Whether in football or in the law, Illinois Supreme Court Justice Robert Thomas has always had the "best view from the bench." Bob Thomas got his start in football at the University of Notre Dame, kicking for the famed "Fighting Irish" in the early 1970s. Claimed off waivers by the Chicago Bears in 1975, Thomas helped to take the franchise from their darkest days to their brightest. Yet, on the cusp of the team's greatest moment, he was struck with a shocking blow that challenged his fortitude. In this dramatic retelling of Bob Thomas's fascinating life, renowned sports writer Doug Feldmann shows how neither football nor the law was part of Thomas's dreams while growing up the son of Italian immigrants in Rochester, New York, in the 1960s. Chasing excellence on both the gridiron and in the courtroom, however, would require resilience in ways he could not have imagined. As A View from Two Benches shows us, Bob Thomas reached the top of two separate and distinct professions, guided by a bedrock of faith that has impacted his decisions and actions as both a football player and a judge, helping him navigate the peaks and valleys of life. As Doug Feldmann reveals, Bob Thomas has always stayed true to the values he learned in his earliest days. Doug Feldmann's rich biography of an accomplished kicker and a proud justice of the law shows us that determination and resilience go a long way to a successful and impactful life.

Family sports comedy, starring Will Ferrell. Phil Weston (Ferrell) has long had to put up with his own father Buck's (Robert Duvall) competitive and overbearing nature. But when Phil's son joins a Little League football team, Phil finds that his own competitive nature hasn't been buried as well as he thought, and it gets worse when he learns that Buck has decided to coach a rival team. Before long, Phil is gaining enemies all over the place as he browbeats his team with the attitude that winning is everything.

A small area of western Pennsylvania around Pittsburgh has produced almost 25 percent of the modern era quarterbacks enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. That percentage is wildly disproportionate to the number of superstar quarterbacks any one state might claim, let alone a mere sliver of a state—an area representing just one-fifth of one percent of the total country. The list of the greats starts with George Blanda, the “old man� of the game, and continues with the incomparable Johnny Unitas, followed by “Broadway� Joe Namath, Joe “the Comeback Kid� Montana, Dan Marino, and Jim Kelly. Their stories, feats, and statistics are brought to life in America’s Football Factory through riveting anecdotes, extensive research, and exclusive interviews with their coaches, friends, family, and peers. Readers will appreciate getting to know these athletes as people, not merely as football heroes. Stewart also explores the many theories as to why one part of the nation has churned out so many greats. Hall of Famers Raymond Berry and Mike Ditka lavished praise on the first edition of this book. “Any fan of my era, of my friend Johnny Unitas, or, for that matter, any fan of football in general should enjoy Wayne Stewart’s book,� said Berry. Ditka, himself a Western Pennsylvanian, wrote in the book’s introduction, “You can’t get much better than the primary six men featured in this book.� He’s correct—upon their retirement, all six of the book’s featured quarterbacks were in the top 12 for touchdown passes, and five of them were in the top 10. America’s Football Factory also features other greats from the Pittsburgh vicinity, including Johnny Lujack, Babe Parilli, and Marc Bulger, and the area’s best high school programs for producing quarterbacks are also discussed.

Football is a sport steeped in a culture of violence, intimidation, and brutality, but players have learned to navigate through the minefield of its physical demands by adhering to an honor code of sportsmanship known simply as "the code." As mysterious as it is sacred, the code is an unwritten set of rules that has been handed down from generation to generation. While the code has been around since the early days of the National Football League, it remains a taboo subject shrouded in secrecy. Under the threat of penalties, fines, and suspensions, players have to use stealth and ingenuity when retaliating against dirty players out on the field. Sure, bench clearing brawls will occur from time to time, but most of the revenge that goes on is behind the scenes. Patience must be exercised when settling old scores, and the veterans will wait until the time is right to exact the justice they feel fits the crime. While the game has changed immensely over the years, one thing remains the same--the players still police themselves. They know that if they break the rules of the code, then there will be hell to pay. At its core, football is all about respect and disrespect, and if a teammate is cheap-shotted, blind-sided, or is chopped at the knees, then the wheels of retaliation will be set into motion. The code is not just about head-slaps, verbal taunting, and the many unseen horrors that can occur under the pile. It is also about running up the score late on a team, excessive celebrations, head-hunting after interceptions, bounties, eye-gouging, and rookie initiations. The old adage "if you ain't cheatin, you ain't tryin" has always applied out on the gridiron and includes things such as stick-um, siliconed jerseys, cold showers, and of course, steroids. And let's not forget all of the espionage that goes on both on and off the field as well. Everything from "Spygate" to dummy play-books to lip-reading is fair game--unless you get caught.

Pull up a stool, tap a beer, and immerse yourself in the world of one of the twentieth century's most celebrated journalists. This abundantly illustrated biography is the first account of the colorful life of newspaperman Mike Royko, the Pulitzer prize-winning columnist who personified Chicago in all its rough-edged charm, yet whose talent was appreciated by readers around the world.

In columns for the Chicago Daily News, then the Chicago Sun-Times, and finally the Chicago Tribune, Royko's biting wit was syndicated in more than 600 newspapers, and he was courted and feared by national political figures. He was even the inspiration for the John Belushi role in the film Continental Divide. But Royko's beginnings could not have been more humble. Raised in a flat above a tavern on Chicago's Polish Northwest Side, Royko -- like the marvelous character he created in his columns, Slats Grobnik -- was a street-smart wiseguy, tending bar though barely a teen.

Drawing on exclusive photos, letters, and interviews with Royko's family and friends, author Doug Moe, himself a daily newspaper columnist, chronicles Royko's remarkable rise to prominence. Seemingly destined for jail or the morgue, the young Royko enlisted in the air force and found his calling after lying his way into a job on the base newspaper. The blunt humor that was his sword as a writer was evident early, but readers will also meet another Royko, a sensitive and often insecure man who wrote more than 100 letters home to the sweetheart he would later marry, who loved classical music as well as neighborhood bars, and who was devastated by his first wife's death but made the most of his second chance at marriage andfatherhood.

Royko honed his knowledge of Chicago politics as a reporter for the legendary City News Bureau before meeting the grueling challenge of a daily newspaper column. In 8,000 columns spanning thirty-four years, Royko's most frequent subject was Chicago's rambunctious politics. His book Boss, a best-selling expose on Mayor Richard J. Daley and his political machine, appeared in 1971. But Royko, who some said "wrote with his fists", also sparred with U.S. presidents, bureaucrats and stuffed shirts, Frank Sinatra, and proponents of political correctness and nouvelle cuisine. He also praised and celebrated barbecued ribs and Chicago softball, the fierce talent of Nelson Algren, the rich variety of Chicago's neighborhoods, and the quiet dignity of ordinary people up against it.

The millions of readers who have missed Royko since his death in 1997 are in for a rare treat, for in The World of Mike Royko he lives again.