One of the many trends in sports is after star athletes retire, many of them will write autobiographies about their life and career. Even if the book is not an autobiography, many of the athletes are closely involved in the writing process about books about themselves. Stories from top athletes can inspire the audience when the readers see the adversity and struggles these stars have overcome to be the best athletes in the respective sports.
Many sports biographies follow the two-step flow model because the athletes are opinion leaders and can influence the readers. For example, a biography about Michael Jordan mentions how he tried to make five hundred shots everyday. A young reader may see this and go shoot basketball until he makes five hundred shots because he wants to be the next Michael Jordan.
Athletes also use books to share their side of the story when it comes to a controversy or opposing opinions. They frame their story in a light that they feel is the truth, when some media outlets frame the controversy in a negative light. One example of is Tim Tebow and his two books. Tebow gives a very detailed look into his life and some of his personal beliefs and stories.
Nearly all books regarding the sports industry, especially books about athletes, are known as trade books. Even though most of print media is on the decline, books continue to survive because of technology. According to Vivian, there were 571 million paper books sold in the United States in 2015. Jeff Bezos and Amazon have become the largest book supplier in the world with their online bookstore. A reader looking for a sports book about any athlete, team, event or sport can go to Amazon and there are thousands of books available to buy in seconds.
There have been thousands of sports books written throughout the history of print media in the sports industry. The Department of Public Instruction in Wisconsin and Men’s Journal have both created lists of the best sports books and biographies of all time.
Top Current Sports Biographies, according to Amazon:
- Kobe Bryant’s The Mamba Mentality: How I Play
- Dale Earnhardt Jr’s Racing to the Finish: My Story
- The Big Fella: Babe Ruth and the World He Created by Jane Leavy
- Phil Knight’s Shoe Dog: A Memoir by the Creator of Nike
- Bobby Orr’s Bobby: My Story in Pictures
Just like many other industries merging together, the print industry and film industry has increasingly merged together. There have been many sports books and biographies that have later been turned into movies. Several examples of sports books becoming movies is:
Michael Lewis’ Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game turned into the movie Moneyball starring Brad Pitt- G. Bissinger’s Friday Night Lights: A Town, A Team and a Dream turned into the ESPY Award-winning movie Friday Night Lights starring Billy Bob Thorton.
- Michael Lewis’ The Blind Side: Evolution of a Game turned into the movie The Blind Side
Sources:
Media and Sports 
I had never thought about athletes as opinion leaders in the way of the two step model before but I think it is extremely relevant! As someone who has always looked up to athletes, thinking about it through this lens shows me how athletes have for years shaped my thoughts and actions. I am interested to see how this industry continues to grow. As Vivian said-books aren’t dead!
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