Every summer, college baseball teams from around the nation come to Omaha, Nebraska, to play pure move-the-man-over, run-manufacturing baseball in a series that’s part college bowl game, part county fair. In the spirit of 3 Nights in August and The Last Night of the Yankee Dynasty, veteran sports writer Ryan McGee goes behind the scenes, into the stands, and onto the field to reveal an exciting yet personal look at one of the hottest sports championships in the country---the College World Series. In 2008, the ten-day, eight-team tournament was the scene of one of the greatest series in its illustrious history. And Ryan McGee puts the reader behind closed doors with the underdog champs, the Fresno State Bulldogs, as well as with their seven opponents, from the first batting practice session, to bus rides to the ballpark, to the locker room and the dugout. It’s the CWS as few ever see it. But The Road to Omaha goes far beyond the 2008 season. It’s an in-depth look at the managing strategies and playing style of college baseball, as well as a series of profiles that examine the people behind and around the CWS---the players, coaches, and fans who keep that feeling of good-old-days innocence alive through their reverence for the Great American Pastime. McGee also takes up residence at Rosenblatt Stadium itself, reliving its rich history and tapping into the electricity around it, from the tailgating fans to the surrounding neighborhoods. “The Blatt” is America’s last real connection to the baseball belief that Field of Dreams can actually happen: a wooden-framed ballpark with cramped concourses where teams share locker rooms, change clothes in the parking lot, and sign autographs for kids until their fingers cramp. “The Blatt” is a monument to tradition---and the last of its kind to keep that tradition alive. Thanks to Ryan McGee’s quick eye for play-by-play action, as well as his deep love for sports, The Road to Omaha is a rare glimpse into the kind of baseball our grandfather’s knew---a snapshot of the one of the last remaining vestiges of pure Americana: a hometown, baseball, and the people who shape it and are shaped by it in turn.

The Road to Omaha: Hits, Hopes, and History at the College World Series

History

McGee, Ryan

Americas

Thomas Dunne Books

A Baseball America Top Ten Baseball Book for 2009
"The Road to Omaha doesn't just tell you the story. It puts you in the batter's box, a 95-mph fastball coming your way. One warning: You'll sweat while you read."
―Jeff Pearlman, author of Boys Will Be Boys: The Glory Days and Party Nights of the Dallas Cowboys Dynasty "A fascinating look inside one of the best, and most underplayed, tournament in sports. . . . It made me wonder why I've only been to Omaha once." ―Tim Kurkjian, ESPN analyst and author of Is This a Great Game, or What? Every summer, college baseball teams from around the nation come to Omaha, Nebraska, to play pure run-manufacturing baseball in a series that's part college bowl game, part county fair. In the spirit of 3 Nights in August and The Last Night of the Yankee Dynasty, veteran sports writer Ryan McGee goes behind the scenes, into the stands, and onto the field to reveal an exciting yet personal look at one of the hottest sports championships in the country―the College World Series.
The book uses the greatest upset in CWS history to provide an in-depth look at the strategies and style of college baseball, as well as a portrait of the people behind and around the Series―players, coaches, and fans who keep that feeling of good-old-days innocence alive. McGee offers a rare glimpse into the kind of baseball our grandfathers knew, a snapshot of the one of the last remaining vestiges of pure Americana: a hometown, baseball, and the people who shape it and are shaped by it in turn.

St. Martin's: Griffin

A gloriously funny, nostalgic memoir of a popular ESPN reporter who, in the summer of 1994, was a fresh-out-of-college intern for a minor league baseball team. Madness and charm ensue as Ryan McGee spends the season&nbsp;steeped in sweat, fertilizer, nacho cheese sauce, and pure, unadulterated joy in North Carolina with the Asheville Tourists. In the spring of 1994, Ryan McGee (new college graduate) bombed his coveted interview with ESPN--the only place he ever wanted to work. But he did receive one job offer: to work for $100 a week for the Asheville Tourists, a proud minor league baseball team in the heart of North Carolina's Blue Ridge Mountains. McCormick Field, home to the Tourists, had once been graced by Ty Cobb, Lou Gehrig, Babe Ruth, and Jackie Robinson. What could go wrong? &nbsp; Welcome to the Circus of Baseball is McGee's hilarious, charming memoir of his first summer working in the sporting world. He has since risen the ESPN ranks to national TV, radio, and Internet host, but his time in Asheville still looms large. Among the many jewels of his experience. . . McGee recounts one of the most entertaining on-field brawls you'll ever witness (between the fourteen league mascots who had assembled for the all-star game--an eight-foot-tall foam-costumed crustacean, a pudgy red fox, a giant skunk . . . and they were really fighting), as well as the nervous moment he oversaw the game-day entertainer known as "Captain Dynamite and His Exploding Coffin of Death." Most important, McGee details a magical summer of baseball, of learning the ropes, of the ins-and-outs of running a minor league team, and of coming to understand how the pulse of a community can beat gloriously through a minor league ball club. &nbsp; &nbsp; Welcome to the Circus of Baseball is a baseball classic in the making.

Welcome to the Circus of Baseball: A Story of the Perfect Summer at the Perfect Ballpark at the Perfect Time

Sports & Outdoors

Biographies

DOUBLEDAY

Everyone has that one legendary musician that they just don’t “get.” That celebrated genius who – for whatever reason – just leaves you cold. For some, it’s Bob Dylan. For others, it’s the Boss, Pearl Jam, U2, even The Beatles. THERE, I SAID IT is a collection of hilarious, personal, thought-provoking essays by acclaimed writers - screenwriters, novelists, musicians, actors, producers, directors, Saturday Night Live contributors, even a former Obama staffer – who have a confession to make, each about a different musical icon: "I just don’t get it." Other subjects include: The Rolling Stones, U2, Eric Clapton, Paul McCartney, John Lennon, Steely Dan, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, The Who, James Taylor, Billy Joel, Carole King, John Coltrane, Leonard Cohen, Led Zeppelin, Nirvana, Richard Wagner, Frank Sinatra, Pearl Jam, Stevie Wonder, The Smiths, Counting Crows, Al Green, Barbra Streisand, Bob Marley, Macklemore, and The Grateful Dead.

There, I Said It: Bob Dylan Is Overrated: and a few other carefully considered objections to the greatest musicians of all time

Humor & Entertainment

Anderson, Nancy

Turitz, Neil

Shelov, Joshua

Raskin, Greg

Tenney, Henry

Graves, Cebra

Wechsler, Ron

Morgulas, Seth

Biggart, Alicia

Humor

CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform

Sidelines and Bloodlines: A Father, His Sons, and Our Life in College Football

For ESPN's Ryan McGee, football is a lifelong passion formed from growing up as the son of Dr Jerry McGee, a man who wore stripes for decades as one of the most highly-decorated officials in college football history. In this book Ryan McGee teams up with his father and brother to share lessons learned between the white lines, featuring a cast of characters that runs from no-name small college athletes and coaches to one-name legends such as Holtz, Paterno, Tebow, and Bo. The McGees provide a rare and often hilarious glimpse inside the lives of college officials, detailing how a love for the game convinces accomplished professionals from all walks of life to voluntarily endure ceaseless insults, public criticism, and the expressed goal of doing one's job on a very public stage in a way that will hopefully NOT draw any attention to how that job is done. From hilarious stories of brawling high school referees and making awkward small talk with George Lucas and Darth Vader at the Rose Bowl to the heart-tugging story of young sons in the stands on a Saturday as a stream profanity-laden insults directed at their father drowns out the marching band, Sidelines and Bloodlines delivers laughs, tears, and a deeper understanding of a life in stripes.

McGee, Sam

McGee, Dr. Jerry E.

Biographies & Memoirs

Triumph Books

Football is a game of lines—on and off the gridiron. For ESPN’s Ryan McGee, football is a lifelong passion formed from growing up as the son of Dr. Jerry McGee, a man who wore stripes for decades as one of the most highly-decorated officials in college football history. Sidelines and Bloodlines features a cast of characters that runs from no-name small college athletes and coaches to one-name legends such as Holtz, Paterno, Tebow, and Bo. The McGees provide a rare and often hilarious glimpse inside the lives of college officials, detailing how a love for the game convinces accomplished professionals from all walks of life to voluntarily endure ceaseless insults, public criticism, and the expressed goal of doing one’s job on a very public stage in a way that will hopefully NOT draw any attention to how that job is done. From hilarious stories of brawling high school referees and making awkward small talk with George Lucas and Darth Vader at the Rose Bowl to the heart-tugging story of young sons in the stands on a Saturday as a stream profanity-laden insults directed at their father drowns out the marching band, Sidelines and Bloodlines delivers laughs, tears, and a deeper understanding of a life in stripes.

McGee, Jerry

Davis, Rece

Think of it as a 180 mph race through racing history. To welcome NASCAR fans back to its airwaves in July 2007, ESPN will air a special, seven-hour programming extravaganza. The celebration kicks off in February with a five-month countdown of stock car racings 100 most significant moments. For diehard fans of the nations fastest growing sport, ESPN Ultimate NASCAR provides an irresistible sneak peak at the fireworks to comea turbo-charged, four-color, pedal-to-the-metal ride through sixty years of racetrack lore, featuring all of NASCARs royal familes: the Pettys, the Yarboroughs, the Allisons, the Earnhardts, and, of course, the Frances. From the sports birth in Daytona to the shocking crash that killed Dale Earnhardt, from the dirt track wizardry of Junior Johnson to the multi-billion dollar Nextel Cup showdowns of today, ESPN Ultimate NASCAR is a packed track of thrills, chills, spillsand occasional fistfightsall fueled by high octane photos and graphics.

ESPN Ultimate NASCAR: The 100 Defining Moments in Stock Car Racing History

Reference

Wallace, Rusty

Encyclopedias & Subject Guides

ESPN

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