Tag Archives: book

Paul Shirley, Author, ‘The Process is the Product’ and Basketball Opinions

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Rick is joined by Paul Shirley this week as he has a new book!

The Process is the Product.

Here’s the lesson Paul Shirley has learned: it doesn’t matter if it’s professional sports, writing, public speaking, engineering, or acting—there will never be enough money, fame, or success to justify all the work if you can’t enjoy the work itself. You have to fall in love with the process.

In The Process Is The Product, Paul shares the stories of failure and rebirth that have taught him this lesson with one goal in mind: helping you fall in love with your process so you can find meaning, finish projects, and accomplish the goals you set for yourself.

Featuring plenty of humor, humility, and outside sources, this is a book designed to equip readers with the tools to break big projects into smaller tasks while learning to love the work along the way.

Shirley talks his current book, his past book and some of the surprising early season success of the 2021-22 Iowa State Men’s Basketball Team. They are enjoying the “process.”

Shirley played for 17 professional basketball teams in a nine-year career, including stops in Spain, Greece, Russia, and with three teams in the NBA. He’s the author of two works of nonfiction: Can I Keep My Jersey? and Stories I Tell On Dates.

Dave Heeren, NBA Statistician, New Book ‘Seventy-Five: Best NBA Players and Teams Rated by Statistician who has Seen Games Since 1947’

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Great to be joined by the legendary Dave Heeren this week. Dave has seen NBA games since 1947 and has a new book out taking statistics and the TENDEX Method into account to rank the top-75 NBA players of all-time.

The book is Seventy-Five.

Dave is an award-winning journalist and author of 18 books. He invented his pioneer statistics system (later known as TENDEX) during his sophomore year at the University of Delaware. He has served as a statistician for the NY Knicks, a sports editor, news editor and editor-in-chief. His other books include five Basketball Abstract books, Basic Ball and The Sporting Stings. His TENDEX system has been used officially on every continent that had major professional basketball leagues between 1988 and 2013, and has been used to rate players by the Australian pro league and every European league.

Throughout the 2021-2022 season, the NBA will commemorate its 75th anniversary, and the latest book, Seventy-Five, from prolific sports reporter and pioneer NBA statistician Dave Heeren is a slam dunk for every basketball fan’s wish list.

Heeren is known worldwide for his TENDEX rating system — the gold standard for ranking players, projecting drafts and rating the best teams in the NBA. He has also witnessed all 75 years of the NBA through his work as a team statistician for the New York Knicks, writing books, doing columns for The Sporting News and just his love of the game since he was a child.

Seventy-Five provides an in-depth, entertaining journey through 75 years of the NBA, with information of interest to basketball fans everywhere, including:

– A look-back at all 75 years with TENDEX (statistical) input, including insights dating to the Bill Russell, Oscar Robertson and Wilt Chamberlain prime years;

– How, during a 30-year period, TENDEX rated two-thirds of the elite NBA draft choices more accurately than the NBA’s multi-million dollar scouting system;

– Dozens of fascinating facts and humor-infused anecdotes;

– The four legendary players in a near tie for greatest of all time according to TENDEX;

– The greatest NBA teams of all-time, greatest shooters, rebounders, playmakers, defensive players, most durable players and most athletic players according to TENDEX formulae;

– A chart rating in order the top 75 players of all time;

– … and more!

I personally enjoyed this chat with Dave, I hope you will too.

 

Jared Knott, Author, Tiny Blunders, Big Disasters: Thirty-Nine Tiny Mistakes That Changed the World

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A great talk with this interesting author this week.

Tiny Blunders, Big Disasters: Thirty-Nine Tiny Mistakes That Changed the World Forever!, by Jared Knott, is a multiple award winning bestselling book. Knott just picked up the 2021 International Book Award, in the History category, and a New Generation Indie Award, (Finalist History Non-Fiction). Having garnered over 720 positive reviews, including one from the Mensa Bulletin, Tiny Blunders, Big Disasters hit the Amazon bestseller right out of the gate and has remained there for seven-months, this while also #1 in six different categories. In addition, a major audiobook producer, Black Stone, is putting the finishing touches on a Tiny Blunders audiobook.

These Tiny Blunders which caused Big Disasters also revolve around the personality and upbringing of the famous and infamous, thus allowing Jared Knott to explore various dynamics such as the intense family rivalry in the Kennedy Clan or the circumstances which gave rise to Presidents Lyndon Baines Johnson and Richard M. Nixon. From ancient to modern times, battles, war campaigns, bureaucratic decision making and the psychological makeup of the main players is explored.

Knott wants the reader to learn from history, to know that looking after the small details is vital in order to obtain the desired outcome. Carelessness changes and costs lives, many times sparking a tsunami which engulfs individuals, nations and empires. You will never discount the small details again after reading Tiny Blunders, Big Disasters. Of course, Tiny Blunders can lead to wonderful discoveries, such as when Alexander Fleming left some bread out and it molded, thus leading to the discovery of penicillin.

Kim Carducci, Author, Former D1 Swimmer on Athletes and Mental Health

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Rick is joined by Kim Carducci this week and she has a new book!

Carducci’s debut book, The I of the Tiger, is out and it goes into depth about the mental health aspect of being a top performing athlete and offers ways athletes can manage their minds.

Carducci was able to rise above her darkest moments after retiring as a D1 swimmer at the University of North Carolina but many top sports competitors don’t. In The I of the Tiger, Carducci uncovers the many layers, fears, insecurities, and complexities the athlete identity produces. She offers insights on how this identity negatively impacts mental health and ways athletes can navigate pivotal transitions.

“When life hits us hardest, it’s important to understand the biological and psychological effects of pain to shed light on how we can best process our emotions.” offers Carducci. “With this understanding, we can move past the shock of a situation, grow stronger with a refreshed identity, and adopt a framework for life that encourages strength, clarity and light.”

Kim is a former DI swimmer, mental health advocate, podcaster and Founder of Everything Athletes.

In her athletic career, Kim struggled with depression and has since dedicated herself to helping other athletes cope with the realities of the sports world.
Kim founded Everything Athletes, an online refuge for competitors, where she offers the resources and tools needed to thrive in sport.

She resides in Atlanta, GA.

Rodney Hilton Brown, Author, MUHAMMAD ALI: The Untold Story

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Great to have Rodney Hilton Brown on the podcast this week.

For most people, it’s a little known fact Cassius Clay Sr. was a house painter as well as fine arts painter in his hometown Louisville and that he shared his love of the arts and encouraged his son, known globally as Muhammad Ali, to explore his artistic side.

Over the years, Ali expressed himself beautifully and produced a large number of drawings, paintings and, poetry over the years. In 1977, historian, Rodney Hilton Brown, veteran, collector, and author, was the owner of an art gallery in Manhattan. He met Muhammad Ali at a charity boxing match in Boston. They formed a friendship and partnership that lasted for the rest of Ali’s lifetime. Rodney became the greatest boxer of all time’s art dealer, friend, confidant, representative to the United Nations, and business. Ali lovingly nicknamed him “The Vanilla Brother.”

Rodney, now in his seventh decade, felt the time was ripe to tell his story and share his never-before-revealed memories about the decades he spent with “the greatest of all time” with the world. The result is MUHAMMAD ALI: The Untold Story: Painter, Poet, and Prophet.

Hilton-Brown’s rare and extensive collection of Muhammad Ali’s artwork and some other items will be sold at auction this coming October 5, 2021, in the morning at Bonhams in Manhattan and online.

View full sale catalog: https://www.bonhams.com/auctions/27079/

Christopher Clarey, Author “THE MASTER: The Brilliant Career of Roger Federer”

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Chris Clarey joins Rick this week to talk a little tennis and his new book on Roger Federer.

There have been other biographies of Roger Federer, but never one with this kind of access to the man himself, his support team, and the most prominent figures in the game, including such rivals as Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic, and Andy Roddick. In THE MASTER: The Brilliant Career of Roger Federer (Twelve, August 24, 2021), New York Times correspondent Christopher Clarey sits down with Federer and those closest to him to tell the story of the greatest player in men’s tennis.

THE MASTER tells the story of Federer’s life and career on both an intimate and grand scale, in a way no one else could possibly do. Fantastic timing as Federer is in the news that he will not play again in 2021.

Great to talk to Chris leading up to the US Open and a great read!