When George S. Halas was asked to rebuild the Staley Company's football club in Decatur, Illinois in 1920, nobody could have imagined that his efforts would forever change Sunday afternoons in America. Halas helped found the National Football League, and with it the Chicago Bears, the most storied franchise in the league's history. From the Galloping Ghost, to the Monsters of the Midway, to that indomitable "46" defense -- the "Grabowskis" as their coach named them -- Bears teams and players have made such an impact on the city of big shoulders that Chicago will be forever known as a "Bears town."

The Washington Redskins franchise remains one of the most valuable in professional sports, in part because of its easily recognizable, popular, and profitable brand. And yet "redskins" is a derogatory name for American Indians. Prominent journalists, politicians, and former players have publicly spoken out against the use of Redskins as the name of the team. The number of grassroots campaigns to change the name has risen in recent years despite the current team owner's assertion that the team will never do so. The NFL, for its part, actively defends the name and supports it in court. Redskins: Insult and Brand examines how the ongoing struggle over the team name raises important questions about how white Americans perceive American Indians, about the cultural power of consumer brands, and about continuing obstacles to inclusion and equality. C. Richard King examines the history of the team's name, the evolution of the term "redskin," and the various ways in which people both support and oppose its use today. King's hard-hitting approach to the team's logo and mascot exposes the disturbing history of a moniker's association with the NFL-a multibillion-dollar entity that accepts public funds-as well as popular attitudes toward Native Americans today.

Plattsmouth, Nebraska lies at the confluence of the Platte and Missouri rivers. The people of Plattsmouth are proud of their small town's rich history, of their strength and determination as a community. They also share something that larger towns cannot, something that for generations has helped unite them and shape their very lives. What they share is a community-wide excitement on fall Friday nights, the rush of a close game, the heartbreaking losses, the exhilaration of a big win - what they share is the Plattsmouth Blue Devils.

" Go Blue Devils : A History of Plattsmouth High School Football, 1893 -1979," by former Plattsmouth resident Jim Elworth, presents a one-of-a-kind account of a high school football team and the town that has rallied around it for more than one hundred years. Elworth's comfortable and at times humorous prose brings us season after season of game-day excitement, rendered in detail from years of researching and writing.

But "Go Blue Devils " is more than a story of game scores. It is a history of accomplished, hard working, down-to-earth townspeople. It is a history of the town itself, told through the exploits of local boys giving their all on the fields of sport. It is a story of those local boys inspiring their community and going on to live rich, positive and valuable lives.

In 1997, Dave Ridpath walked onto the campus of Marshall University as a sports-loving athletic administrator with a career on the rise. Less than five years later, Ridpath's quest to reform one of the most corrupt athletic departments in college sports, while simultaneously standing up to the behemoth governing body that is the NCAA, had all but destroyed that career. While serving as assistant athletic director for compliance and student services at Marshall University from 1997 through 2001, Ridpath unearthed violations of several NCAA rules. These violations included overt academic fraud and impermissible, booster-devised employment for members of the Marshall University football team-a team had taken the nation by storm because of its incredible success on the field. Ridpath now chronicles his experiences through this trying time in Tainted Glory: Marshall University, the NCAA, and One Man's Fight for Justice. Instead of being hailed as a conquering hero determined to clean up an outlaw program, Ridpath had the tables turned on him. He found himself out of a job when Marshall University and the NCAA determined that the path of least resistance would be to remove him rather than address the issues head-on. With this action, they hoped to avoid damaging the university, the athletic department, and the NCAA overall. This story is about more than the NCAA or Marshall University. It is about the state of the business of intercollegiate athletics told by someone on the inside who lived it-the good and the bad.

In 1962, following two losing seasons, Coach John McKay was fighting for his job. The 1962 team was undersized but smart quick and tough. Although underdogs in four games, including the Rose Bowl, the Trojans finished with an 11-0 record and defeated Wisconsin in the Rose Bowl and become national champions. Although the 1962 Trojans were the least talented of Coach McKay's four national championship teams, their success enabled USC to once again become a football power. You'll meet the players from this team and learn about their joys and sorrows as well their successes and failures.

The team included tempestuous end "Prince" Hal Bedsole, who still holds USC's season and career records for most yards per reception. Fleet Willie Brown, whose clutch plays on offense and defense preserved an undefeated season. Fiery Trojan captain Marv Marinovich, whose athletic techniques have become legendary, and Fred Hill, whose daughter, Kim, became the inspiration for the Ronald McDonald House.

An innovative and diverse football playbook can be the difference between winning and losing. In today's game, fresh and unpredictable plays are crucial, so it's vital to pick your plays from a wide and creative arsenal. Sixteen-year-old Warren Erdmann provides just that for coaches everywhere.

In "My Motion Offense at 16," Erdmann has compiled an original array of offensive plays based on a philosophy of spreading out the defense, using the entire field, keeping the play-calling simple, making the defense adjust to the offense, and using the team's strengths to exploit the opponents' weaknesses.

In explaining and diagramming each play, Erdmann clearly illustrates how to maximize the talent on the field and breaks down how a play capitalizes on the strengths of the offense and the weaknesses of the defense. In most of his plays, Erdmann emphasizes that seconds count, communication matters, and carefully orchestrating the eleven players on offense is critical to maximizing their talent and ultimately putting points on the scoreboard.

This ambitious book constructively uses terminology and diagrams to describe each play and its execution for coaches, players, and devoted fans. You will be impressed that a high school junior has devised so many interesting plays and has organized them so well to make your team successful on the football field.

This story of Super Bowl 39 through the eyes of a loyal Patriots Fan is a narrative that details one devoted rooters quest to seek the ultimate Super Bowl encounter. This book fully describes what would be an exhilarating experience for anyone that wonders what it's like to go to the Super Bowl, regardless of which team they support. Even for those fans who were fortunate enough to get into the game, this book will surely help them encapsulize a fond and vivid memory. This book is dedicated to answering the question that any football devotee would truly like to know: "What's it like to be there?" This narrative provides that answer with a vicarious excursion, if you will, into one fans brush with glory following his favorite team to the contest that transcends all others in the world of sports: The Super Bowl

Princeton and Rutgers played the first game, in 1869. But it was at Yale where football evolved and no institution has a more meaty history of the sport. Yale was the first college to record 800 victories, that milestone reached in the year 2000. Sixty-six years before, a more significant triumph came unexpectedly to the Bulldogs on Princeton's field and from that contest emerged "Yale's Ironmen."

They were supposed to lose by at least three touchdowns to an undefeated opponent being touted as a Rose Bowl candidate. The eleven Yale starters played all 60 minutes, an uncommon feat never duplicated thereafter in major college football.

The game was played against the background of the Depression. Yet Princeton's Palmer Stadium was full that warm November afternoon for the first time in six years. 'I guess people wanted to get their minds off their troubles," said the Yale quarterback, Jerry Roscoe, who threw the winning touchdown pass to Larry Kelley, the latter the first winner of the Heisman Trophy.

How did this game, this success, affect the lives of those eleven men of iron? Who were they? What happened, as World War II descended and snared them?