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Books > Sport & Leisure > Sports & outdoor recreation > Ball games > American football
Las Vegas Then and Now pairs vintage shots from 100 years of the
city's history with the same view today. ‘Las Vegas Then and
Now’ captures the city's evolution from a desert railroad outpost
into the gambling and entertainment capital of the world. Pairing
historical photographs of the town with specially commissioned
views of the same scene today, this book provides the reader with
an intriguing look into the history of a city that has become a
cultural icon. Historic Fremont Street, which has recently
undergone a multi-million dollar renewal programme, presents the
most vivid contrast between the dusty desert town of the 1920s and
the pulsating entertainment city we know today. Las Vegas is ever
changing – the popular Mermaids and Vegas Vicky on Fremont are
gone, but further down the Strip, the High-Roller has arrived, one
of the world’s tallest observation wheels befitting this
thrill-seeking town. Casinos on the Strip have changed too. The
Sahara closed in 2011, re-opened as SLS which also closed, and has
now re-opened as The Sahara! Experienced ‘Then and Now’
photographer Karl Mondon takes to the skies of Vegas to get some
inspiring comparison shots, while author Su Kim Chung once again
points out the changes to a city she has written about for the last
twenty years. ‘Las Vegas Then and Now’ truly captures the buzz
of a city where the only constant is change. Sites include:
Allegiant Stadium, Circa, Arts District, Fremont Street, Railroad
Depot, Union Pacific Station, Arizona Club, Golden Nugget, El
Portal Theatre, Nevada Hotel, Sal Sagev Hotel, El Cortez, Vegas
Vic, The Mint Hotel, Las Vegas Post Office/Mob Museum, El Rancho
Vegas, Last Frontier, New Frontier, Little Church of the West,
Flamingo, Thunderbird Hotel, Desert Inn, Sahara Hotel, Sands Hotel,
Stardust, Riviera, La Concha Motel, Dunes Hotel, Caesars Palace,
Hacienda, Tropicana, MGM Grand, Aladdin, Boardwalk, International,
Landmark Hotel, Las Vegas Convention Center, Moulin Rouge and much
more.
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.
Why is a football field sometimes called a gridiron? Who are some
of the best left-handed quarterbacks ever? Who was the first Black
quarterback to win a Super Bowl? Why do players form a huddle when
plays are called? When did quarterback sacks become an official
statistic? What is the record for the most passes thrown by a
quarterback in a game? This book provides a slew of questions and
in-depth answers concerning the traditions, rules, records, and
history of pro football (and more). From the early days of football
to the hugely popular game seen today, Wayne Stewart answers
questions even the most knowledgeable fan may have pondered.
Whether the topic is quarterbacks or coaches, famous "firsts" or
memorable moments, if a Who, What, When, Where, Why, or How?
question is on your mind, this is the book for you.
On the west bank of the Mississippi lies the New Orleans
neighborhood of Algiers. Short on hope but big on dreams, its
mostly poor and marginalized residents find joy on Friday nights
when the Cougars of Edna Karr High School take the field. For
years, this football program has brought glory to Algiers, winning
three consecutive state championships and sending dozens of young
men to college on football scholarships. Although he is preparing
for a fourth title, head coach Brice Brown is focused on something
else: keeping his players alive. An epidemic of gun violence
plagues New Orleans and its surrounding communities and has claimed
many innocent lives, including Brown's former star quarterback,
Tollette "Tonka" George, shot near a local gas station. In Across
the River, award-winning sports journalist Kent Babb follows the
Karr football team through its 2019 season as Brown and his
team-perhaps the scrappiest and most rebellious group in the
program's history-vie to again succeed on and off the field. What
is sure to be a classic work of sports journalism, Across the River
is a necessary investigation into the serious realities of young
athletes in struggling neighborhoods: gentrification, eviction,
mental health issues, the drug trade, and gun violence. It offers a
rich and unflinching portrait of a coach, his players, and the West
Bank, a community where it's difficult-but not impossible-to rise
above the chaos, discover purpose, and find a way out.
In 1988, when Robert Clark was in his early twenties, he traveled
to Odessa, Texas, to create a visual element for a book about a
high school football team. That book was Buzz Bissinger’s Friday
Night Lights—the chronicle of a season with the Permian Panthers,
one of the state’s winningest teams of all time. About twenty
photos appeared in Bissinger’s book, but Clark shot 137 rolls of
film during his time with the Panthers. Friday Night Lives collects
dozens of the never-before-seen images, taking us back to the team,
the city, and that dramatic season. The archival photos, published
here on the thirtieth anniversary of the publication of Bissinger's
bestseller, capture intimate moments among the players and their
families and classmates, as well as the wider world of Odessa. Now
the players have grown up. Friday Night Lives also includes
Clark’s portraits of key Panthers figures at a later age,
documenting complex lives of beauty and struggle. Boobie Miles, the
star fullback sidelined by injury, is here, along with Coach Gaines
and others. In his heartfelt foreword, best-selling author Hanif
Abdurraqib describes how Clark's photos rehumanize the players,
reminding us of the truth of their young lives before their stories
became nationally known in print, film, and television.
The 50 Greatest Players in Buffalo Bills History examines the
careers of the 50 men who have made the greatest impact on one of
the National Football League's most iconic franchises. Using as
measuring sticks the degree to which they impacted the fortunes of
the team, the extent to which they added to the Buffalo Bills
legacy, and the levels of statistical compilation and overall
dominance they attained while wearing a Buffalo Bills uniform, this
book ranks, from 1 to 50, the top 50 players in team history.
Quotes from opposing players and former teammates are provided
along the way, as are summaries of each player's greatest season,
most memorable performances, and most notable achievements.
In their seven years together, quarterback Johnny Unitas and coach
Don Shula, kings of the fabled Baltimore Colts of the 1960s,
created one of the most successful franchises in sports. Unitas and
Shula had a higher winning percentage than Lombardi's Packers, but
together they never won a championship. Baltimore lost the big game
to the Browns in 1964 and to Joe Namath and the Jets in 1969's
Super Bowl III-both in stunning upsets. The Colts' near misses in
the Shula era were among the most confounding losses any sports
franchise ever suffered. Rarely had a team in any league performed
so well, over such an extended period, only to come up empty. The
two men had a complex relationship stretching back to their time as
young teammates competing for their professional lives. Their
personal conflict mirrored their tumultuous times. As they elevated
the brutal game of football, the world around them clashed about
Vietnam, civil rights, and sex. Collision of Wills looks at the
complicated relationship between Don Shula, the league's winningest
coach of all time, and his star player Johnny Unitas and how their
secret animosity fueled the Colts in an era when their losses were
as memorable as their victories.
Pat Tillman was well-known to American sports fans: a chisel-jawed
and talented young professional football star, he was on the brink
of signing a million dollar contract when, in 2001, al-Qaeda
launched terrorist attacks against his country. Driven by deeply
felt moral patriotism, he walked away from fame and money to enlist
in the United States Special Operations Forces. A year later he was
killed - apparently in the line of fire - on a desolate hillside
near the Pakistan border in Afghanistan. News of Tillman's death
shocked America. But even as the public mourned his loss, the US
Army aggressively maneuvered to conceal the truth: that it was a
ranger in Tillman's own platoon who had fired the fatal shots. In
Where Men Win Glory, Jon Krakauer reveals how an entire country was
deliberately deceived by those at the very highest levels of the US
army and government. Infused with the power and authenticity
readers have come to expect from Krakauer's storytelling, Where Men
Win Glory exposes shattering truths about men and war.
Since 2001 the Patriots have played in eight Super Bowl
championships and won five, a run of excellence unparalleled in all
of professional sports. In a league designed to ensure that no one
franchise can dominate over time, New England won for over a decade
and a half. A dynasty that began with an improbable run to a
championship in 2001 has rebuilt, rebooted, and retooled several
times over, winning most recently in 2017. But in those years, no
other franchise reached the same level of controversy, drama, and
turmoil-or even came close. Jerry Thornton, bestselling author of
From Darkness to Dynasty, provides an all-access pass to the
Patriots' years of unparalleled greatness from the unique
perspective of an observant, obsessive, utterly dedicated fan.
In modern professional sports history, only a handful of elite
players have spent their entire career with one franchise. The fact
that Tom Brady has spent nearly two decades with one team, together
with his on-field excellence, has formed an unbreakable bond with
fans of the New England Patriots. Selected as the 199th overall
pick in the sixth round of the 2000 NFL Draft, Brady is arguably
the greatest quarterback in pro football history. He has six Super
Bowl rings, four Super Bowl MVP awards, and is a three-time NFL
MVP. Now playing in his twentieth NFL season, he is one of the
longest-tenured players in league history. Author David Fischer
celebrates Brady's career with passionate and vivid prose, supreme
photographic images, call-out quotes, and boxed features. In
addition, dozens of personal anecdotes and recollections about
Brady from prominent members of the Patriots organization and the
NFL community enhance the nostalgic experience.
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