What were the iconic sports moments of the last century? In Replays, Rivalries, and Rumbles , a team of sports aficionados climb onto their bar stools to address that never-solved but essential question. Triumphs and turning points, rivalries and record-setters "each chapter tracks down the real story behind the epic moments and legendary careers sports fans love to debate. Topics include Abner Doubleday and the origins of baseball; the era-defining 1979 duel between Larry Bird and Magic Johnson; how Denver and Cleveland relive The Drive; the myths surrounding the Ali-Foreman Rumble in the Jungle; Billie Jean King's schooling of Bobby Riggs; the Miracle on Ice; and ESPN's conquest of the sports world. Filled with eye-opening lore and analysis, Replays, Rivalries, and Rumbles is an entertaining look at what we think we know about sports.| Cover Title Copyright Contents Foreword 1. Abner Doubleday and the "Invention" of Baseball / Thomas L. Altherr 2. The "Stars and Stripes" at the Olympic Games / Mark Dyreson 3. The Black Sox Scandal Redux / Daniel A. Nathan 4. The Creation of the Negro National League / Leslie Heaphy 5. George Gipp, Knute Rockne, and the Post-Mortem Faux Pas / Ronald A. Smith 6. Babe Didrikson at the 1932 Olympic Games / Lindsay Parks Pieper 7. Babe Ruth's "Called Shot" in the 1932 World Series / Larry R. Gerlach 8. March Madness or Madness in March? / Chad Carlson 9. Kenny Washington, Woody Strode, and the Reintegration of the National Football League / David K. Wiggins 10. Althea Gibson, America's First African American Grand Slam Champion / Maureen Smith 11. Blaming Walter O'Malley for Moving the Dodgers West / Robert Trumpbour 12. The Greatest Game Ever? / Richard C. Crepeau 13. The Marichal–Roseboro Brawl and Its Coverage "Underneath America" / Samuel O. Regalado 14. What Really Happened When Curt Flood Sued Baseball / Steven Gietschier 15. Dan Gable's Unbelievable Defeat / David Zang 16. The 1972 U.S.–U.S.S.R. Olympic Basketball Final / Kevin Witherspoon 17. Billie Jean King vs. Bobby Riggs, 1973 / Jaime Schultz 18. Ali–Foreman and the Myth of the Rope-a-Dope / Michael Ezra 19. Larry Bird vs. Magic Johnson, 1979 / Murry Nelson 20. The Birth of ESPN, a Sports Junkie's Nirvana / Travis Vogan 21. Remembering and Forgetting America's Hockey Miracles / Stephen Hardy 22. Remembering and Reliving "The Drive" in Cleveland and Denver / Andrew D. Linden 23. The Rise and Fall of The National Sports Daily / Dennis Gildea Afterword: The Future of Sports Memories Contributors Index | "A fascinating collection of 23 essays. . . Recommended."—Choice

"Remarkably fun to read. A great book for a general sports fan."—Sarah K. Fields, author of Game Faces: Sport Celebrity and the Law of Reputation
"Steven Gietscher has recruited an all-star roster of sport historians whose efforts have resulted in an anthology of events in America's sporting past that provides all fans an opportunity to both learn and re-imagine."—Stephen Wenn, coauthor of Tarnished Rings: The International Olympic Committee and the Salt Lake City Bid Scandal
|Steven P. Gietschier is an associate professor of history at Lindenwood University. Previously, he was Senior Managing Editor for Research at The Sporting News .