This Is Your Brain on Sports
The Science of Underdogs, the Value of Rivalry, and What We Can Learn from the T-Shirt Cannon
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This Is Your Brain on Sports
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Narrated by:
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Sam Sommers
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Keith Szarabajka
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By:
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L. Jon Wertheim
About this listen
This Is Your Brain on Sports is the audiobook for sports fans searching for a deeper understanding of the games they watch and the people who play them. Sports Illustrated executive editor and best-selling author L. Jon Wertheim teams up with Tufts psychologist Sam Sommers to take listeners on a wild ride into the inner world of sports. Through the prism of behavioral economics, neuroscience, and psychology, they reveal the hidden influences and surprising cues that inspire and derail us on the field and in the stands - and, by extension, in corporate boardrooms, office settings, and our daily lives.
In this irresistible narrative romp, Wertheim and Sommers usher us from professional football to the NBA to Grand Slam tennis, from the psychology of athletes self-handicapping their performances in the boxing ring or the World Series to an explanation of why even the glimpse of a finish line can lift us beyond ordinary physical limits. They explore why Tom Brady and other starting NFL quarterbacks all seem to look like fashion models; why fans of teams like the Cubs, Mets, and any franchise from Cleveland love rooting for a loser; why the best players make the worst coaches; why hockey goons (and fans) would rather fight at home than on the road; and why the arena T-shirt cannon has something to teach us about human nature.
This Is Your Brain on Sports is an entertaining and thought-provoking journey into how psychology and behavioral science collide with the universe of wins and losses, coaching changes, underdogs, and rivalry games.
©2011 L. Jon Wertheim (P)2016 Random House AudioListeners also enjoyed...
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5 out of 5 stars
-
Applies to all aspects of life, coaching and business
- By Dave on 12-27-19
By: Leonard Zaichkowsky, and others
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Scorecasting
- The Hidden Influences Behind How Sports Are Played and Games Are Won
- By: L. Jon Wertheim, Tobias Moskowitz
- Narrated by: Zach McLarty
- Length: 9 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 228
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 169
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Story4 out of 5 stars 169
Drawing from Moskowitz's original research, as well as studies from fellow economists such as bestselling author Richard Thaler, the authors look at: the influence home-field advantage has on the outcomes of games in all sports and why it exists; the surprising truth about the universally accepted axiom that defense wins championships; the subtle biases that umpires exhibit in calling balls and strikes in key situations; the unintended consequences of referees' tendencies in every sport to "swallow the whistle," and more.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Fascinating book!
- By Wayne on 10-22-16
By: L. Jon Wertheim, and others
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You Herd Me!
- I'll Say It If Nobody Else Will
- By: Colin Cowherd
- Narrated by: Colin Cowherd
- Length: 7 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 506
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 459
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 457
In this age of billion dollar athletic marketing campaigns, “feel good” philosophy with no connection to reality, and a Sports Media echo chamber that’s all too eager swallow whatever idiotic notion happens to be in vogue at the moment, it’s tough to find people who aren’t afraid to say what they’re really thinking.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Great book, Repeats majority of themes from radio
- By Troy on 01-20-14
By: Colin Cowherd
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Bounce
- Mozart, Federer, Picasso, Beckham, and the Science of Success
- By: Matthew Syed
- Narrated by: James Clamp
- Length: 7 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 717
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 530
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 529
Few things in life are more satisfying than beating a rival. We love to win and hate to lose, whether it's on the playing field or at the ballot box, in the office or in the classroom. In this bold new look at human behavior, award-winning journalist and Olympian Matthew Syed explores the truth about our competitive nature: why we win, why we don't, and how we really play the game of life.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Very eye opening
- By Joao on 06-14-10
By: Matthew Syed
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The Score Takes Care of Itself
- My Philosophy of Leadership
- By: Bill Walsh, Craig Walsh, Steve Jamison
- Narrated by: Dick Hill
- Length: 10 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,586
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,330
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 1,316
Drawn from a series of deeply revealing conversations with coauthor Steve Jamison, The Score Takes Care of Itself offers Walsh's best leadership principles illustrated by anecdotes from his entire career. Additional insights and perspective are provided by his son Craig Walsh. The book will delight football fans and guide the vast business audience eager to learn how Bill Walsh motivated individuals and crafted winning teams.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Thank you Bill Walsh
- By Jason Comely on 01-31-13
By: Bill Walsh, and others
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Barca
- The Making of the Greatest Team in the World
- By: Graham Hunter
- Narrated by: Graham Hunter
- Length: 14 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 116
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 102
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 103
Barcelona is the greatest football team in the world, the greatest for a generation, and possibly the greatest of all time. This is the untold inside story of how the best and most loved football team in the world came to redefine how the game is played. We start with the 2011 Champions League final at Wembley, the game that ended the debate about whether Barcelona was the greatest team in the world and began a new one: are they the best ever?
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5 out of 5 stars
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In-depth analysis of the greatest team ever
- By Michalis Petrou on 01-09-18
By: Graham Hunter
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Sway
- The Irresistible Pull of Irrational Behavior
- By: Rom Brafman, Ori Brafman
- Narrated by: John Apicella
- Length: 4 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 780
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 504
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Story4 out of 5 stars 502
A Harvard Business School student pays over $200 for a $20 bill. Washington, D.C., commuters ignore a free subway concert by a violin prodigy. A veteran airline pilot attempts to take off without control-tower clearance and collides with another plane on the runway. Why do we do the wildly irrational things we sometimes do?
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3 out of 5 stars
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Disappointing book
- By Martin Proulx on 12-10-08
By: Rom Brafman, and others
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Golden Days
- West's Lakers, Steph's Warriors, and the California Dreamers Who Reinvented Basketball
- By: Jack McCallum
- Narrated by: Jack McCallum
- Length: 11 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 71
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 57
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 57
In Golden Days, acclaimed sports journalist Jack McCallum uses these two teams - the Jerry West/Wilt Chamberlain/Elgin Baylor Lakers and the Stephen Curry/Kevin Durant/Draymond Green Warriors - to trace the dynamic history of the National Basketball Association, which for much of the last half century has marched memorably through the state of California. Tying together the two strands of McCallum's story is Hall of Famer West, the ferociously competitive Laker guard who later became one of the key architects of the Warriors.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Very interesting and fun to read
- By Joe on 06-12-18
By: Jack McCallum
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The Real Madrid Way
- How Values Created the Most Successful Sports Team on the Planet
- By: Steven G. Mandis
- Narrated by: Charles Constant
- Length: 8 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 60
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 54
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 54
Real Madrid is the most successful sports team on the planet. The soccer club has more trophies than any other sports team, including 11 UEFA Champions League trophies. However, the story behind the triumph goes beyond the players and coaches. Generally unnoticed, a management team consisting mostly of outsiders took the team from near bankruptcy to the most valuable sports organization in the world. How did Real Madrid achieve such extraordinary success? Columbia Business School adjunct professor Steven G. Mandis investigates.
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1 out of 5 stars
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awful
- By Jonathan Frye on 11-13-24
By: Steven G. Mandis
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Scribe
- My Life in Sports
- By: Bob Ryan
- Narrated by: Bob Ryan
- Length: 11 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 83
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 73
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Story4 out of 5 stars 75
Ever since he joined the sports department of the Boston Globe in 1968, sports enthusiasts have been blessed with the writing and reporting of Bob Ryan. Tony Kornheiser calls him the "quintessential American sportswriter". For the past 25 years, he has also been a regular on various ESPN shows, especially The Sports Reporters, spreading his knowledge and enthusiasm for sports of all kinds.
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2 out of 5 stars
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No my idea of a memoir
- By Michael Friedman on 12-19-14
By: Bob Ryan
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The QB
- The Making of Modern Quarterbacks
- By: Bruce Feldman
- Narrated by: Corey M. Snow
- Length: 10 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 105
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 88
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Story4 out of 5 stars 92
The QB tells the story of the interlocking paths of the most fascinating characters involved in this secretive world, examining how advanced analysis has taken root in football. Manziel's portrait is the most intimate look at him yet, detailing all his talents and antics. In The QB, the stories of these men illustrate how high the stakes of the quarterback's game really are, taking readers on a compelling journey into the heart of America's beloved game.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Interesting and entertaining
- By R. Koehler on 02-25-15
By: Bruce Feldman
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Ahead of the Curve
- Inside the Baseball Revolution
- By: Brian Kenny
- Narrated by: Brian Kenny
- Length: 10 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall5 out of 5 stars 519
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 479
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 477
Most people who resist logical thought in baseball preach "tradition" and "respecting the game". But many of baseball's traditions go back to the 19th century, when the pitcher's job was to provide the batter with a ball he could hit and fielders played without gloves. Instead of fearing change, Brian Kenny wants fans to think critically, reject outmoded groupthink, and embrace the changes that have come with the "sabermetric era".
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5 out of 5 stars
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Wonderful detail on baseballs past and future
- By Bradley on 07-27-16
By: Brian Kenny
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Intangibles
- Unlocking the Science and Soul of Team Chemistry
- By: Joan Ryan
- Narrated by: Joan Ryan
- Length: 8 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 64
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 53
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Story5 out of 5 stars 52
Does team chemistry actually exist? Is team chemistry as real and relevant as on-base percentages and wins above replacement? In Joan Ryan's groundbreaking audiobook, we discover that the answer to all of the above is a resounding "Yes". As Ryan puts it, team chemistry, or the combination of biological and social forces that boosts selfless effort among more players over more days of a season, is what drives sports teams toward a common goal, encouraging the players to be the best versions of themselves. These are the elements of teams that make them "click".
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5 out of 5 stars
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Intangibles
- By Joseph on 11-17-20
By: Joan Ryan
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Endzone
- The Rise, Fall, and Return of Michigan Football
- By: John U. Bacon
- Narrated by: Johnny Heller
- Length: 16 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall5 out of 5 stars 203
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 187
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Story5 out of 5 stars 185
Endzone tells the story of how college football's most successful and respected program nearly lost it all in less than a decade and entirely of its own doing. It is a story of hubris, greed, and betrayal, a tale more suited to Wall Street than the world's top public university.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Outstanding!
- By Justin on 12-21-15
By: John U. Bacon
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The Perfect Pass
- American Genius and the Reinvention of Football
- By: S. C. Gwynne
- Narrated by: Santino Fontana
- Length: 8 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall5 out of 5 stars 370
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 321
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Story5 out of 5 stars 322
New York Times best-selling, award-winning historian S. C. Gwynne tells the incredible story of how Hal Mumme and Mike Leach - two unknown coaches who revolutionized American football in the 1980s, 1990s, and 2000s - changed the way the game is played at every level, from high school to the NFL. Hal Mumme is one of a handful of authentic offensive geniuses in the history of American football. In 2015 ESPN Magazine, the nation's leading sports magazine, called him the single most influential football coach in the last quarter century.
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3 out of 5 stars
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The Perfect Pass
- By Little Pecan on 09-29-16
By: S. C. Gwynne
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Until It Hurts
- America’s Obsession with Youth Sports and How It Harms Our Kids
- By: Mark Hyman
- Narrated by: Mike Chamberlain
- Length: 5 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 34
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 28
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 28
Every year, more than 3.5 million children under age 15 require medical treatment for sports injuries, nearly half of which are the result of simple overuse. Journalist Mark Hyman investigates the evolution of youth sports from mere games to full-on quests to turn children into tomorrow's superstar athletes by pushing them beyond physical and emotional limits. Opening up a crucial discussion about the perils of youth-sports culture today, Hyman offers the solutions and answers we need.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Are We Pushing Young Athletes Too Far?
- By Susie on 01-04-13
By: Mark Hyman
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Choke
- What the Secrets of the Brain Reveal About Getting It Right When You Have To
- By: Sian Beilock
- Narrated by: Suzanne Toren
- Length: 11 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall3.5 out of 5 stars 250
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 139
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Story4 out of 5 stars 138
Beilock examines how attention and working memory guide human performance, how experience and practice and brain development interact to create our abilities, and how stress affects all these factors.
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2 out of 5 stars
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Buzz Word Festival
- By andrew on 10-04-10
By: Sian Beilock
What listeners say about This Is Your Brain on Sports
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- green ice cream garden
- 02-24-16
FAN-tastic!
I recommend this book if you A) are even remotely interested in sport(s) and are curious about sports myths/legends, or B) enjoy social psychology and wide applications of studies to the human experience. I fall into both of these categories, thus the 5 stars. Do not let the title fool you. There is a plethora of sports facts and figures, for certain, but equal amounts of study of the business world, education, and media. The most valuable takeaways are that sports fans are just human and that everyone has an inner sports fan. In other words, you can apply the lessons here to many settings. It helps that along with serious data, there is plenty of humor. The narration is 5 stars hands down.
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2 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Dylan Holland
- 03-28-16
well done!
really enjoyed it! plenty of everyday circumstances to coincide with the sports narratives from a psychological approach.
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Overall1 out of 5 stars
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Performance1 out of 5 stars
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Story1 out of 5 stars
- RW
- 05-20-16
Awful
Trying to listen to this book and early on all I get is point ratings on the 'good' looks of quarterbacks. Really? Just a few number and make your point. I have been listening to names and numbers for at least 15 minutes.
This book fails to hold my attention.
I get it symmetry goes hand in hand with our perception of good looks. Must we rate all of the NFL quarterbacks... 5.8, 5.3, 4.6 etc
I thought this book was about athletes sports not the NFL...
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Overall2 out of 5 stars
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Performance2 out of 5 stars
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Story2 out of 5 stars
- Leslie
- 11-13-17
I am not a sports fan...
I am not a sports fan! I'm reading books that will hopefully give me an idea of what makes someone such an avid sports fan. This book is written by a sports fan who doesn't realize his audience may consist of non-sports fans. I listened to the audiobook and there must be a total of 30-minutes of recited stats for various pro athletes. I can't even remember the context but it's like listening to adults talk in a Peanuts television special. “AUDIBLE 20 REVIEW SWEEPSTAKES ENTRY”
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