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 alarming and hilarious. A journey into an obsessed Nebraska fan's soul, Forever Red immerses readers in the mad, mad world of Cornhusker football fandom--where wearing the scarlet-and-cream Huskers gear has its own peculiar rules; where displaced followers act as the program's ambassadors, finding Cornhusker subculture beyond the pale; and where the team's performance can barely keep pace with its followers' expectations but sometimes exceeds their wildest dreams. Blending wit and insight, Smith's story of twenty-plus years following the team takes readers back to memorable game moments from 1980 to the new era under coach Bill Callahan, offering 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.

The Art of Football is a singular look at early college football art and illustrations. This collection contains more than two hundred images, many rare or previously unpublished, from a variety of sources, including artists Winslow Homer, Edward Penfield, J. C. Leyendecker, Frederic Remington, Charles Dana Gibson, George Bellows, and many others. Along with the rich art that captured the essence of football during its early period, Michael Oriard provides a historical context for the images and for football during this period, showing that from the beginning it was perceived more as a test of courage and training in manliness than simply an athletic endeavor. Oriard's analysis shows how these early artists had to work out for themselves-and for readers-what in the new game should be highlighted and how it should appear on the page or canvas. The Art of Football takes modern readers back to the day when players themselves were new to the sport, and illustrators had to show the public what the new game of football was. Oriard demonstrates how artists focused on football's dual nature as a grueling sport to be played and as a social event and spectacle to be watched. Through its illustrations and words The Art of Football gives readers an engaging look at the earliest depictions of the game and the origins of the United States as a football nation.

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.

The 1962 Green Bay Packers are still considered one of the most successful teams in the history of the National Football League. This book examines how the team was built, exploring how four of the five assistants on Lombardi's coaching staff went on to become head coaches. The team was rich with personalities, from the glamour-conscious Hourning to the emotional Nitschke to the determined Starr. Of course, the strongest personality of all was Lombardi, who shaped these many unique individuals and talents into a team that changed the game forever. The Packers of this era won five championships in seven years, including the first two Super Bowls, creating a dynasty in the smallest market in professional sports. Despite playing in little Green Bay, the players on Lombardi's team became national heroes.

On December 28, 1958, the New York Giants and Baltimore Colts met under the lights of Yankee Stadium for the NFL Championship game. Played in front of sixty-four thousand fans and millions of television viewers around the country, the game would be remembered as the greatest in football history. On the field and roaming the sidelines were seventeen future Hall of Famers, including Colts stars Johnny Unitas, Raymond Berry, and Gino Marchetti, and Giants greats Frank Gifford, Sam Huff, and assistant coaches Vince Lombardi and Tom Landry. An estimated forty-five million viewers&#8212at that time the largest crowd to have ever watched a football game&#8212tuned in to see what would become the first sudden-death contest in NFL history. It was a battle of the league's best offense&#8212the Colts&#8212versus its best defense&#8212the Giants. And it was a contest between the blue-collar Baltimore team versus the glamour boys of the Giants squad. The Best Game Ever is a brilliant portrait of how a single game changed the history of American sport. Published to coincide with the fiftieth anniversary of the championship, it is destined to be a sports classic.

In the state of Texas American football is a religion. And nowhere is more fanatical about its football than the small town of Odessa. There, every Friday night from September to November, a bunch of seventeen-year-old kids play their hearts out for the honour of their high school. In front of 20,000 people. In 1988 H.G. Bissinger spent a season in Odessa discovering just what makes a town pin its hopes on eleven boys on a football field. He lived with the students, coaches and townspeople who dedicate their lives to their team, sharing their joys and triumphs, their pains, injuries and bitter disappointments. He returned with a compassionate but hard-eyed story of a town riven by money, race and class, where a high school can spend more on medical supplies for its athletic program than on its English department. Friday Night Lights is one of the best books about sport ever written. It is the story of how dreams and reality collide, at once glorious and immensely sad. Because for the 30-odd boys of the Permian Panthers, these days will have been the best of their lives.

On January 30, 1892, the University of Georgia played its first football game, beating Mercer College, 50-0. Since this auspicious beginning, Georgia football has captivated the hearts and minds of fans for more than a century. Beginning with the 1896 season, Patrick Garbin recounts the most memorable seasons in the University of Georgia's football history. Spanning 115 years of Bulldog football, About Them Dawgs provides a game-by-game recap of more than 20 of the school's notable seasons. Each of these seasons is covered with game highlights, facts, statistics, and photographs relating to the Bulldogs. Following each season's recap is a section highlighting the career of an outstanding Georgia player or coach who contributed to the team's success. Some of the most important players and coaches in all of college football are profiled here, including Fran Tarkenton, George Woodruff, Vernon "Catfish" Smith, Jake Scott, Vince Dooley, Champ Bailey, Erk Russell, Terry Hoage, Garrison Hearst, David Pollack, and Heisman-trophy winner Herschel Walker. Packed with fascinating details, a comprehensive records and statistics section, and extensive information on players, legends, and lore, About Them Dawgs recreates the most exciting moments in Bulldog history.