Rudy became the inspiration for millions when a Hollywood film depicting his journey as a Notre Dame football player became one of the most influential sports movies ever made. In Daniel "Rudy" Ruettiger's only autobiography, go behind the scenes to experience the heartache, triumph, and glory through Rudy's own eyes, and learn details of the ten years it took to get the movie made. For the first time, the real Rudy shares his story of floundering through school with undiagnosed dyslexia and finding himself mixed up with a rough and rowdy crowd. "Football was my salvation in high school," Rudy believes, and while he dreamed of playing for Notre Dame, he never believed he was smart enough to make it to the elite group of higher education. A poignant and high-energy storyteller, Rudy details failures and pitfalls along the way. He explains the persistence and determination it took to get accepted to Notre Dame, to suit up and play for twenty-seven glorious seconds, and to see the dream of his movie become a reality. Rudy is truly a real-life testament to the old adage that it is not how many times you get knocked down, but how many times you get up again. He will motivate you to discover your own dreams and to them with unrelenting faith that anything is possible.

This work reveals the storied love affair that has long existed between native Nebraskans and the University of Nebraska football team. The author draws upon his experiences as a devoted "Huskerviller," and the insights of more than 500 other Husker fans who shared their ideas through interviews, questionnaires, and Internet communication, to compose a story that highlights how the culture, history, and geography of Nebraska are intimately embedded in fans' devotion to the Cornhuskers. The book features photographs and an extensive bibliography, while an appendix provides 16 essays written by devoted Husker fans.

Two national championships in the last decade, seven SEC championships in the last 16 years, two Heisman Trophy winners, the fourth winningest team in the 1990s?this is the story of the University of Florida Gators. Entering its 101st season, the Gators?the reigning national champions?have rolled out the greats for almost eighty years, beginning with its first All-American, Dale Van Sickel, in 1928. Since then it's been the likes of Charlie LaPradd, Haywood Sullivan, Rick Casares, Larry Dupree, Steve Spurrier, Carlos Alvarez, John Reaves, Jack Youngblood, Wes Chandler, Cris Collinsworth, Lomas Brown, Emmitt Smith, John L. Williams, Errict Rhett, Danny Wuerffel, Ike Hilliard, Fred Taylor, Jevon Kearse, Alex Brown, Rex Grossman, Chris Leak?Gator legends all. "Gators Glory" is the story of University of Florida football as told by the players, coaches, opponents, fans, and the media. It salutes the great stars, teams, moments, rivalries, venues, fans, and tradition of the Gators.

Over the past century, the Wolverines have created heroes and legends that excite both the young and old. From the first football game in 1879 to the hundreds of thousands of faithful fans that cheer on the most triumphant program in college football history, University of Michigan football has an undeniable legacy. In Michigan Motivations: A Year of Inspiration with the University of Michigan Wolverines, authors Cyle Young and Del Duduit relive the most famous moments and show readers how they too can overcome adversity, find success, understand true teamwork, and much more. A year's worth of weekly stories will motivate and inspire, showcasing legendary players like Tom Harmon, Anthony Carter, Desmond Howard, Charles Woodson, and Tom Brady. Along the way, readers will also appreciate the Wolverine persistence that drove a 1934 team MVP to become the 38th President of the United States, and they will learn to apply that same Michigan character in their own life. Michigan Motivations is for every fan that bleeds Maize and Blue. Rejoice at the stories that reveal come-from-behind victories, sigh at surprise losses, and scratch your head at how Ohio State went to the Rose Bowl in 1974.

Last year Football Bowl Subdivision college football programs produced over $1 billion in net revenue. Record-breaking television contracts were announced. Despite the enormous revenue, college football is in upheaval. Schools are accused of throwing their academic mission aside to fund their football teams. The media and fans are beating the drum for athletes to be paid. And the conferences are being radically revised as schools search for TV money. Saturday Millionaires shows that schools are right to fund their football teams first; that athletes will never be paid like employees; how the media skews the financial facts; and why the TV deals are so important. It follows the money to the heart of college football and shows the real game being played, covering such areas as: Myth #1: All Athletic Departments Are Created Equal Myth #2: Supporting Football Means Degrading Academics Myth #3: College Football Players Could Be Paid Like Employees Myth #4: Football Coaches Are Overpaid Myth #5: A Playoff Will Bring Equality to College Football Myth #6: Only a Handful of Athletic Departments Are Self-SustainingKey Selling Points: Well-connected author: As ESPN's sole sports business reporter/analyst, Kristi has a strong visible presence across all their platforms: online, print, radio, and multiple TV shows. She will also utilize her connections as a former sports business analyst for Forbes.com, Comcast Sports Southeast, The Pulse Network, and the Arkansas Radio Network; as a frequent guest on popular sports shows such as the Tim Brando Show; and as founder of BusinessofCollegeSports.com, recognized as one of the nation's top business sports websites and used in business sports university courses across the country. Huge social media presence: Krisit's top posts get more than 30,000 views, and she has 21,000 Twitter followers as well as thousands who follow her blog, www.sportsbizmiss.com. Speaking engagements: Kristi frequently lectures for undergraduate and graduate programs in sports management and administration.Popular topic: Saturday Millionaires will be appealing to readers of Bowl, Polls and Tattered Souls by SI's Stewart Mandel (netted 12,000), Death to the BCS by Dan Wetzel (21,000), and Meat Market by Bruce Feldman (40,000). Timing: Saturday Millionaires is releasing at the start of college football season. Relevance: With the recent university budget cuts, the topic is important not only to college football fans but anyone involved with or interested in college funding. Kristi's background as an attorney also provides a unique perspective to the financial and legal aspects of football allocations.

In a town deep in the Florida Everglades, where high school football is the only escape, a haunted quarterback, a returning hero, and a scholar struggle against terrible odds.
The loamy black "muck" that surrounds Belle Glade, Florida once built an empire for Big Sugar and provided much of the nation's vegetables, often on the backs of roving, destitute migrants. Many of these were children who honed their skills along the field rows and started one of the most legendary football programs in America. Belle Glade's high school team, the Glades Central Raiders, has sent an extraordinary number of players to the National Football League - 27 since 1985, with five of those drafted in the first round.
The industry that gave rise to the town and its team also spawned the chronic poverty, teeming migrant ghettos, and violence that cripples futures before they can ever begin. "Muck City" tells the story of quarterback Mario Rowley, whose dream is to win a championship for his deceased parents and quiet the ghosts that haunt him; head coach Jessie Hester, the town's first NFL star, who returns home to "win kids, not championships"; and Jonteria Willliams, who must build her dream of becoming a doctor in one of the poorest high schools in the nation. For boys like Mario, being a Raider is a one-shot window for escape and a college education. Without football, Jonteria and the rest must make it on brains and fortitude alone. For the coach, good intentions must battle a town's obsession to win above all else.
Beyond the Friday night lights, this book is an engrossing portrait of a community mired in a shameful past and uncertain future, but with the fierce will to survive, win, and escape to a better life.

They were the NFL's ultimate outlaws, black-clad iconoclasts who, with a peculiar mix of machismo and brotherhood, of postgrad degrees and firearms, merrily defied pro football corporatism. The Oakland Raiders of the 1970s were some of the most outrageous, beloved, and violent football teams ever to play the game. In this rollicking biography, Peter Richmond tells the story of Oakland's wrecking crew of psychos, oddballs, and geniuses who won six division titles and a Super Bowl under the brilliant leadership of coach John Madden and owner Al Davis. Richmond goes inside the locker room and onto the field with Ken Stabler, Willie Brown, Fred Biletnikoff, George Atkinson, Phil Villapiano, and the rest of this band of brothers who made the Raiders legendary. Funny, raunchy, and inspiring, Badasses celebrates the '70s Raiders as the last teams to play professional football the way it was meant to be played: down and very, very dirty.

Fighting Irish Madness"" is the story of Notre Dame football?the legendary players, the eleven championship teams, the explosive rivalry with Southern Cal, the all-time Notre Dame team, and the rosters from each national championship team. All of it is told by the players themselves, the coaches, opponents, fans, and members of the media.""

Terry Bradshaw made a name for himself as the star quarterback for the Pittsburgh Steelers, winning four Super Bowls and twice earning the MVP award. Beyond his athletic success, Bradshaw has established himself as a true cultural icon through his ventures into television, movies, and music. In Terry Bradshaw: From Super Bowl Champion to Television Personality, Brett L. Abrams details the many personas of this larger-than-life entertainer. Not satisfied with "just" being a star quarterback, Bradshaw became an actor, commercial pitchman, country western and gospel singer, color commentator, and NFL pregame co-host. In addition to covering Bradshaw's life and career, Abrams discusses the stereotypes Bradshaw faced and his ability to turn those preconceived notions into a positive, likeable, "down home" image that enabled him to find success across the entertainment industries. Ultimately, Bradshaw has become not only an iconic sports figure, but a cultural icon, as well. Terry Bradshaw delivers a new and refreshing look at one of football's most-recognized athletes. Drawing on extensive research and interviews with coaches, friends, coworkers, and football fans, this book illuminates Bradshaw's celebrity status in the context of nearly 50 years of interacting with football fans and the larger American pop culture.

The inside story of the only undefeated team in NFL history, the 1972 Miami Dolphins--by the Hall of Fame quarterback who led it to victory

Hall of Fame quarterback and long-time ABC college football announcer Bob Griese is a living football legend. Now, on the 40th anniversary of the 1972 Miami Dolphins' incredible championship season, Griese tells the behind-the-scenes story of the team both on and off the field as it achieved a feat no other team has ever succeeded in matching: perfection.

You'll see Griese shocked in his first meeting with Joe Robbie as the Dolphins owner balanced big contract figures and a staggering number of drinks. You'll hear Griese meeting Don Shula for the first time and being ordered to start staying in the pass pocket rather than scrambling. ""Build me a pocket and I'll stay in it, ' Griese told Shula. You'll understand the friendship and on-field relationship developed between Griese and Paul Warfield after they became the Dolphins' first inter-racial roommates.

You'll follow Griese through a storied season that began with him wondering just how good the Dolphins actually were and ended with him awarding the game ball in the winning Super Bowl locker room. Along the way you'll hear: How Shula implemented and Griese embraced the first use of situation substitution in the NFL and the controversy it caused in a backfield of Larry Csonka, Jim Kiick and Mercury MorrisThe lengths to which NFL players of that era kept themselves on the field, including regular trips from the hospital bed to the playing fieldInsight and anecdotes from Hall of Fame players Warfield, Csonka, Nick Buoniconti, Jim Langer, and Larry Little as well as Griese

Packed with behind-the-scenes drama and on-the-field excitement, "Perfection" is a book every football fan will want to read.

Who were the greatest Minnesota Viking to have the played the game of football? There are certainly many excellent players to choose from, from Fran Tarkenton to Randy Moss on offense to defensive stalwarts like Alan Page and John Randle. Even the offensive linemen who quietly get the job done deserve ranking among the top 50-think Gary Zimmerman and Ron Yary. The possibilities are endless: players such as Ahmad Rashad, Adrian Peterson, Carl Eller, Daunte Culpepper and many more. In this book Robert Cohen takes on the daunting challenge of ranking the greatest Minnesoate Vikings ever from 1-50, with a number of honorable mentions

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 football star made famous in the hit film (and book) "The Blind Side" reflects on how far he has come from the circumstances of his youth. Michael Oher shares his personal account of his story, in this inspirational "New York Times" bestseller.

Looking back on how he went from being a homeless child in Memphis to playing in the NFL, Michael talks about the goals he had to break out of the cycle of poverty, addiction, and hopelessness that trapped his family. Eventually he grasped onto football as his ticket out and worked hard to make his dream into a reality. With his adoptive family, the Touhys, and other influential people in mind, he describes the absolute necessity of seeking out positive role models and good friends who share the same values to achieve one's dreams. Sharing untold stories of heartache, determination, courage, and love, "I Beat the Odds" is an incredibly rousing tale of one young man's quest to achieve the American dream.

This book is the outcome of an Australian Research Council (ARC)-funded project titled Assessing the Australian Football League's Racial and Religious Vilification Laws to Promote Community Harmony, Multiculturalism and Reconciliation, which investigated the impact of the Australian Football League's anti-vilification policy since its introduction in 1995. With key stakeholders the Australian Football League, the AFL Players' Association and the Office of Multicultural Affairs (previously the Victorian Multicultural Commission), the book gauges the attitudes and perspectives of players and coaches in the AFL regarding Rule 35, the code's anti-vilification rule. The overarching themes of multiculturalism, reconciliation and social harmony in the AFL workplace have been the guiding ideals that we examined and analysed. The outcomes from the research vectors look at and engage with key issues about race, diversity and difference as it pertains to the elite AFL code, but also looks at the ongoing international conversation as it pertains to these themes in sport. This book was previously published as a special issue of Sport in Society.

The National Football League (NFL) is the most influential, popular, and prosperous professional sports league in America. As such this book focuses on the development and maturity of the organization and its members, but most importantly, how each of them performed in seasons and postseasons and then to what extent they have succeeded as a business enterprise despite competition for market share from other types of entertainment. Each chapter contains two core themes as sections-Team Performances and Franchise Business. The former highlights which and how teams won division and conference titles and championships like Super Bowls while the latter lists and compares financial data including their revenue, gate receipts, and operating income. By linking and comparing the historical performances of NFL teams to financial information about them as business organizations, this book provides a unique contribution to the literature on the sports industry. This book connects franchise popularity and all-time records with recent estimated market value, net worth, and other financial data. In sum, National Football League Franchises explains why particular teams located in large, midsized, or small markets win more games and titles than others. In addition, it provides ways to individually, and by division and/or conference, to compare teams from a financial perspective.

Today’s game of football is more physically demanding than ever. Every play is full speed, sideline to sideline, goal line to goal line, for four punishing quarters. To withstand the rigors of the game, today’s players must be better conditioned than ever. The team with the stronger, faster, more agile, and more powerful athletes is the one earning Ws on Friday nights and Saturday afternoons. Complete Conditioning for Football provides the modern training system needed to prepare your players to perform at their peak and win consistently. Former National Football League (NFL) strength and conditioning coach and current college senior assistant athletic director for football performance Aaron Wellman addresses every aspect of football conditioning—emphasizing strength, power, and muscle hypertrophy—to deliver results at every level of competition. From initial movement preparation to an integrated, comprehensive, year-round training plan, Complete Conditioning for Football offers ready-to-use research-based training methods and programs involving general and position-specific exercises, drills, activities, and progressions. This book is an ideal resource to help strength and conditioning coaches design training regimens for their team and each player. It is also a practical guide for coaches and athletes in a program without a full-time strength coach. Complete Conditioning for Football explains how to evaluate current fitness levels and monitor progress in each aspect and phase of training throughout the year. Included are team-wide and position-specific exercises, drills, and programs as well as training plans for preseason, in-season, and off-season workouts, all aimed at building speed, agility, strength, power, and stamina to achieve optimal performance. Useful nutritional information and recommendations are provided to boost the benefits of training, aid in recovery from workouts, and fuel players to perform their best in games. Guidelines and recommendations for sleep and rest are included to ensure athletes stay fresh and primed for every physical and mental challenge they’ll face. The book also features invaluable guidance for safely and responsibly reintroducing players to training and competition after an injury. The most comprehensive conditioning guide in the sport, Complete Conditioning for Football offers readers expertise from a top strength and conditioning coach to physically prepare teams and players to dominate on game day.

"Sports Illustrated" columnist Stewart Mandel tackles the ten issues that confound college football fans

If your heart beats faster on Saturday afternoons as your team takes the field, this book will give you new insight into the fanaticism and chaos that characterize college football today. Stewart Mandel takes a provocative, hard-hitting look at the hot-button issues: the controversial BCS; the polls and their largely arbitrary rankings; the ego-inflating recruiting craze; cheating and recent scandals; the huge pressures and salaries heaped on coaches; the Heisman hype-fest; the NFL draft; the clunky conference expansions; privileged Notre Dame, college football's greatest juggernaut; and the proliferation of bowl games. You'll getbehind-the-scenes insights on how the issues evolved and why some are almost impossible to resolve.

You'll see how tradition, politics, and money influence college football today. You'll discover that, while the rules of the game are hard and fast, the rules governing college football are blurred and pliable. And you'll find a book that's as entertaining, passionate, and thought-provoking as the game itself.

"Stewart Mandel writes about college football's major controversies with a wit and depth of knowledge that will impress even the most obsessed fans. And because he's both fair and objective, there is something in this book to infuriate nearly everyone."
--Warren St. John, author of the bestselling "Rammer Jammer Yellow Hammer: A Road Trip into the Heart of Fan Mania"

"In a book dripping with sarcasm, Stewart Mandel plays tour guide on an interesting ride through the college football nuthouse."
--Bruce Feldman, author of "MeatMarket" and senior writer for "ESPN the Magazine"

A you-are-there history of one of football's most successful and beloved teams

Who is the greatest quarterback in Redskins history? Baugh? Jurgensen? Theismann? Rypien? However you answer that question, you'll find plenty of evidence to support your argument in Hail Victory. Based on sportswriter Thom Loverro's exclusive interviews with a host of the greatest players ever to wear the team jersey, this comprehensive history of the tradition-rich Washington Redskins puts you on the 50-yard line to witness all of the team's most memorable moments and meet its greatest players, and you'll hear what they have to say about the brightest and darkest moments from the Skins' past. You'll discover:

Sonny Jurgensen's last conversation with Vince Lombardi

Jeff Rutledge's account of "the Greatest Comeback in Football History"

Joe Theismann's take on the tackle that ended his career

How George Allen assembled the "Over the Hill Gang"

Joe Jacoby's Hog's-eye view of all three Redskins Super Bowl victories

Gene Pepper's memories of playing with the legendary Sammy Baugh

And much more

You'll also find color photos of outstanding players and coaches in action, including Lombardi, George Allen, Theismann, Jurgensen, Joe Gibbs, and many others. If you love the Skins, you must have Hail Victory!

A you-are-there history of one of football's most successful and beloved teams
Who is the greatest quarterback in Redskins history? Baugh? Jurgensen? Theismann? Rypien? However you answer that question, you'll find plenty of evidence to support your argument in Hail Victory. Based on sportswriter Thom Loverro's exclusive interviews with a host of the greatest players ever to wear the team jersey, this comprehensive history of the tradition-rich Washington Redskins puts you on the 50-yard line to witness all of the team's most memorable moments and meet its greatest players, and you'll hear what they have to say about the brightest and darkest moments from the Skins' past. You'll discover:
*
Sonny Jurgensen's last conversation with Vince Lombardi
*
Jeff Rutledge's account of ""the Greatest Comeback in Football History""
*
Joe Theismann's take on the tackle that ended his career
*
How George Allen assembled the ""Over the Hill Gang""
*
Joe Jacoby's Hog's-eye view of all three Redskins Super Bowl victories
*
Gene Pepper's memories of playing with the legendary Sammy Baugh
*
And much more

You'll also find color photos of outstanding players and coaches in action, including Lombardi, George Allen, Theismann, Jurgensen, Joe Gibbs, and many others. If you love the Skins, you must have Hail Victory

It should surprise no one that the National Football League is a business - how else to account for the stratospheric salaries of the players and coaches? Yet most people are unaware of how that business developed. This book details the growth of an industry that generates billions of dollars in revenue, as it explains the intricacies of the league's expansions and mergers, territories and relocations, the operation and organization of franchises, the role of stadiums and markets, as well as the effect of the NFL on domestic and foreign affairs.

Chronicling Yale football from its 1827 inception to the present, this volume gives comprehensive coverage of the most important games, including all Yale-Harvard contests, most Yale-Princeton, record-making performances, great plays and more. Human-interest anecdotes offer a sidebar to the game or era covered, giving color to the storied history of Yale football. The evolution of rules is traced, that transformed a game combining soccer and rugby into the football we know today.

"A rough-and-tumble pop-culture look at the history of this storied game."
--National Review Online

"The 100-Yard War" showcases two great football teams who want nothing more than to beat each other, celebrating their storied history and going behind the scenes with the players and the fans to reveal the bitterness, the passion, and the pride surrounding the Game.

ESPN called it the number one sports rivalry of the century. It transcends the years, the standings, and all other distractions. And thanks to the countless remarkable football games between Michigan and Ohio State--and hundreds of thousands of devoted alumni and followers--the rivalry is now an enormous cultural event.

Filled to capacity, Tiger Stadium holds more than 93,000 screaming fans, a resplendent sea of purple and gold. Roars and cheers within the stadium have reached tremendous levels, especially the legendary 1988 game against Auburn during which the crowd's reaction to quarterback Tommy Hodson's game-winning touchdown pass registered as an earthquake on a nearby seismograph. It is this energy and ferocity that author and Louisiana native Chet Hilburn fell in love with as a sixteen-year-old kid attending his first LSU football game. Here, Hilburn captures the essence of those much-anticipated fall Saturday nights and takes fans inside the magic and intrigue that is Tiger Stadium. Beginning with a brief history of the stadium, Hilburn then delves into a list of thirty legendary games and moments that came to define Tiger Stadium as one of the most magical-and terrifying-venues on earth. Hilburn uses material collected from many personal interviews and eyewitness accounts to transport fans into revolutionary football moments, including the classic 1959 Halloween night game in which Bill Cannon made his famous eighty-nine-yard touchdown and earned the LSU Tigers their rightful place in college football history. Complete with seventy vintage and modern-day black and white photographs, this work is a collection all devoted and casual fans of football will adore.

"Go Bucks!"

"Go Blue!"

ESPN called it the number one sports rivalry of the century. It transcends the years, the standings, and all other distractions. And thanks to the countless remarkable football games between Michigan and Ohio State-and hundreds of thousands of devoted alumni and followers-the rivalry is now an enormous cultural event. The 100-Yard War showcases two great football teams who want nothing more than to beat each other, celebrating their storied history and going behind the scenes with the players and the fans to reveal the bitterness, the passion, and the pride surrounding the Game.

"Emmanuel does a marvelous job of conveying not only the competition between the athletes but the less than ideal game conditions, the spirit of the marching bands and, in particular, the loyalty of classmates and family that go into making this a special competition."
-Publishers Weekly