American Football

“Taking risks and pushing oneself to the limit are strong themes, as well, and the loving bond between a father and son is evident throughout . . . . A tale that will appeal to sports fans and those who appreciate the determination and physical and mental toughness required to thrive at the top level of sports.” —Kirkus <BR><BR>The inspiring story of Nate Ebner's bond with his unconventional father and its remarkable consequences<BR><BR>Nate Ebner and his father were inseparable. From an early age, they worked side-by-side in the family junkyard, where part of the job was dispensing citizen's justice to aspiring robbers, and they worked out side-by-side in their grungy homemade gym. Even though Nate was a great peewee football player in football-mad Ohio, he followed his father's passion for rugby and started playing for the same club as his father when he was only thirteen years old. <BR><BR>But Nate had to face the fact that there was no way to make a living as a professional rugby player in this country. So Nate gave his dad the news that he planned to quit rugby and go out for the football team at Ohio State University, with an eye toward making the NFL. As a goal for someone who hadn't even played high school football, this was completely ridiculous. Without blinking, his father told him that if he gave up what he had built in rugby, he had to see it through. It was the last conversation they ever had--the next day, his father was brutally murdered at work by a would-be robber.<BR><BR>Nate went on to make the Ohio State team and when NFL Draft Day came, he was selected by the New England Patriots. Three Super Bowl rings later, his legacy in the sport is secure. But he got another unexpected chance to honor his father's memory when the Olympics admitted rugby as a sport for the 2016 Games. Against long odds, he made the team and competed in Rio in the sport he and his father loved above all others.<BR><BR>An astonishing story of what a father will do for a son and what a son will do for a father, Finish Strong is a powerful reminder that the lessons parents embody for their children continue to bear fruit long after they are gone.<BR><BR><BR>

Footy is fun! Do you know how to play?This book is part of a culturally diverse library collection, offering a levelled reading runway to help boost literacy and encourage a love of reading.Your purchase of this book from the Our Yarning collection supports Library For All in its mission to make knowledge available to all, equally.

MARADONA is the definitive new biography of a true global icon, from world-renowned football writer and journalist Guillem Balagué.<BR><BR> Diego Armando Maradona was widely acclaimed as a genius. One of the greatest footballers of all time, he was also one of the most controversial. In an international career with Argentina he earned 91 caps and scored 34 goals and played in four FIFA World Cups. With his unforgettable 'hand of God' goal and unsurpassed second one in the 1986 quarter-final against England, he captained his nation and led them to victory over West Germany in the final in Mexico. His vision, passing, ball control and dribbling skills, and his presence and leadership on the field, often electrified his own team's overall performance.<BR><BR>Maradona's club career included dazzling spells in his own country at Argentinos Juniors, Boca Juniors and Newell's Old Boys, and in Europe with Barcelona, Napoli and Sevilla. Yet his life was one of relentless media attention, including tales of drug abuse and constant health issues.<BR><BR>Based on in-depth interviews and first-hand stories, Guillem Balagué's masterly biography represents a psychological and sociological approach to the legend. This journey of exploration takes Guillem to Argentina, Spain, Italy and Dubai. Along the way, he asks what fosters such adulation, and how this adoration engendered a self-destructive personality. <BR>Even after his untimely death in 2020, Maradona continues to fascinate: his divine status seemingly preserved for ever.

A lively chronicle of how the 2020 Crimson Tide became Nick Saban’s “ultimate team.”Was Alabama’s Crimson Tide in 2020 the greatest team of all time? The squad went 13-0 in a pandemic year, scored a combined 107 points against SEC powerhouses LSU and Florida, crushed Ohio State in a National Championship Game 52-24 in a contest that wasn’t even that close, and followed it up with another top-rated signing class.<BR><BR>Nick Saban called his boys the “ultimate team,” but it wasn’t just because they kicked the ever-living hell out of everyone on the football field. It was because the team leveraged a power and influence born of Southern pride to push back against a hateful legacy of racism that a populist president was exploiting to divide the nation. At a time when Americans needed real leaders in the face of so much hate, the sports world answered the call and fought back for the soul of the country.In the summer of 2020, the Tide players left their training facility and, led by their celebrated coach, marched to a campus doorway made infamous sixty years earlier by another political demagogue and showed what people can accomplish when they fight together for a just cause in the name of unity. The most powerful force in a state crazy for college football had chosen to make a stand and replace George Wallace’s “Segregation forever!” with a different message, written by one of the players: “All lives can’t matter until Black lives matter.”<BR>​<BR>There have been some great football teams through the years, and they all deserve respect. But here’s what we know for sure: They all would have been appreciative of what this Alabama team represented, and proud of what it accomplished. The Crimson Tide in 2020 captured something special that moved it beyond the conversation of best ever, and into the place reserved for most important of all time.

London, England. The long hot World Cup summer of 2018. Endless sun, fractious politics, Boxpark beer showers, and a growing belief that football might just be coming home.From Lewisham’s local pubs to the Colombian cafes of Elephant & Castle, and Belgian bars of Covent Garden – W C L D N is a look at how one of the world’s most global cities consumes sport’s most global event.But this is an observation glimpsed through a clouded lens; its author simultaneously lost in the fog of a depression he’s desperate to navigate away from.How do you connect with the most unifying event of the sport you love, when you are at your loneliest? Is football merely a diversion from the everyday – a means of escape from the heavier pressures that continue to weigh down on you? Or, can it offer a crucial lifeline to reconnect with yourself and your surroundings?

ONE OF FOUR FOUR TWO MAGAZINE'S '50 FOOTBALL BOOKS YOU MUST READ'<BR><BR>'A great book' - Henry Winter<BR><BR>'A lovely read, the kind in which you constantly annoy people by reading the funny bits out loud' - Irish Post<BR><BR>----<BR><BR>First published 25 years ago, The Mavericks was one of a new breed of literary football books. Artfully combining sports journalism with social history and sharp pop culture references, this updated edition explores 1970s football when a cult group of footballers delivered flair on the pitch and flamboyance off it.<BR><BR>Cocky, coiffured strikers meet David Bowie and Alvin Stardust; Gola boots exchange kicks with A Clockwork Orange and The Likely Lads; Admiral sock tags, platform heels and kipper ties mingle with cod wars, Harrods bombings and three-day weeks.<BR><BR>In this, Steen recreates the early Seventies, the era when football joined the vanguard of English youth culture. This personal account revolves around seven Englishmen who followed in the trail blazed by football's first tabloid star, George Best - Stan Bowles, Tony Currie, Charlie George, Alan Hudson, Rodney Marsh, Peter Osgood and Frank Worthington. <BR><BR>Proud individuals amid an increasingly corporate environment, their invention and artistry were matched only by a disdain for authority and convention. Their belief in football as performance art, as showbiz, gave the game a boost, and elevated them to cult status. During their heyday, nevertheless, they were largely ignored by a succession of England managers, none of whom were able to assemble a side competent enough to qualify for the World Cup finals.<BR><BR>Against a backdrop of increasing violence on the field and terraces alike, of battles between players and the Establishment, this book - now featuring a new Foreword, Postscript and photos - examines an anomaly at the heart of English culture, one that symbolised the death of post-Sixties optimism, the end of innocence.

Inside the life of Amos Alonzo Stagg, a man who not only witnessed great change, but was responsible for much of it in college football.<BR>The arc of Amos Alonzo Stagg's life spanned the presidencies of Abraham Lincoln and John F. Kennedy. His career flourished on the Chicago Midway and found an encore on California's Pacific coast and in Pennsylvania's Susquehanna Valley. Stagg pioneered use of the tackling dummy, the huddle, the forward pass, the shift, the man-in-motion, the quick kick and the short punt. He developed the raw talent of young men with little or no athletic background long before the age of scholarship athletes, and his championship teams at the University of Chicago established the school's national reputation before it became famous for producing Nobel laureates. He helped shape the modern Olympic Games, and the coaching tree he nurtured continues to bear fruit in football programs across the country. Author Jennifer Taylor Hall traces the remarkable life of the "Grand Old Man of Football."

Duncan Ferguson. David Moyes. Paul McCartney. A father and a son. A passion for Everton, and a passion for The Beatles. Blues & Beatles is a story of football and music across the generations, showing in touching and hilarious detail how a young boy inherited his father's obsessions - and would one day pass them on to his own sons. A journalist like his father, Neil Roberts has special access to his beloved football club, so his heartfelt memoir includes glimpses within the inner sanctum of Goodison Park as well as every unforgettable Everton moment since the 1980s, all soundtracked by the Fab Four. Along the way, Neil meets his heroes - including musical as well as Everton icons - and reveals intriguing connections to Dixie Dean and a famous Victorian footballer. But above all, Blues & Beatles is a story of football and music shared by father and son. Described by Everton fans' website Blue Kipper as "a fantastic read [which] covers every Everton 'moment' from the 70's to date carefully captured in detail."

Johnny Unitas is widely considered the finest quarterback ever to play the game. Much has been written about his life, but for the first time, Unitas's son, John, writes about his father and reveals information about his family and father's career that has never before been brought to light. For anyone who holds an interest in either Unitas's life or NFL history, John Unitas Jr.'s revealing and touching biography honoring the life and times of his father is a must-read. It sheds light on the character and convictions of the man who has lived on in NFL history, both on and off the field, offering clues to what made him the man and the player he was.

The Hitting Coach for the New York Yankees, Kevin Long trains power-hitters in the fine art of hitting a baseball well—a talent the legendary Ted Williams once called, “the most difficult skill in sport.” In Cage Rat, the man who helps sharpen the mechanics of such superstars as Derek Jeter, Jorge Posada, and Alex Rodriguez shares the expertise he honed over his more than two decades in the game as both player and coach. With an introduction by Alex Rodriguez and an Afterword by Robinson Cano, Cage Rat is an indispensable guide to hitting, filled with practical advice, fascinating behind-the-scenes action, and an enduring, inspiring love for the Great American Pastime.