Athletics Books

In his 3rd edition of this book, exercise physiologist Tom Fahey , continues to present the basics of weight training and offers the latest information from some sports medicine and exercise physiology research. The book is simple and concise. It is recommended for the person who has limited or even no weight training experience or knowledge but who is interested in starting a weight lifting routine.

Chapters include information on muscle development, exercise mechanics and specfic chapters that will help you develop different areas of the body such as chest & shoulders, arms, abdominals, neck and back,and lower body. In addition to exercises with free weights, Fahey also includes routines using Universal Gym and Nautilus type equipment. A chapter on nutrition includes information on diet and performance, steroids and eating disorders.

This is a good primer for developing a beginner's weight training program.

Not as good as the Dummies series which has better written and illustrated books on this subject.

I recently boought this book and read it in one sitting on a flight. It is the best I've seen yet. Not only does it have great weight training guidance with various kinds of equipment (barbell, dumbell, & various machines) but it gives variations and clear cautions. In addition it has the best nutrition & lifestyle discussion and getting started section I've ever seen. It also discusses the difference between strength, power and ensdurance and how to achieve them. Simply trhe best yet.

This book has just about all that you can ask of a book on basic weight training; programs, techniques, principles, cautions, etc. It's also well-organized, printed on acid-free, recycled paper, and has several useful appendices, as well as a glossary and a comprehensive index after the text section. If you can buy just one weight training guide, this is a very good choice.

Well I bought this book thinking it would be informational and helpful, but in fact it was a waste of money! The pictures are poorly illustrated, and they did not include variations of the exercise. Spend your money on a better book!

There are two problems with this book. First, it begins with a speech given by coach Jim Tressel on January 3, 2003, just before the 2002 National Championship game. Except it never happened. The speech was a fake, written by Ken Pryor, a fan, and e-mailed and posted across the Internet. It wasn't even meant to be a hoax, but simply something like a speech the coach might give, most sites listing Pryor as its author. Until this book, I never knew anyone had actually believed it to be anything else. It seems more than a little odd that the author didn't contact Tressel or anyone on his staff to confirm the validity of the speech. It's even more odd that the book's editor didn't either, considering that this book wasn't published until August of 2005, more than two and half years after it was already widely known to be false.

This leads into my second problem: It seems like any "fan" of Ohio State football would have known this. But to be fair, I don't doubt that Mr. Menzer is a fan. (He mentions in his "Acknowledgements" that at an early age he had an uncle and aunt that dressed him in OSU wear when he visited them Columbus.) It's just that by his reasoning, all my friends would have to be considered "fanatics." They have the football schedule months, if not a year, in advance, they have a plan for each and every game, and -to a certain degree- plan their lives around football Saturdays.

In my experience, being a Buckeye fan is something that seeps into you, like osmosis. No one dressed us up. We spoke up first, with "Where's MY Buckeye shirt?" and "Can I have an Ohio State hat for my birthday?" or "I'm saving up for a -insert OSU item here-." It's a certain level of commitment that isn't really a choice; at some point it's just ingrained in you.

But is this a bad book? I want to say, `No, not at all, except for the opening, it's a very good book.' Unfortunately, that's not true, because the opening puts you in a pall for the rest of the reading. Credibility is compromised. Is it written well? Absolutely, it is. Menzer is great with the turn of a word, but the validity of what follows is always in doubt.

When a young Earle Bruce sustains an injury and can't play football for Ohio State, Woody Hayes literally jumped into his car to stop him, and ask him to get an Ohio State education regardless? He uses the word literally. I've seen speeches by both men, and I have never heard either say Woody, not figuratively, but literally jumped into a car.

Later, defensive tackle Nick Buonamici says to coach Hayes, "Goddammit, I did it for you, Coach," and then jumped onto a table to reveal a tattoo. Really? He swore at Woody Hayes, in front of the whole team, then leaped onto a table? I didn't realize there was this much jumping in Columbus, Ohio.

And at a game, it was so cold that some people were physically unable to stand afterwards? Come on. That's way beyond even frost-bite. Hypothermia?

There are a lot of books about Ohio State football. Like this one, they all talk about the only two-time winner of the Heisman Trophy, Archie Griffin, about the undefeated team of 1968, about the legend of Woody Hayes, and the storied history of the Ohio State-Michigan game.

When picking up a book about the Buckeyes, let's just say this would not be my first choice.


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Joe Menzer is a sportswriter and contributor to NASCAR.com. Born in Hamilton, Ohio, and a graduate of Bowling Green State University, he covered the Cleveland Cavaliers and the NBA for the Willoughby/Lake County News-Herald. He has contributed articles to the Cleveland Plain Dealer, the Cincinnati Enquirer, the Washington Post, the Sporting News, and Inside Sports, amongst others. He covered the Carolina Panthers football organization for over a decade, and is the author of several books, including Cavs from Fitch to Fratello: The Sometimes Miraculous, Often Hilarious Wild Ride of the Cleveland Cavaliers (1994), The Wildest Ride: A History of NASCAR (2002), and Four Corners: How UNC, N.C. State, Duke, and Wake Forest Made North Carolina the Center of the Basketball Universe (2004).
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There must be a credibility factor when a person puts words to press; whether it's a doctoral thesis, newspaper feature or a book chronicling a moment in time.

The plagarism scandels thay hounded historians Doris Kearns Goodwin and Srephen E. Ambrose shows the shortcuts even the most respected writers will take, seemingly with an arrogance that no person will question their false research.

It is unfortunate that Joe Menzer - who, for years, was considered an excellent sports reporter/columnist in northeast Ohio - has traded fact for fantasy in the opening pages of what potentially could have been an excellent history of nearly 40 years in Ohio State football.

The reader is allegedly in the locker room before the 2003 National Championship game with coach Jim Tressel and his squad. Tressel gives a stirring speech - actually, one for the ages.

The problem - let me rephrase this, the major problem - is the speech supposedly given by Tressel is from an Internet posting on a message board that was written by a fan.

Well, nowhere do I see Tressel saying, "And men, according to the fan....," while he gives his version of Knute Rockne's legendary, but equally bogus, "Win One for the Gipper."

After this fraudulent opener, the book is classic Menzer, as he tramples over the myths and rumors surrounding the program from the late 1960s teams of Woody Hayes to the triumph by Tressel's team in the Fiesta Bowl.

But I cannot pull myself away from that false start. Words should mean something and Menzer has placed himself in the same category of Kearns Goodwin & Ambrose; but for all the wrong reasons.

I bought this book last year with a Barnes and Noble gift card and immediately got into it. Now I myself am a huge sports enthusiast, especially when it comes to history. This is a good read on the history of ohio state football. Starting with the early days of the team and covering the bases on Paul Brown and Woody Hayes-coached teams that won national championships, the author does not fail to impress. The book came out right after Ohio State's national championship victory over Miami in the Tostitos Bowl, therefore the beginning talked about the win and how good it was for Tressel to bring a championship back to Columbus.

What really interested me was how John Cooper was disliked in Columbus, the main reason being that he did not take the rivalry with Michigan seriously. If you expect to succeed as a head coach, you must motivate yourself and prepare yourself for that big game at the end of the year that may have national title implications on the line. It's the best rivalry in all of college football, next to Notre Dame-USC, and this year will be no exception. Number 1 vs. number 2 will be watched by everybody who's somebody.

As a young girl growing up in Ohio--many suns ago--I still remember my three brothers, my father and multi-uncles arguing the pros and cons of good old Ohio State football! So when I saw this book on Amazon, I just HAD to get it.

Wow--what memories it brings back!

I now live in Silicon Valley, and out here in the Golden State, we're always rooting for the 49ers and the Raiders, with three-fourths of my large family being 49ers fans, the other quarter rooting for the Raiders. Imagine the fun we have!

Now that my memory has been refreshed on Ohio Buckeye Madness, I can now toss in a good old Ohio State football story. It's invigorating to be reminded of one's ROOTS! (pun intended)

This author is using information in the this book, specifically the "Pre-Game Speech", without the permisson of the original author and without crediting the author of this material. As the above reviewer notes, this "speech" was not actually given by Tressel, so the author is factually incorrect. As for the rest of the book, I have no idea, wouldn't buy because of the dishonesty in the first pages.

This books explains how to build up your own periodized training program.
Its practical approach and the step by step procedure make you understand how to reason when plannin g a periodized routine.
It is necessary, however, to have a clear understanding of the basic concepts of training, since no information is provided in this regard.

I need the adress of Mr. Steven J. Fleck, Ph.D

I thought this book was terribly awful. Its more of a briefreview of periodization, not a book on the theory, and training. Itsalmost like a cheap, and sloppy version of cliff notes on Dr.Bompa's Serious Strength Training. I would not recommend Periodization Breakthrough to anyone. If you want the complete theory, and training methodology of Periodization for bodybuilding/strength training purposes, I very highly recommend Dr. Bompa's Serious Strength Training. It is I beleive the best written book on the topic!

This was a really detailed book. I have read "Serious Strength Training" by Bompa, however I felt that this book gave me more insight into creating my own custom periodization schedule. Bompa's book had most of it pre-planned. The book had excellent citations for research an gave me all the information I needed in a well laid out format.

I was disappointed in this book. It advertises itself as containing "The Ultimate Training System," but does not live up to the title. It has some good material in it, and I appreciated the science-based support of the authors' theories. However, it is extremely light on practical examples. There are far better books out there to help you understand and develop "The Ultimate Training System." One I would recommend is The New Power Program: Protocols for Maximum Strength by Michael, Dr. Colgan.

The run up to the NCAA national championship always has many stories about the difficulties and travails of the athletes, coaches and fans who all seek the elusive Number One ranking. There may be a few souls out there that know more about the X's and Os of college football but none of them can match Austin Murphy's dry wit, keen insights and the human stories behind the scenes. This book explains that we don't need a Playoff System because we already have more than enough drama. Like everything that this veteran SI Road Warrior puts out there, we have laughed more and are a bit wiser than before we started. Keep it coming!

Not the most fascinating subject but Murphy's writing rises above the fairly mundane topic. The premise that the college game beats pro football ignores four hour bowl games that carry into mid-January. That said, Murphy finds the humor in anything and has a real knack for people that comes across in his writing. His earlier books are five star efforts so this is, as they say, wide left.

Much like college rankings, Murphy takes half of the chronicled season before the book begins to feel coherent. While I'm a longtime Sports Illustrated reader familiar with Murphy's weekly college football coverage, there's something lost in the translation from magazine page to "Saturday Rules"--the play-by-play coverage of games drags on forever, and fails to bring the season alive. The behind-the-scenes access that Murphy has makes this book required reading for Notre Dame, USC, Michigan, Florida, and Ohio State fans (all of which are covered in-depth). Most other fans can pass on this one.

Great running commentary on the 2006 season, mostly from the perspective of USC and ND, but great insights into Ohio St, Michigan, and Florida. I would definitely enjoy reading a similar book about any season.

The book is not great and I lost interest in it near the half way point. If you want to read good books on College Football, go with Dixieland Delight by Clay Travis or Bowls,Polls, and Tattered Souls by Stewart Mandel. Leave Saturday Rules at the store. It is not worth it.

I own hundreds of football coaching books and this might be the most useful I have ever read. Don't be confused by the title, the best part of the book is it's detailed description of picking apart coverages, and the 80 series passing game. This is a must have for any football coach.

Coach, thanks for writing this book. It certainly solved the problem I was having with pass protection at my high school. The concept is easy for the kids to understand. The pass packages improved what we were trying to do in the passing game. They gave us more diversity. We improved from 2-8 to 7-3 with just average athletes.

Apparently "Coach" takes his criticism a little too harsh. I have to agree with "reader" this book is wafer thin on pass protection and there is NOTHING new here. It is the same slant,hitches,fades and crossing combos that everybody uses. I guess if you've never stood on the sideline, read another football book, watched game tapes of your opponents and gone to a clinic you will find this insight "helpful". Not sure why Coach Powers thinks he has discovered something new here. I was also wondering where coach explains how some of the routes he says are in this book are adaptable to ANY formation?? Like reader I wish Coach Powers well and I don't doubt that he is a good coach but let us be honest with those who are making a decision on which books to fit into their tight time and financial limits. There isn't anything special or unique that makes this book a must have "pre-season" read.

As a highly successful college coach, I have discovered that it's really not necessary to scheme against the blitz. Really, if one executes the gameplan that one scripts several months before the game, there is no need to adjust.

Screens and quick slants are dangerous plays to run. The best way to beat the blitz is to keep the QB stationary, so that he is able to execute the keen gameplan of 3 yard outs.

Another good way to beat the blitz is to have the receivers run very long, complicated hitch patterns that will confuse the DB.

Besides that, there is no need to bring in extra blockes, audible, misdirect, tunnel screen, flare, quick slant, rollout, or do anything else.

I believe that my astounding record of wins per season stands as a testiment to my ability.

If I wrote such a totally inaccurate review I wouldn't want anyone to know who I was (Reader) or where I lived (Football Town, USA) either. The pass protection scheme is adequately covered in the opening chapters of this book as noted by the editorial reviews. Once defenders are identified and the pass protection scheme is explained a few adjustments are discussed. We use very few of the adjustments but they are in our package. The basic scheme holds up versus most fronts and stunts reducing the need for a lot of adjustments which confuse players. We have a few adjustments that will take care of certain stunts we see but the basic calls are usually all we need. I have received several emails from coaches telling me how much they enjoyed learning this pass protection scheme and they think it will help them. I know it will! It turned us around from perennial losers to contenders. There is almost no three-step drop in this passing book while all of Coverdale and Robinson's drops are in the Quick Passing Game. I recommend their books to you. We use them to give us another dimension to our passing offense. Also, there are enough formation possibilities that a coach could use a different formation on nearly every down of a ten game schedule. That's enough for us. The versatility and effectiveness of the pass routes are expounded on in the chapters dealing with four-quick receivers, attacking cover two, attacking cover three, attacking man coverage, using play-action passes, and a goal line package with minimal (if any) similarity to Coverdale and Robinson's books. Even if your pass protection is sound the book is worth getting for its effective pass routes in chapters five through eleven.

I'm a Physical Therapist Assistant, a Nurse, and an ACSM cert Health Fitness Instructor. Yessis goes over basic kinesiology as well as how to perform these exercises with safe form. He also goes into reasons WHY bad form is harmful, how to avoid as well as why certain exercises can be beneficial in certain sports. This is a great book to become familiarized with muscles, actions, and strict form. I recommend it for any trainer or athlete. I often give it as a gift to my clients when they complete training with me.

While the book features a variety of exercises, it advocates strength training methods that have been proven to be dangerous, and that by mere logic seem wrong. First, the author instructs you to hold you breath during each move, claiming this is proper breathing technique. Also, he condones explosive training which is detrimental to the muskuloskeletal system. Along with other flaws, this book was a waste of money. Your money is better spent buying books such as "A Practical Approach to Strength Training." This book is one that is backed up scientifically and teaches you the safest and most effective way to exercise.

I've read about a half a dozen or so books on strength training. The worst thing for the beginner is getting injured, which is very easy to do, and could stop further training for fear of getting injured again. This book describes in detail the movements involved in the lifts and injury prevention. For this alone, it's worth it to get the book. Then, if you wish to continue there are other books to buy, such as "Weight Training-2nd: Steps to Success" which gives you workout plans and why to exercise opposing muscle groups, etc.

I expected a more through book on exercises and their effects on the body. Maybe a good book for beginners but not for experienced athletes.

You could find the information in this book in any number of places online. Not only would the information at a good Kinesiology website be more complete but you would also get moving gifs to show you proper form.

I don't think I got even one useful thing out of this book.

I ordered this book for a valentine's day present and it arrived before the scheduled delivery date and was in perfect condition.

I ordered this book and the seller actually lived in my area and offered to deliver it to my house. Great Service!!

I bought this book along with one other for my husband's birthday. He started reading it that night. The info is great and there are pictures in it that are not very often seen. Very interesting!

As the book title says, this is a "retrospective" and not a history, which explains why there is little to be found about the early days of the New York Yankees in between being certified as a member in the American League of Professional Baseball Clubs and the purchase of George Herman Ruth from the Boston Red Sox. Despite the 41-win season of Jack Chesbro, everything before the Babe is prologue. Besides, for most of those years they were the New York Highlanders and they have never been considered part of the fabled team in pinstripes. The team's centennial is as good as excuse as any for a book like this, since there is essentially the same problem that would have faced a similar effort 50 years ago. The Yankees are once again an on-going dynasty so there seems no real reason to wait for the end of the Joe Torre years or for Derek Jeter to retire before putting together such a book.

Edited by Mark Vancil and Mark Mandrake, "The New York Yankees - 100 Years - The Official Retrospective" is more in the style of sports journalism than academic history, which is fine. Throughout the volume there are a series of essays on the team's greatest players by some of the finest sports writers around: Richard W. Creamer on Babe Ruth, Donald Honig on Joe DiMaggio, Peter Golenbock on Mickey Mantle, and Ray Robinson on Lou Gehrig. Roger Kahn looks at "The Battle of the Boroughs" and Leonard Koppett writes about the Yankees dominance of New York City. There are, as you would expect in such a book, an All-Time Yankees team, selected by the New York-New Jersey Chapter of the Baseball Writers' Association of America, who also picked "The Top 25 Moment, Marks, and Events" that concludes the volume.

The sportswriter picked those lists but the justifications are provided by Bill James, the dean of statistical analyses of the game of baseball and a person who knows how to make an argument supported by compelling evidence. For example, James makes a case for Roy White being a better player than Jim Rice and even goes so far as to argue that Whitey Ford's consistency was more important that the spectacular efforts of Sandy Koufax. James provides similar arguments for the Yankees Managers and pretty much settles the debate as to which New York Yankee team was the greatest of all time (no, it was not "Murderer's Row"). Actually, James ends up accounting for about half the text in the book, which is welcomed if you like his brand of analysis and disconcerting if you hold other beliefs.

The book does skew towards the second half of the century, i.e., to the fans who would buy this nice looking book, which explains why the roster of great players gives space to Bobby Murcer but not Bob Meusel. As you would expect, the book is richly illustrated and you might be surprised that many of hte most familiar photographs in team history are not to be found in in this collection. Attention is paid more to the details than the big picture: Keith Olbermann tells Babe Dahlgren's version of the end of Lou Gehrig's playing streak; This is a page devoted to the wisdom of Casey Stengel; and the three major obstacles Elston Howard faced when he joined the Yankees. This book suffers from not having an index, but that seems a trivial concern in the end. You do not have to read this book straight from cover to cover, but as you look as you get around to everything sooner or later.

Now I know why this was shrink-wrapped in the stores, which made it impossible to look inside. But after getting the book and removing the shrink-wrap, it is nearly impossible to read. The layout is similar to ESPN's Magazine, with small colored print on top of colored background, pictures without captions, etc. This was supposed to be for my Dad, but at his age he won't be able to read this. Heck, I can barely read it, and I don't even wear glasses. I'll never buy a shrink-wrapped book again. I should have known better.

Well I'm a Track and Field guy so I was interested a few years back to read the story of one of America's premiere female athletes who happened to be a legend in southern California high school Track and Basketball. This book provides what won would expect to learn. trials, triumphs background.

The recent revelations don't corrupt this book for the most part but it is sad that she fell so far. It really is a shame.

What a joke, should be titled, "Making of a Cheater"

Now that the facts are out, wasn't it always obvious?

Marion Jones was a good kid she grow up with a loving family and didn't get in to trouble often well she never did. Marion was a good student and would all way do her homework when she got home from school.
Marion Jones and her struggles with life and her accomplishments in the life. She had some hard ones and some that she will remember for the rest of her life. At the age of 5 she was all ways a good student in school. She would get A's all the time I think there was onetime that she had a b in one of her classes but other than that was it. In little leage she was beating evey body that she was running a genst was getting beat. She was really fast at that age . she was the bst on her tram then and I think that she was the best one on every team that she was on. At the age of 13 she was able to touch the rim at 10 feet. At the age of 14 she was dunking at a regular 10 feet hoop. She would start all of the games that she played. She was a runner in school to but she wasn't that good back then. The kept on practicing every day.
She got a scholarship to play in college to the North Carolina Tar Heels. And she gladly excepted it. She didn't start every game until her 2nd year there and then started to start every game. She was really good at basketball at the time was she playing. She was the best player on the team and there was like 30 people on the team at that point. She was the starter for point gard. That Is the best place to play I think it is any way. Some of the people said that she had the sweetest jump shot of all the player on the team. She only dunk one time at the game but it was during worm up so I didn't count but it was still impressive. It was cool because the people in the crowed was like (WOW)But that game that she had wasn't one of her best games she only got 20 point that night. Her all time heights point in a game was 45 points. So fare that has been the most on that team that any player for girls team had ever got.
She didn't finish college because she got a chance to go running for free with the best instructor so she could run. She all ways wonted to run and now was her chance to do it so she decided to take a chance. So she did and its paying off for her. Latte on she was working with her coach and they started talking and they started go to dinner. Then they started going out to dinner and then after a while he proposed to her. That all i have to say with out giveing the book away.

This book really gives you insight you wouldn't normally read about. The book starts when she was born, and continues up to the 2000 Olympics. Rapoport does an excellent job in writing about Marion. You go through the pain with Marion. I couldn't put the book down.

Marion Jones is one of the Most Important Athletes in Sports over the past Decade She has forever changed what a Athlete can Proclaim as Goals.She had a Great Year at the Olympics.She will only get better with time.this is a Good Solid Book on Her I can't wait to see what Her Next Journey shall be She is Very Talented&Hard Working Person&very Down To Earth.

When I read the review by tjh, I was hesitant to buy the book. However, I decided to take a risk, and I'm glad I did.

I am not a professional trainer, athlete, or physical therapist. I lead a sedentary lifestyle, my job requires that I sit all day, and exercise is not my favorite thing to do. As I have grown older, I have noticed the loss of flexibility. I am precisely the audience for which this book was written.

I found this book to be extremely informative about the mechanics of how our muscles work, easy to understand and follow, and most importantly, effective in reducing many of the aches and pains associated with a sedentary lifestyle. And because I feel better, I am motivated to increase my previously minimal amount of exercise to walking 45 minutes each day.

To the professional athlete, the stretching exercises may appear rudimentary. But for the average person, Chris Verna has assembled an easy-to-follow guide to identifying and improving individual fle! xibility for different body parts. The only way this book could be improved would be to include a 25-year old Trainer to come with it!

I think my title pretty much says it. There are no stretches to do on a daily routine. They all apply to specific things like golf or tennis. I don't play golf or tennis.

I am in private practice and see a wide range of patients and problems. I treat many professional athletes, but also our Az. "snow birds" who want to be painfree when they golf, jog, etc... I consider this the best tool I have to help them, not just for the moment, but from this point on. The vast majority of musculo-skeletal complaints I deal with can be traced to poor flexibilty and subsequent decreased function or complete malfunction. Chris' innovative approach to how the body works together has made these stretches very effective. More than one patient has been spared shoulder surgery due to Chris' perspective on shoulder motion and the stretches developed from that ! As more of my patients join HMOs, their access to good physical therapy is dramatically reduced. I have gone to prescribing Chris' book over arguing for a few physical therapy visits in a poor facility - and had much better outcomes !!! The text is clear and the photographs assure that positioning is correct. This book has been a huge help to my back pain patients, many of whom have now found relief they felt they would never experience again. If you hurt, this could easily be the best $20 you ever spend. Christopher R. Carlson PA-C ATC

This book is more than I expected. I only bought it hoping it would pinpoint the best stretching exercises to help in my bicycling. Besides getting sport-specific stretching suggestions, the book gives general stretching suggestions too. Chapter 1 walks you though a flexibility test for each general body part. Using the results of the test you can determine where you most need to improve on your flexibility. For example, if the flexibilty test determines that you need improvement in your hip area, the book refers you to which chapter or chapters of stretching exercises would most benefit you.

Yoga based stretching presented in a easy to follow format. I am a certified fitness instructor and recommend this book for my students. The photos are very clear and lots of beginning modifications are included.

This is a great non-fiction book. I am in high school so i am searching for a college. i aslo play football wnd would wish to do so for a D-1A college program. this book was very helpful and showed me that D-1 football is not all fun and games. It was very interesting and i could not put it down. it was also very informative and tells may fun and exciting stories about life in the big time college football scene.

This was a fairly interesting book that provides some insight into the inner workings of a major college football program, but I didn't think it was very well written, and I had a hard time getting into it. It tried to tell so many different stories that it just seemed too jumpy to me. I thought "A Civil War" about the Army/Navy rivalry was a much better read and did a better job of making all the various characters interesting and bringing them to life. "For the Glory" was okay, but hardly stellar.

Denlinger just tried to do too much here. He follows an incoming class of a couple dozen football players over their five years of eligibility. Unfortunately, that's such a huge subject material it's hard to have any meaningful depth to the individual players' stories. He'll be talking about player A for a couple of pages, but that will be it, since there's so many other players to follow. Then, you often won't hear about that player for "another year." One reviewer made reference to Friday Night Lights, and one strength of that book is that the author only focused on about 5 players over 1 year. I felt I knew those Permian Panthers at the end of the book; you're still struggling to figure out which Nittany Lion is which at the end of this one.

JoePa is the person you learn most about ... but even there it's just about his interactions with the players, as opposed to a macroscopic overlook of how Paterno oversees the whole football program. Paterno comes off well, and it's a credit to him that with a sports reporter lurking around his program steadily for five straight years, Denlinger (admittedly, a PSU alum) found very little negative to say about the football team's administration.

As an alum myself, it was disappointing that not much was written about what makes the Penn State campus experience unique. The book comes off as being set in Any State University, as opposed to State College vs Columbus, Ann Arbor, etc....

Overall, I suppose I sound negative. Really, it's not a bad read .... I just found it somewhat shallow and vanilla. IMHO, there's more to write about college footbook than this book found.

For The Glory calls itself "a player's book", therefore anybody looking for an in-depth study of legendary Penn State University coach Joe Paterno will be disappointed. Neither does the book concentrate on any major scandals usually associated with big-time college football. Denlinger instead details the dedication, frustration, disillusionment, and for a fortunate few, the fulfillment experienced by twenty-eight young men between 1988 and 1993, as they cope with the mental and physical pressures of playing football for perennial college powerhouse Penn State. Denlinger focuses on the fluctuating fortunes of the players as they struggle both to maintain an acceptable academic performance and also earn a starting place in the team. In so doing, he shows how for some players, the entire college experience is an attritional process of disappointment and discontent. In addition, his accounts of endless practice sessions, and moreover the disturbing frequency of serious injuries to players, raise challenging questions, not only about the intense competitiveness of college football, but about the nature of the game generally. Keeping track of twenty-eight players over five years is no mean feat, and one feels occasionally that Denlinger spreads his focus too widely. It is sometimes difficult to recall the details of each player, and consequently one cannot understand and relate to them on a personal level. Overall, however, For The Glory provides a soberly honest portrayal of the student athlete experience that allows one to appreciate the achievement of those who play football on a collegiate level.

The book did enlighten me yet it was boring to read. There are better books about college football(I have most of them). If you want to cuddle up by the fireplace with a good sports book leave this one alone and read Friday Night Lights.