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Jon Finkel

1996: A Biography--Reliving the Legend-Packed, Dynasty-Stacked, Most Iconic Sports Year Ever Audio CD – Unabridged, May 11, 2021

by Jon Finkel (Author)

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Take a rollicking tour through the sports world of 1996, when debuts, comebacks, movies, and pop culture crossover changed the sports landscape forever. From college to the Olympics to the pros; from the NBA to golf, tennis, and boxing, 1996 was home to athletes and teams who were among the best marketed, most beloved, colorful, and greatest in history. In 1996: A Biography, sportswriter and author Jon Finkel uncovers the stories behind the stories while interviewing a who's who of '96ers to reveal in thrilling detail how their collective influence on sports and pop culture still resonates to this day. For those of us who remember when Iverson, Kobe, The Rock and Stone Cold, the MLS and the WNBA all debuted; when the US Women's Olympic Gymnastics Team--the Magnificent Seven--won gold for the first time in history; when Mike Tyson and Magic Johnson made their comebacks; when MTV's Rock n' Jock, Michael Jordan's Space Jam, and ESPN's Dan Patrick and Stuart Scott were the bomb; when the Fun 'n' Gun offense changed college football; when Ken Griffey, Jr., ran for president (really! remember?); when Derek Jeter won Rookie of the Year, Favre marched to his first Super Bowl, and Jerry Maguire had everyone saying "show me the money" . . . 1996 is a sports time machine you've got to take for a spin.

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1 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Tantor and Blackstone Publishing
Publication date

May 11, 2021
ISBN-13

979-8200716654
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Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Jon Finkel is the award-winning author of The Life of Dad, The Athlete, Heart Over Height, "Mean" Joe Greene, the Greatest Stars of the NBA series, and other books about sports, fatherhood, fitness, and more. His work has been endorsed by Spike Lee, Tony Dungy, Jerry Jones, Mark Cuban, and Chef Robert Irvine. He is cohost of the Life of Dad Sports Show podcast and Lunch Break Facebook Live show with more than one thousand viewers. He has written for GQ, Men's Health, Yahoo! Sports, the New York Times, and dozens of other national publications. He lives in Royal Palm Beach, Florida.

Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B09NF63NRW
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Tantor and Blackstone Publishing; Unabridged edition (May 11, 2021)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Audio CD ‏ : ‎ 1 pages
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 979-8200716654
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 8.3 ounces

Best Sellers Rank: #8,339,642 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #10,279 in Sports History (Books)
- #29,578 in Sports Biographies (Books)
- #111,820 in Books on CD

Customer Reviews:
39 ratings

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Jon Finkel

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Jon Finkel’s books have been endorsed by everyone from Kevin Durant and Tony Dungy, to Spike Lee and Mark Cuban. He is the author of the recent books:

Hoops Heist: Seattle, the Sonics, and How a Stolen Team's Legacy Gave Rise to the NBA's Secret Empire

The Life of Dad: Reflections on Fatherhood from Today’s Leaders, Icons and Legendary Dads

The Athlete: Greatness, Grace and the Unprecedented Life of Charlie Ward on Heisman Trophy winner, National Champion and New York Knicks star, Charlie Ward.

He also wrote “Mean” Joe Greene: Built By Football with 4x Super Bowl Champion Joe Greene, Heart Over Height with 3x NBA Dunk Champion Nate Robinson and Forces of Character with 3x Super Bowl Champion and Fighter Pilot Chad Hennings. In addition, he authored the Mario Lopez-endorsed fatherhood fitness book, The Dadvantage.

His book, Jocks In Chief: Forty-Four Essays Ranking the Most Athletic Presidents, from the Fight Crazy to the Spectacularly Lazy, is the first book in US History to rank every single president - athletically.

As a feature writer, he has written for Men’s Health, Men’s Fitness, The New York Times, GQ, Details, Yahoo! Sports and many more. His NBA book series, ‘Greatest Stars of the NBA’ won several American Library Association awards and the twelve books were a part of the NBA’s famous ‘Read to Achieve’ program. His feature writing also received a notable mention in the 2015 Best American Sports Writing Anthology.

Jon has been a live TV guest on CBS: This Morning and Good Morning Texas and has appeared on hundreds of radio stations, podcasts and live-streams promoting his work.

He is also the co-host of the Life of Dad Show podcast (600k downloads) and the Lunch Break Facebook Live Show (1M viewers).

Customer reviews

5 star		51%
4 star		29%
3 star		9%
2 star		8%
1 star		5%

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Art

I reminisce for a spell, or shall I say think back! Buy this book!

Reviewed in the United States on May 27, 2021

Verified Purchase

1996 was a great year for the sporting world. I was in high school that year and while I was reading this fantastic book it brought me back to my teenager years. Jon captures that year in such a spectacular way. For anyone who loves sports or just pop culture make sure you pick up this book.

One person found this helpful

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Erik E Cole

Buy this book now!!!!

Reviewed in the United States on May 26, 2021

Verified Purchase

I was watching my teenage son lose his mind over the NHL playoffs and felt a pang of jealousy. I haven’t felt that way about sports in a good long while. This book transported me back to a time when I did. Outstanding writing. Genuine tugs on the old heartstrings. Cannot recommend it enough. An absolute home run.

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Brina E Gonzalez

For those who were teenagers in the 90s, this is the perfect book to relive sports memories.

Reviewed in the United States on June 29, 2021

Verified Purchase

This book was a trip down memory lane. It brought me back to the most iconic year of my teens and I savored the time spent reading it.

Helpful

A solidly nostalgic and fun look back at a song you thought would never end

Reviewed in the United States on June 20, 2021

Vine Customer Review of Free Product( What's this? )

I'm always a fan of these books that take a close look at a specific pivotal time period and break down all the confluences that made that time significant. While I wouldn't have chosen this time period as "the" most significant, it's true that a lot of our current culture has its beginnings in this time.

The book's structure makes for very easy, bite-sized reading. Jon Finkel presents each chapter as essays that in their own way stand-alone. That's a good choice, rather than trying to contrive a narrative tying together a lot of disconnected events. On the other hand, more of a narrative would have given the whole era more gravitas. Because it is this series of essays vs. one overarching sprawling narrative it feels a little smaller than it might have. However, that's more a vibe of the concept and has nothing to do with how fun each chapter is.

Finkel has written in a personable, upbeat, and nostalgic style - if you're of this era, it will bring you back to these events we took for granted at the time (the Cowboys will be great forever! Tom Cruise is a rom-com actor! 72 wins will never be topped!) and then it's all over in less than five years.

I feel bad for kids who can't experience an era quite like this - when we all paid attention to the same things, even if it was in different ways. I feel like that collective vibe doesn't exist - but I'm also older and have long since stopped caring about sports at all. If you don't have at least some emotional attachment to these people and events than the book's nostalgic style might not connect as well - but you're still going to have a window to an innocent time that's long, long gone and it ain't ever coming back.

One person found this helpful

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John Galluzzo

Was it really all just one year?

Reviewed in the United States on July 14, 2021

Vine Customer Review of Free Product( What's this? )

The knee-jerk negative reaction would be, “Eh, you could write this book about any year.” In some ways, sure, you could. But I think this one year was a major crossroad. It was a year that involved the famed stars of the day and a few fading out, but also included the arrival of future legends who defined the next few decades - The Rock, Tiger Woods, Derek Jeter and more.

Moreover, I think if you wanted to write a book about a specific year in American sports and really get the most out of it, it’d have to be an Olympic year, one that played out in the States. Perhaps the only competing book would be based in 1980. In this sense, 1996 works out really well with the many stories of the Atlanta Summer Games: Michael Johnson, the Magnificent Seven, Andre Agassi and Muhammad Ali opening the games.

All this said, the author brings humor and pop culture references galore. The 90s were a time of excess and attitude. It was “Stone Cold” Steve Austin, Allen Iverson, the return of Iron Mike Tyson and Dream Team III. So, maybe the author’s hyperbolic subtitle has something to it. 1996 was a super star-crossed year in sports and maybe it was the dopest of them all. In any event, it’s a fun read, and for anybody over 35, it’s loaded with great memories.

2 people found this helpful

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The Saga of an Iconic Sports Year

Reviewed in the United States on November 28, 2021

Vine Customer Review of Free Product( What's this? )

I never thought of a biography of a year but each has its own life story, beginning with the baby on January 1 and ending with the bearded old man on December 31. In this volume, author Jon Finkel takes us through what he describes as the “Most Iconic Sports Year Ever”.

Having lived through 1996, this book brought back faded memories, shared new insights and taught me things of which I had never been aware.

Ranging in length from three to seventeen pages, each of the 29 chapters focuses on a specific sports story of 1996. Some are situated on the gridiron, Spurrier vs. Bowden vs. Osborne, The Triplets and Deion, The Rock and There’s Something About Favre. Others on the courts: basketball, Magic’s Kingdom, Petino’s Bambinos, What We Got Next, The Answer, How Jordon’s Bulls Lost Ten Games (how is that for a reverse view?), Into Shaq-verse and Kobe’s Draft Class; tennis, Venus Meets Steffi and Agassi Reinvented. Readers skate with Madison Square Gretsky, hit the links with Tiger’s First Roar and go in the rings with Stone Cold and as Iron Mike Punches Out. Baseball had its day with Griffey in ’96 and Jeter & the Yankee Revival. We are reminded of the time Eric Wynalda Kickstarts the MLS. Then there were the Olympics where Ali Ignites Atlanta, Michael Johnson’s Golden Feet races to glory, Dream Team III demolished its opposition and Kerri Strugg and the Magnificent Seven made history. Finally there were sports movies in 1996, “Happy Gilmore”, “Kingpin”, “Tin Cup” & the Fan” and “Spacejam”.

I enjoyed the behind-the-scenes stories such as Ken Griffey Jr.’s path to stardom, Kerri Strugg’s endurance to the end of the gymnastics competition despite her ankle injury and Wayne Gretsky’s decision to sign with the New York Rangers, rather than staying with the St. Louis Blues. I have to admit that the Gretsky chapter was more edifying than enjoyable for this Blues Fan. 1996’s status as a transition year may not have been as apparent at the time, but Finkel weaves the stories together to make that case. I recommend “1996” for any sports fan looking to reflect on an Iconic Sports Year.

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