It’s far too easy to allow the national media and disparaging fans to undermine Clevelanders’ views of their professional sports teams. While the Browns, Guardians, and Cavaliers have certainly caused more than their fair share of frustration and heartbreak, there are countless moments of glory in the fertile athletic history of Northeast Ohio that receive little notice east of Shaker Heights or west of Rocky River. Jonathan Knight’s Classic Cleveland Series sets out to combat this trend, bundling together the most memorable moments of Cleveland’s beloved athletic clubs. In three separate publications, Knight ranks the fifty greatest games in each franchise with entertaining accounts of each contest, properly placing them in the broad landscape of civic history. This updated edition covers the team’s name change and more recent memorable games.

When the Brecksville-Broadview Heights High School gymnastics team competes in the Ohio High School Athletic Association state gymnastics meet, they’re expected to win. That’s because they’ve won each year—since 2004. And as the streak builds, there’s more pressure each year on the public school’s team to continue that tradition. No year was more tense than the year that they were hoping to take home their 20th straight title.

Deadbeats, Dead Balls, and the 1914 Boston Braves chronicles the team’s misfortune, meteoric rise through the 1914 season, and audacious World Series run against the overwhelmingly dominant Philadelphia Athletics. Hall of Fame umpire Bill Klem, a mainstay in the game for over 70 years, called the Braves “the most spirited team he ever saw”—but would their spirit be enough against one of the most powerful teams ever put together?

From the time James was a high school sophomore, former Cleveland Plain Dealer sports columnist Bill Livingston covered every step of his journey from the teenager who flouted high school league rules to a basketball icon and activist, one who even founded a school in his hometown.

LeBron James has been a polarizing yet beloved figure for sports fans around the world, possibly nowhere more so than in northeast Ohio, where he grew up. He began his basketball career hailed as “the chosen one,” a beacon of hope for a Cleveland team that had never won an NBA championship. He was then denounced for “the Decision” to leave and pursue his trophy dreams with the Miami Heat. The prodigal son subsequently returned to the Cavaliers, fulfilling “the Promise” to bring ultimate victory to Cleveland in 2016.

The San Francisco Giants have been one of the most successful franchises in baseball in the 21st century, as evidenced by the three World Series championship flags flying in the breeze over Oracle Park—one of the most beautiful baseball venues in the world. However, the team was not always so successful on or off the field. The Giants and Their City tells the story of a Giants franchise that had no recognizable stars, was last in the league in attendance, and had more than one foot out the door on the way to Toronto when a local businessman and a brand-new mayor found a way to keep the team in San Francisco.

Football historians regard the games between the Cleveland Browns and the Pittsburgh Steelers as the basis for one of the greatest rivalries in NFL history. Authors Richard Peterson and Stephen Peterson, in telling the engaging story of these teams who play only a two-hour drive along the turnpike from each other, explore the reasons behind this intense rivalry and the details of its ups and downs for each team and its fans.

Two very exciting games in Cleveland Browns history—their upset of the Baltimore Colts in 1964 and the Monday Night Football game on September 21, 1970, when they beat Joe Namath and the New York Jets—bookend this in-depth look at a highly successful era in the franchise’s history. During the five years from 1965–69, the Browns qualified for the postseason four times, played in three NFL championship games, and twice came within a game of the Super Bowl.

Choosing the 50 greatest games is hard to do; ranking them is even harder. Now every Reds fan can relive memories of baseball before and after the Big Red Machine, debate about these choices, or make a list of their own.

In the 1940s and 1950s, Duquesne University basketball was not only the most revered team in the city but also won the area’s only Division I national championship ever in a tournament. Carnegie Mellon University, considered one of the premiere academic institutions in the country today, was still called Carnegie Tech in 1926 when its football team defeated the great Knute Rockne and Notre Dame in one of the most incredible upsets the sport has ever seen.

In Classic Bengals, authors Steve Watkins and Dick Maloney tell the stories of the 50 greatest games in Bengals history — along with the stories behind the games. Their choices are sure to spark much interest, and argument, among the legions of loyal Bengals fans.

They set the stage for each game, detail the big plays, stunning comebacks, and fantastic finishes and paint a picture that makes fans feel as though they’re at the game. They include comments from players and coaches while also listing the scoring details and statistics of each game.