sporting disciplines he's writing about, but the reader needn't be a pro himself to enjoy SportsWise. In order to be thrilled and moved by this book, all you need to do is turn the pages and read.

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A different collection of sports quotations, The Story Behind the Glory offers hundreds of memorable quotations and the backgrounds of the men who said them. America's greatest athletes, coaches and writers (Aaron, Ali, Ashe, Berra, Lombardi, Rice, Rickey, Robinson, Trevino, Shero, and Wooden) had much to say not only about sports but the greater game of life. Also included is plenty of sports history and trivia, making for a perfect trifecta of a sports book.

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