The Group Chat: The GIST meets Goodreads

From The GIST (hi@thegistsports.com)

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Edition #27 • Oct 19, 2025

It’s fall, y’all!

Welcome to The Group Chat, where sports and culture meet and mingle.

Mid-October is a magical time when sports overlap with the official start of cozy season — in other words, the ideal time to build up your “To Be Read” pile with sporty recommendations straight from The GIST team. Curl up with a warm mug of something tasty, and let’s get into it.

📖 The GIST’s Cozy Season Book Recs 📖

📖 Memoirs

Source: The GIST

⚽ “Playing the Long Game” by Christine Sinclair: It’s such a light and fun read — it’s just the story of a girl who grew up loving soccer, her journey to becoming one of the greats, and the things she learned along the way — but it had so many nice little tidbits that I share with the kids I coach all the time. — Jayashree, social media producer

🎾 “Open” by Andre Agassi and J.R. Moehringer: The best autobiography I’ve ever read, hands down. He’s unflinching as he describes the cognitive dissonance of his success on the court and his rollercoaster of a personal life. Becoming a worldwide celebrity as a teenager is not for the weak. — Ellen, co-founder and head of content

⚽ “One Life” by Megan Rapinoe and Emma Brockes: Only Rapinoe could write about winning multiple FIFA Women’s World Cups and becoming a vocal advocate for social justice with so much humor and originality. Come for an inside look at the best love story in sports, stay for the inspiration to live your life for others. — Alessandra, newsletter & podcast producer

👟 “Shoe Dog” by Phil Knight: Nike’s founder tells the story of how he built the company from nothing into one of the world’s most iconic, highest-grossing brands. He literally started selling shoes out of the trunk of his car, and now the company is worth $100B. Unreal. — McKenzie, growth marketer

Some hockey-specific titles for the most wonderful time of the year (NHL season)

Together with Simon & Schuster

Auston Matthews by Kevin McGran

An unauthorized biography of hockey’s hottest sniper on the league’s most storied team? Yes, please.

Lafleur by Steve Finn and Pierre Gince

Montreal Canadien Guy Lafleur was, ahem, that guy in the ’70s and ’80s. Now you can learn about the legend’s life from his peers and admirers.

The Next One by Ken Reid

New release alert! This one drops Tuesday. Go behind-the-scenes with hockey scouts and learn the fascinating ins and outs of how talented teen prodigies turn into global superstars.

Breathe with Me by Becka Mack

Time for some romantic fiction. Cara’s a self-made woman and one half of a power couple alongside her beau, ice king Emmett. Their love is headstrong — but can it survive the challenges of starting a family? Find out in the final story of the Playing for Keeps series.

📖 Other Nonfiction

♥️ “Loving Sports When They Don’t Love You Back: Dilemmas of the Modern Fan” by Jessica Luther and Kavitha Davidson: A must-read for GISTers and anyone who has ever felt left out of the sports community. The title says it all. — Marga, newsletter and growth operations

🏀 “Hoop Muses: An Insider’s Guide to Pop Culture and the (Women’s) Game” by Seimone Augustus and Kate Fagan, illustrated by Sophia Chang: A who’s who of women’s hoops history and required reading for fans. The authors blend fiction and nonfiction to bring you through the game’s evolution and its connection to the culture. Basically, if The Group Chat were a book. — Lisa, newsletter & podcast producer

Together With CIBC

⭐ Championing the ambitions of changemakers: Paige Crozon

Source: The GIST/Paige Crozon

We don’t have to tell you that women can do it all, but Paige Crozon’s résumé is particularly mind-boggling: She’s a mom, a top-ranked FIBA player, and a gamechanger. Her ambition? Breaking down barriers to sport for youth in rural, Indigenous, and underserved communities with her organization One Sky Sports.

✨ The support: As a founding partner of the Toronto Tempo, CIBC knows meaningful basketball experiences can foster connection, confidence, and belonging. That’s why we’re championing Crozon’s ambition together.

🤝 The game plan: One Sky Sports is launching Half-Court Hoops, a program that’ll bring 3x3 clinics and leadership workshops to kids often left behind. CIBC’s grant will help fund travel to remote schools, produce culturally-relevant curricula, and train local leaders to carry the work forward.

LEARN MORE ABOUT THE CHANGEMAKERS IN THE SPOTLIGHT

📖 Fiction

🏒 “Beartown” by Fredrik Backman, translated by Neil Smith: The first in a haunting trilogy, “Beartown” explores how hockey binds people together…and tears them apart. Part family drama, part coming-of-age tearjerker, part love letter to small towns and tight communities, it’ll pull on your heartstrings in a big way. — Jamie, account executive

🎾 “Carrie Soto is Back” by Taylor Jenkins Reid: TJR’s one of the hottest authors out there right now, so you know I tore through her sportiest title. It follows tennis’ fictional GOAT, the fiercely competitive and hard-nosed Soto, as she comes back from retirement to defend her legacy. It’ll have you ready to run through a brick wall and reconsider what’s most important in your life. — Katie, newsletter producer

🏒 “Time to Shine: A Spicy Bisexual Hockey Romance” by Rachel Reid: Sports romances aren’t just fun, spicy reads — they help make sports more welcoming for marginalized fans, and this one is a great example. A bromance-to-romance love story between elite hockey players, set over the holidays? Say less. — Nadia, client solutions manager

🏀 “Hello Beautiful” by Ann Napolitano: William Waters is a college basketball player with a loving girlfriend, Julia. But when an injury disrupts his career, it changes the course of his life and the lives of Julia’s entire family. An intense and moving story of love and sisterhood — if you liked Ann Patchett’s “Tom Lake,” you’ll love this one. — Erin, account executive

Together With Proline

Vladimir Guerrero Jr. #27 of the Toronto Blue Jays celebrates after hitting a double during the eighth inning against the Seattle Mariners in game three of the American League Championship Series

Source: Alika Jenner/Getty Images

⚾ Biff may have been the villain in Back to the Future II, but he was right about one thing: There’s nothing like the thrill of betting on baseball. With the journey to the World Series in full, ahem, swing, we partnered with PROLINE to ask GISTers whether they were rooting for the Toronto Blue Jays or the Seattle Mariners in the American League Championship Series.

The results are in: 88% of our community chose the Jays — no surprise there.

Best of all, there’s lots of baseball still on the calendar, which means there you have plenty of time to play ball with PROLINE. Build your bet on the PROLINE app and place it in store during the next seventh inning stretch.

*Must be 18+ to bet in-store with PROLINE.

At The GIST HQ

What (else) We're Loving

💎 Blinging: Our phone cameras with the sparkliest protectors.

👂 Wearing: Any of these statement earrings that always get compliments.

🥿 Strutting: In these high-quality classics with a modern twist.

🍽️ Setting: Our dining tables with the New York City Ballet x Anthropologie collection.

Today's email was brought to you by Katie Kehoe Foster and Nadia Ayoub. Editing by Rachel Fuenzalida. Fact-checking by Marga Sison. Operations by Marga Sison. Ads by Katie Kehoe Foster, Alessandra Puccio, and Lisa Minutillo. Managing edits by Ellen Hyslop and Lauren Tuiskula. Head of content Ellen Hyslop.