Far beyond detailing NFL star Michael Vick s conviction for dog fighting, his prison sentence, and comeback, Kenneth N. Robinson raises important issues concerning the way race and deviance are treated in America. His book offers a critical analysis of the broader sports culture of the NFL and its dominant alliance, including the media, corporate sponsors, and the politics of the state. The book examines differential treatment by race and how this pertains to Vick, when compared to high-profile whites in the NFL (i.e., Ben Roethlisberger and Bill Belichick). In addition, the harmful impacts of negative labeling show the detrimental effects of Vick being typecast as the face of animal cruelty. Not only did the strong social reaction have a deleterious effect on Vick s criminal case, but following the police raid of his home in Smithfield, Virginia, on April 25, 2007, the number of African-Americans arrested for dog fighting increased disproportionately by race from the five years prior. This makes them the only group to see a percent increase in their arrests and convictions in the five years that preceded and followed the April 25th raid of Vick s property. This data raises serious questions of selective enforcement by race. Overall, the strength of this work lies in Robinson s unique analysis of Michael Vick s fall and rise. I don t think I have ever described an academic work as creative, but each section of this book is just that innovative, original, and inspired. I say this because of the specific comparisons that Robinson utilizes (i.e., dog fighting to bestiality; Vick s treatment to Roethlisberger s; the NFL to China), which have never previously been discussed so thoroughly and sophisticatedly, but are undeniable in proving the point that racial discrimination is alive and well in America. Adrienne N. Milner, Ph.D., University of Alabama at Birmingham (About the Author) Kenneth N. Robinson, M.S., is an adjunct professor of sociology at his alma mater, Buffalo State, in Buffalo, New York. Publisher s website: http: //sbprabooks.com/KennethNRobinson

A driving ambition linked Oakland and Kansas City in the 1960s. Each city sought the national attention and civic glory that came with being home to professional sports teams. Their successful campaigns to lure pro franchises ignited mutual rivalries in football and baseball that thrilled hometown fans. But even Super Bowl victories and World Series triumphs proved to be no defense against urban problems in the tumultuous 1960s and 1970s. Matthew C. Ehrlich tells the fascinating history of these iconic sports towns. From early American Football League battles to Oakland's deft poaching of baseball's Kansas City Athletics, the cities emerged as fierce opponents from Day One. Ehrlich weaves a saga of athletic stars and folk heroes like Len Dawson, Al Davis, George Brett, and Reggie Jackson with a chronicle of two cities forced to confront the wrenching racial turmoil, labor conflict, and economic crises that arise when soaring aspirations collide with harsh realities.Colorful and thought-provoking, Kansas City vs. Oakland breaks down who won and who lost when big-time sports came to town.

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.

RotoAcademy is the world's first fantasy football training school. I founded RotoAcademy to bridge the gap between the average fantasy football player and the game's elite, and I've teamed up with some of fantasy football's top minds to create educational lessons designed to help you win your league. In this Volume 2.0 edition of Lessons from RotoAcademy, you'll learn: -How to Draft With an Early/Late Pick -How to Better Predict Touchdowns -Whether or not a Great QB Helps or Hurts His RBs -How to Use Game Theory During Your Draft -Which WRs Are the Most Consistent -How Age Affects Production -And a Whole Lot More One of the traits that separates RotoAcademy from other fantasy sports services is that we take a truly scientific approach to the game, valuing the pursuit of knowledge as highly as the knowledge itself. We'll show you the latest theories, trends, and stats in fantasy football, but more important, we'll teach you how to be flexible enough to change your strategies based on new evidence. Whether you want to dominate your fantasy football draft or gain an in-season edge, Lessons from RotoAcademy (Volume 2.0) will show you how to approach the game more analytically to become a true long-term winner.

Tim Tebow, an American sports icon, shares in this innovative Bible study guide how the only sure foundation for personal identity is a vital, growing relationship with Jesus Christ. For both personal and small group use. Tim Tebow--football champion, role model, and media sensation--tells how a variety of experiences in recent years have tested his faith and positive outlook. His professional football career may not have gone as planned, but in days of adversity and even self-questioning, Tim has learned that God is always faithful. And it's only through a relationship with Christ that you can maintain a steady, healthy self-identity in good times and bad.

With five AP National Championships since 1983, Miami Hurricanes football ranks among the nation's elite collegiate programs. Use any standard you want for greatness - winning streaks, Heisman winners, Hall of Famers, NFL draft picks, All-Americans, rivalries and Bowl victories - Miami is an indisputable powerhouse. And if you live in the realm of Canes Fandom then this book of history and trivia is for you. It's a celebration of the legendary teams, coaches, players and moments that have made the U such an iconic program - but it's also a test of your fandom, your opportunity to show how much you really know about Hurricanes football. So step up to the challenge. Test your skills. Wrack your brain. It's your Canes IQ, the ultimate test of true fandom.

The Multiple Run and Shoot Offense allows a team to run or throw the ball successfully at any time during the game from any place on the field and gives your players the best possible chance to succeed in every situation they encounter. This book explains the major keys to the Multiple Run and Shoot Offensive philosophy. It describes a fully functional running and passing game that can make numerous different actions and sets to gain leverage on defensive fronts and coverages. The structure of the offense gives the coach a series of simple building blocks that can be used in different combinations that require little new learning. Also included is an installation package which will guide the coach through how to implement this offense starting with practice schedules and training guides to fully prepare a team for competition.

A heart-pounding journey through the most exciting season in Cleveland Browns' history Every longtime Cleveland sports fan knows about "Red Right 88, " the play that ended the Browns' 1980 season. Trailing 14-12 late in the fourth quarter against the Oakland Raiders in an icy, windy playoff game, the Browns opted to eschew a field-goal attempt and go for a touchdown. Quarterback Brian Sipe's ill-fated throw, intended for tight end Ozzie Newsome, was intercepted by Oakland in the end zone, bringing to a halt Cleveland's "kardiac" campaign. In Kardiac Kids Jonathan Knight paints a portrait of the Browns' storybook 1980 season and its impact on the city of Cleveland. Knight takes us through that unforgettable year from beginning to end, describing in great detail how the city simply fell in love with this team. It was the year long-suffering Cleveland sports fans finally had something to be proud of. Tickets were at a premium, players were pursued like rock stars, and songs were written about their on-field heroics. This was a team made up of individuals who weren't expected to be headline grabbers. It had a personable, often humorous head coach and a starting quarterback who was supposed to be too short, too slow, and whose arm was far too weak (and who, by the way, became the National Football League's Most Valuable Player in 1980). A group of football journeymen came together to form the best offensive line in the NFL, and a beleaguered defense improved just enough to help the team realize its destiny. Though the Cleveland Browns boast four world championships and possess a rich and respected past, the magical 1980 season was clearly the most memorable in team history. Kardiac Kids is atribute to that team.

Bill Walsh, Joe Gibbs and Bill Parcells dominated what may go down as the greatest decade in pro football history, leading their teams to a combined eight championships and developing some of the most gifted players of all time in the process. Walsh, Gibbs and Parcells developed such NFL stars as Joe Montana, Lawrence Taylor, Jerry Rice, Art Monk and Darrell Green. They resurrected the careers of players like John Riggins, Joe Theismann, Doug Williams, Everson Walls and Hacksaw Reynolds. They did so with a combination of guts and genius, built championship teams in their own likeness, and revolutionized pro football like few others. Their influence is still evident in today's game, with coaches who either worked directly for them or are part of their coaching trees now winning Super Bowls and using strategy the three men devised and perfected. In interviews with more than 150 players, coaches, family members and friends, GUTS AND GENIUS digs into the careers of three men who overcame their own insecurities and doubts to build Hall of Fame legacies that transformed their generation and continue to impact today's NFL.

After accumulating two decades worth of working knowledge in some of football's most accomplished passing systems, Coach Gonzalez delivers an apparatus that concentrates that knowledge. Teaching and coaching pass offense has never been made more simple, direct, or multiple, as Gonzalez has created a language that can be installed at any level, and streamlines even the most advanced pass concepts. A former Division 1 player and collegiate offensive coordinator, Dan Gonzalez once again blends his working knowledge of the West Coast, Run and Shoot, and Spread No-Huddle offenses, and distills the teaching of virtually any passing game into just three "Advantage Principles" and three "Read Concepts." Furthermore, the simplicity of the system is such that it can be taught to players of any age, giving an excellent springboard to beginning players or coaches. Moreover, the principal secrets of some of most prolific passing games in history are unlocked for advanced coaches. With over 200 *FULL COLOR* diagrams and a guide to installation, this is must read for coaches, players, and even fans who want to further their understanding of the passing game.

In the first half of the twentieth century, Jack Trice, Ozzie Simmons, and Johnny Bright played college football for three Iowa institutions: Iowa State University, the University of Iowa, and Drake University, respectively. At a time when the overwhelming majority of their opponents and teammates were white, the three men, all Black, sustained serious injuries on the gridiron due to foul play, either because of their talents, their race, or, most likely, an ugly combination of the two. Moments of Impact tells their stories and examines how the local communities of which they were once a part have forgotten and remembered those assaults over time. Of particular interest are the ways those memories have been expressed in a number of commemorations, including a stadium name, a trophy, and the dedication of a football field. Jaime Schultz focuses on the historical and racial circumstances of the careers of Trice, Simmons, and Bright as well as the processes and politics of cultural memory. Schultz develops the concept of "racialized memory"-a communal form of remembering imbued with racial significance-to suggest that the racial politics of contemporary America have generated a need to redress historical wrongs, congratulate Americans on the ostensible racial progress they have made, and divert attention from the unrelenting persistence of structural and ideological racism.

In this handy book, Augie Manfredo taps into 25 years experience betting on NFL Football to bring you exclusive details about the science and skill behind this lucrative business. Chapter by chapter, Augie shares personal stories of triumph and failure, important handicapping factors and the methods he uses to win big. As a bonus, Augie has included his most recent NFL diary complete with numbers. Learn the secrets that will take you from hobbyist to professional gambler.

From the early sixties to the late seventies, defensive end Ron McDole experienced football's golden age from inside his old-school, two-bar helmet. During an eighteen-year pro career, McDole-nicknamed "The Dancing Bear"-played in over 250 games, including two AFL Championships with the Buffalo Bills and one NFL Championship with the Washington Redskins. A cagey and deceptively agile athlete, McDole wreaked havoc on football's best offenses as part of a Bills defensive line that held opponents without a rushing touchdown for seventeen straight games. His twelve interceptions remain a pro record for defensive ends. Traded by the Bills in 1970, he was given new life in Washington as one of the most famous members of George Allen's game-smart veterans known as "The Over-the-Hill Gang." Through it all, McDole was known and loved by teammates and foes alike for his knowledge and skill on the field and his ability to have fun off it. In The Dancing Bear McDole the storyteller traces his life from his humble beginnings in Toledo, Ohio, to his four years at the University of Nebraska, his marriage to high school sweetheart Paula, and his long, accomplished professional career. He recounts the days when a pro football player needed an off-season job to pay the bills and teams had to drive around in buses to find a city park in which to practice. The old AFL and NFL blitz back to life through McDole's straightforward stories of time when the game was played more for love and glory than for money.

A veteran Texas sports writer offers a lively, up-close look at football in Texas--the fullest portrait ever conceived--viewed through the interwoven stories of three teams, Plano Senior High School, Baylor University, and the Dallas Cowboys, during one season.In Texas, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday mean one thing: football. Dallas Cowboys' writer Nick Eatman follows three teams in three leagues throughout the 2015 season blending their stories into a unique, eye-opening chronicle of Lone Star football. Eatman highlights the ups and downs and even the parallels that these teams experienced over the course of the year. Granted unique access to every level of the three teams, and drawing on his invaluable connections, he follows key players and coaches, including stars from Baylor and Plano, Tony Romo, Dez Bryant, Jason Witten, and head coaches Jason Garrett, Art Briles, and Jaydon McCullough.Friday, Saturday, Sunday in Texas reveals the inextricable connections between the three teams and the players as the season unfolds. As high school athletes strive to win a spot at colleges like Baylor, college players fight for the chance to go pro, while Cowboys teammates reflect on their rise to the NFL. Though their challenges may differ--prepping for the SATs or Homecoming, working to get noticed by NFL scouts, or trying to prove themselves for that next contract in the pros--when the lights come on and they hit the field, they share one goal: to win.Friday, Saturday, Sunday in Texas features sixteen pages of color photos that capture the highs and lows of the 2015 season. Combining the power of Friday Night Lights and the inspiring insight of Remember the Titans, it offers a fresh perspective on this beloved sport, and is a must for football fans.

On any given workday, any little thing might send Steve Smith's thoughts spinning back to Saturday-last Saturday, Saturday two weeks ago, Saturday two years ago, back into the thrilling minutiae of game day-until reality reminds him: this is not how well-adjusted adults act. Steve Smith is not a well-adjusted adult. He's a Nebraska football fan, and this is his rollicking account of what it's like to be one of those legendary enthusiasts whose passion for the Cornhuskers is at once irresistible and hilarious. A journey into an obsessed Nebraska fan's soul, Forever Red immerses readers in the mad, mad world of Husker football fandom-where wearing the scarlet-and-cream Husker gear has its own peculiar rules; where displaced followers act as the program's ambassadors, finding Husker subculture beyond the pale; and where the team's performance can barely keep pace with its followers' expectations but sometimes exceeds their wildest dreams. Revised, updated, and expanded from the 2005 edition, Smith's story of thirty-plus years following the team takes readers back to memorable game moments from 1980 up through the roller-coaster ride of recent years. Blending wit and insight, Smith offers to the uninitiated and the fellow fanatic alike a window on the world where fantasy and football meet, where dreams of glory and gritty gridiron realities forever join. This edition features a new afterword bringing it up to the dawn of the Scott Frost era.

In Pigskin Robert W. Paterson presents a lively and informative overview of the early years of pro football -- from late 1880s to the beginning of the television era. Peterson describers the colourful beginnings of the pro game and its oustanding teams (the Green Bay Packers, the New York Giants, the Chicago Bears, the Baltimore Colts ), and the great games they played. Profiles of the most famous players of the era - including Pudge Heffelfinger (the first certifiable professinal), Jim Thorpe, Red Grange, Bronko Nagurski, and Fritz Pollard (the NFL's first black star) -- bring the history of the game to life.

This volume contains the chapters about linemen from the first three major books ever written about modern football, by three Hall of Fame coaches and the man who invented the flying wedge:

American Football, by Walter Camp (1891), A Scientific and Practical Treatise on American Football for Schools and Colleges, by Amos Alonzo Stagg and Henry L. Williams (1893), and Football, by Walter Camp and Lorin F. Deland (1896).

The sport has changed in significant ways since then, but the fundamentals of the game remain intact and their profound coaching wisdom is timeless and relevant today.

The text is enlivened by more than 75 rare vintage images of linemen in action, originally published in newspapers and magazines from 1857 to 1900.

The original books were written during an era when players played the entire game without substitution. As a result, the descriptions of player positions mingled the responsibilities of what are now three separate and specialized offensive, defensive, and special teams platoons.

The offensive backs were also defensive backs, punters, place-kickers, and kick-returners. The quarterback played a linebacker position ("rush line back") on defense. Linemen (also called "forwards" and "rushers") likewise played both offense and defense. The offensive tackle was sometimes used as a ball-carrier.

This confusion is clarified in this updated version which separates and categorizes the responsibilities into offensive and defensive platoons to fit today's game.

The Lost Century of Sports Collection publishes rare works from America's sporting heritage. Volumes include The Lost Century of American Football, The American Football Trilogy, The First Decade of Women's Basketball, and Daughters of the Lost Century.

"Brings back many memories for me. I just wish my Dad was still here to see your wonderful photos. He would have gotten the biggest kick and memories from Wrigley Field. Wonderful " Tim Dooley. This comment is typical of those who have purchased Pro Football at Wrigley Field. With over 240 photographs by photographer Ron Nelson, this 106 page book is filled with the great stars of the 60's who played in the NFL. Text is by Beth Gorr and the forward is by Ronnie Bull. Quotes by Mike Ditka, Ed O'Bradovich, Doug Buffone, Gale Sayers, Mike Pyle and Maury Youmans reveal what is was like to play football at Wrigley Field. This is a must for football fans and those who enjoy looking at the action of the game. A must for your collection.