Football Books

I read this book in 5 days that is how amazing it is. Aaron Brooks is one of my favorite players and the saints are my favorite team. This book is really interesting and the more I read the more I wanted to read. Aaron keep doing what ur doing because you and your book is great!

I first found this story in Sports Illustrated when I was a kid growing up in Pennsylvania. It was a three-part series, and I couldn't wait for each issue to come out week after week. I read the stories over and over. Needless to say, I've been a Steelers fan ever since. Mr. Blount is literary artist, and this is one of his masterpieces. Gritty and gripping. I can't wait to read more of his work.

An excellent book filled with lots of historical facts pertaining to semi-pro football. Rather you're a fan of a local semi-pro team or are interested in learning more about the long and rich history of semi-pro football, this book is a "must-have" resource.

Notice that the cover of this look at the "AFC East" for the Inside the NFL Series has Travis Henry, still a running back for the Buffalo Bills when this photograph was taken, being tackled by linebacker Tedy Bruschi of the New England Patriots. Bruschi is not in uniform this season, having suffered a mild stroke after the Patriots won their third Super Bowl in four years. The irony that neither player is playing for these teams this year is not what makes the cover appropriate, but that these are the two northern most teams in the division. The only thing that would make the picture more appropriate would be if Bruschi was tackling Henry in the snow up in Buffalo with each team wearing red, white and blue. The New York Jets know what it is like to play in the snow, but the Miami Dolphins have to wonder what they are doing in this cold weather division. In this introduction to the four teams of the AFC East, Bob Woods helps to explain why the Dolphins belong but the Baltimore Ravens do not (although the explanation may well be less than satisfactory).

The story of the AFC East begins more with the AFL than the NFL, since three of the teams were original members of the AFL (guess which one was not). Woods overviews the division as providing some memorable first in pro football history: the Jets were the first AFL team to win the Super Bowl, the Patriots were the first team to win the Super Bowl on the final play, and the Bills had the first 2,000 yard rusher. The Dolphins? They are the first and only team to have a "perfect" record. This sense of history is what important in these books, because the assumption is that young fans know about Tom Brady and Chad Pennington, but they might not know the legacies of Joe Namath, Bob Griese, and Jack Kemp. The team histories are also more important because Travis Henry is not the only "current" player who is shown in the uniform of what is now his former team (although, as in the case of Ricky Williams and Vinny Testaverde, sometimes they actually come back).

Because these teams "only" go back to the old AFL, Woods does not have to go way back in the history of professional football, just to the days of "Cookie" Gilchrist, Babe Parilli, and Gino Gappelletti. Hopefully young fans will enjoy reading about the great players and teams of the past, and fans of the Buffalo Bills will learn about the back-to-back AFL titles they won in 1964-65 and not just the four consecutive Super Bowls they lost in the 1990s. More knowledgeable fans will find it ironic that besides Don Shula the only member of the undefeated Dolphins who gets his picture in the book is not Griese or Larry Csonka but Mercury Morris. But there are still plenty of familiar names from Jim Kelly and Dan Marino to Curtis Martin and Tom Brady.

The back of the book contains several pages of Stat Stuff, where you can see the relatively similar Team Records (the four teams have won 288 to 399 wins). There is a list of the Members of the Pro Football Hall of Fame and AFC East Career Leaders (through 2002) for each team, where names from the past like Steve Grogan, Gary Yepremian, and Don Maynard are listed. There is also a Glossary of terms from "Achilles tendon" to "wild card," a Time Line from the AFL being formed in 1960 with the Bills, Titans, and Patriots to New England winning Super Bowl XXXVI in 2001, and a list of books and web sites where young fans can go For More Information about the AFC East and the NFL, with the emphasis on the latter (so if you want to find a book about the history of one of these teams, unless you are a Dolphins fan you have to keep looking). Still, this series does provide a solid starting point for young football fans to learn about the history of the game through the stories of these teams.

This book contains information that is useful for individuals who coach for a living and for those who coach on a volunteer basis. There are drills from some of the biggest names in coaching and they are explained so that even a complete novice can understand them. If you coach football at any level, this book HAS to be in your library.

Isnt it amazing what you find on Amazon.Now i can review a game i attended way back in 1990.We hadnt won a Grand Final since 1958,and some of our narrow defeats can only ne concidered extremely unlucky.We hadnt played in a Grand Final since 1981(i attended that game)when we lost our 3rd in a row.But we had hammered Essendon in the 2nd Semi by 63 points.
After a bad start saw Essendon kick the first 2 goals,we had a couple of close calls.But it was Daicos who produced the goods,with that amazing goal from the boundary.Somehow we found ourselves in front at quarter time.Six goals to one in the second quarter gave us a very good 34 point lead at half time.I was as nervous as hell,i had seen us throw away big leads in Grand Finals in the past.But not this time we ran away with a 48 point win,and i do recall nervous times at the start of the last quarter.But no doubt the jubilation of this great day in the history of the Collingwood Football Club,of which i am a regular member.
This is a great souvenir of our long overdue win in 1990.

this large scale photographic essay is one of a kind, offering a rare and exciting glimpse into the absolute spectacle of african futbol. capturing the intrinsic glory and unchecked passion of the spectators, the fans, the players, and the whirlwind of activities and festivities surrounding the games, the african game puts the reader squarely in the center of the action. we have witnessed the rise of american soccer as it has blossomed here, but the remarkable show that is the african game is unlike anything else!

Barry Krauss' memoir captured and held my attention throughout. I wouldn't compare Krauss in either the areas of memoir writing or sports writing to Mitch Albom, but I doubt Mr. Albom could participate head-on in a goal line stand and live to tell about it--much less write a book about it. So, after we take the likes of Mitch Albom out of the equation and look at Ain't Nothin' But a Winner on its own merit, I can easily say that I found it to be a well-written, compelling memoir. After all, it's not every football player (turned writer) who can come up with descriptions such as "Alabama again came within one single puff of Coach Bryant's unfiltered Chesterfield cigarette of winning two national championships...." That's nice imagery. That's writing that keeps me reading.

Beyond looking at the book from a literary standpoint, the story and the message within the story make this book stand out. Krauss recounts his career in football with humor, with touching sensitivity, and with frank honesty. From high school through his years in professional football, Krauss gives the reader a rare inside view of that world. As he says, he lived the life many dream about and he's appreciative of the experience.

I'm not an avid football fan, but this book pulled me into this life devoted to the team and the game. I felt the tug of the ups and downs players and fans rejoice in and suffer from. The highlight of the book, of course, is Krauss' recounting of his years playing for Paul "Bear" Bryant on the University of Alabama football team. The climax is the one play-- the Goal Line Stand, on January 1, 1979, in the Sugar Bowl game against Penn State--where Krauss stopped Penn State's Mike Gunman from scoring. Football enthusiasts will enjoy Krauss' description of the play that stopped time. While reading that section, I felt the crack of helmets and came away with a better understanding of football fanatics.... (reviewed by Lou Belcher, freelance writer and editor)

I am satisfied with the the book order process and delivery. I fing it that the book itself (most of the books from Holland) are rather expensive.

Ajax, Barcelona, Cruyff is one of my favourite football books. It's fascinating to read Cruijff's opinions on football. They're so clear - he gets across in a sentence more than you'll ever hear from most footballers. Some of it is so simple, but it really makes sense. Just as an example, he says that the real indication of a good footballer isn't what he can do when he's got lots of space, it's what he can do with none. When I read that, Jack Charlton's "put 'em under pressure" tactics with Ireland, and images of Denis Bergkamp doing things with his first touch that most footballers can't in three come to mind. He says that a good footballer needs just two things - first touch and passing. Everything else is finesse. Think of how the Dutch at their best, or the Brazilians, or Barcelona play - they can all pass a team to death.

The book is written by a couple of Dutch journalists. Cruyff wasn't too generous with interviews - he would charge for them when he did them at all. He trusted the guys who wrote the book though, and they had more access to him than any other journalists. The material in the book comes from interviews with Cruijff over the years, and it makes for fascinating reading.