Audiobooks by L. Jon Wertheim

Glory Days: The Summer of 1984 and the 90 Days That Changed Sports and Culture Forever

A rollicking guided tour of one extraordinary summer, when some of the most pivotal and freakishly coincidental stories all collided and changed the way we think about modern sports The summer of 1984 was a watershed moment in the birth of modern sports when the nation watched Michael Jordan grow from college basketball player to professional athlete and star. That summer also saw ESPN's rise to media dominance as the country's premier sports network and the first modern, commercialized, profitable Olympics. Magic Johnson and Larry Bird's rivalry raged, Martina Navratilova and John McEnroe reigned in tennis, and Hulk Hogan and Vince McMahon made pro wrestling a business, while Donald Trump pierced the national consciousness as a pro football team owner. It was an awakening in the sports world, a moment when sports began to morph into the market-savvy, sensationalized, moneyed, controversial, and wildly popular arena we know today. In the tradition of Bill Bryson's One Summer: America, 1927, L. Jon Wertheim captures these 90 seminal days against the backdrop of the nostalgia-soaked 1980s, to show that this was the year we collectively traded in our ratty Converses for a pair of sleek, heavily branded, ingeniously marketed Nikes. This was the year that sports went big-time.

L. Jon Wertheim (Author), Chris Abell (Narrator)

Audiobook

Glory Days: The Summer of 1984 and the 90 Days That Changed Sports and Culture Forever

L. Jon Wertheim (Author), Chris Abell (Narrator)

Audiobook

Strokes of Genius: Federer, Nadal, and the Greatest Match Ever Played

In the 2008 Wimbledon men's final, Center Court was a stage set worthy of Shakespearean drama. Five-time champion Roger Federer was on track to take his rightful place as the most dominant player in the history of the game. He just needed to cling to his trajectory. So in the last few moments of daylight, Center Court witnessed a coronation. Only it wasn't a crowning for the Swiss heir apparent but for a swashbuckling Spaniard. Twenty-two-year-old Rafael Nadal prevailed, in five sets, in what was, according to the author, 'essentially a four-hour, forty-eight-minute infomercial for everything that is right about tennis-a festival of skill, accuracy, grace, strength, speed, endurance, determination, and sportsmanship.' It was also the encapsulation of a fascinating rivalry, hard fought and of historic proportions. Strokes of Genius deconstructs this defining moment in sport, using that match as the backbone of a provocative, thoughtful, and entertaining look at the science, art, psychology, technology, strategy, and personality that go into a single tennis match. With vivid, intimate detail, Wertheim re-creates this epic battle in a book that is both a study of the mechanics and art of the game and the portrait of a rivalry as dramatic as that of Ali-Frazier, Palmer-Nicklaus, and McEnroe-Borg.

L. Jon Wertheim (Author), Edward Bauer (Narrator)

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This is Your Brain on Sports: The Science of Underdogs, the Value of Rivalry, and What We Can Learn

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 bestselling author L. Jon Wertheim teams up with Tufts psychologist Sam Sommers to take readers 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 board rooms, 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 performance 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.

L. Jon Wertheim (Author), Keith Szarabajka, Keith Szarabajka, Sam Sommers (Narrator)

Audiobook

You Can't Make This Up: Miracles, Memories, and the Perfect Marriage of Sports and Television

No sportscaster has covered more major sporting events than Al Michaels, the Super Bowl, World Series, NBA Finals, and Stanley Cup Final, as well as the Olympic Games, Triple Crown, and many more. He has witnessed firsthand some of the most memorable events in sports, and in this highly personal and entertaining account, brings them all vividly to life. Michaels's stories cover unforgettable chapters over the past half century, from the 1980 Lake Placid Olympics' Miracle on Ice to the earthquake that rocked the 1989 World Series to the drama of what many consider the most exciting Super Bowl ever, Super Bowl XLIII between the Steelers and Cardinals. Some of the biggest personalities on and off the field are here, Brett Favre, John Madden, Tiger Woods, Cris Collinsworth, and many more. Complementing access with insight, Michaels adds to the stories you thought you knew: Michael Jordan's eyesight; Howard Cosell's prickly, bombastic personality; even Peyton and Eli Manning's sibling rivalry. From start to finish, Michaels gives us an up-close portrait of an industry that is, today more than ever, a vital part of our national culture.

Al Michaels, L. Jon Wertheim (Author), Al Michaels, L. Jon Wertheim, Ray Porter (Narrator)

Audiobook

The Rookie Bookie

Using the tips, truths, and stats they explore in their New York Times bestseller Scorecasting, two dads pack super sports savvy and important math and financial concepts into a fun and heartwarming first novel for kids. New kid Mitch Sloan wants to fit in, but his nerdy love of statistics and making money isn't winning him any friends in his sports-loving town--until he finds the perfect way to attain instant popularity. But running a football betting ring at school eventually turns sour, and Mitch loses the only real friend he's made. He'll have to win her back by using his brainpower for good and helping the school football team achieve victory--if they'll listen to the advice of a former bookie!

L. Jon Wertheim, Tobias Moskowitz (Author), Bryan Kennedy (Narrator)

Audiobook

Scorecasting

In Scorecasting, University of Chicago behavioral economist Tobias Moskowitz teams up with veteran Sports Illustrated writer L. Jon Wertheim to overturn some of the most cherished truisms of sports, and reveal the hidden forces that shape how basketball, baseball, football, and hockey games are played, won and lost. 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. Among the insights that Scorecasting reveals: Why Tiger Woods is prone to the same mistake in high-pressure putting situations that you and I areWhy professional teams routinely overvalue draft picks The myth of momentum or the 'hot hand' in sports, and why so many fans, coaches, and broadcasters fervently subscribe to itWhy NFL coaches rarely go for a first down on fourth-down situations--even when their reluctance to do so reduces their chances of winning.In an engaging narrative that takes us from the putting greens of Augusta to the grid iron of a small parochial high school in Arkansas, Scorecasting will forever change how you view the game, whatever your favorite sport might be. From the Hardcover edition.

L. Jon Wertheim, Tobias J. Moskowitz, Tobias Moskowitz (Author), Zach McLarty (Narrator)

Audiobook

Blood in the Cage

Based on unique access to the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) and its rival organizations, Blood in the Cage peers through the chain-link Octagon into the frighteningly seductive world of mixed martial arts, which has exploded in popularity despite resistance. Wertheim focuses on Pat Miletich, who runs the most famous MMA training school in the world. Single-handedly Miletich has transformed a gritty town on the banks of the Mississippi into an unlikely hotbed for his sport. He has also transformed many an average Joe into a walking weapon of destruction. Wertheim intertwines Miletich's own life story, by turns tragic and triumphant, with the larger story of the incredible rise of the UFC, from its controversial, back alley roots to the fastest growing sports enterprise in America. For fans of Jeff MacGregor's Sunday Money and Sam Sheridan's A Fighter's Heart, Blood in the Cage takes readers behind the scenes, right down to the mat, from a punch in the kidney to the ping of the cash register, as Wertheim brilliantly exposes the no-holds-barred reality of the blood sport for a new generation. Advance Praise for Blood in the Cage: "In Blood in the Cage, L. Jon Wertheim tells the story of Pat Miletich, the consummate professional athlete turned world-class trainer. Miletich is someone for whom I have considerable respect and admiration and who puts his athletes and our sport first and foremost." - Randy Couture, UFC champion

L. Jon Wertheim (Author), Phil Gigante (Narrator)

Audiobook

Running the Table: The Legend of Kid Delicious, The Last Great American Pool Hustler

In many sports, the pinnacle is Wheaties-box fame and notoriety. But in the world of pool, notoriety is the last thing a hustler desires. Such is the dilemma that faces Danny Basavich, an affable, generously proportioned Jewish kid from Jersey, who flounders through high school until he discovers the one thing he excels at – the felt – and hits the road. RUNNING THE TABLE spins the outrageous tale of Kid Delicious and his studly if less talented setup man, Bristol Bob. Never was there a more entertaining or mismatched pair of sidekicks, as together they go underground into the flavorfully seamy world of pool to learn the art of the hustle and experience the highs and lows of life on the road. Their four-year odyssey takes them from podunk pool halls to slick urban billiard rooms across America, as they manage to take down as much as $30,000 one night, and the next night end up with just enough gas money to get home. With every stop the action gets hotter, the calls get closer, and Delicious’ prowess with a cue stick becomes more widely known. Ultimately Delicious sheds his cover, becoming perhaps the biggest sensation in professional pool since Minnesota Fats. L. Jon Wertheim paints a lasting portrait of an insanely talented and magnetic hustler who is literally larger than life.

L. Jon Wertheim (Author), Butch Engle, Robert Forster (Narrator)

Audiobook