Inner Excellence: Train Your Mind for Extraordinary Performance and the Best Possible Life

Inner Excellence: Train Your Mind for Extraordinary Performance and the Best Possible Life by Jim Murphy

The author bills this as something more than sports psychology. It is something like "sports performance and life skills". You should focus on the experience. You are working with the others that you are competing against. The goal is to maximize your experience and have fun regardless of what others do. It is important to be self aware and adapt. Believing in yourself and not falling into a case of doubt helps you succeed. There are plenty of examples of sports figures that have fallen apart mentally as well as those that have lived for the moment and succeeded against odds. The audiobook includes some reviews with these figures at the end. The book seemed good as I was listening to it, but in retrospect it felt fairly standard.

Masters of the Game: A Conversational History of the NBA in 75 Legendary Players

Masters of the Game: A Conversational History of the NBA in 75 Legendary Players by Sam Smith and Phil Jackson 

This book discusses the 75 best basketball players with a back and forth between writer Sam Smith and coach Phil Jackson. The stories discuss the key players as well as tangents related to them. Some of the "not quite the great" make appearances as well as the key players. Some players won multiple championships, while others were great without a championship. The two have seen many of the players in person and have some interesting commentary. Smith had started watching the Nicks as a young kid in New York and spent a long career as a sports writer. Jackson had experience as player coach and executive. They both have intimate knowledge of the came with plenty of first and second hand  commentary.

Hoop Atlas: Mapping the Remarkable Transformation of the Modern NBA

Hoop Atlas: Mapping the Remarkable Transformation of the Modern NBA by Kirk Goldsberry

Who is the greatest basketball player? Rather than look at stats, we can look at how they have influenced the NBA. Michael Jordan received many individual awards. He also significantly altered the course of the NBA. Stephen Curry was on the vanguard of similar changes. Shooting and ball handling became more important. The three pointer grew in importance. Great players are excellent at what they do and are emulated by many others. This book looks at the evolution of the NBA by focussing on many of the key greats that have lead the change. The NBA went from being dominated by big centers to being dominated by outside shooters. Today things are coming back with big men with shooting and ball handling skills getting their day. The author doesn't proclaim any of the players the greatest, but does show how each of many greats are important by their stats and future influence.

Sacred Hoops: Spiritual Lessons Of A Hardwood Warrior

Sacred Hoops: Spiritual Lessons Of A Hardwood Warrior by Phil Jackson and Hugh Delehanty

Phil Jackson explores the spiritual dimension of his basketball career. He was raised as a child of Presbyterian ministers. However, he never experienced speaking in tongues and felt that he had not filled the jump in the spiritual journey. He later was attracted to Zen and meditation. He still maintianed some of the key Christian teacheings of love with his Zen practice. He used this as part of his early basketball career. His NBA playing career gradually shifted to coaching. When he was coaching the bulls he worked to balance the extreme talent of Michael Jordan with the needs of a team. There were times that players had important life experiences that needed to be addressed. (Such as the death of Scottie Pippen's father.) The book is abridged and ends in the middle of the Bulls run. Much of it is repeated in his later book spanning his entire NBA career. 

Eleven Rings: The Soul of Success

Eleven Rings: The Soul of Success by Phil Jackson and Hugh Delehanty

This is books is primarily a linear narrative of the life of Phil Jackson. He grew up in the upper midwest in a religious family (both parents were preachers). He took to basketball and eventually made it to the NBA to play for the Nicks. He was never a super star, but was a role player. He earned two championships as a player (though he was out injured for a season where he got it.) At the time, life in the NBA was not glamourous or well-paying. Some of the college students had better experiences. He was drawn towards coaching. He had various experiences (including in Puerto Rico.) He eventually was an assistant for the Bulls. They had Michael Jordan and some potential. Management decided he was best to get them over the cusp. They fired the coach and made him head coach. After some challenges, he was able to put together 2 three-peat championships with the bulls. Part of it involved helping the team to be more balanced rather than dishing everything to Jordan. He took time off, then took the Lakers job. There he won three championships with Kobe and Shaq. Again, he needed to work to get them to be team players. After some down years, he was able to win two more with Kobe. He stayed on for another season after the last championship where they failed to win. In between the championships he also had some bad years. The pain of defeat helped encourage him and his teams to play for more victories. He also talks about some of the meditation and other non-basketball work he did. In his time, he worked with some of the best players and got the best out of them. The combination of players and coach seemed to work well.

The Racket: On Tour with Tennis’s Golden Generation – and the other 99%

The Racket: On Tour with Tennis’s Golden Generation – and the other 99% by Conor Niland

Growing up, the author's parents pushed him to focus on tennis. He noticed other parents were not so focussed on a single thing, yet he persevered. He attended sports prep schools and eventually received a tennis scholarship to attend Cal. After college, he struggled just on the outskirts of the "big leagues". He worked his ranking up just beyond 200. He was able to play in qualifying sections of the major tournaments. He was the top ranked Irish tennis player and qualified in a couple big tournaments. He was never a well known tennis player, yet he would continue to work hard. The matter-of-fact tone of his journey separates this from other sports memoirs. He acknowledges he was pushed externally in his youth, yet had the drive of his own. He was able to take advantage of the opportunities, such as receiving a literature degree from UC Berkeley. With all that work, he got a few chances to play in front of big crowds, but mostly stumbled away in anonymity. The book provides insight on how most participants experience professional tennis.

Every Day Is Sunday: How Jerry Jones, Robert Kraft, and Roger Goodell Turned the NFL into a Cultural & Economic Juggernaut

Every Day Is Sunday: How Jerry Jones, Robert Kraft, and Roger Goodell Turned the NFL into a Cultural & Economic Juggernaut by Ken Belson

The NFL has become one of the premiere entertainment organizations in the US. Each franchise is independently owned, with values now often exceeding $5 billion. They often pit cities against each other to leverage huge public subsidies for billion dollar stadiums. Football games dominate the TV ratings, with most of the top rated television programs. There are also multiple additional revenue sources including "pouring rights" at stadiums, licensing and more. Some revenue sources are controlled by the NFL, while others are controlled by individual franchises. Owners like Jerry Jones are not afraid to find new revenue sources, even if they conflict with league-wide ones.

The book focuses on three characters that have had a significant impact on the NFL. Jerry Jones had longed to purchase the Cowboys. Once he got his way, he was able to make the most of it. He constantly hunted for new revenue sources and built a huge stadium as a monument to extravagance. His over-the-top personality helped grow the NFL to what it is today. Robert Kraft was somewhat more subdued, but also cunning. He used parking lot rights as an in to eventually purchase the Patriots. The organization had a huge stream of on-field success. Roger Goodell had always wanted to be NFL commissioner. He worked his way up and helped build the NFL to what it was today. Dan Snyder was mentioned at the end. He looked like a potential younger owners. However, his character issues ended up being too much for the NFL and he was subtly chased out and forced to sell his team.

The book focuses on the three main characters and the rise of the NFL. The league does appear to be near its peak now. However, there are a plenty of headwinds. There is greater pushback in local extortion in stadiums. (Though places like Cleveland and Kansas seem to still be willing to pony up.) Injury concerns are impacting multiple areas such as youth football participation and post-football careers for NFL players. NFL fans also skew old and American. Changes to college football could also have impacts on the NFL. (Will players still want to be poked and prodded at the combine.) Can the NFL change enough to continue to reign supreme?

The Perfect Mile: Three Athletes. One Goal. And Less Than Four Minutes to Achieve It

The Perfect Mile: Three Athletes. One Goal. And Less Than Four Minutes to Achieve It by Neal Bascomb

Wes Santee, John Landy and Roger Bannister were all trying to be the first to run a sub-four-minute mile. As I only recognized one of the names, I had a strong idea how it would turn out. However, the story is still dramatic. Each of the runners had challenges. It is clear that a bit of good (or bad) fortune is involved in setting athletic records. It is interesting to see parallels with the modern mess of the NCAA as well as the attempts to complete the first female sub-four mile.

Of the three, Wes Santee had the worst luck. He was constantly stymied by the US athletics association. At one time, the prevented him from running the mile because he already qualified in another event. Later, they banned him because he received too much money in expenses. (The organization had authorized those expenses and made a financial killing on the events, but Santee wasn't able to see any of it.) After college, he was full time in the military and competed in running events there, but never got to run an official sub 4 mile.

John Landy was from Australia and had little support from his national sports federation. He also competed in one race against Bannister with an injured foot. He was the second person to break four minutes and held the mile record for three years.

Bannister was the first to officially break the record. He held onto the ideal of amerture individual competitor, only reluctantly getting outside coaching. He was also studying and later working as a doctor. The running was a sideline. He had pacers help out and came close to running a sub-four mile numerous times before he finally broke the barrier at Oxford. The weather was horrible that day and he thought about trying again another time. However, it cleared up close to race time and he was able to do it.

The audiobook has a small afterward where the author discusses his experiences meeting the runners and the very different personalities. 

Rebound

Rebound by Kwame Alexander

I did not realize this was a prequel to Crossover until reading the summary. I thought it was just an alternate tale about that kid. In this story, the dad of the Crossover protagonist has his Dad die. He struggles with it. He eventually goes to live with his grandparents for a summer. There he hangs out with his cousin and builds a love for basketball. It is short and sweet.

Skating Showdown

Skating Showdown by Jake Maddox, text by Margaret Gurevich, illustrated by Katie Wood

A girl likes to ice skate. There is a big competition coming up and she is excited with her odds of winning. She is great at spins, but have trouble with jumps. She sees another girl that is great at jumps. This causes her to get flustered and she gets angry when the girl offers to help her. Finally they make peace and then do well on the competition. It is all very cliché.

Dragon Hoops

Dragon Hoops by Gene Luen Yang

The author has always been a bit nerdy and preferred to focus on his comics. He never saw the fascination that other people had with sports, but he couldn't resist the enthusiasm that people had. He decided to talk with coach. He discovered that he was as relatable guy and was once a gangly teenager. The team is great and has made it to the state championship game many times, but has never won. He became smitten by the basketball team. He decides to write his book on their season.

The book goes through the basketball season and ties in school and basketball history. He tries to go in depth with many of the players. The histories are fairly positive, with the players feeling friendly and well-grounded. The team is mostly black, with a future NBA player. However, there are also other players, including a white "redneck", a Punjabi and Chinese student. They endure some racial taunts, but rub it off. The book mostly covers the on-court struggles of the team, together with the challenges of the author and his life. There are even notes at the end of the graphic novel. Some players are great and anticipate future experience playing basketball, while others are looking more at the "student" part of it. It ends as a nice happy sports-story ending.

Secretariat

Secretariat by William Nack

Secretariat was one of the fastest horses of all time and one of the rare triple crown winners. He had a heart that was larger than the typical horses. The book is a "biography" of the horse, while also providing biography of the breeders and others involved in his life. The focus is on the races and racing. The prose is well written and engaging, though it does go on for a long time. Those interested in horse racing will love it.

Eric Liddell: Something Greater than Gold: Christian Heroes: Then & Now

Eric Liddell: Something Greater than Gold: Christian Heroes: Then & Now by Janet Benge and Geoff Benge

Eric Liddell was one of the main characters in Chariots of Fire. He was born in China to Christian missionaries. He became a fast runner. He had a somewhat awkward style, but would will himself to run. However, he would not compete on Sunday. When an olympic race was on Sunday, he would not compete. He competed instead on a different race that he ended up winning. He was hugely famous, but decided to drop it to go teach at a missionary school in China. When he got there, he heard there may not be school because the students were on strike. (Sino-British relations were not super great.) There were some students and he was able to teach. It was interesting that this school specifically targeted the wealthy. They wanted too build the relationship with the future rulers.

As the situation deteriorated in the build up to World War 2, he worked at a hospital. They were treat everyone, even the enemy Japanese. Eventually the British were sent to an internment camp by the Japanese. Eric was a hard working and leader in the camp, but got sick and died. This part was interesting to read about. We do hear about the Japanese internment camps in the US, but I did not realize that this was something that all sides did.

Liddell's story is an uplifting story of Christian faith. The work focuses on his good points, with little mention of his flaws. It does try to present a somewhat balanced story of the missionary experience in China. The Europeans missionaries did see themselves as "better" than the Chinese, yet they were also driven by a strong to desire to help improve their condition and share the faith.

Swing Your Sword: Leading the Charge in Football and Life

Mike Leach's story seems almost too normal for the "Pirate". He does tell the story of how he got his nickname by animating his team. There is a long discussion of the time his Texas Tech team was able to beat Texas. (And he did bring up the important part of not looking down on competition.)

He was born in California, but raised mostly in rural Wyoming. He had some sports experiences, then went to BYU where he was on the rebellious side. After graduating from law school at Pepperdine, he decided he wanted to try coaching. He made a number of sacrifices to work at small schools, then eventually rose up the College Football ranks.

He spends the end of the book excoriating the Texas Tech administration. There was plenty of incompetency and dysfunctionality to go around. Some people wanted him out, and managed to do it under a number of false pretensions.  Leach's side of the argument is very compelling. The biggest concern was that of Tech hiding behind sovereign immunity and refuses to even let Leach litigate his side of the story. 

The Inner Game of Tennis: The Classic Guide to the Mental Side of Peak Performance

"Self 1" and "Self 2" battle for dominance in carrying out tasks. One is the conscious self. The other is the subconscious. Instruction usually focuses on the conscious. However, it is the subconscious that must complete the task. 

The book is a mix of tennis-specific advice within a general framework. In tennis, the racquet is an extension of the body. If we try to focus our mind too much on the mechanics, we will fail. Instead, we should picture the general goal. Visualize the result in our mind and then let our body flow through the motions to achieve. Repeat the desired actions rather than think of the detail. This can be applied to specific areas of tennis as well as other aspects of life.

Re:cyclists: 200 Years on Two Wheels

Re:Cyclist goes over the history of the sport and pastime of bicycling over the last 200 years. While cycling throughout the world is covered, the focus is on Britain. Advancements in cycling technology are covered, but primarily in the context of how they changed cycling. Some of the first bicycles were "bone-crusher" bikes that were moved by pushing your feet on the ground (similar to kids' glide bikes today.) The penny-farthing "ordinary" helped to increase the speed that one could cycle. The chain allowed the "safety" bicycle and allowed bicycling to be opened to a much larger population. From there on, it was primarily marginal improvements.

There have been significant geographical differences in the growth of cycling. Britain had been dominated by individual time trials. Other parts of the world had taken to mass-start races. (There was a civil war within British cycling before support arose for mass-start races.) In the United States, a single company obtained patents and sought to influence bicycle manufacture everywhere.

Cycling has gone through ebbs and flows of popularity. It was initially dominated by the upper classes. Bicycles were expensive and they were a status symbol among the upper classes. People would go on leisurely rides in the park. Weekend bike tours were extremely popular. Later bicycles became more widely available. Motor cars took over as the upper class status symbol. Cycling went through some low points in popularity. There continued to be people that would use cycles for basic transportation, though these people rarely identified themselves as cyclists. 

Today, cycling has made a comeback. Racing has become popular. People make conscious decision to ride a bicycle for utility. Commuters identify themselves as "bicyclists" and are likely to dress in something resembling racing gear. Large group rides of various types have become popular. 

The Perfect Pass: American Genius and the Reinvention of Football

Football is a very tradition-based sport that prides itself on violence and physical contact. Change does not come easy. It took the deaths of many players in the early days to kick start some initial change (such as the allowing of the forward pass.) However, it took oddballs to really bring the passing game forward. The "outsiders" would go on to heavily influence the game, yet not be able to glory in the rewards.

Hal Mumme had toiled the near-destitute life of a football coach. He had worked for high school and college programs. In the process he became enthralled by the passing offensive. He researched efforts by other programs, such as an Ohio high school, BYU and the San Francisco 49ers. These programs had opened up passing offenses. BYU in particular under Lavell Edwards had focussed on passing to compete with teams that had much greater talent levels. Mumme sucked in any knowledge he could get as he went on to develop his offense.

He helped Copperas Cove high school in Texas to get out of the cellar and even defeat rival Temple. From there he got a college coaching job at small school Iowa Wesleyan. He built up the team nearly from scratch, recruiting people from all over. He also hired quirky Mike Leach to help run his offense. Together they had a great deal of success. In fact is was too much, and the university decided it was time to move on. He went on to a college in Georgia before being hired at Kentucky. There he helped fill the stands with his pass-happy offense before being chased out. Since then, he has toiled in relatively minor coaching rolls. Leach has managed to carry on better with positions at Texas Tech, Washington State and Mississippi State. However, he was chased out of Texas Tech, despite being one of the winningest coaches.

Mumme's innovation was the "air raid" spread offense. This was a fast moving, pass-first offense offense. The playbook was kept very simple. Players had the ability to quickly read the defense and adjust accordingly. This made it appear very complex to the defense despite being relatively simple for his players. He was also able to give his players many more reps practicing the plays due to the simplicity. He also had a "lighter touch" to practice. He didn't want players to get injured with heavy contact. The plays focussed on short, high probability passes. Despite throwing more, his quarterbacks had much higher completion rates. He utilized the entire width of field to space things out. The offense is extremely difficult to defend.

The old guard of football criticized Mumme's offense as being gimmicky. However, it has since gone mainstream in all levels of football. 

Boys in the Boat

 The book chronicles the story of the University of Washington crew team that won a gold medal at the Berlin Olympic games. The book details their history. The group were primarily working class boys from rural Washington. Most worked manual labor jobs (such as building Grand Coulee dam) in order to pay for school. They were a far cry from the elite rowers that they regularly competed with. Even after qualifying for the olympics, an Ivy league school offered to take their place, since they would have to pay their way.

The book intertwines the history of the Washington Crew team with the events of the world, including the rise of Hitler in Germany and the great depression in the US. The reaction of the Hitler Youth stuck out. These impressionable youth felt it their duty to carry out Nazi message. They were similar to youth in Communist Russia that would glorify communism at the expense of their elders. Today, we may look at things, and say "oh, we are now enlightened progressives. We would never be like the evil fascists." However, the actual ideology is largely irrelevant. I doubt most of the youth even have a good understanding of what the ideology is. Instead, they see "others" as not toeing the party line and punishing them. Today it may be attacking somebody on social media because they have the "wrong" views. (This may even take place in the name of "inclusiveness") Is taking down a website really much different from burning a book?

It is also interesting that Germany had "cleaned things up" for the Olympics. They put on a great facade to hide away the internal warfare going on in the country. They also did things very manually, thus creating a huge number of jobs. They were able to create a great Olympics - they just couldn't win everything.

Another takeaway is how things have changed. The olympic athletes still had to work their way through school. However, they could earn enough money over the summer to pay for school. Rowing was one of the more popular events at the olympics and attracted huge crowds. During the depression people adapted to find ways to earn money and grow food. The government safety net was much smaller. But, government interference and regulation was also much smaller. 

The championship rowers had a mixture of natural abilities and a passion for the sport. Rowing is an interesting sport that requires brute strength, technique and teamwork. There is a great deal of strategy involved to manage the group and competitive psychology as well as individual experience. University of Washington's championship team had their struggles, but were able to overcome them to put on a momentous performance. 

Breath: The New Science of a Lost Art

Breath explores the limited modern science of modern breathing as well as the extensive cultural traditions and practices relating to breathing. There are tales of modern medical practices that have helped aid multiple ailments through breathing practices. The scientific explanations for some breathing practices can be quite interesting. 

Early in the book, the author recounts his experience in a Stanford study. At the start, he could only breathe through his mouth. Then he could breathe through his nose. Restricting to just mouth breathing caused all sorts of negative health outcomes (such as high blood pressure and snoring) Nsala breathing helped fix these problems. The author also describes some healthy native cultures that tried to encourage everyone to breathe through the nose.

There has been a distinctive change in skulls and mouths since the industrial revolution. This is said to be related to the processed food. We just don't need to exercise our mouths like we used to. The highly processed soft food does not require us to chew very much. This leads to a reshaping of our mouth and crooked teeth. This also can cause problems with breathing.

Many ancient religions and cultures have religious practices that encourage varied breathing regimes. 5.5 seconds in, 5.5 seconds out for 5.5 breaths per minute seems to be a good pattern. This slow breathing helps to improve health. There were also anecdotes given of athletes that helped improve performance by limiting breathing. (This was something similar to "high altitude" training performed at low altitudes.) Our lungs and diaphragm can be exercised. We also tend to have a surplus, with only a fraction of the air breathed in actually being used.  Carbon Dioxide is also posited to have a significant role in health. Some people have focussed on looking at CO2's role. Breathing in pure CO2 can also stimulate fear responses. 

The book has some simple breathing exercises that can be done (such as breathing through the nose as well as slow breathing.) It also discusses some of the more advanced breathing regimens that require professional assistance. Breathing has been anecdotally shown to improve outcomes for various conditions, however, it is not a cure-all for everything. 

Sporting Gender: The History, Science, and Stories of Transgender and Intersex Athletes

The title pretty much tells it all. This book is an exploration of transgender and intersex athletics by a transgender author. She has a very intimate knowledge of the topic and fills the books with many details and personal experiences. Alas, it often gets bogged down with too much detail and lacks a strong narrative.

One of the key points boils down to the question of why we segregate sport by gender. The author has some strong views that make a lot of sense. At younger ages and lower levels, it makes sense to let athletes compete with whatever group they identify. Prepubescents are fairly similar in ability. Older athletes may have some masculine advantage, but it likely is not significant enough to impact women's participation. At higher levels, the concept of "athletic gender" comes in to place. Testosterone levels are often a good way to judge appropriate "athletic gender". Many intersex athletes identify as female, yet have male testosterone levels and competitive ability. Allowing them to compete as female limits the ability of other females to compete. For transgender females, hormone therapy that brings them in to the female range is often accompanied by female levels of competitiveness.

The author has spent some time studying running times of athletes that had transitioned. She found that trans females typically see their times drop after transition. This drop often leaves their times in the same female age-based percentile as their previous male age-based percentile. Other sports may have different impacts. Trans females retain height advantages they had. They do typically lose muscle mass, but still may maintain some small advantages in strength-based sports.

While people are primarily concerned with transgender females competing as women, there are also transgender males that compete in sports. They have greater challenges to overcome, but have competed at some levels. The high school level has had some interesting cases. In Texas, transgender athletes are required to complete as their birth gender. This resulted in the case of a transgender male dominating the girls in wrestling. Connecticut had controversy from the opposite side as transgender females competed without going through hormonal transition and won. 

It is among the intersex that greatest controversy arises at the elite levels. In many cases, intersex athletes are at an athletic disadvantage. However, in some cases, they have both male and female features. They may be identified as female since birth, yet produce male levels of testosterone. There have been many attempts to ensure that they don't have an advantage. Visual tests, chromosome tests, required surgery and analysis of testosterone levels have all been used. The current state admits that this does discriminate, but that this allows others to compete. Those that have elevated hormones may compete as men.  

We are probably have some time to go before we have a balanced field where everybody is happy. There is a balance needed on allowing everybody to fairly compete. Testosterone levels seem like a good indicator. But what about other biological advantages? And what will happen if a trans female does succeed at the highest levels of sport?