In this masterpiece of sports reportage, Washington Post staff writer Mark Maske--one of the most respected journalists working both on and off the field--draws on unprecedented access to produce a behind-the-scenes look at the NFL's bitterest rivals: the Philadelphia Eagles, New York Giants, Washington Redskins, and Dallas Cowboys.Relentlessly reported from the leadership level, War Without Death delivers all the dramatic personality conflicts and unexpected chan...

The first definitive biography of Chicago Bears superstar Walter Payton.At five feet ten inches tall, running back Walter Peyton was not the largest player in the NFL, but he developed a larger-than-life reputation for his strength, speed, and grit. Nicknamed "Sweetness" during his college football days, he became the NFL's all-time leader in rushing and all-purpose yards, capturing the hearts of fans in his adopted Chicago.Crafted from interviews with more...

THE DEFINITIVE, CRITICALLY ACCLAIMED BOOK ABOUT FOOTBALL'Football conquered the world with its capacity to astonish, and this is its definitive history' The IndependentThere may be no cultural practice more global than soccer. Rites of birth and marriage are infinitely diverse, but the rules of soccer are universal. No world religion can match its geographical scope. The single greatest simultaneous human collective experience is t...

For more than eighty years, The New Yorker has been home to some of the toughest, wisest, funniest, and most moving sportswriting around. The Only Game in Town is a classic collection from a magazine with a deep bench, including such authors as Roger Angell, John Updike, Don DeLillo, and John McPhee. Hall of Famer Ring Lardner is here, bemoaning the lowering of standards for baseball achievement—in 1930. John Cheever pens a story about a boy’s troubled relationship with h...

NEWLY UPDATED FOR THE 2018 SEASON!You won't find any staid player statistics, by-the-numbers game summaries or tedious team histories here. This Steelers book teems with the passion and pride Pittsburgh has for its football team. It's told through a multitude of intimate fan portraits that put a face on Steelers Nation.

The 1962 Green Bay Packers are still considered one of the most dominating teams in the history of the National Football League. In 2007, when the New England Patriots were trying to become the first team to go unbeaten during a 16-game season and win the Super Bowl, there were many stories written about their place in history, and the '62 Packers were always listed among the top three teams of all time.There are a number of books on the Packers already, showing a strong and sustai...

On August 15th 1992, the Premier League kicked off for the very first time to the sound of money. That same season, a new kind of branded commercialism descended across the continent as the European Cup was re-launched as the Champions League. In 1994, the game's oldest trophy, the FA Cup, would become the last of English football's major competitions to fall to commercial sponsors. The early 1990s mark the moment at which the beautiful game, the sport of the common man, wound up on a mark...

College football is a sport of rivalries—and no two teams were ever more perfectly matched than the Miami Hurricanes and the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. In Perfect Rivals, award-winning sportswriter Jeff Carroll takes us inside the locker rooms and onto the gridiron, as two storied programs with very different cultures battle for national supremacy, school pride, and the soul of the game itself.Beginning with the Hurricanes’ nationally televised 58–7 pasting of the Irish at the Oran...

Even in their worst of seasons, the Philadelphia Eagles maintained their tradition of toughness, thanks to great players-legends like Chuck Bednarik and Steve Van Buren to modern-day heroes. In Tales from the Philadelphia Eagles Sideline, veteran football writer Gordon Forbes profiles the individuals who have thrilled Philadelphia fans since the team’s inception in 1933 through Andy Reid’s perennial championship contenders of today.

From an award-winning sports journalist and college football expert: “A beautifully written mix of memoir and reportage that tracks college ball through fourteen key games, giving depth and meaning to all” (Sports Illustrated), now with a new Afterword about the first ever College Football Playoff.Every Saturday in the fall, it happens: On college campuses, in bars, at gatherings of fervent alumni, millions come together to watch a sport that inspires a un...

How Wideouts Became the NFL's StandoutsFrom the time Cris Carter started his career as a supplemental draft pick of the Philadelphia Eagles in 1987 to his retirement in 2002, the position of wide receiver exploded in the NFL. Receivers went from being quiet and classy to being known for their electric play, off-the-field antics, and -- in some cases -- over-the-top personalities.In Going Deep, Carter and ESPN journalist Jeffri Chadiha chronicle the...

The remarkable story of 20 young American football players, convinced to compete internationally in rugby—a game they'd never heard ofIn 1950s Los Angeles, entrepreneur Mike Dimitro convinced a group of young American athletes to fly around the world playing rugby league, a game that was entirely new to them. Miraculously, the American All Stars competed with the best Australia, New Zealand, and France had to offer, and shocked the locals with some stunning victori...