Best Selling Football Books

The top 50 most popular and best selling football ebooks at the Apple iBookstore. Chart of the football iBook best sellers updated daily.

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Sports Ebook Best Sellers

Top Football eBook Best Sellers

1

Every Day Is Sunday - Ken Belson Cover Art

Every Day Is Sunday

Every Day Is Sunday How Jerry Jones, Robert Kraft, and Roger Goodell Turned the NFL into a Cultural & Economic Juggernaut by Ken Belson

From veteran New York Times Business & NFL reporter, Ken Belson, a deeply-reported account of how the NFL’s Commissioner, Roger Goodell, and its two most powerful owners, Jerry Jones & Robert Kraft, turned the league into a cultural phenomenon. On February 11, 2024, NFL Commissioner, Roger Goodell, & the league’s two most powerful owners, Jerry Jones & Robert Kraft, looked down at the spectacle before them. What they saw was the sport’s championship game, the Super Bowl—now a de facto national holiday—being played in a shiny new $2B stadium, home to the first franchise based in Las Vegas, after the league’s embrace of nationwide gambling. The moment was over 30 years in the making. As one of Goodell's colleagues said: “Roger doesn’t view the other leagues as competition. He wants to be mentioned with Disney and the Vatican, these massive institutions.” In Every Day is Sunday , Ken Belson traces the evolution of the league from “one of the four US professional sports,” to the superpower it is today. Belson illustrates how the league’s rise coincided with the arrival of Jones & Kraft in the early 90’s. He provides an inside look on how these two men reshaped the league, taking readers into the secretive owner’s meeting, how they decided Goodell was the right man to place as Commissioner, and how the three built, wielded, and held on to their collective power. Perfect for fans of The Dynasty and Big Game , Belson provides a unique peek behind the curtain of how America’s favorite sport achieved its status—and how these three men let nothing stand in their way.

2

Friday Night Lights (25th Anniversary Edition) - H. G. Bissinger Cover Art

Friday Night Lights (25th Anniversary Edition)

Friday Night Lights (25th Anniversary Edition) A Town, a Team, and a Dream by H. G. Bissinger

Named Sports Illustrated' s best football book of all time and a #1 NYT bestseller, this is the classic story of a high school football team whose win-loss record has a profound influence on the town around them. Return once again to the timeless account of the Permian Panthers of Odessa -- the winningest high-school football team in Texas history. Socially and racially divided, Odessa isn't known to be a place big on dreams, but every Friday night from September to December, when the Panthers play football, dreams can come true. With frankness and compassion, Pulitzer Prize winner H. G. Bissinger unforgettably captures a season in the life of Odessa and shows how single-minded devotion to the team shapes the community and inspires -- and sometimes shatters -- the teenagers who wear the Panthers' uniforms. The inspiration for the hit television program and film of the same name, this anniversary edition features a new afterword by the author.

3

American Kings - Seth Wickersham Cover Art

American Kings

American Kings A Biography of the Quarterback by Seth Wickersham

Pull back the curtain on the most powerful position in all of sports.The New York Times bestselling author of It's Better to be Feared examines football's QB lifecycle: high school, college, the NFL, retirement—and all that comes with it."An instant classic—not just a great sports book but a great cultural history."—Jonathan Eig, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of King: A LifeThe quarterback: the American equivalent of royalty, long glamorized, mythologized, and worshipped. Still, long before the Super Bowl trophies, massive contracts, brand deals, and millions of social media followers comes the dream. From the backyard to Pop Warner, from high school to college, from the NFL to the Hall of Fame, becoming the country's ultimate idol requires single-minded focus while navigating a maze of bad breaks, insecurities, jealousy, pressure, and fame.Long known as the outsider's guide into this elite world, Seth Wickersham's fresh reporting goes deep into the quarterback journey, measuring the distance between what the men who have traveled it expected and what they found at the end of the road. Through unprecedented access into the lives of dozens of quarterbacks and generational greats such as Johnny Unitas, John Elway, Peyton Manning, Warren Moon, Steve Young, and others, as well as those figures striving to be remembered, like Caleb Williams and Arch Manning, Wickersham reveals how this one position has become emblematic of success in American life.As an inside look into a uniquely American job and a uniquely American obsession with football, American Kings is a must-read for sports fans and anyone who wants to understand what the price of ambition tells us about the quest for achievement and status.

4

A Big Mess in Texas - David Fleming Cover Art

A Big Mess in Texas

A Big Mess in Texas The Miraculous, Disastrous 1952 Dallas Texans and the Craziest Untold Story in NFL History by David Fleming

The incredible, untold true story of the 1952 Dallas Texans—the most dysfunctional team in the craziest season in NFL history. Rattlesnakes on the practice field, barroom brawls between teammates, bounced checks, paternity suits, house bombings by the Ku Klux Klan, stadium fields covered in circus-elephant dung, one-legged trainers, humiliating defeats, miraculous wins, All-Pro quarterbacks getting drunk at halftime, strip poker with groupies, and even a future Hall of Fame coach stealing a cab. Nearly lost to history, this singular season in the most football-mad region of the world is a kaleidoscope of every larger-than-life, fictionalized Texas football folktale ever written or filmed, with one incredible twist: it's all true. Over a fascinating, ten-month rollercoaster ride in 1952, in the waning Wild West days of the NFL, before television turned the game into a corporation, the forgotten Dallas Texans would go down in history as one of the worst (and, wildest) teams of all time and the last NFL team to fail. But not before defying the Jim Crow South, pulling off a Thanksgiving Day miracle against George Halas’s famed Chicago Bears and then celebrating with an even more infamous bender that would make Jimmy Johnson’s Dallas Cowboys blush. A year later, the NFL buried all traces of the most loveable, dysfunctional, entertaining team in history by secretly rebranding the train wreck Texans as the wholesome, all-American Baltimore Colts, the team that would go on to save pro football. A Big Mess in Texas tells the Texans’ tale with all the humor, drama, game action, colorful characters, villains, world-class athletes, civil rights trailblazers, and incredible plot twists of that legendary season.

5

The Genius of Desperation - Doug Farrar Cover Art

The Genius of Desperation

The Genius of Desperation The Schematic Innovations that Made the Modern NFL by Doug Farrar

If necessity has been the mother of invention throughout the history of professional football, it could also be said that desperation is the father. Rare are the football innovations that have occurred without an owner, general manager, coach, or player up against the wall and reaching for a way to succeed anyway. In this meticulously researched, lively book, Bleacher Report lead NFL scout Doug Farrar traces the schematic history of the pro game through these "if this/then that" moments—paradigm shifts in the game from 1920 through the present. More than just a book about schemes and strategies, The Genius of Desperation: The Schematic Innovations that Made the Modern NFL also tells the stories of the game's most prominent innovators, the adversities they endured, and the ways in which they learned to exceed their own expectations on the path to true greatness. Everyone from George Halas to Greasy Neale, Paul Brown to Sid Gillman, Bill Walsh to Chip Kelly is featured, as well as many more. The Genius of Desperation is a narrative arc through the history of the game as it's never been told before.

6

Meat Market - Bruce Feldman Cover Art

Meat Market

Meat Market Inside the Smash-Mouth World of College Football Recruiting by Bruce Feldman

"One of the most insightful books ever written about college football." — The New York Times Now revised and updated by the author, MEAT MARKET proves that in college football, the game off the field is more brutal than the one on the field. In this shattering expose, Bruce Feldman goes into the war rooms to show who stands to profit when champions get built, and at what cost. A college football program can become a multi-million dollar industry for its school, but only if that program wins. The quest for excellence goes beyond the guts and the glory of the gridiron—it goes into the war rooms where recruiters size up every metric to determine which high-school phenom they want to recruit to the university. Bruce Feldman—FOX Sports College Football Insider—rips the cover off the game's frenzied pursuit of raw talent, taking you deep inside the SEC war room of recruiting legend Ed Orgeron, the combustible Cajun who helped build national championship teams at the University of Miami and at USC. In a stunning, blow-by-blow account of the year leading up to National Signing Day 2007, the award-winning journalist shadows Orgeron and his Ole Miss assistants as they set about hunting high school students, pleading, plotting, and inventing ways to lure them to their sleepy Oxford campus. Packed with candid confessions and outrageous off-the-field action, Meat Market makes what happens on the field seem almost tame by comparison. MEAT MARKET is a must-read for all college football fans, an eye-opening discovery of what it takes to put their favorite team on the field.

7

Once a Giant - Gary Myers Cover Art

Once a Giant

Once a Giant A Story of Victory, Tragedy, and Life After Football by Gary Myers

The inside story of the Super Bowl champion 1986 Giants, the extraordinary friendships that resulted--and stunning revelations about the hardships they faced, based on new interviews with Bill Parcells, Phil Simms, Mark Bavaro, and Bill Belichick. The 1986 New York Giants are legendary. A championship team coached by Bill Parcells and his wunderkind assistant Bill Belichick, featuring future Hall of Famers and All-Pros like Phil Simms, Lawrence Taylor, Mark Bavaro, and Harry Carson. They were dominant on the field and formed a unique and lasting bond off of it. More than thirty years later, it's the friendships that have proved more important--a matter of life and death. In  Once a Giant , bestselling football writer Gary Myers tells the story of that team and what became of it. Gridiron glory eventually faded; chronic pain, addiction, and in some cases crimes have followed. Many football players face these harsh realities, but the Giants have confronted and survived them together. With unprecedented access, Myers dives into such issues as Mark Bavaro's battle with injuries, the breakup and reconciliation of Parcells and Belichick, and Lawrence Taylor's struggles with sobriety. He creates a never-before-seen portrait of the team's run to the title, and their even more challenging fight to live after it ended.

8

How Good Do You Want to Be? - Nick Saban & Brian Curtis Cover Art

How Good Do You Want to Be?

How Good Do You Want to Be? A Champion's Tips on How to Lead and Succeed at Work and in Life by Nick Saban & Brian Curtis

The winning philosophy for creating and inspiring success that will help you triumph at work and in life from renowned football coach Nick Saban—with a foreword by Bill Belichick Excellence doesn’t happen overnight. It comes from hard work, consistency, the drive to be the best, and a passion for what you do. Few understand this better than Nick Saban. With more than three decades of experience as a player and coach, Saban has worked alongside some of the game’s legends and has seen firsthand how great leaders encourage greatness in others. In this candid and thoughtful guide, he shares his unique wisdom: • Organization, Organization, Organization: Create an environment where everybody knows his or her responsibilities—and each is responsible to the entire group. • Motivate to Dominate: Understand the psychology of teams and individuals, and use that knowledge to breed success. • No Other Way than Right: Practice ethics and values—and demand the same from your team. • Look in the Mirror: Maintain an understanding of who you are by knowing your strengths and your weaknesses. How Good Do You Want to Be? is more than the story of how Nick Saban motivates his staff and players to excel—it is also the memoir of one of America’s most successful coaches. Filled with instructive anecdotes and illuminated by never-before-told stories of his life and career, this is a book that challenges and inspires us all to be our best.

9

Hail to the Redskins - Adam Lazarus Cover Art

Hail to the Redskins

Hail to the Redskins Gibbs, the Diesel, the Hogs, and the Glory Days of D.C.'s Football Dynasty by Adam Lazarus

The definitive account of the Washington Redskins' championship decade from 1981 to 1992, full of interviews with key inside sources. "If there is one book to own about those glorious days, when Washington ruled the NFL world, this is it." —Mike Freeman, Bleacher Report's NFL Lead Writer and author of Undefeated: Inside the Miami Dolphins' Perfect Season Based on more than ninety original interviews, here is the definitive chronicle of the famed Washington Redskins teams of the Joe Gibbs years—one of the most remarkable and unique runs in NFL history. Sportswriter Adam Lazarus masterfully charts the team's championship decade, from 1981 to 1992, when Gibbs coached the franchise to three Super Bowl victories, making the team the toast of the nation's capital, from the political elite to the inner city, and helping define one of the sport's legendary eras. "Finally, a writer has put it all together in a work that will help you fully appreciate what Joe Gibbs and those around him accomplished during the greatest decade in Washington Redskins history. Hail to Adam Lazarus for a job well done!" —Frank Herzog, Washington Redskins play-by-play announcer, 1979–2004 "The wildly successful Joe Gibbs era comes alive in Adam Lazarus's riveting new book about the most important sports team in Washington. . . . [A] fascinating story." —Christine Brennan, USA Today columnist and author of Best Seat in the House

10

Take Your Eye Off the Ball 2.0 - Pat Kirwan & David Seigerman Cover Art

Take Your Eye Off the Ball 2.0

Take Your Eye Off the Ball 2.0 How to Watch Football by Knowing Where to Look by Pat Kirwan & David Seigerman

Renowned NFL analysts' tips to make football more accessible, colorful, and compelling than ever before More and more football fans are watching the NFL each week, but many of them don't know exactly what they should be watching. What does the offense's formation tell you about the play that's about to be run? When a quarterback throws a pass toward the sideline and the wide receiver cuts inside, which player is to blame? Why does a defensive end look like a Hall of Famer one week and a candidate for the practice squad the next? These questions and more are addressed in Take Your Eye Off the Ball 2.0 , a book that takes readers deep inside the perpetual chess match between offense and defense. This book provides clear and simple explanations to the intricacies and nuances that affect the outcomes of every NFL game. This updated edition contains recent innovations from the 2015 NFL season.

11

Coaching Linebackers: By the Experts (Second Edition) - Earl Browning Cover Art

Coaching Linebackers: By the Experts (Second Edition)

Coaching Linebackers: By the Experts (Second Edition) by Earl Browning

In this new edition, twenty top coaches address virtually every aspect of coaching the linebacker. Articles include: • Linebacker Drills and Techniques, Barry Alvarez, University of Wisconsin  • Linebacker Drills and Techniques, Craig Aukerman, Miami University  • Fundamentals of Coaching Linebackers, Jay Bateman, Elon University • Defensive Concepts and Coaching Linebackers, John Chavis, Louisiana State University • Linebacker Drills and Pass Coverage, Bill Doba, Washington State University • Linebacker Techniques and Drills, Mark Gale, Marshall University • Linebacker Play in the 3-4 Defense, Al Groh, University of Virginia • Linebackers in the 4-3 Scheme, Rick Lantz, University of Virginia • Linebacker Techniques and Drills, Mike Major, University of Kentucky • Outside Linebacker Pass Rush Techniques, Bobby Morrison, University of Michigan • Linebacker Play and Defensive Fronts, Fred Pagac, The Ohio State University • Linebacker Fundamentals and Reads, Reggie Johnson, University of Louisville • Basic Linebacker Drills and Techniques, Reggie Johnson, University of Arkansas • Big Plays by Outside Linebackers, Willy Robinson, Fresno State University • Linebacker Techniques and Drills, Jerry Sandusky, Penn State University • Linebacker Techniques and Drills, Bob Simmons, University of Notre Dame • Linebacker Fundamentals Lou Tepper, University of Illinois • Linebacker Drills in the 4-3 Defense, Mike Tressel, University of Cincininnati • Linebacker Fundamentals and Drills, Tyson Veidt, Saint Vincent College • Linebacker Drills and Techniques, Gregg Williams, Houston Oilers

12

Sanctioned - Nick Purewal Cover Art

Sanctioned

Sanctioned The Inside Story of the Sale of Chelsea FC by Nick Purewal

The sale of Chelsea Football Club in 2022 was one of the highest-profile and most controversial sports transactions of all time. In the shadow of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, what unfolded after Roman Abramovich was forced to put his beloved club up for sale would change English football for ever. Under the threat of bankruptcy and ruin, Chelsea pulled off a complex transaction in three tense and troubling months – a quarter of the time many analysts would normally set aside for such a deal. Sanctioned is the definitive account of this unique period.Through unprecedented access to Abramovich himself and key figures from Chelsea's new ownership, as well as further interviews with a star-studded footballing cast, Nick Purewal unfolds a wide-ranging tale of political sanctions, hushed negotiations and Cold War-style geopolitics, all told in vivid, propulsive prose against a backdrop of war on the edge of Europe.From the club's owners to its staff, players and supporters, via UK government intervention, dramatic peace talks and even a foul-play poisoning episode, Sanctioned chronicles ninety-five extraordinary days in English football.

13

Hell with the Lid Off - Ed Gruver Cover Art

Hell with the Lid Off

Hell with the Lid Off Inside the Fierce Rivalry between the 1970s Oakland Raiders and Pittsburgh Steelers by Ed Gruver

Hell with the Lid Off  looks at the ferocious five-year war waged by Pittsburgh and Oakland for NFL supremacy during the turbulent seventies. The roots of their rivalry dated back to the 1972 playoff game in Pittsburgh that ended with the “Immaculate Reception,” Franco Harris’s stunning touchdown that led the Steelers to a win over the Raiders in their first postseason meeting. That famous game ignited a fiery rivalry for NFL supremacy. Between 1972 and 1977, the Steelers and the Raiders—between them boasting an incredible twenty-six Pro Football Hall of Famers—collided in the playoffs five straight seasons and in the AFC title game three consecutive years.  Both teams favored force over finesse and had players whose forte was intimidation. Pittsburgh’s Steel Curtain defense featured Mean Joe Greene, Jack Lambert, Jack Ham, and Mel Blount, the latter’s heavy hits forcing an NFL rule in his name. The Raiders countered with “The Assassin,” Jack Tatum, Skip Thomas (aka “Dr. Death”), George Atkinson, and Willie Brown in their memorable secondary. Each of their championships crowned the eventual Super Bowl winner, and their bloodcurdling encounters became so violent and vicious that they transcended the NFL and had to be settled in a U.S. district court.  With its account of classic games, legendary owners, coaches, and players with larger-than-life personalities,  Hell with the Lid Off  is a story of turbulent football and one of the game’s best-known rivalries.  

14

Yellow and Black - Konrad Marshall Cover Art

Yellow and Black

Yellow and Black A Season With Richmond by Konrad Marshall

Yellow and Black : A Season with Richmond reveals the intimate story of the Richmond Football Club through the highs and heartaches of the 2017 season. With unprecedented access to club officials, players and coaches, author Konrad Marshall takes the reader inside the rooms at the key moments the campaign, chronicling the Tigers’ journey towards premiership contention. This is not just a book of wins and losses, it’s the story of a professional football club and how it operates at every level: from the fitness staff, to the coaching panel, the players, and the Board. Football has changed enormously since Richmond’s last flag, in 1980, and Marshall explains in great detail the enormous amount of work and thought that goes into every decision made—on and off the field. Whether the Tigers make it to the last Saturday in September or not, their story is rich and explosive. Yellow and Black : A Season with Richmond is full of unparalleled access to all the key moments, including frank and occasionally emotional interviews with all the key figures. A Season with Richmond is a compulsory read for all football fans.

15

Over the Hill to the Super Bowl - Brig Owens & Chuck Cascio Cover Art

Over the Hill to the Super Bowl

Over the Hill to the Super Bowl by Brig Owens & Chuck Cascio

The 1972 Washington Redskins were dubbed the Over the Hill Gang by the media, who considered the team of aging veterans too old, too slow, and too ornery to succeed. The day-to-day story of how that team went to the Super Bowl is told in this book, which is the diary of Brig Owens, the team's safety and now a member of the Redskins Ring of Fame. It's all here--the competition, the battles for starting positions, coach George Allen's relentlessly thorough preparations, the humor, the tension, the glamour, and the routine...a story of hope that any football fan of any era will enjoy.

16

Pittsburgh Steelers Glory Days - Dale Grdnic Cover Art

Pittsburgh Steelers Glory Days

Pittsburgh Steelers Glory Days by Dale Grdnic

The Pittsburgh Steelers rank as one of the NFL’s truly legendary franchises, and this book, written from the fan’s perspective, provides readers with unique stories about the players and coaches who took part in many of the greatest and most euphoric victories in the team’s history. Among the games covered are Franco Harris’s “Immaculate Reception” that beat the Oakland Raiders in the playoffs, the four Super Bowl and AFC Championship Game victories in the glorious decade of the 1970s, and the incredible 2005 playoff run that was capped by the team’s fifth Super Bowl title. Grdnic notably delivers credit to Chuck Noll and acknowledges his remarkable talents in draft selections; taking Hall of Famers from 1969–1972 and finally in 1974 selecting four Hall of Famers in one draft year. The Pittsburgh Steelers 1974 draft year, to this day, has not yet been surpassed. Among other games reviewed are Bill Cowher’s first victory as Steelers head coach in 1992, a stunning overtime win against rival Cleveland Browns in 1976 under rookie quarterback Mike Kruczek and Ben Roethlisberger’s first win as a starting quarterback in Miami. This newly revised edition examines the Steelers’ most recent Super Bowl win in 2009 as well as their agonizing defeat in 2010. This is not just a book about one team but a highly detailed examination of an American legacy through the eyes of its devoted fans.

17

Violated - Paula Lavigne & Mark Schlabach Cover Art

Violated

Violated Exposing Rape at Baylor University amid College Football's Sexual Assault Crisis by Paula Lavigne & Mark Schlabach

Written by ESPN investigative reporters Violated narrates the sexual abuse by members of Baylor's football team and the university's attempt to silence the victims. A portion of the proceeds will be donated to RAINN to help fight sexual abuse. Throughout its history, Baylor University has presented itself as something special: As the world's largest Baptist university, it was unabashedly Christian. It condemned any sex outside of marriage, and drinking alcohol was grounds for dismissal. Students weren't even allowed to dance on campus until 1996. During the last several years, however, Baylor officials were hiding a dark secret: Female students were being sexually assaulted at an alarming rate. Baylor administrators did very little to help victims, and their assailants rarely faced discipline for their abhorrent behavior. Finally, after a pair of high-profile criminal cases involving football players, an independent examination of Baylor's handling of allegations of sexual assault led to sweeping changes, including the unprecedented ouster of its president, athletics director, and popular, highly successful football coach. For several years, campuses and sports teams across the country have been plagued with accusations of sexual violence, and they've been criticized for how they responded to the students involved. But Baylor stands out. A culture reigned in which people believed that any type of sex, especially violent non-consensual sex, simply "doesn't happen here." Yet it was happening. Many people within Baylor's leadership knew about it. And they chose not to act. Paula Lavigne and Mark Schlabach weave together the complex - and at times contradictory - narrative of how a university and football program ascending in national prominence came crashing down amidst the stories of woman after woman coming forward describing their assaults, and a university system they found indifferent to their pain.

18

If These Walls Could Talk: Raiders - Lincoln Kennedy & Paul Gutierrez Cover Art

If These Walls Could Talk: Raiders

If These Walls Could Talk: Raiders Stories from the Raiders Sideline, Locker Room, and Press Box by Lincoln Kennedy & Paul Gutierrez

Having spent eight seasons at offensive tackle for the Oakland Raiders before joining the radio broadcasting team, Lincoln Kennedy knows what it means to live and breathe Silver and Black football. In If These Walls Could Talk: Raiders , Kennedy provides insight into the team's inner sanctum as only he can, from his experience anchoring the O-line in Super Bowl XXXVII to the current roster in Vegas helmed by Derek Carr, from Jon Gruden to...Jon Gruden. Featuring conversations with players and coaches past and present as well as off-the-wall anecdotes only Kennedy can tell, this indispensable volume is your ticket to Raiders history.

19

The Boys of Riverside - Thomas Fuller Cover Art

The Boys of Riverside

The Boys of Riverside A Deaf Football Team and a Quest for Glory by Thomas Fuller

NAMED A BEST BOOK BY BOOK RIOT , AND MORE! • The incredible story of an all-deaf high school football team’s triumphant climb from underdog to undefeated, their inspirational brotherhood, a fascinating portrait of deafness in America, and the indefatigable head coach who spearheaded the team, by New York Times reporter and Page One Correspondent, Thomas Fuller. " The Boys of Riverside is another example of how anyone can achieve their dreams, making what appears impossible, possible.” —Marlee Matlin, Academy Award winner "Remarkable"— Wall Street Journal • "Narrative nonfiction at its finest, filled with drama, detail and action."— Los Angeles Times  • " Inspiring." — Parade.com In November 2021, an obscure email from the California Department of Education landed in New York Times reporter, Thomas Fuller’s, inbox. The football team at the California School for the Deaf in Riverside, a state-run school with only 168 high school students, was having an undefeated season. After years of covering war, wildfires, pandemic, and mass shootings, Fuller was captivated by the story of this group of high school boys. It was uplifting. During the gloom of the pandemic, it was a happy story. It was a sports story but not an ordinary one, built on the chemistry between a group of underestimated boys and their superhero advocate coach, Keith Adams, a deaf former athlete himself. The team, and Adams, tackled the many stereotypes and seemed to be succeeding. Fuller packed his bags and drove seven hours to the Riverside campus. The Boys of Riverside looks back at the historic 2021 and 2022 seasons in which the California School for the Deaf chased history. It follows the personal journeys of their dynamic deaf head coach, and a student who spent the majority of the season sleeping in his father’s car in the Target parking lot. It tells the story of a fiercely committed player who literally played through a broken leg in order not to miss a crucial game, as well as myriad other heart-wrenching and uplifting narratives of players who found common purpose. Through their eyes, Fuller reveals a portrait of high school athletics, inspiring camaraderie, and deafness in America.

20

The Price - Armen Keteyian & John Talty Cover Art

The Price

The Price What It Takes to Win in College Football's Era of Chaos by Armen Keteyian & John Talty

“An explosive tell-all book.”—Sports Illustrated “This is a must-read masterpiece.”—Paul Finebaum, ESPN college football analyst and New York Times bestselling author Two of the nation’s most respected sports journalists team up for a vital, hard-hitting investigation into the tumultuous state of big-time college football. We are living in the Wild West of college sports. Name, Image and Likeness endorsements, the transfer portal, collectives, conference realignment, the powerful influence of media companies have all rendered the notion of amateur athletics a quaint relic of the past, replaced by a Brave New World where money and self-interest rule. The Price is a sweeping, in-depth, thought-provoking look at an inflection point in big-time college football. Six time New York Times bestselling author Armen Keteyian and award-winning national college football reporter John Talty conducted more than two hundred wide-ranging interviews with head coaches, athletic directors, conference commissioners, administrators, politicians, power brokers, agents and media executives from one corner of the sport to the other. They reveal never-before-reported details on major players such as Nick Saban, Jim Harbaugh, Kirby Smart, Jimbo Fisher, and Lane Kiffin. Keteyian and Talty’s reporting also lays bare the machinations that destroyed the historic conference that was the Pac-12, purely in the name of greed. As the sport’s premier coaches race for the exits, Keteyian and Talty reveal deep, dark truths about a beloved game under siege—and the financial, physical, emotional and psychological toll taken on everyone whose dreams and fortunes often depend on the final score on a Saturday afternoon.

21

Madden & Summerall - Rich Podolsky, Troy Aikman & Joe Buck Cover Art

Madden & Summerall

Madden & Summerall How They Revolutionized NFL Broadcasting by Rich Podolsky, Troy Aikman & Joe Buck

Madden & Summerall tells the inside story of how two unlikely partners became the greatest broadcast duo in NFL history. This is the story of how John Madden and Pat Summerall got to CBS and, although very different, how they became the greatest broadcast team of all time. It is told by Rich Podolsky, who worked alongside them both at CBS.   Separately, they were great. Together, they were the greatest ever.  Madden & Summerall  is about two stalwarts of the game, but their story is not without controversy. Summerall was a five-sport star who became a broadcaster by accident. Uncharacteristically, he was a morning drive-time radio host before he found his path on TV. Madden was a bigger-than-life Super Bowl-winning coach, and he easily could have been a stand-up comedian.   We all remember the great story-telling John Madden, who won sixteen Emmy Awards, but we don’t remember how much he struggled his first two years on the air to find his way. In fact, he was almost fired after his first season. It wasn’t until he was paired with Summerall that it all clicked. They were so different, yet so perfect together—like peanut butter meeting jelly for the first time.   The book follows the intimate stories of their lives from childhood to death: before and during their great twenty-one-year partnership. Never-before-told insider stories (some fun, some scathing) from friends, family members, and dozens of ex-colleagues pepper these chapters.     

22

The Hidden Game of Football - Bob Carroll, Pete Palmer & John Thorn Cover Art

The Hidden Game of Football

The Hidden Game of Football A Revolutionary Approach to the Game and Its Statistics by Bob Carroll, Pete Palmer & John Thorn

The 1988 cult classic behind football's data analytics revolution, now back in print with a new foreword and preface. "The book that started it all. A visionary approach to football two decades ahead of its time." —Brian Burke, ESPN sports data scientist, creator of expected points added, win probability, and win rates Data analytics have revolutionized football. With play sheets informed by advanced statistical analysis, today's coaches pass more, kick less, and go for more two-point or fourth-down conversions than ever before. In 1988, sportswriters Bob Carroll, Pete Palmer, and John Thorn proposed just this style of play in The Hidden Game of Football , but at the time baffled readers scoffed at such a heartless approach to the game. Football was the ultimate team sport and unlike baseball could not be reduced to pure probabilities. Nevertheless, the book developed a cult following among analysts who, inspired by its unorthodox methods, went on to develop the core metrics of football analytics used today: win probability, expected points, QBR, and more. With a new preface by Thorn and Palmer and a new foreword by Football Outsiders 's Aaron Schatz, The Hidden Game of Football remains an essential resource for armchair coaches, fantasy managers, and fans of all stripes. "Everyone who reads this seminal classic will see the game differently. The concepts are as important for football coaching and scouting veterans as they are for aspiring analysts." —Patrick Ward and Brian Eayrs, Seattle Seahawks research and analytics "Before this book, zero teams made the "correct" choice to go for it on fourth down most of the time. Now, roughly half the league does. Football's significant shift toward analytics and the game's ever-growing popularity both owe a debt of gratitude to this book, which established some of the fundamental principles of how we think about the game today." —Eric Eager, vice president of research and development at SummerSports, formerly at Pro Football Focus

23

La mia vita sempre al centro - Henrikh Mkhitaryan & Alessandro Alciato Cover Art

La mia vita sempre al centro

La mia vita sempre al centro Il viaggio di un ragazzo armeno tra determinazione e sacrificio by Henrikh Mkhitaryan & Alessandro Alciato

Henrikh Mkhitaryan è figlio d'arte. È nato in Armenia, ma è cresciuto in Francia, perché il papà giocava in Ligue 2. Suo padre Hamlet è stato uno dei più forti attaccanti della storia del calcio armeno, scomparso a soli trentatré anni a causa di un tumore al cervello quando lui era solo un bambino. Il giovane Henrikh, però, ha coltivato e fatto fruttare egregiamente l'eredità calcistica lasciatagli dal genitore e, dopo un periodo di rifiuto del pallone, si è ripromesso di arrivare dove lui non era riuscito. Ma, soprattutto, il padre gli ha lasciato in regalo le parole più importanti della sua vita: «Henrikh, prima di tutto dovrai essere una brava persona. Ricordatelo». Un insegnamento che Henrikh ha sempre seguito in campo e fuori per onorarne la memoria e diventare l'uomo che è. A soli quattordici anni, Mkhitaryan è volato in Brasile per allenarsi con il San Paolo, dove ha lavorato sull'aspetto tecnico del gioco, adottato uno stile di calcio diverso e creativo e imparato un'altra lingua, il portoghese. Nel corso della sua carriera, ha vestito le maglie di Pyunik, Metalurh, Shakhtar, Borussia Dortmund, Manchester United e Arsenal. E nel 2019 è arrivato in Italia dove per tre anni ha giocato nella Roma. Il 2 luglio 2022 si è ufficialmente unito all'Inter di Simone Inzaghi e rapidamente è diventato una delle colonne della squadra nerazzurra. Ma cosa sappiamo della sua vita oltre lo stadio? Il giocatore armeno parla cinque lingue, ha due lauree, una in Educazione Fisica e l'altra in Economia, è molto credente. In breve, non corrisponde esattamente allo stereotipo del calciatore. E anche molto attivo in cause sociali: soprattutto, impegnato a sostenere i diritti dei bambini armeni in povertà e disabilità. La sua vita è sempre al centro della scena: sul campo e nella quotidianità, è una figura centrale, pronto a dare tutto per fare la differenza.

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Football For A Buck - Jeff Pearlman Cover Art

Football For A Buck

Football For A Buck The Crazy Rise and Crazier Demise of the USFL by Jeff Pearlman

From Jeff Pearlman—the New York Times best-selling author of Three Ring Circus—comes the rollicking, outrageous story of the USFL, full of larger-than-life characters and you-can’t-make-this-up stories featuring some of the biggest celebrities and buffoons in the game. The United States Football League—known fondly to millions of sports fans as the USFL—did not merely challenge the NFL, but cause its owners and executives to collectively shudder. In its three seasons from 1983-85, it secured multiple television deals, drew millions of fans and launched the careers of legends such as Steve Young, Jim Kelly, Herschel Walker, and Reggie White. But then it died beneath the weight of a particularly egotistical and bombastic team owner—a New York businessman named Donald J. Trump. In Football for a Buck, Jeff Pearlman draws on more than four hundred interviews to unearth all the salty, untold stories of one of the craziest sports entities to have ever captivated America. From 1980s drug excess to airplane brawls and player-coach punch outs, to backroom business deals and some of the most enthralling and revolutionary football ever seen, Pearlman transports readers back in time to this crazy, boozy, audacious, unforgettable era of the game. He shows how fortunes were made and lost on the backs of professional athletes and how, forty years ago, Trump was already a scoundrel and a spoiler. For fans of Terry Pluto’s Loose Balls or Jim Bouton’s Ball Four and of course Pearlman’s own stranger-than-fiction narratives, Football for a Buck is sports as high entertainment—and a cautionary tale of the dangers of ego and excess.

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Bringing the Heat - Mark Bowden Cover Art

Bringing the Heat

Bringing the Heat by Mark Bowden

"An ambitious, remarkably frank" chronicle of the Philadelphia Eagles' bid for the NFL championship by the #1 New York Times –bestselling author ( Kirkus Reviews ).   In 1992, the Philadelphia Eagles—a team assembled in the image of their iconoclastic, controversial former head coach, Buddy Ryan—were known for their ferocious defense led by Reggie White, Seth Joyner, and Andre Waters, and for the otherworldly talents of quarterback Randall Cunningham.   Now was the time for the Eagles' campaign for the championship. But as the season progressed, it disintegrated into an ugly flurry of greed, racism, violence, personal and professional feuds, one tragic death, and a very wild face-off in the stands between a player's wife and mistress. By midseason, the sentiment of both fans and press was the same: "shut up and play."   Told through the personal stories of the teammates themselves, as well as the coaches, managers and owner, Bringing the Heat spares nothing—and no one—in "a phenomenal feat of reportage, perfect for football fans coast to coast" (H. G. Bissinger, author of  Friday Night Lights ).   "Overflows with stories of pro football dreams, of bravery in the face of injury. Yet it also unflinchingly tells of the darker side of life in the NFL: uncontrollable egos, ruined families, marital infidelity." — The New York Times Book Review   "There are now four mandatory books on football: Dan Jenkins's  Semi-Tough ; George Plimpton's Paper Lion ; H. G. Bissinger's Friday Night Lights , and the hilarious, incorrigible son of them all, Mark Bowden's Bringing the Heat ." —Michael Bamberger, Sports Illustrated

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The 100-Yard Journey - Gary Pinkel & Dave Matter Cover Art

The 100-Yard Journey

The 100-Yard Journey A Life in Coaching and Battling for the Win by Gary Pinkel & Dave Matter

Very few college football coaches earn the distinction of becoming their programs' winningest, but Gary Pinkel has done it twice. From his nine-year tenure at the University of Toledo to his career at the University of Missouri from 2001 to 2015, Pinkel has shown he has the talent and meddle to take his teams to the top.    These remarkable achievements have been met by challenges along the way in Pinkel's personal and professional life, including a DUI and a divorce, a threatened team boycott at Mizzou which dominated national news headlines, and ultimately, a decision to step away from it all following a diagnosis of non-Hodgkins lymphoma.    In The 100-Yard Journey , Pinkel offers a glimpse into the mind of a winner as well as an honest reflection on meeting and overcoming the unexpected. Follow along from the start of Pinkel's coaching career at Kent State, the same program for which he played as a tight end, through stops at Washington and Toledo, and finally, taking over at the helm of Missouri, a program he guided to 10 bowl games in 15 years, a No. 1 AP ranking at the end of the 2007 season, and SEC Coach of the Year honors in 2014. Whether you're a Tigers fan or just interested in what makes a successful head coach tick, anyone can find something to relate to in Pinkel's personal memoirs.

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History of NFL Football for Kids - William Lawson Cover Art

History of NFL Football for Kids

History of NFL Football for Kids by William Lawson

The History of NFL Football for Kids Basic Knowledge of NFL Football History With Some Fun Facts and Records By William Lawson Get Excited about the Colorful History of America's most Popular Sport ,  Even if you don't know the first thing about Football... Football is one of the great American Pastimes. From the Super Bowl to the Thanksgiving game, Millions of Families Gather Throughout the week to watch their Favorite teams duke it out. Kids and Grandparents alike share the thrill of watching their team get that perfect tackle or last minute Save. Now you have the Opportunity to Share the History of the sport with your kids with one Engaging Guide. Don't have a clue about how Football Works? Don't Worry -- Within these pages, you'll learn everything you need to know about the game, from punts to Passes . Your kids will love Learning about the history and Stories that make the game what it is Today. Written by a Football fan, for Football Fans , you'll find the answers to the most common football-related Questions. Who's the Greatest Quarterback of all Time? How does the timing of the game Work? You'll Discover all this and More… And have a blast while doing It! In The History of NFL Football for Kids, Here is just a fraction of what you will Discover: The Birth of Football and how it's Evolved over the years into the sport that you know and Love Easy-to-Understand Definitions of Common Football Terms , so you'll be Talking like a pro in no Time How the "Father of American Football" shaped and Revolutionized the game with the start of the first "Football Craze" across the Nation The Basics of the Game, Including Positions, rules, and movements on the Field How the 32 Unique Teams of the NFL Landscape got their Names When helmets first Became Required for Players and other Notable Changes to the Uniforms for Maximum Safety The top 26 teams with the most Championships -- The most dominant franchise in NFL history may surprise You! Top Players and Coaches of all Time -- and what made them such Great Figures in the NFL World Records, Fun Facts, and Underdog Wins that will Wow Your Friends and Family And Much More. Football Doesn't have to be a Sports Mystery. While it might seem Complicated, You'll be Shocked at How Quickly you and your kids pick up on the Rules and Regulations of the Game. Already got a Football Fanatic on your Hands? These Inspirational Stories and Facts will have them Seeing the Game in a Totally new Way. Go the "Goal" Nine Yards with this fun, fact-filled book: Scroll up and click the "Add to Cart" Button Right Now.

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The New Thinking Man's Guide to Professional Football - Paul Zimmerman Cover Art

The New Thinking Man's Guide to Professional Football

The New Thinking Man's Guide to Professional Football by Paul Zimmerman

During his nearly 30 years at Sports Illustrated, Paul Zimmerman—known to readers as “Dr. Z”—rose to fame as one of the top writers in football history. The follow up to Zimmerman’s 1971 classic The Thinking Man’s Guide to Pro Football, The New Thinking Man’s Guide to Pro Football builds on the timeless insights of his original work. Filled with personal anecdotes from Zimmerman’s years covering football, this book offers a fascinating insight into the sport that will appeal to any fan that wants a deeper understanding and appreciation for the game. More than a generation later, Zimmerman’s work is as applicable today as when the updated edition came out in the late 1980s. This widely-acclaimed guide covers: Positions Tactics Football scouting Broadcasting Minor leagues Time strategies Great players and top moments

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Confessions of a High School Football Coach - Michael Dimatteo Cover Art

Confessions of a High School Football Coach

Confessions of a High School Football Coach The highs and lows, successes and failures of a career coaching high school football by Michael Dimatteo

This is a book about more than high school football. It is about leadership, forming relationships, dealing with heartbreak and rebuilding oneself. It is also a book that spares no truth about the world of high school football and how rewarding and heartbreaking it can truly be for those that coach it.

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Boys Will Be Boys - Jeff Pearlman Cover Art

Boys Will Be Boys

Boys Will Be Boys The Glory Days and Party Nights of the Dallas Cowboys Dynasty by Jeff Pearlman

New York Times bestseller From celebrated sports writer Jeff Pearlman, author of The Bad Guys Won, a rollicking, completely unabashed account of the glory days of the legendary Dallas Cowboys They were called America's Team. Led by Emmitt Smith, the charismatic Deion "Prime Time" Sanders, Hall of Famers Troy Aikman and Michael Irvin—and lorded over by swashbuckling, power-hungry owner Jerry Jones and his two hard-living coaches, Jimmy Johnson and Barry Switzer—the Cowboys seemed indomitable on the football field throughout the 1990s. Off the field the 'Boys were a dysfunctional circus, fueled by ego, sex, drugs, and jaw-dropping excess. What they achieved on game day was astonishing; what they did the rest of the week was unbelievable. Boys Will Be Boys is the story of the Dallas Cowboys in their prime—a team of wild-partying, out-of-control glory-hounds that won three Super Bowls in four years and earned their rightful place in sports lore as the most beloved and despised dynasty in NFL history.

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Turf Wars - DeMaurice Smith Cover Art

Turf Wars

Turf Wars The Fight for the Soul of America's Game by DeMaurice Smith

An NFL insider’s explosive account of the ruthless power struggles between owners and players over the future of football. During his fourteen years as the head of the NFL Players Association, DeMaurice Smith was a front line advocate for football players through some of the most tumultuous crises in NFL history: Colin Kaepernick’s protests, Deflategate, a lockout, two collective bargaining agreements, and more. But after witnessing the league’s troubling response to discrimination and racial unrest, both within the league and beyond, Smith realized it was time to pull back the curtain and speak truth to power. Drawing from his years of unprecedented access and unparalleled knowledge of America’s favorite sport, Smith documents his years leading the NFLPA and explains how the NFL distorts the truth, telling partial stories to insulate itself and grow its $20-billion-a-year brand—and the players’ battles to protect themselves. From contract negotiations to battles over suspensions, Smith shows us how the union fought to protect players from the greed, racism, and dishonesty the league is built on. He also takes readers inside closed-door meetings and unreported conversations and confrontations with the industry’s most powerful figures such as Robert Kraft, Jerry Jones, Tom Brady, and Roger Goodell. Turf Wars puts every NFL crisis—both familiar and lesser known—within a broader cultural and historical context, framing the league’s extraordinary rise as a mirror to America’s own history. Revelatory and profound, Turf Wars is a book about the soul of football: its degradation, and how to save it.

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Football Scouting Methods - Steve Belichick Cover Art

Football Scouting Methods

Football Scouting Methods by Steve Belichick

Reprint of the 1962 edition. Full facsimile of the original edition, not reproduced with Optical Recognition Software. "Considered the bible of scouting techniques" according to the Los Angeles Times, Football Scouting Methods explains the basic scouting strategies and insights of author Steve Belichick. He was widely viewed as the ablest football scout of his time and coached at the U.S. Naval Academy for 33 years; his son is New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick, a three-time Super Bowl winner. When Steve Belichick died in November 2005, the New York Times headline cited him as "Coach Who Wrote the Book on Scouting," and quoted Houston Texans General Manager Charley Casserly calling Football Scouting Methods "the best book on scouting he had ever read." Joe Bellino, Navy's Heisman Trophy winner in 1960, told the Times that Steve Belichick "was a genius. On Monday nights, he would give us his scouting reports, and even though we were playing powerhouses, I always felt we were prepared because he found a way for us to win." In recent years Football Scouting Methods has been one of the top ten most sought out-of-print books; used copies have been quite scarce. This reissue edition makes the original 1962 text available once again in exact facsimile. The book covers how to scout opponents, recognize defenses, analyze offenses, discover "tip-offs" that reveal the opponent's plays, compose a useful report, self-scout, and conduct postgame analysis. "Steve Belichick taught many younger men how to scout and how to watch film and how to prepare their teams for the next week's game," David Halberstam noted in the Washington Post, and his best student was his own son Bill Belichick, "one of whose greatest skills as a coach to this day remains his ability to analyze other teams, figuring out both their strengths and their vulnerabilities, and shrewdly deciding how to take away from them that which they most want to do." When CBS asked Bill Belichick to name his favorite book, he replied "Well, I've got to go with my dad's. Football Scouting Methods. I'd have to go with that."

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Scoreboard, Baby - Ken Armstrong & Nick Perry Cover Art

Scoreboard, Baby

Scoreboard, Baby A Story of College Football, Crime, and Complicity by Ken Armstrong & Nick Perry

Now, in Scoreboard, Baby, Armstrong and Perry go behind the scenes of the Huskies’ Cinderella story to reveal a timeless morality tale about the price of obsession, the creep of fanaticism, and the ways in which a community can lose even when its team wins. The authors unearth the true story from firsthand interviews and thousands of pages of documents: the forensic report on a bloody fingerprint; the notes of a detective investigating allegations of rape; confidential memoranda of prosecutors; and the criminal records of the dozen-plus players arrested that year with scant mention in the newspapers and minimal consequences in the courts. The statement of a judge, sentencing one player to thirty days in jail, says it all: “to be served after football season.”

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Coaching the 3-3/3-5 Defense: By the Experts - Earl Browning Cover Art

Coaching the 3-3/3-5 Defense: By the Experts

Coaching the 3-3/3-5 Defense: By the Experts by Earl Browning

Coaching the 3-3/3-5 Defense: By the Experts features articles from 22 top coaches on a variety of 3-3/3-5 topics including fundamentals, fronts, stunts, and blitzes. Each volume in the Coaching by the Experts Seriesfeatures articles on a specific topic that have been carefully selected from past editions of the renownedCoach of the Year Clinics Manuals and Coach of the Year Clinic Notes. The contributing authors for each volume are among the most respected coaches in the history of the game.

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The Complete 4-3 Defensive Playbook - Kenny Ratledge Cover Art

The Complete 4-3 Defensive Playbook

The Complete 4-3 Defensive Playbook by Kenny Ratledge

Any coach on any level can use this book as a resource to install a complete defensive system. The book establishes an easy-to-understand vocabulary to describe an opponent’s personnel, personnel groupings, formations, shifts, and motions. It also establishes a defensive vocabulary and system, and illustrates how positions are named, huddle procedure, substitution packages, gap labels, and alignment labeling. Featuring nearly 700 diagrams, the book also describes and illustrates fronts, base zone coverages, eight-men-in-the-box man coverages, stunt coverages, peel blitzes, goal line defense, situational defensive football (including time-affiliated situations such as Big Ben defense, four-minute offense, and two-minute offense), kick safe defenses, how to defend surprise formations such as the swinging gate, and much more. Positional technique play is also covered: defensive line play, linebacker play, and secondary play. Also included are tips on how to plan and implement a defensive practice plan and drills, which are tailored to the schemes and strategies included in the playbook.

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Tales from the Miami Dolphins Sideline - Garo Yepremian & Skip Clayton Cover Art

Tales from the Miami Dolphins Sideline

Tales from the Miami Dolphins Sideline Reminiscences of the Dolphins Glory Years by Garo Yepremian & Skip Clayton

This unique and humorous look at life with the Dolphins brings fans onto the field and into the locker room through the eyes of Garo Yepremian, one of Miami’s most recognizable figures. From kicking in his first professional football game to being named “Kicker of the Decade,” Yepremian relives the Dolphins epic 1972 season and so much more.

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The TB12 Method - Tom Brady Cover Art

The TB12 Method

The TB12 Method How to Achieve a Lifetime of Sustained Peak Performance by Tom Brady

The #1 New York Times bestseller by the 7-time Super Bowl champion The first book by NFL legend Tom Brady, former quarterback with the New England Patriots and Tampa Bay Buccaneers, who reached unimaginable heights of excellence into his forties—a gorgeously illustrated and deeply practical “athlete’s bible” that reveals Brady’s revolutionary approach to sustained peak performance for athletes of all kinds and all ages. In this new edition of The TB12 Method , Tom Brady further explains and details the revolutionary training, conditioning, and wellness system that has kept him atop the NFL at an age when most players are deep into retirement. Brady—along with the expert Body Coaches at TB12, the performance lifestyle brand he cofounded in 2013 with Alex Guerrero—explain the principles and philosophies of pliability, a paradigm-shifting fitness concept that focuses on a more natural, healthier way of exercising, training, and living. Filled with lessons from Brady’s own training regimen, The TB12 Method provides step-by-step guidance on how develop and maintain one’s own peak performance while dramatically decreasing injury risks. This illustrated, highly visual manual also offers more effective approaches to functional strength & conditioning, proper hydration, supplementation, cognitive fitness, restorative sleep, and nutritious, easy-to-execute recipes to help readers fuel-up and recover. Brady steadfastly believes that the TB12 approach has kept him competitive while extending his career, and that it can make any athlete, male or female, in any sport and at any level achieve his or her own peak performance and do what they love, better and for longer. With instructions, drills, photos, in-depth case studies that Brady himself has used, along with personal anecdotes and experiences from his legendary career, The TB12 Method gives you a better way to train and get results with Tom Brady himself as living proof.

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The System - Jeff Benedict & Armen Keteyian Cover Art

The System

The System The Glory and Scandal of Big-Time College Football by Jeff Benedict & Armen Keteyian

A Shelf Awareness Best Book of the Year  NCAA football is big business. Every Saturday millions of people file into massive stadiums or tune in on television as "athlete-students" give everything they've got to make their team a success. Billions of dollars now flow into the game. But what is the true cost? The players have no share in the oceans of money. And once the lights go down, the glitter doesn't shine so brightly. Filled with mind-blowing details of major NCAA football scandals, with stops at Ohio State, Tennessee, Texas Tech, Missouri, BYU, LSU, Texas A&M and many more, The System explores and exposes the complex, and perhaps broken, machine that churns behind the glamour of college football.  With a New Afterword

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Take Your Eye off the Ball - Pat Kirwan Cover Art

Take Your Eye off the Ball

Take Your Eye off the Ball How to Watch Football by Knowing Where to Look by Pat Kirwan

Take Your Eye Off the Ball is not a beginner's introduction to football, nor is it a technical manual for only the most studious of fans.  Instead, it clearly and simply explains the intricacies and nuances that affect the outcomes of every NFL game.

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League of Denial - Mark Fainaru-Wada & Steve Fainaru Cover Art

League of Denial

League of Denial The NFL, Concussions, and the Battle for Truth by Mark Fainaru-Wada & Steve Fainaru

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • A “meticulously documented and endlessly chilling” ( The New York Times ) exploration of the NFL’s decades-long attempt to deny and cover up mounting evidence connecting brain damage from football with CTE. “A first-rate piece of reporting [that] adds crucial detail, texture, and news to the concussion story, which despite the NFL’s best efforts, isn’t going away.”— Time ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: The Boston Globe, NPR “Professional football players do not sustain frequent repetitive blows to the brain on a regular basis.” So concluded the National Football League in a December 2005 scientific paper on concussions in America’s most popular sport. That judgment, implausible even to a casual fan, also contradicted the opinion of a growing cadre of neuroscientists who worked in vain to convince the NFL that it was facing a deadly new scourge: chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), a chronic brain disease that was driving an alarming number of players—including some of the all-time greats—to madness. Everyone knows that football is violent and dangerous. But what the players who built the NFL into a $10 billion industry didn’t know—and what the league sought to shield from them—is that no amount of padding could protect the human brain from the force generated by modern football. In League of Denial, award-winning ESPN investigative reporters Mark Fainaru-Wada and Steve Fainaru expose the public health crisis that emerged from the playing fields and examine how the league used its power and resources to attack independent scientists and elevate its own flawed research—a campaign with echoes of Big Tobacco’s fight to deny the connection between smoking and lung cancer. They chronicle the tragic fates of players like Hall of Fame Pittsburgh Steelers center Mike Webster, who was so disturbed at the time of his death he fantasized about shooting NFL executives, and former San Diego Chargers great Junior Seau, whose diseased brain became the target of a scientific battle between researchers and the NFL. Based on exclusive interviews, previously undisclosed documents, and private e-mails, League of Denial is the story of what the NFL knew and when it knew it—questions at the heart of a crisis that threatens American football—and of the battle for the sport’s future.

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It's Better to Be Feared - Seth Wickersham Cover Art

It's Better to Be Feared

It's Better to Be Feared The New England Patriots Dynasty and the Pursuit of Greatness by Seth Wickersham

NOW WITH A NEW EPILOGUE ON THE 2021 SEASON AND TOM BRADY’S BRIEF RETIREMENT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER SPORTS ILLUSTRATED • NONFICTION BOOK OF THE YEAR National Sports Media Association • Book of the Year Kirkus Reviews • Best Nonfiction of the Year “Seth Wickersham has managed to do the impossible: he has pulled off the definitive document of the Belichick/Brady dynasty.” —Bill Simmons, The Ringer The explosive, long-awaited account of the making of the greatest dynasty in football history—from the acclaimed ESPN reporter who has been there from the very beginning. Over two unbelievable decades, the New England Patriots were not only the NFL’s most dominant team, but also—and by far—the most secretive. How did they achieve and sustain greatness—and what were the costs? In It's Better to Be Feared, Seth Wickersham, one of the country’s finest long form and investigative sportswriters, tells the full, behind-the-scenes story of the Patriots, capturing the brilliance, ambition, and vanity that powered and ultimately unraveled them. Based on hundreds of interviews conducted since 2001, Wickersham’s chronicle is packed with revelations, taking us deep into Bill Belichick’s tactical ingenuity and Tom Brady’s unique mentality while also reporting on their divergent paths in 2020, including Brady’s run to the Super Bowl with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Raucous, unvarnished, and definitive, It’s Better to Be Feared is an instant classic of American sportswriting in the tradition of Michael Lewis, David Maraniss, and David Halberstam.

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Football Rules and Positions In A Day For Dummies - Howie Long & John Czarnecki Cover Art

Football Rules and Positions In A Day For Dummies

Football Rules and Positions In A Day For Dummies by Howie Long & John Czarnecki

Tackle football basics in a day? Easy. If you've ever wanted to know the difference between a touchdown and a touchback, or how a running back's role differs from a linebacker's, this handy guide gets you up-to-speed in no time. Football Rules & Positions In A Day For Dummies gives you a focused guide to the rules, regulations, and player roles of one of the most popular American sports. The essential information you need to understand and enjoy America's greatest game Expert coverage of the game's rules and regulations Helpful breakdowns of football positions and their roles in offense, defense, and special teams Online component takes you beyond the book with bonus content and features Get set to impress your friends with your newfound knowledge in no time!

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Home Team - Sean Payton & Ellis Henican Cover Art

Home Team

Home Team Coaching the Saints and New Orleans Back to Life by Sean Payton & Ellis Henican

The New York Times bestseller that's "heaven in hardcover" ( New Orleans Times-Picayune ) for Saints fans. In the devastation of Hurricane Katrina, no symbol of disaster was more potent than New Orleans' Superdome: it became a horrific shelter of last resort where the utterly desperate rode out the storm. Four years later, in that very stadium, the New Orleans Saints won the NFC championship and earned their first-ever trip to the Super Bowl, where they defeated the favored Indianapolis Colts 31-17. This is the inspirational true story of a city recovering from disaster and a team with a history of heartbreak, as seen through the eyes of the coach who would help elevate them both to long- forgotten greatness.

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Twelve Mighty Orphans - Jim Dent Cover Art

Twelve Mighty Orphans

Twelve Mighty Orphans The Inspiring True Story of the Mighty Mites Who Ruled Texas Football by Jim Dent

The remarkable true story of an orphanage and the man who created one of the greatest football teams Texas has ever known, now a major motion picture. More than a century ago, a school was constructed in Fort Worth, Texas, for the purpose of housing and educating the orphans of Texas Freemasons. It was a humble project that for years existed quietly on a hillside east of town. Life at the Masonic Home was about to change, though, with the arrival of a lean, bespectacled coach by the name of Rusty Russell. Here was a man who could bring rain in the midst of a drought. Here was a man who, in virtually no time at all, brought the orphans' story into the homes of millions of Americans. In the 1930s and 1940s, there was nothing bigger in Texas high school football than the Twelve Mighty Orphans —a group of orphans bound together by hardship and death. These youngsters, in spite of being outweighed by at least thirty pounds per man, were the toughest football team around. They began with nothing—not even a football—yet in a few years were playing for the state championship on the highest level of Texas football. Jim Dent, author of the New York Times bestselling The Junction Boys, returns with his most powerful story of human courage and determination in Twelve Mighty Orphans : The Inspiring True Story of the Mighty Mites Who Ruled Texas Football. This is a winning tribute to a courageous band of underdogs from a time when America desperately needed fresh hope and big dreams. A remarkable and inspirational story of an orphanage and the man who created one of the greatest football teams Texas has ever known, Twelve Mighty Orphans is a profound lesson in fighting back and clinging to faith. The real winners in Texas high school football were not the kids from the biggest schools, or the ones wearing the most expensive uniforms. They were the scrawny kids from a tiny orphanage who wore scarred helmets and faded jerseys that did not match, kids coached by a devoted man who lived on peanuts and drove them around in a smoke-belching old truck. In writing a story of unforgettable characters and great football, Jim Dent has come forward to reclaim his place as one of the top sports authors in America today. This is their story—the original Friday Night Lights, now a major motion picture starring Luke Wilson, Vinessa Shaw, and Wayne Knight.

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Earn the Right to Win - Tom Coughlin & David Fisher Cover Art

Earn the Right to Win

Earn the Right to Win How Success in Any Field Starts with Superior Preparation by Tom Coughlin & David Fisher

A top NFL coach offers leadership advice that applies from the field to the office Tom Coughlin led the New York Giants to two Super Bowl victories with his unique system of relentless preparation and resilience. He teaches his players that you can never guarantee a win, but you can always earn the right to win-with focus, hard work, and anticipation of obstacles. Now Coughlin shows how his teachings apply beyond the gridiron, illustrating his points with previously untold stories about players like Eli Manning, Doug Flutie, and Michael Strahan. His wisdom can help leaders in any field rev up their own organizations. 'Tom Coughlin challenged us and prepared us to handle anything that was thrown at us ... The lessons I learned from him weren't limited to football. They were applicable to every aspect of my life' -Michael Strahan Tom Coughlin is one of the most successful coaches in NFL history. Before winning two Super Bowls with the New York Giants, he coached the Jacksonville Jaguars for nine seasons, leading them to two appearances in the AFC Championship Game. David Fisher is the co-author of seventeen New York Times bestsellers.

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Concussion - Jeanne Marie Laskas Cover Art

Concussion

Concussion by Jeanne Marie Laskas

NEW YORK TIMES  BESTSELLER • NOW A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE • Dr. Bennet Omalu discovered something he could not ignore. The NFL tried to silence him. His courage would change everything.   “A gripping medical mystery and a dazzling portrait of the young scientist no one wanted to listen to . . . a fabulous, essential read.”—Rebecca Skloot, author of  The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks   Jeanne Marie Laskas first met the young forensic pathologist Dr. Bennet Omalu in 2009, while reporting a story for  GQ  that would go on to inspire the movie  Concussion . Omalu told her about a day in September 2002, when, in a dingy morgue in downtown Pittsburgh, he picked up a scalpel and made a discovery that would rattle America in ways he’d never intended.  Omalu was new to America, chasing the dream, a deeply spiritual man escaping the wounds of civil war in Nigeria. The body on the slab in front of him belonged to a fifty-year-old named Mike Webster, aka “Iron Mike,” a Hall of Fame center for the Pittsburgh Steelers, one of the greatest ever to play the game. After retiring in 1990, Webster had suffered a dizzyingly steep decline. Toward the end of his life, he was living out of his van, tasering himself to relieve his chronic pain, and fixing his rotting teeth with Super Glue.  How did this happen?,  Omalu asked himself.  How did a young man like Mike Webster end up like this?   The search for answers would change Omalu’s life forever and put him in the crosshairs of one of the most powerful corporations in America: the National Football League. What Omalu discovered in Webster’s brain—proof that Iron Mike’s mental deterioration was no accident but a disease caused by blows to the head that could affect everyone playing the game—was the one truth the NFL wanted to ignore.   Taut, gripping, and gorgeously told,  Concussion  is the stirring story of one unlikely man’s decision to stand up to a multibillion-dollar colossus, and to tell the world the truth.

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Gridiron Genius - Michael Lombardi Cover Art

Gridiron Genius

Gridiron Genius A Master Class in Building Teams and Winning at the Highest Level by Michael Lombardi

Former NFL general manager and three-time Super Bowl winner Michael Lombardi reveals what makes football organizations tick at the championship level. From personnel to practice to game-day decisions that win titles, Lombardi shares what he learned working with coaching legends Bill Walsh of the 49ers, Al Davis of the Raiders, and Bill Belichick of the Patriots, among others, during his three decades in football. Why do some NFL franchises dominate year after year while others can never crack the code of success? For 30 years Michael Lombardi had a front-row seat and full access as three titans--Bill Walsh, Al Davis, and Bill Belichick--reinvented the game, turning it into a national obsession while piling up Super Bowl trophies. Now, in Gridiron Genius , Lombardi provides the blueprint that makes a successful organization click and win --and the mistakes unsuccessful organizations make that keep them on the losing side time and again.      In reality, very few coaches understand the philosophies, attention to detail, and massive commitment that defined NFL juggernauts like the 49ers and the Patriots. The best organizations are not just employing players, they are building something bigger. Gridiron Genius will explain how the best leaders evaluate, acquire, and utilize personnel in ways other professional minds, football and otherwise, won't even contemplate. How do you know when to trade a player? How do you create a positive atmosphere when everyone is out to maximize his own paycheck? And why is the tight end like the knight on a chessboard?      To some, game planning consists only of designing an attack for the next opponent. But Lombardi explains how the smartest leaders script everything : from an afternoon's special-teams practice to a season's playoff run to a decade-long organizational blueprint. Readers will delight in the Lombardi tour of an NFL weekend, including what really goes on during the game on and off the field and inside the headset. First stop : Belichick's Saturday night staff meeting, where he announces how the game will go the next day. Spoiler alert : He always nails it.      Football dynasties are built through massive attention to detail and unwavering commitment. From how to build a team, to how to watch a game, to understanding the essential qualities of great leaders, Gridiron Genius gives football fans the knowledge to be the smartest person in the room every Sunday.

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Big Game - Mark Leibovich Cover Art

Big Game

Big Game The NFL in Dangerous Times by Mark Leibovich

“A raucous, smash-mouth, first-person takedown of the National Football League." —Wall Street Journal The New York Times bestseller From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of This Town , an equally merciless probing of America's biggest cultural force, pro football, at a moment of peak success and high anxiety Like millions of Americans, Mark Leibovich has spent more of his life tuned into pro football than he'd care to admit. Being a lifelong New England Patriots fan meant growing up on a steady diet of lovable loserdom. That is, until the Tom Brady/Bill Belichick era made the Pats the most ruthlessly efficient and polarizing sports dynasty of the modern NFL, and its fans the most irritating in all of Pigskin America. Leibovich kept his obsession quiet, making a nice career for himself covering that other playground for rich and overgrown children, American politics. Still, every now and then Leibovich would reach out to Tom Brady to gauge his willingness to subject himself to a profile. He figured that the chances of Brady agreeing were a Hail Mary at best, but Brady returned Mark's call in summer 2014 and kept on returning his calls through epic Patriots Super Bowl victory and defeat, and a scandal involving Brady--Deflategate--whose grip on sports media was as profound as its true significance was ridiculous. So began a four-year odyssey that took Mark Leibovich deeper inside the NFL than anyone has gone before. From the owners' meeting to the draft to the sidelines of crucial games, he takes in the show at the elbow of everyone from Brady to big-name owners to the cordially despised NFL Commissioner, Roger Goodell. Ultimately, BIG GAME is a chronicle of "peak football"--the high point of the sport's economic success and cultural dominance, but also the time when the dark side began to show. It is an era of explosive revenue growth, but also one of creeping existential fear. Players have long joked that NFL stands for "not for long," but as the true impact of concussions becomes inescapable background noise, it's increasingly difficult to enjoy the simple glory of football without the buzz-kill of its obvious consequences. And that was before Donald Trump. In 2016, Mark's day job caught up with him, and the NFL slammed headlong into America's culture wars. Big Game is a journey through an epic storm. Through it all, Leibovich always keeps one eye on Tom Brady and his beloved Patriots, through to the 2018 Super Bowl. Pro football, this hilarious and enthralling book proves, may not be the sport America needs, but it is most definitely the sport we deserve.

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I Feel Like Going On - Ray Lewis Cover Art

I Feel Like Going On

I Feel Like Going On Life, Game, and Glory by Ray Lewis

In this New York Times bestselling memoir, Ray Lewis—legendary Baltimore Ravens linebacker and one of the greatest defensive players of his generation—holds nothing back on the state of football as well as his troubled childhood, his rise to athletic greatness, the storm that threatened to ruin his NFL career, and the devastating injury that nearly cost him a final moment of glory. Ray Lewis is undeniably one of the biggest names in football—not only for his seventeen years in the NFL, but also for the dramatic events that nearly brought his career to a halt in 2000. In his memoir, Lewis shares honest accounts of his difficult childhood and delves into the anguish and controversy that he found away from the game. But these heartbreaks gave him the courage to trust in God and continue his dream to play for the NFL and win the Super Bowl. From a rookie player to a football veteran, Lewis has experienced everything imaginable during his football career, and has become one of the best defensive players in the history of the NFL. I Feel Like Going On is the story of his incredible journey, and a sincere look at the most popular sport in America from one of football’s most revered players.

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Death to the BCS - Dan Wetzel, Josh Peter & Jeff Passan Cover Art

Death to the BCS

Death to the BCS The Definitive Case Against the Bowl Championship Series by Dan Wetzel, Josh Peter & Jeff Passan

A team of award-winning sports reporters takes down the Great Satan of college sports: the Bowl Championship Series. Every college sport picks its champion by a postseason tournament, except for one: Division I-A football. Instead of a tournament, fans are subjected to the Bowl Championship Series, an arcane mix of polling and mathematical rankings that results in just two teams playing for the championship. It is, without a doubt, the most hated institution in all of sports. A recent Sports Illustrated poll found that more than 90 percent of sports fans oppose the BCS, yet this system has remained in place for more than a decade. Built upon top-notch investigative reporting, Death to the BCS at last reveals the truth about this monstrous entity and offers a simple solution for fixing it. Death to the BCS includes findings from interviews with power players, as well as research into federal tax records, Congressional testimony, and private contracts, revealing: ?The truth behind the "Cartel"-the anonymous suits who run the BCS and who profit handsomely by protecting it ?The flawed math and corruption that determine which teams participate in the national championship ?How the system hurts competition by perpetuating "cupcake" schedules ?How "mid-major" teams are systematically denied a chance to play for the championship ?How a comprehensive sixteen-team playoff plan can solve the problem while enhancing profitability The first book to lay out the unseemly inner workings of the BCS in full detail, Death to the BCS is a rousing manifesto for bringing fairness back to one of our most beloved sports.

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