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Each page contains pics and a bio on the player. They list Jim Brown as number 1. Funny how just the other night I was in a local sports bar, and a man sitting next to me said "Jim Brown was the greatest player I ever saw." Obviously, this book agrees with my "friend." In fact, the book's forword is written by Brown.
In addition to TSN's Top 100 players listed in numercial order, there's also a "timeline" of when these players were active. Also listed are TSN's all-decade teams. Leafing through the pages brought back memories of players I have watched and enjoyed, and of players whose exploits I only read about years after their careers ended.
So do you agree with all the choices in this book? The only way to find out is to buy it and judge for yourself. I guarantee it's well worth the money.
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In the past, I have generally hated the X-Men's adventures in the Savage Land, or whenever they would go to outer space or get into really super sci-fi type situations. I always felt the X-Men stories worked much better when they were grounded in very normal, down-to-earth settings, because it made the X-Men themselves stand out and seem that much weirder. But this book is an exception to the rule. It's a big, crazy, larger-than-life adventure, part of which takes place in the prehistoric Savage Land, and part of which gets hyper technological, and it works out OK.
The artwork is tough and gritty. Jim Lee draws a mean, shadowy, ugly Wolverine who kills lots of villains and looks like he needs to take a shower very badly.
And Lee's women - whoa. This book contains more gratuitous cheescake shots than any X-Men graphic novel I've seen, but it's all very pleasing to the eye. Especially the scenes with Rogue, whose bare skin can kill anyone she touches and thus, understandably, was always the one major female character who kept herself completely covered at all times. This was the first storyline in the series where they finally drew her as a scantily-clad, sexy heroine. A real treat for male Rogue-fans who'd been reading the series patiently for years.
This storyline also chronicles the transformation of innocent young Psylocke into a mature woman trained in the art of Ninjitsu, and she becomes an ultra-violent, sexy bad girl. And then there are cameo appearances by other Marvel superheroes, namely Captain America (from the Avengers series) and The Black Widow (from the Daredevil series). All in all, it's a satisfying, action-packed, well-drawn, crowd-pleasing comic book in trade-paperback format.
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With large sections given to all the coaches in this franchises' 35 year history, it quickly shows the character of the teams throughout each era
From the drill sergeant-like coaches, to the laid back genius of Bud Grant
Extensive interviews and quotes from previous players are everywhere.
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In the previous book, called Tournament Crisis, State wins the Holiday Invitational Tournament. However, during the last few minutes of the championship game Chip hurts his knee.
This book, called Hardcourt Upset, begins where the last book left off. Chip is still injured from the tournament. He is sidelined for the first two games after the winter break. Because Chip is such a great athlete and mental leader and cant play, the team loses both these games.
Basketball however, is not his only problem. In Chip's college town of University, there have been several convenience store robberies. His best friend "Soapy" Smith is being accused of committing these crimes. Soapy is taken into custody of the police and detectives to see if the convenience store employees recognize him as the robber. Eventually Soapy gets a chance to explain that he is innocent because he was changing a tire at the time of the robberies. Chip decides to help find the people who helped Soapy change his tire.
At the next basketball game against Tech, Soapy recognizes the people who helped him. The Tech team players tell the detectives they were the ones who helped Soapy change the tire. Now the detectives must look further to find the robbers.
Chip and his pals from college agreed to watch the local convenience stores every night. One night when it was Chip's turn, he saw a man with two flat tires. When he asked the man if he needed help, he responded with a gasp as he heard some police sirens. Then he said in a deep nervous voice, "no, I'll just drive home with the two flats."
Chip thought this was very suspicious and jumped into the trunk of the car. When the driver parked the car in the garage, he jumped out and looked around. He saw a bag full of something he could not make out and got out of there. He called the detectives and they were there with Soapy in ten minutes.
When they rang the doorbell, an old man answered the door. Chip knew immediately that this wasn't the man had been driving the car. He asked, "Do you have a son?" "No, but there is a teenager who lives here." So they woke up the teenager and then asked him a few questions. After a few questions it was clear. This was the thief. He had a red wig and a mask in the garage. They also found all the money stolen from the stores.
Hardcourt Upset was an awesome book. It shows that if you think you can you will succeed in your goals. It also shows that even a small school can be a big school in some things.
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Cardboard characters and unbelievable plot, hardly worth the price of the book. A major sorespot indeed!!!
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They're hilarious. The stories seemed like they were things that would have actually happened in a Kevin Smith movie. Dante and Randal are just as funny as ever (especially Randal), especially in the story of what happened when they were at the funeral from "Clerks" (you know...when Randal messed things up).
If you liked the movie, you'll like this book. It's that simple. There's the personality of the characters, the cussing, and the jokes that were in "Clerks" thankfully. Kevin Smith fans and followers: get this now.
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It's really well written too, and pretty amusing in places - the level of research is amazing - they even give notes showing where they got all their info from, so you can check it out for yourself. The stuff they got from Martin Landau and the two guys who wrote Ed Wood is incredibly interesting - a load of stuff I'd never heard about that film - some that isn't even included on the DVD's commentary.
Basically, this book's great. I'd read Burton on Burton (which is very good), that Pocket Essentials one (which is pretty good), that biography (which is really poor), and the "CHild's Garden of Nightmares" one (which is interesting, but doesn't cover nearly as much detail as this). NOne of these other books on Burton come close to this one.
It is a great analysis of each of Tim Burton's movies. It is written clearly and has information which I haven't read in any other Burton book.
I'm not just becoming a Burton fan, I have every other book on Tim Burton and I believe this one to be the best and most informative.
The book may not have the authors comments, but it is written in so much detail about each Burton movie that it doesn't matter.
If you want to find out more about Burton then this is the book you should get.
The book also includes quotes from people who have worked with Burton and from the man himself.
The length of this book proves that much time and effort went in to write this, and I think it was worth it.
I have found out some new things about some of his movies from reading this book.
So in my opinion I think this book is really worth buying!
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Fortunately for all gardening addicts, Smith & Hawken's Book of Outdoor Gardening is the exception to the rule - at least the first half. Each chapter and sidebar successfully blends basic horticultural information with unique tips and techniques for the master gardener. This book is a handy reference tool for any gardener as he moves through the various stages of his craft. And where conflicting recommendations exist, the authors take time to explain how BOTH ideas are correct, but are dependent upon the circumstances. Good examples include the proper planting depth for roses, and the wisdom of using chemical fertilizers and soil amendments.
I've given this book 4 stars, for two reasons: First, as I've noted above, The Book of Outdoor Gardening is quite a worthwhile read for most gardeners. However, a novice would probably find it most useful, and for this audience the book should receive 5 stars. Expert gardeners will still find good information, but since this type of focused data can be found in specialty books, my rating for this audience would be 3 stars. Hence, a compromise 4 stars.
My second reason for giving 4 stars is the plant list that forms the second half of the book. This is a personal issue: in general, I find plant lists woefully incomplete and inadequate. In trying to please novice gardeners, who usually want information on traditional plants, and experts, who want detailed content regarding hard-to-find or hard-to-cultivate plants, the authors left out a number of important species in both categories. This is most likely due to space considerations; however, since purchasing the book - and using it frequently for the information in the first half - I've often had to refer to other books for plant information.
The selection and ranking of players was as unbiased as possible. The editors began with 300 names, which they then reduced to 100, and from which each selected his top ten players, without ranking them. After tabulating the results, the editors then ranked the top 10. Then the voters selected their next 15 players, compared notes, and ranked numbers 11-25. They did this with 26-50, 51-75, and 76-100. Is the book still subjective? Undoubtably. You can't objectively compare linemen to running backs to receivers to quarterbacks and objectively identify the overall best players. But the editors did their best to be objective.
The top 10, in order from #1, are Jim Brown, Jerry Rice, Joe Montana, Lawrence Taylor, Johnny Unitas, Don Hutson, Otto Graham, Walter Payton, Dick Butkus, and Bob Lilly. I would give this book 5 stars, except that John Elway only comes in at #16, which IMHO is about 15 slots too low (but that shows you where I grew up :-) (Also, Bronco fans should be sure to look on the last 2 pages for an extra special treat.)
All in all, this is a fun book about some great football players. Whether or not you agree with the rankings, you gotta admit: all of the top 100 were/are great players!