{"title":"Chris Ballard","description":null,"products":[{"product_id":"sports-illustrated-the-art-of-a-beautiful-game-book-chris-ballard-9781439110218","title":"Sports Illustrated, the Art of a Beautiful Game","description":null,"brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49548440895761,"sku":"GOR005595116","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50329719996689,"sku":"CIN1439110212VG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ WELL_READ \/ SBYB","offer_id":51331823108369,"sku":"CIN1439110212A","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":51693572489489,"sku":"CIN1439110212G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1439110212.jpg?v=1750756599"},{"product_id":"one-shot-at-forever-book-chris-ballard-9781401324384","title":"One Shot at Forever","description":"\u003cb\u003e\"\u003ci\u003eOne Shot at Forever\u003c\/i\u003e is powerful, inspirational. . . This isn't merely a book about baseball. It's a book about heart.\" -- Jeff Pearlman, \u003ci\u003eNew York Time\u003c\/i\u003es bestselling author of \u003ci\u003eBoys Will Be Boys\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eThe Bad Guys Won\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e In 1971, a small-town high school baseball team from rural Illinois, playing with hand-me-down uniforms and peace signs on their hats, defied convention and the odds. Led by an English teacher with no coaching experience, the Macon Ironmen emerged from a field of 370 teams to represent the smallest school in Illinois history to make the state final, a distinction that still stands. There the Ironmen would play against a Chicago powerhouse in a dramatic game that would change their lives forever.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e In this gripping, cinematic narrative, Chris Ballard tells the story of the team and its coach, Lynn Sweet: a hippie, dreamer, and intellectual who arrived in Macon in 1966, bringing progressive ideas to a town stuck in the Eisenhower era. Beloved by students but not administration, Sweet reluctantly took over the ragtag team, intent on teaching the boys as much about life as baseball. Together they embarked on an improbable postseason run that buoyed a small town in desperate need of something to celebrate.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e Engaging and poignant, \u003ci\u003eOne Shot at Forever\u003c\/i\u003e is a testament to the power of high school sports to shape the lives of those who play them, and it reminds us that there are few bonds more sacred than that among a coach, a team, and a town.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e \"Macon's run at the title reminds us why sports matter and why sportswriting has such great power to inspire. . . [It's] one hell of a good story, and Ballard has written one hell of a good book.\" -- Jonathan Eig, \u003ci\u003eChicago Tribune\u003c\/i\u003e","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":49565939466513,"sku":"CIN140132438XG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":49931551441169,"sku":"CIN140132438XVG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ WELL_READ \/ SBYB","offer_id":50380521144593,"sku":"CIN140132438XA","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/140132438X.jpg?v=1751272249"},{"product_id":"hoops-nation-a-guide-to-america-s-best-pickup-basketball-book-chris-ballard-9780805048773","title":"Hoops Nation: a Guide to America's Best Pickup Basketball","description":null,"brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49631280365841,"sku":"GOR008258068","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0805048774.jpg?v=1751362068"},{"product_id":"butterfly-hunter-book-chris-ballard-9780767918688","title":"The Butterfly Hunter","description":"This book explores the work of John McGahern, one of the greatest Irish prose writers of the twentieth century. The fifteen essays collected here address McGahern's legacy from a range of fresh perspectives drawn from the fields of literary criticism, history, sociology, education, journalism and creative writing. Examining his novels, short stories, memoir and prose writings, these essays interrogate the ways in which his writing responds to key issues in these subject areas. Featuring an afterword by Declan Kiberd and contributions from experts and scholars from a variety of disciplines, along with distinguished writers and cultural practitioners such as Frank McGuinness, Roy Foster, Paula Meehan and Melvyn Bragg, this unique volume both deepens and broadens the McGahern conversation, opening his work to students and readers in a new way. It delivers richly informed insights on the writer's early career and traces his persistent concerns with style and form, with the task of the writer and with a secular spirituality that manifests itself in ethical concerns about our relationship to our social, cultural and natural environment and the individual's struggle to find a way to be in the world. The book also includes a late interview with McGahern; a valuable new resource for students, researchers and general readers, illuminating some of the discussions in the preceding essays and providing insights into his approach to literature. The essays in this collection offer demanding but lucid and accessible studies of McGahern's body of work and will be of interest to students and teachers at all levels of academic study along with the appreciative reader of McGahern's work.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49658785857809,"sku":"GOR010567109","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50213872599313,"sku":"CIN0767918681VG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":51693551419665,"sku":"CIN0767918681G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0767918681.jpg?v=1751107031"},{"product_id":"hoops-nation-book-chris-ballard-9780803262355","title":"Hoops Nation","description":"Looking for a game? Here's your guided tour of the country's best pickup basketball courts, from the blacktops of Brooklyn to the asphalt of Anchorage to the gyms of Jackson, Mississippi. It's all inside: where the pros play, the most scenic runs in the land, and a ranking of the top five courts. Chris Ballard and three other former college players piled into a used Chevy van and traveled thirty-one thousand miles in seven months, playing at over a thousand courts in 166 cities in forty-eight states. This is the story of their roundball road trip and a guide to the places, people, and communities they encountered. More than a travel guide, Hoops Nation is a celebration of the game of basketball as it is played in America. It includes guides to streetball fashion, the lingo of the courts, the etiquette of the pickup world, the tricks of old-guy basketball, and tips for the dunking impaired. Also included are profiles of playground legends and dispatches from the legions of basketball lifers who populate the country's courts. This book can tell you where they're running today, all over America. Who's got next? Chris Ballard is a staff writer covering the NBA for Sports Illustrated and is a frequent contributor to the New York Times Magazine. Clark Kellogg is a CBS basketball commentator and former NBA star. Chuck Wielgus and Alexander Wolff are the authors of The In-Your-Face Basketball Book.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49664132907281,"sku":"GOR010266310","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50320497377553,"sku":"CIN0803262353G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":51007310266641,"sku":"NIN9780803262355","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":51780704272657,"sku":"CIN0803262353VG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0803262353.jpg?v=1782383662"},{"product_id":"one-shot-at-forever-book-chris-ballard-9781401312664","title":"One Shot at Forever","description":"\"One Shot at Forever is powerful, inspirational. . . This isn't merely a book about baseball. It's a book about heart.\" -- Jeff Pearlman, New York Times bestselling author of Boys Will Be Boys and The Bad Guys Won In 1971, a small-town high school baseball team from rural Illinois, playing with hand-me-down uniforms and peace signs on their hats, defied convention and the odds. Led by an English teacher with no coaching experience, the Macon Ironmen emerged from a field of 370 teams to represent the smallest school in Illinois history to make the state final, a distinction that still stands. There the Ironmen would play against a Chicago powerhouse in a dramatic game that would change their lives forever. In this gripping, cinematic narrative, Chris Ballard tells the story of the team and its coach, Lynn Sweet: a hippie, dreamer, and intellectual who arrived in Macon in 1966, bringing progressive ideas to a town stuck in the Eisenhower era. Beloved by students but not administration, Sweet reluctantly took over the ragtag team, intent on teaching the boys as much about life as baseball. Together they embarked on an improbable postseason run that buoyed a small town in desperate need of something to celebrate.  Engaging and poignant, One Shot at Forever is a testament to the power of high school sports to shape the lives of those who play them, and it reminds us that there are few bonds more sacred than that among a coach, a team, and a town. \"Macon's run at the title reminds us why sports matter and why sportswriting has such great power to inspire. . . [It's] one hell of a good story, and Ballard has written one hell of a good book.\" -- Jonathan Eig, Chicago Tribune","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":49915589525777,"sku":"CIN1401312667G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ WELL_READ \/ SBYB","offer_id":50485738995985,"sku":"CIN1401312667A","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":51024547741969,"sku":"NIN9781401312664","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":51440930259217,"sku":"GOR012743099","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":51662872019217,"sku":"GOR007893604","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":51696604446993,"sku":"CIN1401312667VG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":52660595360017,"sku":"NLS9781401312664","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1401312667.jpg?v=1751447203"},{"product_id":"sports-illustrated-the-basketball-vault-book-chris-ballard-9781629379562","title":"Sports Illustrated The Basketball Vault","description":"\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eSports Illustrated\u003c\/i\u003e, the most respected voice in sports journalism, has covered the NBA for the much of its existence, documenting its expansion from fledgeling league to global force.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e Curated by editor and bestselling author Chris Ballard, this anthology features the best hoops writing from the \u003ci\u003eSI\u003c\/i\u003e archives along with new postscripts from nationally renowned basketball journalists including Jackie McMullan, Jack McCallum, Jeff Pearlman, S.L. Price, Lee Jenkins, Frank Deford, and more.\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50329757810961,"sku":"CIN1629379565VG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":51040450674961,"sku":"NIN9781629379562","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":52328092467473,"sku":"CIN1629379565G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1629379565.jpg?v=1750993005"},{"product_id":"art-of-a-beautiful-game-book-chris-ballard-9781439110225","title":"The Art of a Beautiful Game","description":"Chris Ballard sits down with the NBA’s most passionate, cerebral players to discover their tricks of the trade and to learn what drives them. He reveals the roots of Kobe Bryant’s limitless competitiveness; shadows LeBron James to figure out how he deploys his prodigious talent; and challenges Steve Kerr to a three-point shootout to analyze the mind-set of a pure shooter. Ballard tracks down renowned dunkers to explore the slam’s impact on today’s game, follows Shane Battier during his extensive pregame preparations, gets pointers from a free-throw shooting guru who once hit 2,750 in a row, and attends an elite NBA training camp to experience the pain that turns a prospect into a pro.   Packed with fascinating characters and startling anecdotes, and grounded in the superb writing and the reportage that is the hallmark of Sports Illustrated, The Art of a Beautiful Game is an often witty, always insightful look at the men like Steve Nash, Dwight Howard, and Dirk Nowitzki who devote themselves to this elegant and complicated sport. It’s an inside read on the game that will surprise even diehard fans.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50382912520465,"sku":"CIN1439110220G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ WELL_READ \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":50498977792273,"sku":"GOR006553746","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":51026315641105,"sku":"NIN9781439110225","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":51268298703121,"sku":"GOR006721720","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":52327293845777,"sku":"NLS9781439110225","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":53477292638481,"sku":"CIN1439110220VG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1439110220.jpg?v=1750795709"},{"product_id":"plunge-book-chris-ballard-9781668055861","title":"The Plunge","description":"\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eBorn to Run\u003c\/i\u003e meets \u003ci\u003eWhy We Swim\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eBreath\u003c\/i\u003e in a globe-spanning work of immersive narrative nonfiction that dives into the hidden world of cold water plunging and swimming--and what it reveals about the human body, mind, and need for connection.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e \u003cb\u003e\"Mesmerizing...I loved this book.\"\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cb\u003e--Adam Grant, #1 \u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e bestselling author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e When award-winning \u003ci\u003eSports Illustrated\u003c\/i\u003e writer Chris Ballard receives a cryptic text promising to extend his athletic life, he has no idea it will lead him into a parallel athletic universe--one populated by record-breaking grandmothers, obsessive scientists, rogue visionaries chasing Olympic legitimacy, and everyday people willingly plunging into freezing water together, a realm that subverts the idea of what \"elite\" athletes are supposed to look like. What begins as curiosity becomes a three-year reporting journey across continents, from the saunas of Finland and seas of Ireland to Norway, England, and Boston.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e Blending adventure journalism with rigorous research, \u003ci\u003eThe Plunge\u003c\/i\u003e traces humanity's long relationship with cold water--from the ancient Greeks and Victorian sea bathers to polar plungers and modern laboratories studying stress, resilience, and mental health, a lifeline for those \"drowning on dry land.\" Reporting from the front lines of emerging science, Ballard explores how brief, voluntary cold exposure can sharpen focus, elevate mood, reduce inflammation, stunt cortisol, and retrain the body's stress response, creating a rare state of being both calm and alert.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e Along the way, Ballard introduces pioneers like legendary distance swimmer Lynne Cox, follows Ram Barkai's improbable quest to bring ice swimming to the Olympics, and charts a global movement that's surged from fringe ritual to mainstream phenomenon. As his reporting deepens, so does his participation: Ballard graduates from cold plunges to competing alongside Olympians at the Ice Swimming World Championships. Along the way, his body and outlook change in surprising and measurable ways.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e Unfolding through vivid scenes and unforgettable characters, \u003ci\u003eThe Plunge\u003c\/i\u003e is a story of endurance, science, and human connection, an exploration of why, in a climate-controlled, screen-saturated world, so many people are choosing to seek out discomfort--and what becomes possible when we do hard things together.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":53585147953425,"sku":"NIN9781668055861","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ GARDNERS","offer_id":53720222204177,"sku":"NGR9781668055861","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/9781668055861.jpg?v=1779452896"}],"url":"https:\/\/www.worldofbooks.com\/en-gb\/collections\/author-books-by-chris-ballard.oembed","provider":"World of Books ","version":"1.0","type":"link"}