Tag: Book

Steve Kerr praises Devin Booker’s performance for Team USA in Olympics

Steve Kerr made a point to praise the Suns guard for his performance in the Olympics.

While a lot of the attention coming off the final two games of Team USA’s run to gold in the Olympics surrounds Stephen Curry following back-to-back ridiculous performances from the Golden State Warriors guard, head coach Steve Kerr made a point to call out the performance of one specific player.

After Team USA secured gold with a thrilling win over France in Paris, Kerr spoke with members of the media in his postgame press conference. Before his presser came to an end, Kerr shared some high praise for Phoenix Suns guard Devin Booker. Kerr called Booker Team USA’s “unsung MVP.”

Via @davidaldridgedc on Twitter:

Curry then took to Instagram to co-sign Kerr’s praise of Booker.

Via @CGBBurner on Twitter:

Booker was one of four players to score in double figures for Team USA on Saturday. Booker finished with 15 points on 6-of-9 shooting to go along with six rebounds and three assists in 28 minutes. Booker tallied 10 or more points in four of Team USA’s six games in Paris.

This post originally appeared on Warriors Wire! Follow us on Facebook and Twitter!

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Packers RB A.J. Dillon releases his new children’s book at launch party

Dillon’s new children’s book, “Quadzilla Finds His Footing,” launched on Tuesday.

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Green Bay Packers running back A.J. Dillon released his children’s book, “Quadzilla Finds His Footing,” during a launch celebration near Lambeau Field on Tuesday.

The book is available for purchase at Amazon or the team’s pro shop at a price of $15.99.

Dillon’s “Quadzilla” nickname provides the name of the story’s protagonist.

Per the book’s description, “Quadzilla Finds His Footing” is “an uplifting story about trying new things, even if it isn’t easy.” The main character learns to play a new game that Packers fans might recognize.

Dillon read from the story and did meet-and-greets during the launch party at the Johnsville Tailgate Village located in the Lambeau Field parking lot on Tuesday.

You can find more information at the links below:

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Kirby Smart to be key figure in Paul Finebaum’s upcoming book on Nick Saban

This is going to be awesome.

When it comes to covering the Southeastern Conference, Paul Finebaum is king.

Already the author of a 2014 New York Times best-selling book, “My Conference Can Beat Your Conference: Why the SEC Still Rules College Football,” Finebaum is looking at a release date of September 2023 for a new book.

Finebaum is set to write a book covering Alabama head coach Nick Saban and his offseason feud with Texas A&M’s Jimbo Fisher. Georgia’s Kirby Smart will be a central figure in the publication as well.

Teaming up with John Talty of AL.com, the book will focus mainly on the rivalry that came to a boiling point this offseason between Saban and Fisher. The feud was centered around A&M’s usage of name, image and likeness to attract top recruits and the back-and-forth that followed after Saban called out the Aggies’ head coach.

Via AL.com:

The ESPN analyst is stepping away from the mic (figuratively, of course) and dusting off the writing utensils to collaborate with AL.com’s John Talty in an account of the rivalry between Alabama’s head football coach and two of his coaching proteges, Texas A&M’s Fisher and Georgia’s Kirby Smart, in the context of college football supremacy and with new rules that allow amateur athletes to be paid by businesses for use of their name, image and likeness.

Finebaum will cover the relationship between Saban and another one of his former coaches in Smart. Smart and the Bulldogs topped the Crimson Tide in January’s national championship after multiple failed efforts in recent years.

Regarding the focus of Smart and Saban, AL.com wrote:

Finebaum said what transpired between Saban and Smart leading up to the championship game was “genuine,” but he thinks “the relationship with Saban is completely different, though.” He contends Saban views Smart completely different than Fisher.

“I think they are both complicated relationships,” Finebaum said. “To me, the scope of all of this is Shakespearian. You have Saban and his two prime courtiers. One is, at least publicly, playing the game of worship and deference in spite of winning a championship against him. The other has simply broken the cord and has gone scorched Earth. To me, it is a fascinating dichotomy between Saban and these two individuals. I think it screams for more. It has Hollywood mini-series written all over it.”

Book review: Alan Shipnuck presents the good and bad sides of Phil Mickelson and lets the reader decide

Golf fans get a good read but don’t get their fill of Phil in Shipnuck’s “Rip-Roaring” biography of Mickelson.

Wherever it is that Phil Mickelson is laying low this week, he must be thinking, “if only I hadn’t called Alan Shipnuck.”

Without Mickelson opening his big mouth and telling his unvarnished thoughts on the Saudis behind a renegade golf league (“scary motherf—–s”), Shipnuck still would have produced a read that is a rollicking good time, but it wouldn’t be the talk of the town – and Phil likely wouldn’t be skipping his title defense of this week’s PGA Championship and on sabbatical from what has been a Hall of Fame career.

Who is the real Phil Mickelson? Phil: The Rip-Roaring (and unauthorized) Biography of Golf’s Most Colorful Superstar seeks that answer. Shipnuck, longtime golf writer for Sports Illustrated and Golf and now a partner in the Firepit Collective, reflects back to something Mickelson said to him during a confrontation that he highlights in the book’s introduction. “It was meant as a taunt but became the challenge that animated this book: ‘You think you know me but you don’t.’”

Think about it: for as much Phil has spent the last 30+ years under a microscope he’s done a masterful job of protecting his private life. We’ve never seen him play golf with any of his kids. Everything about Phil that he shares has felt very calculated, as Shipnuck notes even his psoriatic arthritis diagnosis netted him an endorsement opportunity.

Shipnuck paints Phil as “a smart-ass who built an empire on being the consummate professional; a loving husband dogged by salacious rumors; a gambler who knows the house always wins but can’t help himself, anyway; an intensely private person who loves to talk about himself.”

He’s always been the proverbial riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma. But by the time you finish this page-turner you’ll have a better idea who you think Phil is. I suspect Phil’s fan base will find reasons anew to adore him even more while his detractors will find fresh ammo to argue that he’s one of the all-time phonies.

The opening chapter sets a wonderful pace going from one outrageous story to another – it feels like Shipnuck gathered a bunch of Phil’s acquaintances around a campfire and they’re dishing their best of collection of Phil tales and said, ‘I can top that.’

My favorite part of the book may be the early chapters before Phil turned pro. Kudos to Shipnuck for tracking down childhood friends and college pals and presenting popped-collar Phil in all his frat-boy glory for some fresh stories of beer-swilling, money games and competitions, egos and envy before Phil really became Phil.

Shipnuck takes us inside the highs and lows of his PGA Tour career, and is at his best in the section on Mickelson’s collapse at Winged Foot, but short-changed his stunning victory at age 50 in the 2021 PGA Championship. That chapter is a mere six pages.

The book is a breezy read, weighing in at just 239 pages. You know how you go to a movie you really wanted to see and you leave wishing they had cut out at least 45 minutes (I’m looking at you, latest James Bond flick)? Well, Shipnuck’s Phil bio is the opposite. He easily could’ve written another 50, 75, dare I say 100 more pages and readers surely would have eaten them up like cat nip. In short, we didn’t get our fill of Phil.

Who is Phil? Shipnuck presents both the good and bad and leaves it to the reader to decide where they come out in the end. Leave it to two of his longtime Tour breathren to describe him best: “People ask me what he’s like,” says Brian Gay, “and I say, ‘If you ask Phil Mickelson what time it is he’ll tell you how to build a watch.’ ”

And then there’s Stewart Cink: “There are so many stories, but they all have one thing in common: juice. Doesn’t matter what form the juice takes. Needling in the locker room is juice. Money games during practice rounds is juice. Trying to pull off crazy shots with a tournament on the line is definitely juice. Criticizing Tiger’s equipment when he’s on a historic run is a lot of things, but it’s also juice. Phil loves math and computations, and where that stuff meets juice is Vegas, so of course Phil loves it there. When you know you don’t have an advantage, but you still want to bet large amounts? That’s juice. Phil is an all-time juice guy.”

While the juiciest material already has been squeezed out and released in excerpts, this book has plenty of juice. I’m still not convinced Shipnuck got to the bottom of the parting of Phil and Bones after 25 years together, but at least Shipnuck called as he put it, “B.S.” and advanced the story. It’s a second-hand quote – as Bones didn’t participate directly in the book either – but this shot from Bones is telling nonetheless.

“Nobody knows Phil Mickelson. Nobody. I spent 25 years standing next to the guy and he’s still a total mystery to me.”

After all these years, Phil revealed too much of his inner thoughts when he phoned Shipnuck in November and spouted off about the Saudis, Jay Monahan and his true feelings about the inner workings of the PGA Tour. But as Shipnuck concludes, Phil is no stranger to controversy. “Somehow he always emerges with his vast fan base intact. Sports fans love a comeback and a redemption story. A more humble, more human, less cartoonish Mickelson figures to be more popular than ever. Come what may, he will survive, because he survives everything.”

What will Phil do next? The way he eventually handles the fall out of his inflammatory comments may shape his legacy in the game and reveal once and for all, who is Phil.

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Memo to players, caddies: PGA Tour Advisory Council supports altering green-reading books in 2022

A big change is coming to the Tour in 2022.

A big change may be coming to the PGA Tour starting Jan. 1, 2022. And no, this time we’re not talking about a Saudi Arabia-backed rival golf league.

On Monday evening a memo sent to PGA Tour members and caddies circulated around Twitter that highlighted a potential new rule – currently being worked on by the U.S. Golf Association and R&A – that would alter yardage and green-reading books as we know them.

First reported by Golf Digest, players and caddies will only be able to use a “committee approved” yardage book once the rule goes into effect. The memo said the new books would resemble a traditional book with “only general information on slopes and other features.”

The rule will be presented to the PGA Tour advisory board Nov. 8.

Yardage book: Take a closer look at last week’s PGA Tour stop

Books from 2021 and prior will no longer be accepted, as well as “devices, levels or other technology.” However, handwritten notes from previous experiences may be written in the new book.

From the memo: “The purpose of this Local Rule is to return to a position where players and caddies use only their skill, judgment and feel along with any information gained through experience, preparation and practice to read the line of play on the putting green.”

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Notre Dame’s Patrick Surtain Problem

Patrick Surtain might not have been a Heisman finalist like three of his teammates but he’s just as good as any of them.

They may almost never get the same love of their offensive counterparts but the value of a truly great cornerback can’t be overstated when it comes to assembling a great defense.

Notre Dame has been fortunate to have many over the years, with it being Julian Love most recently setting the bar as a first-team All-American in 2018.

In the Rose Bowl this Friday, Notre Dame’s offense will be taking on one of the best in recent memory in Alabama’s Patrick Surtain II.

And before you ask, yes, that is the son of the former Miami Dolphins standout defensive back.

The younger Surtain stars in Alabama’s defensive backfield and figures to be one of the first 10 players selected in the next NFL Draft.  A quick whip around Notre Dame’s key offensive players and coaches tells you all you need to know about the star.

“Surtain is special,” offensive coordinator Tommy Rees said, “He’s probably the strength of their defense in terms of an individual”.

Notre Dame wide receiver Ben Skowronek sees one thing that especially stands out for Surtain.

“I think it starts with his feet,” Skowronek said. “He has really good feet, able to mirror routes. When you combine that with his length and over athleticism, that’s going to make him a top cornerback prospect for the upcoming NFL draft. He has all the tangibles. I’m excited to go out there on Friday and compete against him.”

Veteran Notre Dame quarterback Ian Book had nothing but praise for the future NFLer as he discussed how you have to play against a talent like his.

Yes, he’s really good,” Book said. “No doubt about that. Just means you’ve got to be on time. If you’re late, he’s going to take it. And he’s a really good corner who is going to play a lot of football for a lot of years in the future. So you’ve got to be on time. You’ve got to be confident that you made the right read, the right choice. And then at the end of the day, you’ve got to trust your receivers to go out and help you out. And that’s really what it’s about. You can’t really be lackadaisical, and you can’t be late. And you don’t want to find that out the hard way.

“But we know he’s there. We know how he plays. We studied a lot of film on him. So it’s going to be really good. I’m not saying you can’t throw the ball there ever. But he’s just a really good corner. No doubt about that. It’s about being on time. Especially from my perspective as a quarterback.”

Surtain defended 10 passes during Alabama’s march through the SEC while pulling down one interception.  He also stepped up to make a pair of tackles for loss.

It’s one thing to be aware of an opposing talent but it’s another to not let them actually beat you.  Will Rees, Book, Skowronek, and the rest of the Notre Dame offense be able to accomplish that?

That’s just one of the many challenges awaiting the Irish as they’ll try and pull off a monumental upset in the Rose Bowl.

Ian Book named to Davey O’Brien Award Class of 2020

Notre Dame’s Ian Book continues to earn national recognition for the outstanding 2020 season he’s having.

Notre Dame quarterback Ian Book has had a stellar 2020 season where he’s seemingly improved each week over the past month or so, continues to get national recognition.

Book, who has led Notre Dame to a 9-0 mark and clinched a spot in the ACC Championship Game, has been named to the Davey O’Brien weekly award list four times this year as well.

Now Book has officially been selected to the Davey O’Brien National Quarterback Award Class of 2020.

Here is what Notre Dame’s official release on Book’s selection said:

NOTRE DAME, Indiana — University of Notre Dame graduate student quarterback Ian Book has been selected to the Davey O’Brien National Quarterback Award Class of 2020. Named to the award’s weekly honor list four times this season, Book is one of 35 FBS quarterbacks recognized.

Book is undefeated in 2020, leading the Irish to wins over ranked opponents No. 1 Clemson and No. 19 North Carolina. With 29 career wins as a starter, he is tied for the most all-time by a Notre Dame quarterback. His .906 win rate (29-3) as a starter ranks second among all FBS quarterbacks, while his 29 wins tie for third among all FBS passers, even as he owns only the 12th-most starts by a current FBS quarterback.

The rare two-time team captain has totaled 237-consecutive passing attempts without an interception this season, tied for the longest active streak in the FBS and the longest streak in Notre Dame quarterback history.

In 2020, Book has completed 157 passes for 2,097 yards and 12 touchdowns, rushing 83 times for 412 yards and six touchdowns.

Book ranks second all-time in Irish records in career passing yards (8,215), touchdown passes (69), QB rushing yards (1,445), total offense yards (9,660) and points responsible for (498).

In his career, Book has been named to the O’Brien Great 8 weekly list seven times, including selection to the list for the past three-consecutive games (vs. No. 1 Clemson, at Boston College and at No. 19 North Carolina). He has been recognized a total of four times in 2020.

The award will select 16 semifinalists based on a selection committee and a fan vote. Semifinalists will be announced December 7. The fan vote will take place on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook, and the winner of the vote on each of the three sites will receive the equivalent of two additional committee member ballots.

Following the naming of the semifinalists, the next round of fan voting will take place from Monday, Dec. 7 to Sunday, Dec. 20 with the three finalists named on Tuesday, Dec. 22. The final round of fan voting will occur from Tuesday, Dec. 22 until Wednesday, Dec. 30. The winner will be announced on Thursday, Jan. 7 on the 30th annual The Home Depot College Football Awards, which will be held virtually from 7-8:30 p.m. (ET) on ESPN.

Notre Dame football: Ian Book catches, passes Rees in career touchdown passes

Notre Dame quarterback Ian Book caught his coach on an all-time list Saturday. And then passed him about an hour later!

On the first drive of Notre Dame’s game at Pitt on Saturday, quarterback Ian Book connected with receiver Ben Skowronek on a pass that got the Irish on the board early with a 34 yard touchdown.

That pass tied Book with former Notre Dame quarterback and current Irish play-caller Tommy Rees for second all-time in program history as it was the 61st of Book’s career.

Just a quarter later it was Book finding Skowronek again, this time for an athletic catch and run that went for 73 yards and another Notre Dame score.

It also moved Book past Rees and into second place by himself in program history in terms of touchdown passes with 62 now for his career.

With a maximum of just eight games remaining for Book after Saturday, it’s beyond unlikely that he ever catches Brady Quinn who had 95 career touchdown tosses for the blue and gold.

Draymond Green reacts on Twitter to being fined $50,000 for his comments regarding Devin Booker

Draymond Green reacted on Twitter to receiving a $50,000 fine for violating the NBA’s anti-tampering rule for his comments on Devin Booker.

Draymond Green will be walking away from his appearances on NBA on TNT with a fine. On Sunday, the NBA announced the Golden State Warriors forward would be fined $50,000 for violating the league’s anti-tampering rule for his comments regarding Devin Booker.

While sitting alongside Charles Barkley, Kenny “The Jet” Smith and Ernie Johnson on Friday, Green said the 23-year old All-Star guard needs to “get out” of Phoenix, calling the Suns “bad for his career.”

Via NBA on TNT:

It’s great to see Book playing well and Phoenix playing well, but get my man out of Phoenix. It’s not good for him, it’s not good for his career. Sorry, Chuck — They got to get Book out of Phoenix. I need my man to go somewhere he can play great basketball all the time and win because he’s that type of player.

When Johnson asked if he was tampering, Green responded with a one-word answer — “maybe.”

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After his fine was announced, Green chimed in on Twitter with a reaction. The former Defensive Player of the Year tweeted five laughing emojis.

Via @Money23Green on Twitter:

Despite his fine, Green provided a bevy of in-depth analysis during his time on the NBA on TNT. The Michigan State product spent time breaking down games in the Orlando Bubble along with discussing topics regarding his former teammate Kevin Durant and the race for the league’s Most Valuable Player.

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While Green’s fine is making headlines, the Phoenix Suns moved their winning streak to five inside the Orlando Bubble with a victory against the Miami Heat. Booker dropped 35 points on 15-of-26 shooting from the field with six assists and three boards in the Sun’s 119-112 win.

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This Is Your Brain On Food

THIS IS YOUR BRAIN ON FOOD An Indispensable Guide to the Surprising Foods that Fight Depression, Anxiety, PTSD, OCD, ADHD, and More By Uma Naidoo, MD Many people focus on the way their diet affects their physical health, their figure, and the …

THIS IS YOUR BRAIN  ON FOOD
An Indispensable Guide to the Surprising Foods that Fight Depression, Anxiety, PTSD, OCD, ADHD, and More

By Uma Naidoo, MD

Many people focus on the way their diet affects their physical health, their figure, and the environment. But we don’t often think about our diet’s influence on our mental state, and the consequences of this blind spot are dire. Pre-COVID statistics show that a staggering one-in-five American adults will suffer a diagnosable mental health condition in any given year, and 46 percent of Americans will meet the criteria for a diagnosable mental health condition sometime in their life.

In other words, there is an epidemic of poor mental health becoming more apparent in this country — one that could be mitigated more effectively, and even reversed, by simple changes to our diet and lifestyle.  Now, more than ever, maintaining ourselves and our loved ones in optimal mental and physical health is key.

Dr. Uma Naidoo has spent her life exploring the relationship between nutrition and mental health – and her triple-threat credentials as a psychiatrist, nutritionist, and trained chef give her a unique lens into their surprisingly intricate connection. In THIS IS YOUR BRAIN ON FOOD (on-sale now on Amazon) she unpacks the complex ways in which food contributes to psychological wellness, offering practical – and surprising – dietary solutions for combatting a host of physical and cognitive health issues, including ADHD, depression, anxiety, sleep disorders, OCD, dementia, and many more.

Packed with cutting-edge research on more than 200 foods, nutritional recommendations, and brain-healthy recipes, THIS IS YOUR BRAIN ON FOOD is the ultimate guide to reworking your brain – by reworking your dietary choices.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Uma Naidoo, MD is a board-certified psychiatrist, professional chef, and nutrition specialist. She is currently the Director of Nutritional and Lifestyle Psychiatry at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), where she consults on nutritional interventions for the psychiatrically and medically ill; Director of Nutritional Psychiatry at the Massachusetts General Hospital Academy; and founder of a private practice. She also teaches at The Cambridge School of Culinary Arts. She blogs for Harvard Health and Psychology Today and has just completed a unique video cooking series for the MGH Academy, which teaches nutritional psychiatry using culinary techniques in the kitchen.