Blog Posts by Subject: Recreation and Sports

It's that time of year again! The 2012-2013 professional and college basketball seasons are in full swing. And, of course, the Bronx Library Center has you covered with plenty of resources to elevate your sports IQ. Come check out a biography of your favorite ball player and learn about the lives of NBA legends like Jerry West, Larry Bird, Magic Johnson, Michael Jordan, Shaquille O'Neal or current stars Kobe Bryant, Jeremy Lin (previously on NYPL blogs), Tim Duncan and Kevin Garnett. Or, if history is more to your liking, read up on the history of the NBA and NCAA leagues.

The Silver Blades Scholarship lands unassuming skater Claire Boucher in Lake Placid. No longer is ice skating a winter activity in the neighborhood skate center that she affectionately refers to as "Cow Pond." No longer is skating an ancillary activity to the rest of her life. Four-hour long practices dominate Claire's life as she perfects jumps and attempts to please her new coach, Mr. Groshev. Claire is his "next big talent." Her best friend Natalie resents being "dumped" by Claire for ice and all of its glory.

I took figure skating lessons on roller skates when I was five years old, and for us, skating was a family affair. My sister, brother, mother and I skate. I knew when I moved to New York City that I would cave eventually and begin ice skating, since there is only one roller skating rink in New York City at the southern tip of Staten Island. It would take me three hours to get there... much too long.

As October baseball reaches its zenith with the World Series between the Detroit Tigers and San Francisco Giants I thought it would be great to look back at some of the all-time greats in both playing and a more unusual category, nicknames.

The Cruisers: Checkmate by Walter Dean Myers, 2011

Alexander, "Zander" for short, is a student at the elite Da Vinci Academy for the Gifted and Talented. There, he belongs to a club known as the Cruisers that publishes an alternative newspaper, The Palette. Each member of the Cruisers has a special talent. Kambui, Zander's best friend, is into photography. LaShonda designs clothing, Bobbi is fascinated with numbers, and Zander wants to be a writer.

Cycling is not only great for your health; it’s better for the environment and less expensive than other forms of travel. Currently the city is working toward making NYC more friendly to cyclists and as a library we're trying to make information regarding cycling a little easier to find.

So, here are some helpful resources regarding cycling programs, biking clubs, books, blogs, and other practical guides. At the end of this post you’ll also find a list of library locations equipped with bike racks!

Excited to see just how many more gold medals Michael Phelps will take home? Stoked to see if Beach Volleyball duo Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh will bring home the gold with a third Olympic win in a row?

In just a week, the 2012 Summer Olympic Games kick off in London and there is no better way to prep for the Games of the XXX Olympiad than with some light reading on the grand event and its past and present all-star athletes.

The 2012 Summer Olympics, officially called The Games of the XXX Olympiad kicks off on July 27th in London, United Kingdom!

For about two weeks, the world will be watching their top athletes compete for medals of honor in a multi-sport event.  These sports range from boxing to archery. Some of the most competitive games to watch include swimming, gymnastics, cycling, weightlifting and basketball.

Whether you're a loyal fan of the Bronx Bombers or believing in the Amazin' Mets, New York is a great place for baseball. With the season well underway, and a second Subway Series around the corner, now is the time to get your kids in the spirit. Check out these NYPL books on America's favorite pastime!

I used to think the world was a very small boring place, filled only with cookie crumbs and empty soda bottles... And then I met Dwight and Jeremy. They taught me that earth can be a magical place. They taught me that magic does exist... in the form of a card game!

Every year, spring sparks my desire to get out of my stuffy apartment, stretch my legs, and enjoy what the city has to offer. I want to enjoy a little time outside or find an event that requires some movement.

Care for a game of chess? Here are some hidden gems you'll find in our collection.

So we're taking a little break from the music scene, to get a little more in touch with Mother Nature.

I've got us sitting out here on 'The Lane' admiring the cement jungle surrounding us. I can see many opportunities for protein and nutrition, that can easily be acquired as long as you have the fundage. I can see numerous opportunities for shelter, as long as you have keys. I see some great clearings for starting a fire, as long as you don't mind getting arrested for arson. Let us shed our urban confines and get free in the wilderness, let's talk shop, let's talk about Survival. Let it be known that Bobby Pins is a wilderness junkie.

Futuremark's Unstoppable Gorg is a refreshing take on the tower defense genre that swaps fixed turrets for rotating orbits, tweaks the typical resource management mechanic, and borrows its aesthetics straight from a 1950s science fiction B-movie.

For the past several weeks, the world has been eyeing a young rising athlete named Jeremy Lin. Lin plays as a point guard for the New York Knicks. At age 23, he has been captivating the globe with his personality, skills, and victories.

Welcome to a new blog series that shows you books that are based from another form of media. This could include the novelization of a movie, movies that were originally books, or in this case, books that are based on video games.

There are more and more books coming out that come from video games. As video games get more intricate plots, players want to know more about the characters. What motivates the villain or hero? What happened before or after the game? Books can answer these questions and are released faster than a game, which usually takes a year or more to develop.

My apologies to Tolstoy, but happy families are NOT all alike. In the Library’s Rare Book Division,  two distinct sets of playing cards prove the point.  Here they are:

These cards, designed to be used in a card game called Happy Families, are two series of cigarette cards.

Now that the ING New York City Marathon has wrapped up, here are some titles to inspire you to take on next year’s marathon, or to participate vicariously through them. Some runners like to listen to long audiobooks to while away the hours spent training. Of course, you can always read them and just consider it sports nutrition for your mind.

Welcome to the September Reader’s Den! This month, we’ll be discussing Sweetness and Blood: How Surfing Spread from Hawaii and California to the Rest of the World, with Some Unexpected Results by Michael Scott Moore. This nonfiction book begins with the author’s apology that it is far from a complete history of surfing. Rather, it is a pop culture view of surfing’s global popularity from Californian influences.