American Football

Preparation is easy to praise but very hard to master. No modern coach, in any sport, understands that better than NFL veteran Tom Coughlin. He led the New York Giants to two Super Bowl victories with his system of relentless preparation and old-school tough-mindedness. He teaches his players that you can never guarantee a win, but you can always earn the right to win - with focus, consistency, hard work, and anticipation of obstacles. And if you’ve earned the right to win, you can sleep soundly before a big game....

The NFL has come a long way from its founding in Canton, Ohio, in 1920. In the 100 years since that fateful day, football has become America’s most popular and lucrative professional sport. The former scrappy upstart league that struggled to stay afloat has survived a host of challenges to produce American icons like Vince Lombardi, Joe Montana, and Tom Brady. It is an extraordinary and entertaining history that could be told only by Joe Horrigan, former executive director of the Pro Football Hall of Fame and perhaps the greatest living historian of the NFL.

In Brett Favre: The Inspiring Story of One of Football's Greatest Quarterbacks, you will learn the inspirational story of one of football's greatest quarterbacks, Brett Favre. To this day, Brett Favre remains one of the most popular NFL quarterbacks and with good reason: he left an incredible legacy on the game.

Every four years, Americans turn their attention to the world’s game - soccer. As recently as 1998, the USMNT merely made up the numbers at the biggest sporting tournament of all, but once Bruce Arena took over the team, American soccer started to find its footing. In the 2002 World Cup, a highly-fancied Portugal team, featuring the great Ronaldo, lost to Arena’s US team in a shocking 3-2 victory, and but for a handball that wasn’t given, they could well have knocked off eventual winners Germany.

In 1967, a Cleveland businessman had a brilliant idea: Why not start a women's football team? It was conceived as a gimmick and a publicity stunt in the vein of the Harlem Globetrotters. He recruited women to compete as a traveling football troupe; much to his surprise, he learned that women really wanted to play — and play hard. Hail Mary is the story of the unlikely rise of the National Women's Football League and the players who loved a game that society told them they shouldn't be playing.

Football management is like being a potato—you're never too far from the sack and everyone is constantly chipping away at you. It's not for the faint-hearted and unless you've got skin as thick as rhino and a wicked sense of humour, you've no chance of surviving. Ian Holloway—aka 'Ollie'—has all the above and more besides. He's been there, seen it and done it in his 40 years as player and manager. In the joyful How to Be a Football Manager, Holloway weaves a fantastically rich tapestry of hilarious anecdotes to reveal what being the boss is really like.

Pulitzer Prize-winner David Halberstam's best seller takes you inside the football genius of Bill Belichick for an insightful profile in leadership. Bill Belichick's thirty-one years in the NFL have been marked by amazing success - most recently with the New England Patriots. In this groundbreaking audiobook, David Halberstam explores the nuances of both the game and the man behind it. He uncovers what makes Bill Belichick tick both on and off the field.

On the west bank of the Mississippi lies the New Orleans neighborhood of Algiers. Short on hope but big on dreams, its mostly poor and marginalized residents find joy on Friday nights when the Cougars of Edna Karr High School take the field. For years, this football program has brought glory to Algiers, winning three consecutive state championships and sending dozens of young men to college on football scholarships. Although he is preparing for a fourth title, Head Coach Brice Brown is focused on something else: keeping his players alive.

NFL Hall of Fame quarterback Fran Tarkenton is a friend of failure. In the 1970s, he brought the Minnesota Vikings to the Superbowl three times - and three times his team was crushed. The first two companies he founded both quickly folded. But by learning how to deal with defeat, Tarkenton discovered the key to success.

Après "Comment regarder un match de foot ?", le nouvel opus technico-tactique des Cahiers du Football, cette fois consacré aux entraîneurs. Ils s'appellent Pep Guardiola, Johan Cruyff, Arrigo Sacchi, Valeri Lobanovski, Helenio Herrera... Entraîneurs visionnaires, ils ont porté leurs équipes vers les sommets mais ont surtout servi de modèles à des générations de coaches. Grâce à leurs méthodes révolutionnaires, ils ont changé la face du jeu de football, le rendant encore plus populaire.

Ken "The Snake" Stabler was the embodiment of the original Men in Black - the freewheeling, hard-hitting Oakland Raiders. The league's first swashbuckling pass thrower, the mythical southpaw Southerner famous for come-from-behind drives late in the game, Stabler led the Raiders to their first Super Bowl championship in 1977.

Today, sports arenas have been transformed into staging grounds for American patriotism and the hero worship of law enforcement. Teams wear camouflage jerseys to honor those who serve; police officers throw out first pitches; soldiers surprise their families with homecomings at halftime. Sports and politics are decidedly entwined. But as journalist Howard Bryant reveals, this has always been more complicated for black athletes, who from the start were committing a political act simply by being on the field.

The modern game of football is filled with plays and formations with names like the Counter Trey, the Wildcat, the Zone Blitz, and the Cover Two. They have become part of the sport's vernacular, and yet for many fans they remain just names, often confusing ones. To rectify that, Tim Layden has drilled deep into the core of the game to reveal how these chalkboard X's and O's really work on the field, as well as where they came from and who dreamed them up.

Everyone knows that football is violent and dangerous. But what the players who built the NFL into a $10 billion industry didn’t know—and what the league sought to shield from them—is that no amount of padding could protect the human brain from the force generated by modern football.

Dave Zirin's book redefines an American icon, and not always in a flattering light. At 81 years old, Brown continues to speak out and look for fights. His recent public support of Donald Trump and criticism of Colin Kaepernick are just the latest examples of someone who seems restless if he is not in conflict. Jim Brown is a raw and thrilling account of Brown's remarkable life and a must-listen for sports fans and students of the Black freedom struggle.

Several years after his playing career was cut short by injury before it had a chance to really begin, John Madden was hired as an assistant coach by the Oakland Raiders, one of professional football's most iconoclastic franchises. Two years later he was named the team's head coach and proceeded to lead the Raiders to five championship games in his first seven seasons. Following years of heartbreaking losses in some of history's most memorable games.

Both in football and life, the players need to define the goals, invent the playbook, and execute the plays. Move the Ball draws upon the football playbook to teach you how to do this and realize your dreams. Great players don’t settle for being ordinary. They have a strong belief in themselves and strive to be extraordinary. They have M.A.D. P.R.I.D.E. This book teaches you how you can use M.A.D. P.R.I.D.E. to overcome any obstacle and win.

Der Superbowl, das Finale der US-amerikanischen Football-Meisterschaft, ist eines der größten Sportevents der Welt. Allein in Deutschland verfolgen über zwei Millionen Zuschauer nicht nur dieses unglaubliche Spektakel, sondern inzwischen auch die gesamt NFL-Saison - und das jedes Mal mitten in der Nacht! Für diese Fans ist Patrick Esume ein Star. Der TV-Experte und Moderator hat sich in den letzten Jahren als DAS deutsche Gesicht dieser Sportart etabliert. In seinem ersten Hörbuch erklärt uns der "Coach", wie er liebevoll genannt wird, alle Facetten dieser verrückten, exotischen und ungemein spannenden Sportart.

In November 2021, an obscure email from the California Department of Education landed in New York Times reporter, Thomas Fuller’s, inbox. The football team at the California School for the Deaf in Riverside, a state-run school with only 168 high school students, was having an undefeated season. After years of covering wildfires, war, pandemic, and mass shootings, Fuller was captivated by the story about this deaf football team. It was uplifting. During the pandemic’s gloom, it was a happy story. It was a sports story but not an ordinary one.

The Detroit Lions won their fourth and final NFL Championship in 1957. Since then, they’ve been a second-tier team that has won 42 percent of their games, earned just three division titles, posted a 1-12 playoff record, and suffered through a “perfect” 0-16 season. It hasn’t been all doom and gloom. The Lions have enjoyed a few successful seasons, and these are discussed. There have also been oddball moments, including losing twice to last-second record-setting field goals, being victims in the shortest (at the time) overtime game in history, and becoming involved with author George Plimpton.