Football Life

Basta is the raw, honest, but above all gripping autobiography of Marco van Basten. It's the unfiltered story of his rise to fame, from being under the wing of Cruyff and experiencing life as an Ajax player to being propelled into the spotlight following Euros '88 - and scoring the greatest goal ever to win a major final - and playing for AC Milan at the peak of Italian football's popularity.

Against seemingly impossible odds, Sean Conley became the starting kicker for the University of Pittsburgh in his senior year. A year later, he suited up for the Detroit Lions. But when he joined the New York Jets soon after, Conley’s injuries caught up to him, and his lifelong dream came crashing down in a crisis of denial and fear. The Point After is an all-access look at the NFL, one of the most intense workplaces in sports.

Chester Pierce broke racial barriers by joining his college football team during segregation in the United States. Despite breaking the law, his team played on.

When Maria's family moves to a new town, her parents sign her up for the summer soccer team to help her meet new friends. But Maria has never tried soccer before. She would rather be back on her old swim team. Maria is afraid that she'll be the worst player and that no one will like her. Coach Tony and Coach Lauren remind Maria that everything is new at first. Maria will have to give soccer a try to see if she likes it.

Upton Bell grew up at the knee of the NFL's first great commissioner, his father, the legendary Bert Bell, who not only saved the game from financial ruin after World War II but was one of its greatest innovators. Present at the Creation details Bell’s firsthand experiences. Over the past 53 years, Bell has been an owner, a general manager, a personnel executive, a scouting director for two Super Bowl teams, a television commentator and analyst, and a talk-radio host. He has seen the NFL from the inside and has experienced many of the most important moments in NFL history.

We live in a world that all too often operates under the overriding template of self-promotion, embracing a "hooray for me" attitude, and which measures success in increasingly small timeframes dotted with markers of temporal value. Millions of viewers know James Brown as a sports commentator and former athlete. With Role of a LifetimeJames reveals a different side of his character. Part memoir and part self-help, this book draws on James' lessons from his life experiences.

In 2011, Mark Herzlich became a starting linebacker for a New York Giants team that would win the Super Bowl - just two years after he had been told that he would never play football again. Now Herzlich tells his triumphant story for the first time. Mark Herzlich fought a battle against cancer, against statistics, and some days against himself. Told with candor and raw emotion, this is a story for anyone who has ever fought to beat the odds, for anyone who has ever been told that what they are about to attempt is next to impossible.

There are moments in life when it comes down to your decision. Whatever you're facing, you know that no one else can bail you out. You have to make the call. Mark Richt, former head football coach at the University of Georgia and the University of Miami and long-time assistant coach at Florida State University, knows a thing or two about making the call.

It is my father’s fault that I love soccer so much. He doesn’t know much about girls, but as a former professional soccer player, we built a bond as he perfected my skills. My aunties have kept an extra eye on me since my mother died. I’ve avoided their insistence on dance classes that would take precious time away from my beloved girls’ soccer team.