Minnesota Sports Almanac

To be hoisted on your teammates' shoulders after a championship win? To nail the perfect serve? To conquer the wilderness with a pack of dogs in the fore? To crush the Packers? To dust off your pompoms and skip onto the field? To take home the trivia trophy from your local sports bar? Whatever your athletic aspiration, Minnesota Sports Almanac is the book for you. Spanning 125 years of feats and follies, this groundbreaking sports bible has it all:

—Colorful profiles of famous and infamous players and teams in virtually every sport

—Crowd-pleasing trivia featuring obscure facts and figures

—Stats of wins and losses, fumbles and scores, games and rankings

—Insider views of venues and stadiums, sports writers and announcers

—Thrilling tales of edge-of-your-seat wins, of records set and championships lost

—Vivid replays of memorable moments for players and teams

Star Tribune sports reporter Joel Rippel offers the comprehensive history of men's and women's sports from high school and amateur to pro. The North Star State's big four—football, baseball, basketball, and hockey—are packed here with just about every sport championed by Minnesota's own, including golf, bowling, wrestling, boxing, soccer, tennis, gymnastics, figure skating, dogsledding, curling, luging, snowmobiling, running, bike racing, auto racing, horse racing, hunting, fishing, swimming, water skiing, volleyball, cheerleading, and more.

Patrick Reusse is a sports columnist for the Minneapolis Star Tribune.