Football Books

Got this book for my son-in-law and could hardly put it down myself. Great pictures and information. Easy reading, easily find information wanted. This was the perfect gift for my Notre Dame fan.

There really is something magical about Notre Dame Football. Eve growing up as a Michigan Football fan I realized this. Part of it came from growing up in a Catholic family. We'd often visit my grandparents on Saturday afternoons and my grandmother always had the Notre Dame football game on on her radio. The fact that Notre Dame is not in a conference has provided them with the kind of national appeal that other programs don't have. Game Day Notre Dame Football is one of Triumph Books' Game Day series featuring the greatest players, games, and moments in Notre Dame Football history.

The numbers are staggering: 7 Heisman Trophy winners, 21 national championships, 179 first team All-Americans. With those stats it's no wonder that Notre Dame has been a football powerhouse since the beginning of the 20th century and the days of the legendary coach, Knute Rockne. It was Rockne who was responsible for developing the modern passing game where previously the pass had been a novelty.

Most people are aware of two of the most famous campus landmarks at Notre Dame. First the Golden Dome which was built after a fire destroyed the main building in 1879 and the 132 foot tall Touchdown Jesus. But there are other great landmarks including "We're No. 1 Moses" and "Fair Catch Corby" that are detailed in this great book. It's no wonder the Notre Dame campus is considered one of the most beautiful in the nation.

Great players abound in Notre Dame's history. Heisman winners Leon Hart, Johnny Lujack. Paul Hornung, and Tim Brown stand side-by-side with other legends like George Gipp, The Four Horsemen, Joe Montana, Alan Page, and Joe Theismann. Gipp, of course, has become the stuff of folklore. Gipp led the team in rushing and passing in 1918, 1919, and 1920 but died from complications of strep throat in 1920. Eight years later in 1928 Rockne, the story goes, gave his famous "win won for the Gipper" speech just before the team was set to play the powerful Army team. Notre Dame's team was weak that year, coming in to that game with only a 4 - 4 record, but inspired by Rockne's speech, the team went out and pulled the upset.

Other great games are highlighted as well including the win over Oklahoma in 1957 which ended the Sooners record-breaking 47 game winning streak, the "game of the century" 10 - 10 tie with Michigan State in 1966, the 1978 dismantling of Texas in the Cotton Bowl, and the 1993 upset of #1 ranked Florida State.

As with all the fantastic Game Day books from Triumph it is a beautiful, heavy, hardcover book with fantastic photography and comments from former Notre Dame players and coaches. A great book about a great football program!

Reviewed by Tim Janson

This book is a must read for all Badger football fans! It is a well-written tribute to the great football players that have graced Camp Randall over the past several years!

Drawing from the photos and writings of award-winning authors and photographs at Athlon Sports, "Game Day: Wisconsin Football" showcases University of Wisconsin football teams in general, and what it means to be a Badger football fan in particular. Packed from cover to cover with entertaining and informative anecdotes of past and current players, the stories behind Wisconsin football rivalries and traditions, detailed histories of some of the greats players, coaches, teams, and moments in Wisconsin's collegiate football, lists of the most successful seasons, recaps of the most exciting games every played, as well as year-by-year team performance statistics. Profusely illustrated throughout in full color, "Game Day: Wisconsin Football" will be read with interest and appreciation by the legions of Badger fans -- and should be considered 'a must' for all Wisconsin school and community library collections.

As a PSU Alum, a faithful reader of Jordan Hyman's columns in the Daily Collegian during my years at Penn State and a fellow writer, this brought me right back to my voice-losing afternoons and evenings at Beaver Stadium supporting my beloved Nittany Lions. Kudos to Jordan Hyman on capturing th eessence and spirit of the greatest college football program in the nation.

The author here does an outstanding job capturing the essence of Nittany Lions football in a series of short stories, told through the eyes of some of State's most famous players/coaches to ever enter Happy Valley.

Kudos to Mr. Hyman, for attaining all the great stories inside the book. This is a must have for any Penn Stater and any college football fan in general, for that matter.

I got this book as a gift for my boyfriend. He is a serious LSU fan. He loves it. He reads parts of it to me outloud because he finds it so interesting he wants to share it with me. I don't think he has ever read a book for pleasure until now.

My dad is an LSU alumni and when I gave it to him Christmas morning he couldn't put it down. The book itself was in perfect condition when I received it.

I first read Ruy Castro's 'Bossa Nova' and wanted more! Then I found his book 'Rio de Janeiro', and loved it. I then went on to read Ruy Castro's next book (translated into English) Garrincha which is about a Futebol star. I am not into soccer but I loved the book.

Although some people may disagree - the entire population of Argentina, I suspect - Brazil are widely considered the top dogs of world soccer. As a nation they've won the World Cup five times and the Maracanã - where Brazil play their home games - is one of the sport's most famous stadiums. Any discussion about the soccer's greatest players will feature several Brazilians - Pelé, Jairzinho, Zico, Romário, Bebeto, Falcão, Sócrates and Ronaldinho would surely be in contention. Manuel Francisco dos Santos, most commonly known as "Garrincha", may not be as widely known as his countrymen but he fully deserves to be included on that list. He is, however, quite clearly honoured in his home country where he is still known as the "Joy of the People".

Garrincha was born in 1933 in a small town called Pau Grande. Amazingly, for such a gifted sportsman, he was born with 'bent' legs - his left bent out and his right bent in. When young, he was also smaller than the kids his own age and was christened 'garrincha' (the local name for a 'little bird') by his sister. His hometown was founded by the English in the 1870s and was centred around the América Fabril factory - the factory, it seems, practically employed the town's entire population. The town's soccer club - Sport Club Pau Grande - was founded in 1908 and, although an amateur team, was the first senior club Garrincha played for. He eventually moved to Botafogo, one of Rio's professional teams - it was here he played his best football, and he won the Carioca (Rio's State Championship) several times. He played for Brazil 60 times, winning the World Cup twice; he dismantled and demoralised the highly-rated USSR team in the 1958 Finals and, some say, won the tournament nearly single-handedly in 1962. Garrincha, however, played primarily for enjoyment - he didn't always turn up for training and still enjoyed playing with his friends on Pau Grande's dangerous pitch. Money seemed nearly irrelevant to him and he was practically taken advantage of by his club's directors. He'd regularly sign a blank contract, with the salary to be filled in later - as the team's star player he was then paid less than he was worth.

Garrincha's life was also hugely colourful off the pitch. He was, allegedly, very well endowed, which may help explain why he was so popular with the ladies. He fathered (at least) 14 children by 5 different women, including eight daughters with his first wife, Nair, and a son in Sweden - conceived while on tour with Botafogo. It seems he was anything other than a devoted husband to Nair. Throughout his marriage to her, he regularly chased other women - he had a number of girlfriends and one-night stands and had children with several of them. Only one woman came close to 'taming' him : Elza Soares, a well-known singing star and every Brazilian man's fantasy. The pair met in 1961 and began their affair the following year. However, the public were less than impressed when news of their relationship broke, something that caused a great deal of trouble for them. Garrincha also suffered from alcoholism - cachaça, made from fermented sugar cane, was a particular favourite - and it was this affliction that led to his death at the age of 49. It also caused a great deal of trouble for his friends, relations and colleagues.

The book is subtitled "The Triumph and Tragedy of Brazil's Forgotten Footballing Hero" and, as time goes by, the tragedies become more and more commonplace. At times, it is very difficult not to feel sorry for Garrincha, Nair and Elza - I certainly felt a great deal of regret that things didn't work out differently. The book was written by Ruy Castro, and was originally published in 1995 - he has quite clearly researched the book meticulously and has written a very engaging book. A great deal of credit must also go to Andrew Downie, who translated the book into English in 2004. A highly recommended book, that should appeal to more than just the soccer fan - largely because of Garrincha's colourful personal life. However, because of his personal life, I wouldn't think it's ideal reading for the kids !

When Emmit Smith was a baby, he wached football because his dad wached it all the time and got him into it. That is why he is so good at running back. First when he got drafted to the cowboys no one knew how good he was. Emmitt talked to the coach and asked if he could play more than he already was. He led the cowboys to 5 super bowls in a row, that shows how good he was. I think kids that are starting football should read this book. That is how you can become a very good football player.

When Emmit Smith was a baby, he wached football because his dad wached it all the time and got him into it. That is why he is so good at running back. First when he got drafted to the cowboys no one knew how good he was. Emmitt talked to the coach and asked if he could play more than he already was. He led the cowboys to 5 super bowls in a row, that shows how good he was. I think kids that are starting football should read this book. That is how you can become a very good football player.

I've just finished an excellent book, worthy of high praise. A journey through post-war British history through the eyes of a goalie, a soccer fan, and a Londoner, "The Goalkeeper's History of Britain" by Peter Chapman is a fabulous piece of writing. It might seem an arcane subject for many Americans, sports fans or not, but I found "Goalkeeper's History" to be a book which made sense of many aspects of the British character I had always wondered about. A book for sports fans, Anglophiles, and modern history lovers, "Goalkeeper's History" follows Peter Chapman's eyewitness account of growing up in the postwar London borough of Islington. When the book begins, Chapman outlines the neighborhood of his early childhood, late 1940s and early 50s Islington, still filled with the graphic aftermath of the Blitz, where numerous houses survived only as piles of smashed bricks. We get to know family and friends, Londoners all, survivors of war and imperial retreat. Islington comes to life through the eyes of this excitable young football fan, who learns football and team loyalty from his Dad and Uncles. By early school age, Pete had fallen in love with the stoic goalkeeper's position, the practical personification of the English spirit on the football field. We follow Chapman's childhood as world event's rage, Britain pulls back from empire, and popular culture spreads rapidly across the globe. He goes on to play goalie for Leyton Orient's junior team in the 1960s(sort of like playing minor league baseball), then leaves school and works as a traveling carbon paper salesman in America, a reporter for the Guardian and BBC in Latin America, a sports reporter for the World Cup for ITV, and eventually as an editor for the Financial Times. Throughout he gives us a humorous and whimsical insight into the English character and the steadying presence of the goalkeeper, soccer's version of Churchill's bulldog. As a lifelong baseball and football fan, European history buff, and Anglophile, I loved Chapman's book for the fact that it gave me a cultural perspective on his country only a native could have. I've often developed sports's analogies to make sense of Ameican history, politics, and culture, but although I'd spent more than 3 years living and working in Britain, such intuitive understanding of their culture often escaped me. Chapman's book gives the reader a tool to make sense of everything from hooliganism to Thatcherism to the differences between "shotstopping and crossing". Add this to books that will keep our "special relationship" special. "The Goalkeeper's History of Britain" is funny, thoughtful, and written in a fast-paced conversational tone. I imagined sharing a beer and swapping sports stories with Peter Chapman as I blitzed through his pages. As soccer continues to grow in popularity in this country, with English Premier League on the Fox network every weekend, and American women dominating the World Cup, take a minute to pick up "The Goalkeeper's History of Britain". It's a lovely book. Buy it, read it and savor it.

I'm not sure how much I can add after the wonderful review by Mr. Nunn, except that I share many of the same views.

My mother heard an interview on National Public Radio with the author and thought I would enjoy this book. I had been looking for a book that was able to somewhat clearly and entertainingly depict some features of British culture. As a football (soccer to Americans) fan, this book was wonderful. The book intertwines British (primarily English) football history centered around the goalkeepers with some bits of British history as well as some autobiographical bits.

The analogy of the goalkeeper for the country of Great Britain is quite ingenious and helpful in understanding the kind of general attitude the British have towards the world. I don't want to spoil the fun of figuring out the British attitudes Mr. Chapman often refers to, but I will say that they are enjoyable and fun to find.

I hope you read this and find it as entertaining as I did. I'm confident it will be well worth your time.

This book is really great! It's extensive coverage of the Golden Era of U of M football should be in every graduate's library. The author has extensive knowledge of this era - his father having played in it. If you want to know some fun facts, this book is for you!

This book has a lot of very useful statistics. It is excellent for report writing, and for "taking a trip down memory lane"

Outstanding book. 11 years later (1988 publishing), it is still an entertaining and informative book that I often refer to during football season. I wish they'd publish an updated version. Many things have happened in 10 years - Elway's rise, Jim Kelly's 4 Superbowls, Brett Farve, Troy Aikman, Drew Bledsoe, Scott Brunell and Steve Young just to name a few. The book covers many interesting aspects - preponderence of star QBs from certain universities, aging not so gracefully, Steve Deberg's many trades, the QB class of 83, black QBs, "franchise" QBs that never materialized, etc. Highly recommend the book to any NFL fan. One of my favorite books on football.

There is possibly no position in sports more difficult than quarterback in pro football. While many positions require skill, playing quarterback needs this as well as courage, leadership, and intelligence. The basic nature of the position is abstract to human or animal nature; where the quarterback is asked to stand tall despite the fact there are larger, stronger men attempting to "kill" him, and he must look 30 yards downfield while stepping up towards these men coming at him. He cannot attack these men, he must accept the punishment, and go on to the next play. Add the fact where defenses now are fully deceptive, and based on fully attacking this one position; and it's not an easy chore. The creation of the forward pass in football led to the earliest passers such as Sammy Baugh, and to the modern passers of Marino, and Elway. (Book is 1988 print) There are insights on all the greats, along with beautiful picture on these players along with the many others that made some contribution to the position. I have seen no other book to date that can offer the pictures on such a broad number of players in football. Along with the pictures are insights by many of the top minds in and covering the game. Whether it be Bill Walsh, Sid Gillman, or other coaches, there is something for any fan of their favorite quarterback. From Johnny Unitas to Greg Cook, any player deemed to have some effect on the game is reviewed. This book is a pure delight to fans of football, and it's most significant player.

Howard "Hopalong" Cassidy, Rex Kern, Archie Griffin and many more memories of Saturday afternoons in the "Shoe"

With so many Ohio State books out after the national title season, this book does a great job of capturing the essence of the final seasons. This is a must have for Ohio State fans to remember the greatest moments in Ohio State history, particularly the Fiesta Bowl season.