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.

"The definitive book of the 1970s Pittsburgh Steelers" (Scott Brown, "ESPN"): A unique literary sports book that--through exquisite reportage, love, and honesty--tells the full story of the best team to ever play the game.
The Pittsburgh Steelers of the 1970s won an unprecedented and unmatched four Super Bowls in six years. A dozen of those Steelers players, coaches, and executives have been inducted into the Hall of Fame, and three decades later their names echo in popular memory: "Mean" Joe Greene, Terry Bradshaw, Franco Harris, Mike Webster, Jack Lambert, Lynn Swann, and John Stallworth. In ways exhilarating and heartbreaking, they define not only the brotherhood of sports but those elements of the game that engage tens of millions of Americans: its artistry and its brutality.
Drawing on hundreds of interviews, "Their Life's Work" is a richly textured story of a team and a sport, what the game gave these men, and what the game took. It gave fame, wealth, and, above all, a brotherhood of players, twelve of whom died before turning sixty. To a man, they said they'd do it again, all of it. They bared the soul of the game to Gary Pomerantz, and he captured it wondrously. "Here is a book as hard-hitting and powerful as the 'Steel Curtain' dynasty that Pomerantz depicts so deftly. It's the NFL's version of "The Boys of Summer," with equal parts triumph and melancholy. Pomerantz's writing is strong, straightforward, funny, sentimental, and blunt. It's as working class and gritty as the men he writes about" ("The Tampa Tribune," Top 10 Sports Books of 2013).

In 1958 Frank Gifford was the golden boy on the glamour team in the most celebrated city in the NFL. When his New York Giants played the Baltimore Colts for the league championship that year, it became the single most memorable contest in the history of professional football. Its drama, excitement, and controversy riveted the nation and helped propel football to the forefront of the American sports landscape. Now Hall of Famer and longtime television analyst Frank Gifford provides an inside-the-helmet account that will take its place in the annals of sports literature.

"The extraordinary story of how Coach Paul "Bear" Bryant and Joe Namath, his star quarterback at the University of Alabama, led the Crimson Tide to victory and transformed football into a truly national pastime."
During the bloodiest years of the civil rights movement, Bear Bryant and Joe Namath-two of the most iconic and controversial figures in American sports-changed the game of college football forever. Brilliantly and urgently drawn, this is the gripping account of how these two very different men-Bryant a legendary coach in the South who was facing a pair of ethics scandals that threatened his career, and Namath a cocky Northerner from a steel mill town in Pennsylvania-led the Crimson Tide to a national championship.
To Bryant and Namath, the game was everything. But no one could ignore the changes sweeping the nation between 1961 and 1965-from the Freedom Rides to the integration of colleges across the South and the assassination of President Kennedy. Against this explosive backdrop, Bryant and Namath changed the meaning of football. Their final contest together, the 1965 Orange Bowl, was the first football game broadcast nationally, in color, during prime time, signaling a new era for the sport and the nation.
Award-winning biographer Randy Roberts and sports historian Ed Krzemienski showcase the moment when two thoroughly American traditions-football and Dixie-collided. A compelling story of race and politics, honor and the will to win, RISING TIDE captures a singular time in America. More than a history of college football, this is the story of the struggle and triumph of a nation in transition and the legacy of two of the greatest heroes the sport has ever seen.

There was little fanfare when Art "Mickey" McBride flew into Chicago in 1945 to purchase a professional football team for Cleveland. But that act set in motion a tradition that has brought the city of Cleveland together on Sunday afternoons for (most of) the sixty years to follow. Cleveland Browns History is the story of championship seasons, legendary coaches, and Hall of Fame players. Coach Paul Brown led his teams to seven league title games in their first 17 seasons. Running backs Marion Motley, Jim Brown, and Leroy Kelley each rushed over opposing defenses and
straight into Canton, Ohio, along with fellow Browns like Otto Graham, Ozzie Newsome, and Len Ford. The "Kardiac Kids" in 1980 had too many nail-biters for some fans, but won the AFC Central in typical fashion -- by three points in the final game of the season. All these stories, plus those of the many unsung heroes to don the NFL's only logo-less helmet, fill the pages of this book, sure to delight any Cleveland Browns fan.

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