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Above the Noise My Story of Chasing Calm [electronic resource] : by DeRozan, DeMar.aut; Zarum, Dave.aut; Popovich, Gregg.; cloudLibrary;
From one of the most outspoken and respected NBA athletes comes a groundbreaking and remarkable memoir chronicling a very public struggle with depression, in the hopes that other people will not suffer alone “As men, and especially Black men, we don’t talk about our mental health enough. We struggle to admit when things aren’t okay, even when it’s obvious to everybody around us. I’ve seen how toxic that can become. I’ve experienced it myself, keeping everything under wraps until your head and heart are full of fire and rage.” Six-time NBA All-Star DeMar DeRozan has been called a “basketball savant” (ESPN) and “the best closer in the NBA” (GQ). But when he went public with his depression, it sparked a conversation that reached far beyond the court. By speaking out and breaking the stigma of mental illness, he added a new, seldom-heard voice to the mental health dialogue: that of a successful Black male athlete, openly naming his pain and advocating for others to do the same. Now it’s time to tell the full story. Born and raised in Compton, DeRozan was no stranger to hardship—he grew up in poverty and lost friends to gang violence. Practising in worn-out school gyms and community centres, fuelled by hunger and a desire to prove himself, he began to rise. But doubts followed. In Above the Noise, DeRozan opens up about both his proudest triumphs and the times he felt so weighed down he couldn’t get out of bed. He reflects on what it took to make a name for himself in a new country after getting drafted by the Toronto Raptors. He recounts the pressure of playing with veteran athletes as a twenty-year-old rookie, and the pain of losing role models. And he reveals what it felt like to be traded away from the team that he wanted to play with for the rest of his career. From a scared, angry kid to a confident father of five, DeRozan traces his journey to basketball stardom and the forces that honed him into the player—and the slowly healing person—he is today. His memoir will encourage anyone who has ever felt alone in their struggles and inspire people to rise above the noise and speak their truth.
Subjects: Electronic books.; Basketball; Sports; Depression;
© 2024., HarperCollins Canada,

Next : where to live, what to buy, and who will lead Canada's future / by Bricker, Darrell,1961-author.;
"Follow a link to an ad in a sponsored email and, no matter your age or stage of life, you will likely be directed to a product that marketers believe is right for you. More often than not, the ad will target those with a younger, trendier, hipper lifestyle, offering you products you never knew you needed or wanted. Companies market to a younger audience because they believe that's where the money and the excitement are. But are they wrong? Perhaps very wrong? This is only one of the counterintuitive arguments that Darrell Bricker, CEO of Ipsos Public Affairs, a world leader in opinion polling, tackles in his groundbreaking new book, Next. Not since Boom, Bust & Echo has a Canadian expert in what Canadians will want and need distilled the growing trends based on real and extensive demographic data and dared to forecast what will come next in a major publication. Why is Harley-Davidson making smaller motorcycles and changing the way they sell their bikes? Should restaurateurs be focusing on vibrant, frenetic restaurants offering the latest food fashion or on open, quieter restaurants that focus on tasty standard fare? What's the fastest-growing sector in the housing market? Where should companies plan on setting up shop? Why do we face a population crisis? Which provinces will become the haves and which the have-nots? Where will Canadians be emigrating from, and where will they live? Should we be building more hockey arenas or basketball courts, or even cricket pitches? Next is the first book in decades that offers an honest, often provocative prescription for where we will live, what we'll be buying and who our leaders will be in the decades to come. Filled with stories of Canadians making critical decisions for their businesses and their personal lives, Next will appeal to a wide audience: anyone who is wondering where they should look for their next job or where they might plan on living in retirement--even how they will live in Canada's ever-changing future."--
Subjects: Social prediction; Economic forecasting; Political leadership;

Straight shooter : a memoir of second chances and first takes / by Smith, Stephen A.(Stephen Anthony),1967-author.;
"America's most popular sports media figure tells it like it is in this surprisingly personal book, not only dishing out his signature, uninhibited opinions but also revealing the challenges he overcame in childhood as well as at ESPN, and who he really is when the cameras are off. Stephen A. Smith has never been handed anything, nor was he an overnight success. Growing up poor in Queens, the son of Caribbean immigrants and the youngest of six children, he was a sports-obsessed kid who faced a number of struggles, from undiagnosed dyslexia to getting enough cereal to fill his bowl. As a basketball player at Winston-Salem State University, he got a glimmer of his true calling when he wrote a newspaper column arguing for the retirement of his own Hall of Fame coach, Clarence Gaines. Smith hustled and rose up from a high school reporter at Daily News (New York) to a general sports columnist at The Philadelphia Inquirer in the 1990s, before getting his own show at ESPN in 2005. After he was unceremoniously fired from the network in 2009, he became even more determined to fight for success. He got himself rehired two years later and, with his razor-sharp intelligence and fearless debate style, found his role on the show he was destined to star in: First Take, the network's flagship morning program. In Straight Shooter, Smith writes about the greatest highs and deepest lows of his life and career. He gives his thoughts on Skip Bayless, Ray Rice, Colin Kaepernick, the New York Knicks, the Dallas Cowboys, and former President Donald Trump. But he also pulls back the curtain and talks about life beyond the set, sharing authentic stories about his negligent father, his loving mother, being a father himself, his battle with life-threatening COVID-19, and what he really thinks about politics and social issues. He does it all with the same intelligence, humor, and charm that has made him a household name. Provocative, moving, and eye-opening, this book is the perfect gift for lovers of sports, television, and anyone who likes their stories delivered straight to the heart"--
Subjects: Autobiographies.; Biographies.; Smith, Stephen A. (Stephen Anthony), 1967-; Sportscasters;

Everyone can be a ninja : find your inner warrior and achieve your dreams / by Gbajabiamila, Akbar,author.;
"The beloved host of the NBC hit show American Ninja Warrior draws inspiration from both the fierce competitors on his show and his own unlikely path to success to outline the essential steps to achieving your goals and becoming a modern-day ninja. Akbar Gbajabiamila, the host of NBC's hit Emmy-nominated show, American Ninja Warrior, did not have an easy path to success. One of seven children by Nigerian immigrant parents, he grew up in the Crenshaw district of South Central Los Angeles during the 1980s and '90s, a time when the neighborhood was fraught with riots and gang violence. With dreams of playing professional basketball, Gbajabiamila found success not in the sport he loved, but in football. Late in his high school career, Gbajabiamila suited up with pads for the first time and was thrown into the complex sport of football. He climbed major hurdles to play college football and then professional football. After playing in the NFL, it was only after years of hard work behind-the-scenes in radio and television that he was offered the job to be the host of American Ninja Warrior. Through his own inspirational underdog stories and interviews with modern-day ninjas who have accomplished extraordinary things in their own lives against the odds, Akbar proves in Everyone can be a ninja that it doesn't matter if you make it through every step of the obstacle course on the first try. Ninjas keep pushing themselves until they reach their goals, and they don't let anyone or anything stand in their way. It is easy to see greatness in others; it's hard to see it in ourselves. Everyone can be a ninja shows you that we can fulfill our potential and achieve our dreams by finding our inner warriors"--
Subjects: Autobiographies.; Biographies.; Gbajabiamila, Akbar.; American Ninja Warrior (Television program); Self-actualization (Psychology); Television personalities; Football players; Nigerian Americans;

All is bright / by Spencer, Katherine,1955-;
"In the little town of Cape Light, Reverend Ben Lewis reflects on Christmas past-while his beloved daughter, Rachel, looks to the future. A box of old photographs sparks long forgotten memories for Reverend Ben, images of himself when he was a young minister, a newcomer to Cape Light and his congregation. He remembers the very first Christmas at his new church, when nothing turned out as he expected. A prominent church member and benefactor, Oliver Warwick, stood accused of a serious crime, and the entire town and congregation were quickly torn apart. Ben knew that he must carry the banner of God's love and mercy into the fray, all the while struggling to win his church's confidence and respect and prove to all-including himself-that he was worthy of his calling as a minister. As her father looks back, Rachel Anderson looks to the future, trying to imagine a life without her beloved husband, Jack. But then, single-dad Ryan Cooper appears on her doorstep like an unexpected package. Her son's basketball coach is just the man Rachel needs to shake up her world and show her there's such a thing as focusing-and fretting-too much. Ryan's gentleness, charm, and understanding are a convincing combination, and Rachel soon finds herself imagining a new world filled with hope and love. But deep loss and old fears are not so easily dispelled, and Christmas brings Rachel a serious choice: cling to a past filled with comforting memories, or reach for a future of bright possibilities"--Provided by publisher.
Subjects: Christmas stories.; Domestic fiction.; Cape Light (Imaginary place); Clergy; Fathers and daughters; Man-woman relationships;

We are family [yoto card] : Yoto card / by James, LeBron.;
Read by Nile Bullock.For use with a Yoto Player, the Yoto Player app on a device or NFC touchpoint to stream.Jayden Carr has been training all summer to be ready for Hoop Group—the free afterschool basketball program where his hero, NBA superstar Kendrick King, got his start. But when his beloved coach tells him there’s not going to be a Hoop Group this year, Jayden is heartbroken. And he’s not the only one. Coach Beck’s daughter, Tamika, was planning to be the first girl ever to start for the squad. Chris King, Kendrick’s only nephew, spent the summer bragging that his uncle was coming home just to watch him play. For Anthony Pierson, Hoop Group was supposed to be his way out of trouble. And for Dexter Donyel, all 4’6” of him, Hoop Group was his chance to finally be part of a team, instead of just watching from the stands. For each kid, Hoop Group was more than just a chance to ball; it was an escape, a dream, a family. Now their prospects seem all but impossible—but then the world hasn’t met Jayden, Tamika, Chris, Anthony, and Dex before. Determined to have their shot, the five new friends scrap, hustle, fight, and play hard to save their season to prove that sometimes a chance is all it takes. It’s an inspiring, original middle grade story from NBA superstar LeBron James and acclaimed author Andrea Williams that channels the many relatable challenges so many young kids face.Ages 8 to 12.System requirements: 1 Yoto Player smart speaker or Yoto Player app on a device or NFC touchpoint to stream.
Subjects: Children's audiobooks.; Sound recordings.; Basketball players; Middle school students; Friendship; Perseverance (Ethics); Persistence; Preloaded audiobook.; Yoto audio card.;
© 2021., Yoto Inc.

This thing called life : Prince's odyssey, on and off the record / by Karlen, Neal,author.;
Includes bibliographical references and index."A warm and surprisingly real-life biography, featuring never-before-seen photos, of one of rock's greatest talents: Prince. Neal Karlen was the only journalist Prince granted in-depth press interviews to for over a dozen years, from before Purple Rain to when the artist changed his name to an unpronounceable glyph. Karlen interviewed Prince for three Rolling Stone cover stories, wrote "3 Chains o' Gold," Prince's "rock video opera," as well as the star's last testament, which may be buried with Prince's will underneath Prince's vast and private compound, Paisley Park. According to Prince's former fiancée Susannah Melvoin, Karlen was "the only reporter who made Prince sound like what he really sounded like." Karlen quit writing about Prince a quarter-century before the mega-star died, but he never quit Prince, and the two remained friends for the last thirty-one years of the superstar's life. Well before they met as writer and subject, Prince and Karlen knew each other as two of the gang of kids who biked around Minneapolis's mostly-segregated Northside. (They played basketball at the Dairy Queen next door to Karlen's grandparents, two blocks from the budding musician.) He asserts that Prince can't be understood without first understanding '70s Minneapolis, and that even Prince's best friends knew only 15 percent of him: that was all he was willing and able to give, no matter how much he cared for them. Going back to Prince Rogers Nelson's roots, especially his contradictory, often tortured, and sometimes violent relationship with his father, This Thing Called Life profoundly changes what we know about Prince, and explains him as no biography has: a superstar who calls in the middle of the night to talk, who loved The Wire and could quote from every episode of The Office, who frequented libraries and jammed spontaneously for local crowds (and fed everyone pancakes afterward), who was lonely but craved being alone. Readers will drive around Minneapolis with Prince in a convertible, talk about movies and music and life, and watch as he tries not to curse, instead dishing a healthy dose of "mamma jammas.""--
Subjects: Biographies.; Prince.; Rock musicians;

Atari 50 [electronic resource] : the anniversary celebration. by Nintendo of America Inc.;
Game.Atari 50: The Anniversary Celebration is an interactive journey through 50 years of video games through interviews with designers, developers and industry leaders, documentary footage, product design documents, and of course, more than 100 playable games. At the heart of the 50th Anniversary Collection is a curated list of over 100 games that span seven different hardware platforms--a true feat of emulation by the team at Digital Eclipse. Behind every game are the stories of Atari, what was happening at the company, what went into the creation of the games and the hardware they ran on ... told by the people who were there. It is a rare opportunity to get a rich, behind the scenes look at the history of video games. The talented team at Digital Eclipse also created six new games that revisit, mash-up and re-envision Atari Classics.ESRB Content Rating: T, Teen (Fantasy violence, blood, mild sexual themes, language, drug reference).Cartridge compatible with Nintendo Switch video game system ; HDTV 720p/1080i/1080p ; in game surround sound ; Nintendo Switch Pro controller compatible.
Subjects: Nintendo video games.; Arcade-style video games.; Adventure video games.; Platform video games.; Simulation video games.; Sports video games.; Video games.; Nintendo Switch (Video game console); Nintendo Switch video games.; Video games.; Computer games.; Atari 50 the anniversary celebration (Game);

Auston Matthews : a life in hockey / by McGran, Kevin,author.;
"For those growing up in the American southwest, playing football, basketball, and baseball are the stuff of childhood dreams. For Auston Matthews, however, the unlikeliest of desert sports -- ice hockey -- captured his imagination. From the first time he watched professional players when he could barely stand up on skates himself, he was completely mesmerized by the speed and action on the ice. No one could have predicted his unorthodox journey to the NHL, from Arizona to Switzerland to Toronto. The first pick in the 2016 NHL entry draft, Matthews is quite simply a scoring phenom. It's almost as if he can't not score. In his first NHL game he scored a record four goals against the Leafs' mortal enemies, the Ottawa Senators. He's been scoring at a torrid pace ever since, breaking records as he blasts pucks past startled goalies. The red light has become his good friend, a beacon to the success of one of the most prolific scorers in the history of the league. What he wants more than any scoring record, however, is a championship win, something all Leafs' fans have pleaded for since their last Stanley Cup win in 1967. Veteran sports reporter Kevin McGran, who covers the Leafs for The Toronto Star, talks to Matthews just about every day in the dressing room and at practices. McGran has spoken to dozens of Matthews's coaches, rivals, friends, teammates, and others in Auston Matthews, the first book about the sometimes enigmatic star of hockey's most storied franchise"--
Subjects: Biographies.; Matthews, Auston.; National Hockey League.; Toronto Maple Leafs (Hockey team); Hockey players;

Undisputed : a champion's life / by Bailey, Donovan,1967-author.;
"From chasing a soccer ball through the fields of his native Jamaica as a child, to the basketball courts of Oakville, where he came of age in one of Canada's most thriving cultural mosaics, to his run toward Olympic gold in Atlanta in 1996, Donovan Bailey got a long way on natural talent. But he soon learned he needed to be his own toughest critic if he was going to be the very best. As he rose quickly to prominence in Canada's track scene, others didn't always understand the rigour at work behind his confident demeanour. Media reported, not his determination, but that he was immodest in a way they weren't accustomed to seeing from Canadian athletes, especially track athletes in the wake of the Ben Johnson doping scandal at Seoul in 1988. Bailey was having none of it, and when he called out racism in Canada in a way that contradicted the prevailing idea most Canadians had of their country, he started a media uproar and cracked wide open the nation's moral complacency. Aside from his 100-metre and 4x100 relay golds in Atlanta, Bailey's track career was a litany of records and rare accomplishments, including his audacious 1997 race in Toronto's SkyDome against American 200-metre Olympic champion Michael Johnson to determine who was really the world's fastest man. There would be no disputing the result. For all his talent, Bailey was coached in success long before he was coached in athletics. Following the footsteps of his father, a real estate investor, Bailey was a self-made millionaire by the age of 21 and continued to apply a disciplined mentality to everything he did in life. An Olympic champion, yes, but one mentored in the ways of his mind well before he was taught how to optimize the gifts of his body. Frank about the way Bailey dominated the 100-metre (not even his favourite sport), and unapologetic for pushing those around him as hard as he pushed himself, Undisputed is an athlete's story told with the kind of entertaining and inspiring verve very few of his peers can match."--
Subjects: Biographies.; Autobiographies.; Bailey, Donovan, 1967-; Athletes, Black; Sprinters; Jamaican Canadians;