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Books > Sport & Leisure > Sports & outdoor recreation > Ball games > American football
The powerful story that has captivated the sports world and
inspired many to believe in miracles
On October 16, 2010, during a college football game against
Army, a crushing tackle left Rutgers defensive lineman Eric LeGrand
paralyzed from the neck down. The months to come would be a long,
grueling, and emotional road to recovery but also a remarkable,
transformative journey--one so profound that Eric would call the
time since his accident the best years of his life.
In this moving memoir, Eric tells the uplifting story of how he
is rebuilding his future with faith. Doctors said that he would
never again breathe without a ventilator. Five weeks later, he
astonished them by drawing breath on his own. A year after the
accident, the nation watched as he led his Rutgers teammates onto
the field in his wheelchair.
Now Eric is on his way to graduating from Rutgers University,
has a budding career as a sports broadcaster, and uses his
experience to spread a message of faith and positivity. Believe is
a truly inspiring story of finding purpose in pain and facing
setbacks with strength.
At last, the definitive account of the Redskins' championship
decade Based on more than ninety original interviews, here is the
rollicking chronicle of the famed Washington Redskins teams of the
Joe Gibbs years--one of the most remarkable and unique runs in NFL
history. From 1981 to 1992, 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 to
define one of the sport's legendary eras. Veteran sportswriter Adam
Lazarus masterfully charts the Redskins' rise from mediocrity (the
franchise had never won a Super Bowl and Gibbs's first year as head
coach started with a five-game losing streak that almost cost him
his job) to its stretch of four championship games in ten years.
What makes their sustained success all the more remarkable, in
retrospect, is that unlike the storied championship wins of Joe
Montana's 49ers and Tom Brady's Patriots, the Redskins' Super Bowl
victories each featured a different starting quarterback: Joe
Theismann in 1983, the franchise's surprising first championship
run; Doug Williams in 1988, a win full of meaning for a majority
African American city during a tumultuous era; and Mark Rypien in
1992, capping one of the greatest seasons of all time, one that
stands as Gibbs's masterpiece. Hail to the Redskins features an
epic roster of saints and sinners: hard-drinking fullback John
Riggins; the dominant, blue-collar offensive linemen known as "the
Hogs," who became a cultural phenomenon; quarterbacks Williams, the
first African American QB to win a Super Bowl, and Theisman, a
model-handsome pitchman whose leg was brutally broken by Lawrence
Taylor on Monday Night Football; gregarious defensive end Dexter
Manley, who would be banned from the league for cocaine abuse; and
others including the legendary speedster Darrell Green,
record-breaking receiver Art Monk, rags-to-riches QB Rypien, expert
general managers and talent evaluators Bobby Beathard and Charley
Casserly, aristocratic owner Jack Kent Cooke, and, of course, Gibbs
himself, a devout Christian who was also a ruthless competitor and
one of the sport's most adaptable and creative coaching minds. A
must-read for any fan, Hail to the Redskins builds on Lazarus's
interviews with key inside sources to vividly re-create the plays,
the players, the fans, and the opponents that shaped this
unforgettable football dynasty.
Super Bowl XLII was the greatest upset in NFL history. In A GIANT
WIN, Coach Tom Coughlin recounts the strategies and people that
made it possible. Coach Coughlin reveals the intricacies of the
game, revealing details only a coach would know. He also details,
more than ever before, his relationships with some of the greatest,
most iconic players of those Giants teams, like Eli Manning and
Michael Strahan. A GIANT WIN also provides a frame for Coach
Coughlin to discuss his life in football-including his years with
the Giants as an assistant coach in the late 1980s and 1990, when
he helped win a Super Bowl working under Hall of Fame Head Coach
Bill Parcells and alongside the coach he'd oppose in Super Bowl
XLII: Bill Belichick. A GIANT WIN is a self-portrait of one of
football history's most successful coaches during his signature
game.
An all-access pass into the powerhouse teams and passionate
fanbases of the legendary Southeastern Conference, from one of the
most influential men in college football: ESPN's Paul
Finebaum.Proud owner of 14 prestigious college football programs,
producing seven consecutive national championships, twelve NFL
first round draft choices, and a budget that crushes the GDP of
Samoa, the Southeastern Conference collects the most coveted
ratings, rankings, and revenue of any conference in college
football. With its pantheon of illustrious alumni like Bear Bryant,
Herschel Walker, Peyton Manning, and Nick Saban, the SEC is the
altar at which millions of Americans worship every Saturday, from
Texas to Kentucky to Florida.If the SEC is a religion, its deity is
radio talk-show host Paul Finebaum. In My Conference Can Beat Your
Conference, Finebaum, chronicles the rise of the SEC and his own
unlikely path to college football fame. Finebaum offers his blunt
wisdom on everything from Joe Paterno and the Penn State scandal to
the relevancy of Alabama quarterback AJ McCarron's girlfriend, and
chronicles the best of his beloved callers, and the worst of his
haters.My Conference Can Beat Your Conference is illustrated with 8
pages of color photos.
Author is a noted Chip Kelly expert, having written The Tao of Chip
Kelly, an evergreen title for Diversion. Chip Kelly is one of the
most written-about coaches in the NFL, and has received a great
deal of press for his off-season acquisitions. Kelly has national
appeal as an NFL coach, but also tremendous local appeal in the
Pacific Northwest and the Northeast
Each year, every football team sets out to play a perfect
season. Only one has ever succeeded in beating the odds.
The Miami Dolphins of the late 1960s were a laughingstock, a
franchise where careers went to die. Then came Coach Don Shula. In
just a few short years--through hard work, long practices, and his
no-nonsense attitude--Shula transformed the team into a
championship franchise. Led by such greats as Larry Csonka, Bob
Griese, Nick Buoniconti, Larry Little, Mercury Morris, and Jake
Scott, the team was undefeated in the 1972 regular season and went
on to win Super Bowl VII. Along the way, the Dolphins became the
team of the 1970s, with Miami as a fascinating backdrop.
Based on years of research and interviews, Undefeated, by
award-winning journalist Mike Freeman, examines what is perhaps the
single greatest accomplishment in team sports history: the
unforgettable season in which the Dolphins didn't lose a single
game. There has never been a football team like those Miami
Dolphins, and there may never be again.
Who can forget the famous 'Freezer Bowl' AFC championship victory
over the San Diego Chargers or the heart-stopping Super Bowl
classic against the San Francisco 49ers and Joe Montana? Watkins
and Maloney set the stage for these and other memorable games,
detailing the big plays, stunning comebacks, and fantastic finishes
and painting a picture that makes fans feel as though they were
there. Classic Bengals: The 50 Greatest Games in Cincinnati Bengals
History includes a list of the 50 greatest games by opponent, 'near
misses' that almost made the list, stats on each game, and an
insightful foreword from 'Mr. Bengal', Dave Lapham, who has played
or broadcast games for the team in 42 of its 50 seasons.
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.
Blood, guts, and glory-veteran players reveal the NFL you never see
on TV Behind every glittering NFL game on television is a world of
happy pain for a hundred men. NFL Unplugged lets you see that world
through the eyes of the pros who live and sweat in it. Here are the
places the cameras don't go: the locker room where coaches'
speeches can deflate or motivate, the huddle where fart jokes vie
with playcalling, the training camp where locusts and heat conspire
to break the strongest bodies and shake the most determined minds.
Now you can experience it all up close and unplugged. * Draws on
firsthand accounts of more than thirty players and coaches from
teams across the NFL, including Mark Schlereth, Bill Romanowski,
Kevin Long, Kyle Turley, John Gruden, Hugh Douglas, Jon Runyan, and
Michael Strahan * An unvarnished look at everything from training
camp and broken dreams, conditioning and injuries, and camaraderie
and hazing to the quest to gain a competitive edge and the
exhilarating triumphs of the game *Written by one of the top
figures in sports radio, Anthony Gargano of Philadelphia's 610-WIP
From the injuries that never heal and the money that never lasts to
the memories and the glory that never fade, NFL Unplugged shows the
unbridled brutality and sheer brilliance of the game.
It's easy to be a Monday-morning quarterback, but the true football
fan has the answers all week long. Doug Lennox, the all-pro of
Q&A, leads the drive as he tells us why a touchdown is worth
six points, who first decided to pick up the ball and throw it, and
how a children's toy changed the sport's biggest championship.
Along the way we'll meet players great and not-so-great and
encounter the various leagues that have come and gone throughout
the world. Why is the sport called "football"? Who first used the
term sack? Why did one American president consider banning
football? What football team was named after a Burt Reynolds
character? Why are footballs shaped the way they are? How many
times have NFL and CFL teams squared off? Which came first - the
Ottawa Rough Riders or the Saskatchewan Roughriders? Whose Super
Bowl ring is a size 25?
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