American Football

Being a University of Michigan football fan should be joyful. Michigan is an elite academic institution whose football team boasts 43 Big Ten championships. But these days, college football is complicated. The NCAA is corrupt and exploitative, and Michigan keeps losing to Ohio State. It’s hard not to wonder, as Ben Mathis-Lilley does in this book: why are we doing this? The Hot Seat is a chronicle of one of the wildest years in Michigan football history, but also a search for the truth about fandom, from the pages of history books to the wilderness of online forums.

Spies on the Sidelines: The High-Stakes World of NFL Espionage details the collection techniques that NFL teams utilize to gather information on their opponents in order to gain a game-day advantage, as well as the countermeasures used to defend against them. The book spans the entire history of the league and contains anecdotes from every NFL team. Topics include spying on practices, stealing paperwork and signals, debriefing personnel that switch teams, listening devices, headset tampering, elicitation, Spygate, Deflategate, and so much more!

At the 1936 Berlin Summer Olympics, track and field star Jesse Owens ran himself straight into international glory by winning four gold medals. But the life of Jesse Owens is much more than a sports story. Born in rural Alabama under the oppressive Jim Crow laws, Owens' family suffered many hardships. As a boy he worked several jobs, like delivering groceries and working in a shoe repair shop, to make ends meet. But Owens defied the odds to become a sensational student athlete, eventually running track for Ohio State.

With more Super Bowl appearances than any other player in NFL history, Tom Brady is a sports icon. From his college days as a backup quarterback at the University of Michigan to his record-breaking number of winning seasons with the New England Patriots, this new and comprehensive biography gives fans a firsthand look at the highs and lows of the superstar's life and career, complete with stats and photographs.

Jim Thorpe was one of the greatest athletes who ever lived. He played professional football, major league baseball, and won Olympic gold medals in track and field. But his life wasn't an easy one. Born on the Sac and Fox Reservation in 1887, he encountered much family tragedy, and was sent as a young boy to various Indian boarding schools: strict, cold institutions that didn't allow their students to hold on to their Native American languages and traditions.

Since 2015, Fred Segal has chronicled "unprophetic" sports predictions on the internet. His Freezing Cold Takes social media pages feature quotes and predictions from members of the sports world that have aged poorly or were, in hindsight, flat-out wrong. The pages have become a guilty pleasure for hundreds of thousands of sports fans who love to see sports media's infamous "hot takes" that went cold.

Often recruited before they've worn long trousers, today's footballers become superstars who earn huge amounts without ever learning much about the world beyond the training ground. But what do these Peter Pans, whose careers end just as most people's are getting going, do with the rest of their lives? Crouch speaks from his own experience and discusses with fellow former professionals too—just how do you safely release a near seven-foot striker back into the wild?

In A Giant Win, Coach Tom Coughlin reveals the intricacies of football, sharing details only a coach would know. He also details relationships with some of the most iconic players from the Giants, including Eli Manning and Michael Strahan. A Giant Win provides a frame for Coach Coughlin to discuss his life in football—including his years with the Giants as an assistant coach in the late 1980s and 1990, when he helped win a Super Bowl working under Hall of Fame Head Coach Bill Parcells and alongside the coach he’d oppose in Super Bowl XLII: Bill Belichick.

In Mad Ducks and Bears, George Plimpton's engaging companion to Paper Lion, Plimpton focuses on two of the most entertaining and roguish linemen and former teammates: Alex Karras ("Mad Ducks") and John Gordy ("Bears"), both of whom went on to achieve brilliant post-football success. A more reflective, less madcap audiobook than Plimpton's other work, Mad Ducks and Bears is no less truthful and searching.

In his first ever book, The IF in Life: How to Get Off Life’s Sidelines and Become Your Best Self, NFL running back and Dancing with the Stars champion Rashad Jennings shares his inspiring story and experiences, imparts practical advice, and encourages listeners to follow their dreams.

In his trademark tell-it-like-it-is style, Chris sets his sights on 25 aspects of the modern game that need fixing. From ridiculous rules and feckless agents to dreaded VAR and abusive fans, no subject is out of bounds. Discover which managers Sutton slams for giving bland post-match interviews, which clubs are fleecing their fans and why he believes Messi and Ronaldo aren't as good as Best and Maradona.

As an All-American at Ohio State and All-Pro linebacker for the Pittsburgh Steelers, Ryan Shazier was living his best life while excelling at the game he loves, a game that has given him so much. But then Ryan was forced to redefine success. Suddenly, it was no longer measured by tackles or sacks, but by purpose and faith.

Coaching a football team is no child’s play–you need to have a burning passion, strong knowledge of the game, and a solid work ethic. Above all, you need to have the ability to bring out the best in every member of the team to win on and off the field.

George Sephton's relationship with Liverpool Football Club began in 1971 when he wrote to the club secretary applying to be the stadium announcer. His first match also marked the debut of Kevin Keegan. For the past 50 years, Sephton has been at Anfield for all but a handful of home fixtures, as well as travelling with the team to major finals. From the highs of winning numerous league titles and European Cups, to the lows of Heysel and Hillsborough, Sephton has been with Liverpool through it all.

Forty-seven years of joyous celebrations after victories and crushing disappointments after defeats are encompassed in Marv Levy: Where Else Would You Rather Be?, but it is about more than just touchdowns and interceptions - it’s about how a person like Marv Levy, dedicated to his life’s work, can begin his career as the obscure assistant coach of a high school junior varsity team and decades later lead a team to the Super Bowl.

Voilà plus d'un siècle que le football déchaîne les passions à travers l'Europe. Imaginé comme un passe-temps pour ouvriers dans l'Angleterre brumeuse du 19ème siècle, le football a pris une place prépondérante dans nos sociétés occidentales.

No football fan will want to be without the book that delivers pure, unfiltered Rex Ryan - head coach of the New York Jets and one of the most popular, outspoken, well-liked, and widely respected personalities in the National Football League.

When Bill Belichick talks, smart people listen. This book contains Belichick's own words on topics like two point conversion strategy, preparing for Peyton Manning, and what he looks for when evaluating each player on the field. Belichick has spent a lifetime in the NFL, and as a result has a perspective on the game and its greatest competitors that few can match. Learn what he has to say about the history of the game and those who built the foundation of the modern NFL.

England invented football, codified it, became champions of the world in 1966 but humiliatingly then forgot how to play the greatest game of all. England took their eye off a ball they arrogantly thought they owned, allowing other nations to run off with it. It has been 50 years of hurt since Bobby Moore lifted the World Cup trophy at Wembley, and in this groundbreaking book Henry Winter addresses the state England are in on the golden anniversary of their greatest moment.

Super Agent. Maverick. Reformer. Iconoclast. Dealmaker. Dentist? Jerry Argovitz has worn many hats in his remarkable life, both inside and outside of the world of sports. As a player agent representing and advising some of the biggest names in the game, Argovitz challenged the NFL both at the negotiating table and in the courtroom, earning a reputation as one of the most powerful men in professional sports.