To understand how the NFL became the sports phenomenon it is today, you can study its history or you can live its history as an active participant. Upton Bell grew up at the knee of the NFL’s first great commissioner, his father, the legendary Bert Bell, who not only saved the game from financial ruin after World War II but was one of its greatest innovators. Coining the phrase “On any given Sunday,” Bert invented the pro football draft and proposed sudden death rules.Present a...

Now a major motion picture starring Jon Voight, Nic Bishop, and C. Thomas Howell.This riveting true story of courage, strength, and football at the height of racial tension in Birmingham, Alabama tells the story of Coach Tandy Gerelds, his running back Tony Nathan, and a high school football game that healed a city.In the midst of violent, impassioned racial tensions in Birmingham, Alabama, new football coach, Tandy Gerelds...

On January 1, 1966, New York came to a standstill as the city’s transit workers went on strike. This was the first day on the job for Mayor John Lindsay—a handsome, young former congressman with presidential aspirations—and he would approach the issue with an unconventional outlook that would be his hallmark. He ignored the cold and walked four miles, famously declaring, “I still think it is a fun city.”As profound social, racial, and cultural change sank the city into repeated cri...

A meticulously researched and powerful exposé on the epidemic of cover-up that surrounds sexual assault and college football players."Not to reckon with Luther's book would be an abdication not only of one's moral faculty but also of one's fandom . . . Luther doesn't just want to save future victims; she wants to save college football." — New York Times Book Review"Highly relevant, hard-hitting, much-needed information that reveals the wid...

*Sports Book Awards Autobiography of the Year**Shortlisted for the William Hill Sports Book of the Year Award**The Sunday Times Sports Book of the Year**The Times Sports Book of the Year**Telegraph Football Book of the Year*Readers love The Boy on the Shed'A journey full of emotion . . . Spectacular' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐'Honest, insightful and s...

The factual, concise and first-choice guide for the real fan. Now in its 65th year, PLAYFAIR FOOTBALL ANNUAL includes all the Champions League and Europa League details; a compact directory for English and Scottish clubs; English and Scottish league and cup match results; stats on how English league clubs have fared over the last 25 years; and week-by-week domestic, European and international fixtures for the 2012-2013 season. A pocket-size treat - this is the ideal book to take to matches...

JIMMY GREAVES was a great entertainer and a national hero as a footballer, and is held in equal affection as a television pundit and performer. Now Greavsie reveals the footballers and managers who have given him most entertainment and are his biggest heroes. Greavsie has confined his star-studded assembly to players and managers of his lifetime -- dipping fondly back into the days of Stanley Matthews, Tom Finney and Len Shackleton and coming up to date with in-depth analysis of modern mas...

The superclasico, the Buenos Aires derby between River Plate and Boca Juniors, is unique in world football. These two clubs fought for supremacy in the Boca neighbourhood in the early 20th century. Today they fight for the city, for Argentina and the world. This is your ticket to the game; a guide through the streets of Buenos Aires; a journey through the dramatic and violent history of the fixture; a showreel of the great players who have played in it and an analysis of why they now leave...

In this compellingly argued and deeply personal book, respected sports historian Michael Oriard — who was himself a former second-team All-American at Notre Dame — explores a wide range of trends that have changed the face of big-time college football and transformed the role of the student-athlete.Oriard considers such issues as the politicization of football in the 1960s and the implications of the integration of college football. The heart of the book examines a handful of decis...

A searing exposé of how the multibillion dollar college sports empire fails universities, students, and athletes.With little public debate or introspection, our institutions of higher learning have become hostages to the rapacious, smash-mouth entertainment conglomerate known, quaintly, as intercollegiate athletics. In Champions Way, New York Times investigative reporter Mike McIntire chronicles the rise of this growing scandal through the experie...

Raucous, raw, and reliably remarkable, the century–old football riavlry between the state universities of Texas and Oklahoma stands as testimony that hate–based relationships are the most enduring. Texas and Oklahoma have been top–level programs for a long time, but in the last few years the rivalry has garnered ever more national attention. Mike Shropshire, an observer of this football war for more than 40 years, chronicles the long and colorful history of this fierce rivalry that has end...