Book Description

"Informative . . . Ross has opened some important doors"
—American Historical Review

"…offers an interesting recitation of the on-again-off-againparticipation of blacks in the early years of pro football."
--The Baltimore Sun

"An important analysis for all who care about the African American experience in professional sports. Significant not only for the history it tells, but for the questions it raises about race relations in football as an industry and as a United States institution ."
--Michael E. Lomax

"Charles Ross' stellar research clearly demonstrates that the African American struggle for merit and equality not only extends to the playing field but has, in fact, long defined the game of professional football. A must read for students of the game, from casual gridiron enthusiasts to scholars alike."
--C. Keith Harrison

Outside the Lines traces how sports laid a foundation for social change long before the judicial system formally recognized the inequalities of racial separation. Integrating sports teams to include white and black athletes alike, the National Football League served as a microcosmic fishbowl of the highs and lows, the trials and triumphs, of racial integration.

Watching a football game on a Sunday evening, most sports fans do not realize the profound impact the National Football League had on the civil rights movement. Similarly, in a sport where seven out of ten players are black, few are fully aware of the history and contributions of their athletic forebears. Among the touchdowns and tackles lies a rich history of African American life and the struggle to achieve equal rights.

Although the Supreme Court did not reverse their 1896 decision of "separate but equal" in the Plessy v Ferguson case until more than fifty years later, sports laid a foundation for social change long before our judicial system formally recognized the inequalities of racial separation. Integrating sports teams to include white and black athletes alike, the National Football League served as a microcosmic fishbowl of the highs and lows, the trials and triumphs, of racial integration.

In this chronicle of black NFL athletes, Charles K. Ross has given us the story of the Jackie Robinsons of American football.

... Read more

Book Description
Unable to buy into an existing team and rebuffed by National Football League owners who had no desire to expand, 27-year-old Lamar Hunt, the son of Texas billionaire H.L. Hunt, formed the American Football League in 1959. He placed his team in Dallas, called them the Texans, and invited other young entrepreneurs to join him. The seven men who did called themselves members of the "Foolish Club," but on September 9, 1960, the AFL made its regular season debut and went on to change the face of football forever.

Unlike the NFL, the American Football League featured wide open offenses and innovative coaching strategies, capturing a new generation of fans dedicated to the league and its players. The AFL aggressively pursued college stars—Heisman Trophy winner Billy Cannon in its inaugural season and Joe Namath in 1965. The eight teams signed a collective television agreement that split the money equally among the franchises, thus providing far more stability and balance than earlier start-up leagues. Based on interviews with owners, coaches, players, scouts, broadcasters and writers from the era, this is a colorful account of the AFL and its place in sports history. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

Good Read!
I am enjoying reading Ed Gruver's book on the history of the AFL. I was familar with his earlier writing because I had read his book on the 1967 Ice Bowl. He packs a lot of information about the behind-the-scenes activities.
The only improvements I would suggest is (1)larger type [the print is a little too small], and (2) more pictures in the book from the American Football League archives.

Well Oiled
Despite the myths, the true origin of the AFL---and of the new professional alignment of football in general, to use author Gruver's own data-was Texas, home of nouveau riche oil men like Sid Richardson, Clint Murchison, and H.L. Hunt. To understand the actual dynamics that led to both the AFL and the Dallas Cowboys, for that matter, one is well advised to read Caro's "Master of the Senate," in which Texas oil men in league with Senator Lyndon Johnson successfully manipulate pricing of oil and natural gas to amass unimaginable fortunes. Caro's description of Texas oil men-some of whom also funded Joe McCarthy's reign of terror-takes some of the awe and innocence from Gruver's account of the AFL's inception.

In 1959, when some of these oil men inquired after the NFL albatross Chicago Cardinals, venerable Bert Bell and the NFL did not wish to do business with them. Popular history [and Gruver] have it backwards: that the old conservative owners of the Redskins, Steelers, and Giants, among others, resented the modern upstarts, and only eventually accepted the idea of the Dallas Cowboys when absolutely forced to. In truth, any of the southwesterners were so conservative as to make Art Rooney look like Arlo Guthrie. The fact is that Bell, no fool, realized that the antitrust wolf was prowling around the NFL hen house, and recognition of franchises in Dallas and Minnesota was a small price to pay to make him go away. One can only imagine Bell's private disgust at being hoisted on his own petard, watching Texas oil interests, of all groups, threaten antitrust action.

The NFL expansion of 1961, modest as it was, left a string of frustrated suitors. In the long view of things, the fact that the late 1950's football entrepreneurs were fabulously rich established once and for all that whatever new league emerged would not be a dog-and-pony show. Prospective bidders for franchises would have to impress no less than the Hunt family with their solvency. With the notable exception of the Harry Wismer-New York Titans fiasco [later more than corrected by the Sonny Werblin consortium] the new AFL had more problems impressing critics than bankers. In its opening day clothes, the original AFL was a curious geographic imbalance, not surprisingly, tilted to the southwest. Boston and New York were courted for TV revenue, and those with long memories recalled that Buffalo had supported its 1940's pro team quite well.

But the banner teams-Dallas, Houston, Los Angeles, Oakland, and Denver-were two and three time zones west. From a television programming perspective, the new AFL mined a golden lode: a premier game in the Eastern Time Zone 4:00 P.M. slot where the NFL was generally signing off. Lamar Hunt, who for years had observed the ferocity of fan interest in Texas high school football, was able to convince ABC and then NBC, two networks eager to break CBS's stranglehold on pro football, that Americans would watch just about anybody play football if the time was right. It would be Nielsen ratings and popular opinion, not money, that would break or make the AFL.

Gruver's research of the business origins of the league is superficial. He relies on the popular misconceptions that have endured for over four decades, and adds little new by way of corporate analysis. Where he finds his comfort zone-not surprisingly for a professional sportswriter-is in his description of league play itself. There is a major implication here: the AFL, unlike other sports experiments, would not fold for lack of cash. Hunt, Hilton, Adams, Wilson, Werblin et. al. were not going to fold like cheap suitcases. If the league failed, it would be the brand of football on the field that brought it down.

Gruver's work is replete with descriptions of team characteristics, playing facilities, coaches and the like. Because of contractual problems-or the absence of major league sports in the new AFL cities-the playing conditions are a story unto themselves. Fully half of the home fields appear to have been either below sea level or had previous lives as toxic waste sites. In some cities the only available playing sites were literally salvaged from the wrecking ball: in New York the Polo Grounds, or the infamous "Rock Pile" in Buffalo. Interestingly, with the exception of a Sid Gillman, one is struck in the early days by an absence of great coaches [or somehow we have overlooked the genius of Frank Filchock and Buster Ramsey over the years.] By the end of the work, one is compelled to admit that the coach who most brought respectability to the league, love him or hate him, was Hank Stram, with Weeb Ewbank a close second. That Stram also appears to be one of the primary sources is not surprising,

The strength of this work is in Gruver's recognition that the players made the league. Those who are old enough to remember the AFL will be happy to relive memories with Gino Cappelletti, Wray Carlton, Mike Garrett, Don Maynard, Paul Lowe, Ernie Ladd, Billy Shaw, Lionel Taylor, Babe Parilli, Jim Otto, Jerry Mays, Charlie Hennigan, Buck Buchanan, Larry Grantham, Daryle Lamonica, and Keith Lincoln, to name some. Gruver follows a chronological sequence and monitors the division races throughout the text. The memorable games are recalled, often using text from the actual broadcast. Thus we get Merle Harmon's and Sam DeLuca's raw impressions of the infamous Heidi game-by radio, of course, due to NBC's never to be forgotten cutaway to Klara and Goat Peter.

Gruver has done well with this effort, probably about as far as a sportswriter could take it. I am of a mind that the two great sports developments of the post World War II era, the AFL and NASCAR, both deserve a masterful scholarly analysis. Gruver's work is a step in the right direction.

Good reading...great memories
A very enjoyable read with great stories about the AFL. The year by year approach works well here and keeps the book flowing. The only problem with the volume is, it's too short! Ed, how about a team by team approach of the AFL with more specifics and greater length?

Gruver shows the making of the NFL as we now know it.
Author Ed Gruver documents the beginnings of the American Football League, its glory days and the popularity and power it gained that eventually led to its merger with the NFL.Detailed are the origins of the "FoolishClub", the 10 team owners that dared challenge the NFL, the scrambleto find and sign talent and the acsension of the league in the public'sconciousness.Gruver describes the League's innovations on the field andoff and the details behind the 1966 merger (who'd have thought thatplacekicker Pete Gogolak was instrumental in hastening the process?).IfCookie Gilchrist, Abner Hayes and Charlie Hennigan are just names in arecord book to you and you love pro football, get this book.It'll alsotell you exactly what happened between the Raiders and Jets when NBC cuttheir broadcast short to air "Heidi" in 1968! ... Read more

Book Description

“Outlandish, informative, and above all, funny.”

Customer Reviews (18)

Terrific Book
This was a great, great read and the author used a very interesting way to write it by using a ton of quotes from those who were there to tell the story.His own words were the perfect conduit.

This was truly a book I hated coming to the end of.

EVERYBODY GO LONG !!
Of course, there are several books in circulation about the birth and growth of the American Football League (AFL), the greatest rival sports league in the history of American professional sports.What makes this book a little different from the pack is that it consists entirely of quotes from interviews with the various participants in AFL history -- players, coaches, owners, etc.

In all candor, however, the author contributes very little to the book, and appears to have acted more like a stenographer than anything else.I suppose that can be both good and bad.But though I like this book, I'd say it's not quite as good as a similar book by Bob Curran entitled "The $400,000 Quarterback -- or -- The League that Came in from Out of the Cold."

If you an AFL-lover, you'll love it.If you are just AFL-curious, you may want to shop around.

Not a great literary work, but interesting
99% of this book is a collection of stories about the AFL by former players, coaches, administrators, owners, and others with some connection to the game.It is interesting, but not a great book.Most interesting is the explanation about how NBC cut off the Heidi game.Typical corporate move from the beginning to the end.Nobody had any objection throughout the week of the proposed cutoff and none of the "suits" could make a decision at crunch time.NBC has never lived the Heidi game down and it will always be remembered in sports broadcasting.

Going Wild
This is an insightful, interesting look at the AFL.Great interviews with the actual participants of the events that took place. I would recommend the book to anyone with an interest of this league and how the merger took place with the NFL.

Wish Book Didn't End
For some reason, oral biographies of pro sports leagues make great reads when written by the right people.The oral bio of the WHA is fascinating and Terry Pluto's "Loose Balls" of the American Basketball Association is simply one of the great sports books ever.

Going Long is right up there with Loose Balls.It is one of the two definitive books about the American Football League (along with The Other League), a league whose influence in its 10 years is felt every second in the National Football League.

This book is able to tell two separate stories, the business side of how The Foolish Club of original AFL owners were able to survive against the tough and savvy National Football League.Then there is the story about the players and the individual teams.Miller is able to present the business side in an extremely interesting manner, not an easy task.

The book treats Joe Namath with the appropriate perspective, not fawning over his immense off-the-field contributions or overrating his playing ability.It does underrate some of the great AFL teams and units, especially the 1969-1970 Chief linebackers (Bobby Bell and Willie Lanier are in Canton).It also talks little on why Sonny Werblin was forced out from the NY Jets.But these are minor quibbles.

Watch a pro football game.Do you like seeing a player's name on his jersey?That is the AFL.Do you like having the stadium clock (as shown on TV as well) as the official clock?That is the AFL.Do you like the 2-point conversion, that is the AFL.Do you like watching even the longest games to conclusion, that is the AFL (with an assist to Heidi).

Great league and this book does it justice. ... Read more

Book Description
Learn the value of football to American society

No sport reflects the American value system like football. Visitors to the United States need only watch a game or two to learn all they need to know about the American way of life and the beliefs, attitudes, and concerns of American society. Football and American Identity examines the social conditions and cultural implications found in the football subculture, represented by core values such as competition, conflict, diversity, power, economic success, fair play, liberty, and patriotism. This unique book goes beyond the standard fare on football strategy and history, or the biographies of famous players and coaches, to analyze the reasons why the game is the essence of the American spirit.

Author Gerhard Falk, Professor of Sociology at the State University College of New York at Buffalo, examines football as a game, as a business, and as a reflection of the diversity in American life. Football and American Identity also addresses the relationship between football and the media, with much of the game's income generated by advertising and endorsements, and examines the presence of crime in football culture. The book discusses the development of the game—and those involved in it—at the Pop Warner, college, and professional levels, examining the social origin of players, coaches, cheerleaders, and owners. In addition, Football and American Identity analyzes the game's fans and their devotion to "their" teams, examines why Pennsylvania is considered the "mother" of American football, and looks at the National Football League and its commissioners.

Football and American Identity examines:

how individualism and achievement can lead to mythological status

why a person's occupation is the most important indicator of prestige in the United States

what the consequences are of earning more in a year than most Americans make in a lifetime

why equality is vital to the ethnic make-up of American football teams

why teamwork is important-in football and in industry

how freedom is essential for taking the risks necessary for success

and much more!

Football and American Identity is an inside look at football as an American cultural phenomenon. Devoted and casual fans of the game, as well as academics working in sociology, will find this unique book interesting, entertaining, and thought-provoking. ... Read more

Book Description
An inspiring story bya two-time Edgar Award-winning writer of how a six-man football teamunited a school and a town

Down Farm Road 308, an hour's drive southof Dallas, amidst sprawling fields of cotton lies a smallcommunity--Penelope, Texas (population 211). Here, where the only thrivingbusinesses are the granary and the post office, unless you count thesoft-drink machine in front of the fire station, two-time EdgarAward-winning writer Carlton Stowers discovered a special town that cametogether, not only to support their six-man highschool football team--thePenelope Wolverines--through thick and a lot of thin, but also, and moreimportantly, each other.

Where Dreams Die Hard is a warm andrevealing portrait of the American heartland--and of one small town's loveaffair with the team that unites it.

"Through his unforgettabledepiction of innocence, goodness, loyalty, and friendship...CarltonStowers gives us a moving portrait of a community that, in the words ofone of the Penelope faithful, is like 'stepping into a Norman Rockwellpainting.'" (Billie Letts, author of Where the Heart Is)

"Highschool football in Texas is both sport and religion, and Stowersbrilliantly brings this to light in Where Dreams Die Hard." (Jim Dent,author of The Junction Boys) ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Small town Texas in "Where Dreams Die Hard"
Having chronicled so much disaster, destruction and unspeakable horror committed by people against other people during his extensive writing career, Texas author Carlton Stowers was looking for something simpler in the wake of the 911 tragedy.As he writes in the preface of the non fiction book "Where Dreams Die Hard" on page XIV:

"When a young editor argued that what those of us under her charge had to provide readers was more `red meat,' more hard-hitting, finger-pointing controversy, I rolled my eyes and began considering my leave-taking. Though fully aware that there were endless fakes and frauds needing exposure and countless crimes begging courthouse justice, such tasks no longer interested me. It was time to let someone else try to sort reason from the unreasonable, spend days in the company of devastated victims, and chronicle the social ills for which there seemed no cure."

His quest was for a Norman Rockwall type America if it still existed. Where folks still cared about each other regardless of political or religious affiliation. Where crime was not a problem and where red meat referred to what was on the grill and not something literary.

He found what he was looking for in the small town of Penelope, Texas located about an hour south of Dallas.Penelope has a population of 211 and eagerly and actively supports their six man football team the Penelope Wolverines.As sports fans may know, six man football has seen a revival the last few years in a number of states including Texas. Much of the book covers one season in the life of the town both for the players, their families, and the surrounding community.

While he chronicles the struggles of the 2004 team, author Carlton Stowers does much more than that.Writing about the months before and after the season as well, the town of Penelope and its citizens are brought alive for the reader.Mr. Stowers' folksy style works wonders in this regard as the words flow and skip from point to point much like in regular conversation.Along the way he touches on the history of six mean football, the economy of small town Texas and such basic fundamentals as how to impart responsibility to today's youth among other topics. This is not a lecturing or antiseptic read but more of a good friend talking about life as he sits next to you on your front porch.

The result is an excellent 205 page read that provides a look at basically slightly more than a year in the life of a small Texas town and its citizens.The bad, the good, and everything in between are covered.At the same time it becomes uplifting as one knows no matter how bad the world news gets, folks that live in Penelope, Texas and thousands of other places are taking it one day at a time, prospering in their own way, and helping each other everyday.A little of that attitude goes a long way and Mr. Stowers book is a very refreshing and enjoyable read.

Kevin R. Tipple (copyright) 2006

Six Men From Now
What do kids do who want to play football and the town's too small to field a football team in the high school?More importantly, what do their moms and dads do, especially in a state like Texas where everything is football when you're a teenager.He can join the Penelope Wolverines and their brand of rural, thin population "six-man football," designed for school with 99 or fewer students!If you liked FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS, you'll appreciate the even bigger sacrifices made by the boys in this book.

Stowers tells the perhaps apochryphal story of a country in west Texas where one man refused to give up his farm and move to the next county, even though a prominent oilman dangled him a job with a salary far beyond anything he would ever be making if he stayed home.The oilman, you seem had designs on the farmer's son.No, not sexual designs, but he figured if he could get that boy enrolled in the high school of his own county, the boy was talented enough to score enough touchdowns to make the difference in the season.But his dad kept saying no, we're staying put.The oilman didn't understand the meaning of the word no and one night, while the family was away, their entire house was moved, lock, stock and housecat, to the oilman's county.The dad figured he might as well join em at this point.Because he would have to pay the cost of airlifting his house back to its original cellar and that he couldn't afford.So the boy joined the high school team and, sure enough, justified the oilman's belief in his nascent talents.

Why, I had never so much as heard of "six-man football" before picking up the latest effort of Carlton Stowers, a true crime expert whose own family was touched by tragedy some mite back.

Now I know plenty.His down home style goes down smoother than a Texas mojito.You'll crack up at another anecdote, in which Penelope plays its rival, Abbott.Now there's a town so proud it has erected a giant billboard with a grinning, full color image of musician Willie Nelson, who they say was born in Abbott.Town pride in Nelson has never diminished, but the fool billboard got too much for the "rebel" singer-songwriter, who one night, got pretty drunk I guess and tried to burn down the darn thing.The billboard remains, half-torched, a visual memory of people's mixed feelings about the little towns from which we fled but to which we return with smiles and tears all mixed up.

A friendlier "Friday Night Lights"

As the August breezes begin to pick up, the days start to become shorter and thoughts return to fall, the end of the summer season brings about the start of another season, the high school football season.
Thousands of players will have participated in two-a-day practices throughout the dog days of August, all in the hopes of winning games, setting records and pursuing championships.
The only difference between most of the squads competing in the United States and the 112 public high school teams competing throughout Texas, is that they do it a little differently. For those smaller Lone Star Schools, whose student enrollment falls below 100, they play under their own Friday Night lights in the glorious game of six-man football.
Author Carlton Stowers became tired of his own newspaper's front pages, dedicated to the misdoings of others, bombings and mayhem he had seen from a news reporter's eyes. He made the decision to turn his reporter pen and pad towards a quieter town, in a quieter portion of Texas and follow the world of six-man football for a season.
His travels took him to the small town of Penelope and it's populous of 211 residents and the Wolverines six-man football team.
The railroad had left Penelope in 1960 and so went with it the cotton commerce that brought people to it. In 1963 the high school made the decision to abandon its football program. In 1999 a student, Marvin Hill, prodded by his classmates asked the superintendent requesting that football be re-instated in the Wolverines fall season.
The game of six-man football was established in the late 1930's as a sport for the small rural schools. It involves three lineman, three backs and a quarterback. Traditionally it is played on an 80-yard field, 15-yards are needed for a first down, 10-minute quarters are played and all players are eligible to receive a pass. Also included would be a 45-point mercy rule after the first half was complete.
With the help of the superintendent and an open board of education, donations flowed in to field a team that first season. As the interest continued year after year, a playing field, all two-acres of it, was purchased, grass planted and goalposts were acquired when a neighboring school moved up in class, they too were sent to Penelope.
It would be Hill who made history, scoring the first-ever touchdown for the Wolverines that first season.
Fast forward to 2004 when Penelope is led by coach Corey McAdams, the former state championship quarterback and college star at Hardin-Simmons University. It would be his job to bring the Wolverines back on a winning track, turning the tide on the squad's current 1 win, 31 loss record.
Stowers takes the reader onto the practice field, into the hallways of Penelope High and into the homes of the players, their families and their lives.
It is a different type of life in the small towns in Texas, something that many suburban readers may have a hard time comprehending.
When the entire town turns out for a football contest, they may not fill most local high school auditoriums, the coaches drive the bus to away games, that is if his players show up on time after they finish building a sheep fence.
"Where Dreams Die Hard" is not as hard hitting as the best selling "Friday Night Lights", but Stowers stills delves into issues that would make any towns population uneasy. It is the picture that Stowers paints of the small towns in Texas, the wins and the losses by the Penelope High Wolverines squad that make the book so enjoyable.
The length of "Where Dreams Die Hard," is also agreeable to the reader with its 201 pages, fitting for a sport which boasts just 12 players on the gridiron compared to the traditional 22. Stower's work has intrigue, history, heartwarming stories about the players, their families as well as the author's own relationship with his dying father.
While they may host smaller lineups, play in front of smaller crowds, the characters in "Where Dreams Die Hard" are focused on success every Friday evening under the Texas sky, proving that things in Texas are bigger, especially the hearts of those playing six-man football.
... Read more

Book Description
Now you can build the kind of defense that wins championships with Defensive Football Strategies. This complete collection of tactics, teachings, and insights comes from many of the games best defensive minds from over the past 40 years.

Inside you'll find winning strategies from 90 top coaches, including Jerry Sandusky of Penn State, Charlie McBride of the University of Nebraska, R.C. Slocum of Texas A & M., and Bo Schembechler of the University of Michigan. With the help of more than 600 X-and-O diagrams, they show you how to counter common offensive formations and attacks, stop the running game and passing game, make down-and-distance decisions, and defend the goal line.

Defensive Football Strategies was developed in cooperation with the American Football Coaches Association. It's a one-of-a-kind resource for building a defense that can win it all. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Better than Average
Strengths:The book broadly covers most of the elements of defensive football strategy.Most defensive approaches that have been attempted successfully in the last 40 years are reviewed and explained.Football coaches, especially at the HS level where the athletes' practice time is limited, will appreciate the book's simplicity and its ability to convey the essence of a particular defensive approach.Do these philosophies work?They have, in various forms, for decades.

Weaknesses:The strength of the book is also its primary weakness.It covers so much material that nothing is covered in detail, and coaches seeking the finer points of a particular defensive scheme may have to look elsewhere for assistance.Some of the newer defensive philosophies, especially the incredibly specialized schemes used in the pro ranks (defensive ends dropping off into coverage in short zones, linebackers who only play in running situations, or cornerbacks involved in intricate blitz schemes) are not covered.HS coaches will probably not have the time or athletic talent to indulge in that level of detail anyway.

As for the critique that defensive schemes designed to stop offenses from the 1960s don't belong in the book, I would beg to differ.In many areas of the country, especially the deep south, HS football coaches still employ the offensive systems in which they themselves played in decades before.Perhaps the most prominent example is the use of the triple-option out of a wishbone formation, once a staple of college football (Oklahoma and Alabama in the 1970s), never used in the pro ranks and abandoned by almost all college teams except the Air Force Academy and the Naval Academy.It was not unusual to find Tennessee HS football teams still running this offense through the 1990s.In this regard, the book's coverage of defenses designed to stop antiquated offensive game plans is a strength at the HS level.

Defenses of the 60s in a book that comes out in 2000??
Aww come on! This is the best the AFCA could do? Lets call it what it really is THE BEST OF THE AFCA MANUALS (DEFENSE). Now granted some techniques and fundamentals are ageless, but the AFCA has members at every major college and most professional teams. This is not the best it could do. ... Read more

Book Description
Football Coaching Strategies is an invaluable source of football wisdom. Inside you'll find 67 informative articles contributed during the last 25 years by many of the greatest football coaches the game has ever known.

The book features 349 detailed diagrams and covers every crucial aspect of the game:

• 28 articles on offense;

• 19 articles on defense;

• 7 articles on special teams; and

• 13 articles on philosophy, motivation, and management.

Edited by the American Football Coaches Association, this collection of gridiron strategies lets you tap into the creative genius and enduring principles that have shaped the game. It's the one book that every serious football coach, player, and fan will treasure. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (8)

Why is this book listed in the rugby category?
I dare say this is a great book as everyone says, but American Football is not the same sport as Rugby is it? There are a few other odd ones in the Rugby category...the one that really made me laugh was a book on equestrian dressage by one Phil Bennett! Not the famous Llanelli fly half surely?!

Beyond the X's and O's
Of the numerous football guides I've read, this is the firstbook that actually went beyond the X's and O's of football. As the title says, it not only discusses the on-field game, but also preparation, team building, and the mental side of the game.

This book touches interesting topics and is probably intended for giving some more food for thought and different angles on coaching issues. It is not exactly a DIY-manual or a literal step-by-step gude for all football coaches on how to build a successful team.

While some of the chapters are a bit academic and subject to cross your personal views, this book is a recommended especially for those who are just starting their coaching career or coach youth and junior football.

A Great Coaching Reference
A book that any coach should have.It gets the wheels going in your mind allowing you to develop new schemes.Its interesting to read other famous coach's ideas on topics like the Double Wing, Passing from your own endzone, and using the 50 front.

WOW, THIS IS AWESOME
I just got a job coaching and thought that I would pick up a book to help me in learning the ins and outs of the game. I have found it here. Thi is one excelent book. I played some college ball and now am going to coach,but I have learned a ton of things that o would not know until you startresearching the game. EXCELENT..

Middle School Coach
This book is an excellent source for all age levels. It gives various offenses and defenses to run and use with your team. I love it!It has really come in handy at my school. ... Read more

Book Description
The Football Coaching Bible features many of the game's most successful coaches. Each shares the special insight, advice, and strategies they've used to field championship-winning teams season after season.

The 27 chapter contributing coaches span six decades of the sport and reach into every corner of the United States. The impressive list of contributors:

Joe Paterno

Bobby Bowden

Tom Osborne

Hayden Fry

Jim Young

Sonny Lubick

Phil Fulmer

Jerry Sandusky

Mike Bellotti

Dick Foster

Frosty Westering

Barry Alvarez

Grant Teaff

Mack Brown

Fisher DeBerry

Gene Stallings

Larry Kehres

George Curry

Jim Tressel

Bill Snyder

Bo Schembechler

R.C. Slocum

Lou Holtz

Joe Tiller

LaVell Edwards

Ken Sparks

Frank Beamer

They cover every aspect of the game: coaching principles, program building, player motivation, practice sessions, individual skills, team tactics, offensive and defensive play-calling, and performance evaluation.

Developed by the American Football Coaches Association, this coaching guide establishes a new standard of excellence in the sport. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

Excellent Read for the Beginning or Experienced Coach
The Football Coaching Bible brings together a collection of articles and speeches by successful coaches from all levels. Whether you are looking for guidance on how to teach leadership, how to build (or re-build) a program from the ground up, or some talk on X's and O's, this book has it covered. Bill Snyder's chapter is particularly great, and has helped me to apply focus to my life in areas other than coaching. His story at K State is amazing.

This book does help a bit with basic nomenclature for brand new coaches. However it mostly assumes a basic understanding of certain things. The beginning coach may have to do some digging to find out exactly what some of the terms mean.

fb coaching bible
Some good info in this book, however each chapter is written from one coach's perspective (passing game, rush "D", etc....) I would have liked more info on each area of the game rather than a detailed perspective of one.

If you love football...
I am looking in to coaching for fun and this is a great book to have.There is a lot of coaching information and great football information in general.

Super Book
I really enjoyed this book quite a bit. My boy finished football season a while ago and I decided to get more involved for this upcoming season by coaching. The details and strageties were solid and very applicable. For someone like me that had an athletic backgroud but no coaching experience, I found the information quite useful.

I would call this a "cookbook" for new coaches. Something anyone can follow.

I would recommend this.

Great book to get started!
I just finished my first year of coaching high school football and I wanted to read as much as I could before next season started.I found the bible.This book has everything you need if you want to be a coach at any level.Personally it was a great starting point to building my own philosophy on coaching and really made me look at all that goes into being called "coach".I recommend this book to anyone, whether it's your first or thirtieth year on the job, that wants to hear from the greats about the game.A fantastic read! ... Read more

Book Description
In this day of explosive scoring and rules changes that favor the offense, fielding a competitive defense is more difficult than ever. AFCA's Defensive Football Drills levels the playing field by providing the defense with practice activities that teach the skills players need to excel.

The book contains 70 innovative drills that develop the fundamentals every defender needs to compete in today's game—an aggressive style of play and an understanding of complex defensive strategies.

Featuring drills and insights from some of the country's finest college and high school defensive coaches, AFCA's Defensive Football Drills is the best defensive read a coach or player can make! ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

A must for defensive coaches
This book contains information that is useful for individuals who coach for a living and for those who coach on a volunteer basis.There are drills from some of the biggest names in coaching and they are explained sothat even a complete novice can understand them.If you coach football atany level, this book HAS to be in your library. ... Read more

Book Description
Use strategies straight from many of football's all-time greatest coaches! Offensive Football Strategies offers you special access to the sharpest football minds in the game's history. Pick and choose portions to use to optimize your game plan each season and each game.

Offensive Football Strategies is the most comprehensive and detailed book of its kind, containing the most popular and effective offensive philosophies, systems, formations, and plays over the past 40 years. This extensive collection includes 73 articles written by many of the greatest coaching strategists, including Bob Devaney, Bear Bryant, John McKay, Joe Paterno, Tom Osborne, Marv Levy, Hayden Fry, LaVell Edwards, Steve Spurrier, and many more.

The articles are organized into the following sections:

• Developing a System
• Attacking the Defense
• Building Backfield Excellence
• Running the Wing-T
• Running From the I
• Running the Wishbone
• Running the Veer
• Running an Option Offense
• Establishing a Passing Scheme
• Passing From Sets and Formations
• Keeping the Defense on Edge
• Incorporating Play-Action
• Creating Quality Quarterback Play
• Protecting the Passer
• Gaining Key Yardage
• Dominating the Red Zone

Developed in cooperation with the American Football Coaches Association, Offensive Football Strategies is loaded with more than 700 X-and-O diagrams. Whether you are seeking another option for your running or passing attack, or looking for that sure-fire scoring play in the red zone, this book offers a wealth of winning strategies for your game plan. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

Solid info for all coaching levels
The book is geared for high school and college, but as a pre high school coach, I found alot of information to help at the youth level. There is alot of detail and drills that I have already used this year. If you are looking for information on various basic offensive formations and plays, you will find it here. Also, they cover basics on QB footwork and RB training. Lots of good stuff.

Tap Into the Great Minds of Football
I coach football at the high school level and got a lot out of this book.Most of the articles are pulled from AFCA Summer Manuals and Convention notes through the years.I read an article or two a day last spring and it really got me in a creative football mode.Some of the articles are dated but football is so cyclical that it's a big benefit to be contrary.Some of the old articles by Paterno, Devaney, and Fry are the msot helpful.The articles are brief so look at this as a huge tray of appetizers to get you thinking about what you really want to study in depth.Highly recommended.

Outstanding Aid For Intermediate Coaches
AFCA and Human Kinetics have produced a gem of a book which will be of most help to intermediate coaches -- that is, those who have a few years' experience under their belts, and are looking for new ideas in offensive systems, or for new plays to run from within their favorite offensive system.

While the age of some of the articles may seem troubling, it can in fact be a real advantage.Football offenses are so subject to trends and cycles that anything which is not current can be successful because it comes as a surprise.A defensive analogy would be the 5-2 defense -- "America's defense" throughout the 70's and much of the 80's, but almost unknown in some regions today, and thus a valuable surprise weapon.

The same holds true on offense, and the riches this book displays are a real treasure trove -- the triple option (from the wishbone, I formation and split-back veer); the Wing-T; and various pass-oriented spread and one-back systems are all covered by some of the most prominent names in coaching from the last three decades.

This isn't the best place to start for beginning coaches, nor the modern state of the art for cutting-edge types, but for the rest of us it is an excellent place to begin the next stage of our never-ending quest for football knowledge.

Strategic is right
I've read quite a few books on the game of football.Not being a coach, I don't think most people would want to pick this up, but for those who love the game itself will find this an indispensible reference.The book is composed of short articles by college coaches which deal with one small apspect of offence or a certain type of attack at a time.Although the college game is much simpler than the NFL, the insights I've picked up by reading this book have completely changed the way I watch football, be it college, CFL, or NFL.When I move to a different location where I can join a high school coaching team, this book will be soon find the pages being worn out.Absolutely excellent!

One of the Most Comprehensive Guides to Offensive Football
This book is one of the most comprehensive guides to offense that I have ever encountered. It includes almost 750 diagrammed plays from some of the top names in football including Bob Devaney and Tom Osborne, as well asmany other college and high school football coaches. This text would be avaluable addition to any coaches library. It will definitely add variety toany offense and add many new twists and schemes to any offense whether youhave an option team or a passing based offense. I think it would be a verywise investment. ... Read more

Book Description
A thorough examination of the sport's "Golden Era," a timewhen factors both on and off the field combined to transform the game.

Shaping College Football is the story of the intercollegiate gridiron sportin the years immediately after World War I when the game underwentmonumental changes that transformed it into one of America's fundamentalsporting attractions and a commercial entity that would be recognizable toany twenty-first century fan.

Raymond Schmidt examines the many factors that were a part of collegefootball's reshaping in the 1920s as universities became dependent upon therevenue being generated by football, and the sport increasingly becameidentified as a commercialized, big business activity. Offering the mostdetailed examination ever undertaken of college football's "Golden Era,"Schmidt covers issues ranging from the shift of power away from the game'spioneering schools, through the real evolution of forward passing, tostadium building and the decade-long struggle over the game's growingover-emphasis that culminated in the legendary Carnegie Report of 1929. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Oh What a Game They Played
Looking for a good read? Hooked on college football? Interested in knowing how college football matured into today's national spectacle?
If so, you have to read Raymond Schmidt's history of football in the 1920s (college football because the NFL was still in its infancy). Whether it's the Haskell Indians, traditionally African-American schools, or the rising Catholic powers, Schmidt ranges far and wide. He portrays a gridiron landscape no longer dominated by the traditional eastern schools (think Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Penn, and Army). The Midwest flanked by the South and West Coast now became the regions that produced big-time coaches,teams,and star players.
Schmidt's research is truly remarkable. No doubt most of us know something of the Golden Age of Sport--the age of prosperity and consumerism that produced sports legends like Knute Rockne and Red Grange. Yet how many are familiar with the bitter controversies that raged after Grange quit college to join the Chicago Bears? Or the national football machine created by Knute Rockne consisting of former players turned coaches who fed him insider information. Or the forward passes (just legalized in 1906) like burgeoning aircraft that filled the gridiron stratosphere.
Not that there weren't controversies and scandals. Schmidt airs the endless disputes and the conniving by teams for whom winning had become obsessive. The University of Iowa, a flagrant example, accumulated a slush fund that brought the wrath of today's Big Ten down on its head--not a conference team, many of them also tainted, would play the Hawkeyes. In 1929, the Carnegie Commission catalogued the numerous sins against the "amateur ideal." Unfortunately for the Commission, the report was released the same week as the stock market crash.
By 1930, the world of football, as Schmidt views it, was far closer to today's game, practices, and strategy than the pre- or immediately post-World War I version. As if to bookmark the end of an era, Knute Rockne died in an airplane crash after the 1930 season. Schmidt shows how Rockne personified the myth and reality of big-time football--and how the outpouring of tributes to Rockne illustrates the enormous power of its transformation.
"Indeed, that period from 1919 to 1930," Schmidt writes," had served to radically reshape the sport and lay the groundwork for most of what has transpired within intercollegiate football since that time, and it was truly the game's age of Transormation." ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Too dry, and no diagrams
It takes more than just stating the rules to tell the full story of football. Unfortunately, this book does little more than state the rules. I don't know who McCorduck is (the book gives no info at all on him), but I suspect he's not an American. This book was obviously written by and for someone who only has an intellectual curiosity in the game. The essential information is here, but it falls far short of the full picture. We need someone to give us a sense of perspective; to let us know what is and isn't significant. This book fails in that. The most glaring flaw of the book is that there are absolutely NO DIAGRAMS of player positions or plays. The players' physical positions on the field are left to our clueless imagination. This is inexcusable. If you just want to know the rules, you may as well read the official NFL rule book. But is you want a full, proper perspective on the game, both pro and college, I would recommend Theismann's "The Complete Idiot's Guide to Football" or Long's "Football for Dummies." What those books lack in conciseness they more than make up for in the authors' (and co-authors') experience in and love for the game. This book projects no love for the game and gives you no perspective on what is and isn't significant in it.

"Nunc scio quit sit amor." -Virgil
I see football as an allegory for life in general and specifically for life as an American.
At its simplest what is football but bunch of guys beating the snot out of each other for a few more yards of terra firma, right? Sure that's it but there is also so much more. Such as the artistry required in luring your opponent into a false sense of security before you knock them unconscious. The scantily clad girls cheering us on. The illusion of playing by the rules. The raw courage of the coach sending battered, beat and potentially terminally injured players out for another go to get that last inch of ground. Sure it's only a game but it's also a mirror of what we are at our most beautiful and sublime.
Every time I watch another battle on the field of glory a tear comes to my eye and I'm proud to be an American.
So if you want to understand the game I would recommend this book. You will understand football but even more important you will understand what it means to be human.

Understanding American Football
Fantastic book for someone who yearns to understand the game, and America's obsession with it. The author explains all details (from uniform requirements through offensive plays) without being condesending.I've watched football my entire life, not really understanding a thing - this book definitely helps me watch (and enjoy!) the game. ... Read more

Book Description
Football Offenses & Plays presents all of the popular offensive systems used today as well as tactical advice for play calling in each of four areas of the field. It features insights from many of the game's top offensive minds, who have conceived, or are extremely successful in employing, a specific means of attack:

• Discover the strengths of the I-Formation from Al Borges and the use of the H-back from Joe Novak.
• Maximize the use of one-back sets using two, three, or four receivers with the help of Glen Mason, Joe Tiller, and Gregg Brandon.
• Make the shotgun a real weapon with the insights of Randy Walker and Rich Rodriguez.
• Learn how to use four receivers from shotgun formations from Rich Rodriguez.
• Trace the development of running attacks, including the veer with Bill Yeoman, the wing-T with Tubby Raymond, and flexbone with Fisher DeBerry.
• Execute soundly in the yellow zone, green zone, red zone, and gold zone with guidance from Dennis Franchione, Ralph Friedgen, Larry Kehres, and Terry Malone.
• Employ the best strategies for two-minute and no-huddle situations with advice from Gary Tranquill.
• Help your quarterback make effective play calls at the line of scrimmage with the audible system presented by Don Nehlen.

Developed by the American Football Coaches Association, Football Offenses & Plays is the most detailed and comprehensive book on offensive tactics ever published. Make it part of your game plan this season and see your side of the scoreboard light up! ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Haphazard at best. Youth Coaches AVOID!
In my experience as a football coach at both the high school and youth levels over the past nine years, what coaches need the most are comprehensive playbooks that detail specific game situations and help neophytes to understand not just what a play is supposed to look like, but also how it attacks the defense and WHY it is called. You rarely in football call a play to score. You call it to gain a minimum acceptable amount of yardage in order to sustain a drive. Understanding this vital point is a CRITICAL part of understanding the strategy and tactical situation of the game.

You will NOT find that information in this book. Much like the inaccurately named "Football's Best Offensive Playbook" (ISBN: 0-87322-574-0) this book is a confusing mishmash of individual plays and complex ideas. An inexperienced youth coach trying to use this book would be hopelessly lost and end up with a playbook that looks like it came from Madden.

Almost no effort is devoted in this book to the concept of series-based football and the idea of making as many plays in the offense look as similar as possible in order to fool the defense into overpursuit. All of the plays shown are drawn against a 4-3 defense, a defensive system almost NEVER used below the high school level.

I also agree with the previous reviewer that the book should have included something about the West Coast Offense. Although the system is completely unsuitable for the youth levels, it has some application in it's passing attack, and with its widespread use (29 of 32 NFL teams currently run it in some form) coaches are bound to want to incorporate it. Its lack of inclusion means that the book is not comprehensive.

If you are an experienced coach looking to expand your system, you will probably find a few tips and tricks here. If you are a beginner, or are coaching at the youth levels, I strongly recommend "The Wing-T from A-Z" series by Dennis Creehan (ISBN: 1-57167-426 and 1-58518-250-8), "Winning Single Wing Football" by Ken Kueffel ,the SWinger's Bible, (ISBN:0-9744022-4-9) and "Coaching the Single Wing Offense" by Jim Ahern (ISBN: 1-58518-912-X).

If you are interested in the pass-first attack of the West Coast Offense and the Spread (And I hope you're not at the youth level where these offenses are inordinately difficult to install and use), then I recommend "Football's West Coast Offense" by Henderson and Olsen (ISBN:0-88011-662-5) and "Coaching Football's Spread Offense" by Stowers and Butzer (ISBN: 1-58518-198-6).

Above all, I recommend, "The Toss: A New Offensive Attack for High Scoring Football" by Jerry Vallotton, which is available only through his website now. Web searches will lead you to him easily. (Amazon sells the book, but it's currently out of print and several hundred dollars. It's much cheaper through the author.)

I do not particularly recommend this book.

~D.
Derek A. "Coach" Wade
Author: Impact! Coaching Successful Youth Football Vol. I: The Program

Some good stuff
It has some good stuff but there isn't anything in here about the West Coast Offense. ... Read more

Book Description
Whether you're a parent new to coaching or an experienced youth coach, Coaching Youth Football is your handbook for a successful season. Through the expertise of coach Tom Bass and USA Football, you'll gain field-tested tips on how to run your team, communicate with and handle players, provide basic first aid, plan and conduct practices, draw up plays, and keep it all fun.

Fundamentals of offense, defense, and special teams are covered in depth, supported by 30 new drills and more than 140 photos and illustrations. Ideal for coaches of players aged 14 and under, this book is also a valuable component of the Coaching Youth Football course, the official course of USA Football, offered by the American Sport Education Program. With this book, you will create an environment that promotes learning, enjoyment, and motivation for players to come out for the team year after year. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (13)

Quick intro
This is good quick primer but if you have already purchased a few other books, there's no need for this one.

Great book
I'm new to coaching PeeWee Football and have a pedestrian knowledge of the sport. This will definitely help you with drills and practice to develop fundementals that the kids will need as they progress to their next level.

Excellent Coaching Book!!
I've found Coaching Youth Football to be an excellent primer for
coaching my son's youth team this season. It includes all the background info a coach might need to build a program and keeps the focus on making the game fun. A positive introduction to this tremendous sport is whatI've found most kids need and most parents want. This book has helped me to teach the boys the game while keeping things fun and safe. A+++.

Fantastic resource for new coaches
When the role of acting as head football coach unexpectedly fell in my lap this season, I bought ASEP's Coaching Youth Football and I can't speak highly enough about it. The misgivings cited by previous reviewers predate this book's 2005 release date and don't seem at all warranted for the 4th Edition.

This book provided me with the nuts and bolts needed to get things rolling from Day One - from plans on how best to structure the first two weeks of practice to promoting teamwork and encouraging fun. The drills and tactics addressed apply well to the youth game - I'm coaching 10 & 11 year olds - but the book also provides background on communicating with parents and planning for safety.

I've found it to be a very complete reference that's worth picking up throughout the season. Very good.

Recommended!
Teaching skills to first time players can be tricky business, but the ASEP youth football book leaves no stone unturned. Having never been a lineman and having limited playing experience (over 20 years ago), the various blocking drills have really helped with my instruction this season. This book helped get me up to speed and I'd highly recommend it to anyone facing the daunting task of coaching kids football for the first time.
... Read more

Book Description

Sally Jenkins, bestselling co-author of It's Not About the Bike, revives a forgotten piece of history in The Real All Americans.In doing so, she has crafted a truly inspirational story about a Native American football team that is as much about football as Lance Armstrong's book was about a bike.

If you’d guess that Yale or Harvard ruled the college gridiron in 1911 and 1912, you’d be wrong.The most popular team belonged to an institution called the Carlisle Indian Industrial School.Its story begins with Lt. Col. Richard Henry Pratt, a fierce abolitionist who believed that Native Americans deserved a place in American society.In 1879, Pratt made a treacherous journey to the Dakota Territory to recruit Carlisle’s first students.

Years later, three students approached Pratt with the notion of forming a football team.Pratt liked the idea, and in less than twenty years the Carlisle football team was defeating their Ivy League opponents and in the process changing the way the game was played.
 
Sally Jenkins gives this story of unlikely champions a breathtaking immediacy.We see the legendary Jim Thorpe kicking a winning field goal, watch an injured Dwight D. Eisenhower limping off the field, and follow the glorious rise of Coach Glenn “Pop” Warner as well as his unexpected fall from grace.
 
The Real All Americans is about the end of a culture and the birth of a game that has thrilled Americans for generations.It is an inspiring reminder of the extraordinary things that can be achieved when we set aside our differences and embrace a common purpose.

Customer Reviews (25)

Great Book!
This book was highly entertaning. It tells the story of the first Indian football team. How they got started (the book tells of fights between the Indains and the government), tells of their first games and thier last. Every Football fan should read this book!

Indian history, school history, football history...
"The Game, like the country in which is was invented, was a rough, bastardized thing that jumped out of the mud."Thus opens Sally Jenkins' impressive "The Real All Americans: The Team That Changed A Game, A People, A Nation.While primarily about the football team from The Carlisle Indian Industrial School (CIIS) in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, the author also covers the end of the Indian "era," the creation of CIIS by Captain Richard Henry Pratt, and the development of football as a college sport.

Jenkins spends the first 100 pages in detailing the events leading up to the creation of Carlisle's football team.Captain Pratt was stationed in Indian Territory after the Civil War.Given a command of 20 Buffalo Soldiers and 25 Cherokee scouts, Pratt was astounded to discover that the Indians were intelligent and civilized and not "atrocious aborigines."After dealing with Indians as both scouts and prisoners, he came to the conclusion that the only way to solve the Indian problem was through education.With some monetary assistance from the government, he single-handedly founded the CIIS.

Soon after the school opened, football began taking off on college campuses.Ironically,
"the rising popularity of football had closely followed the ebbing of the frontier wars.It was as though America, at a loss for what to do with itself once the wilderness was subdued, had hit on football as the answer."Pratt reluctantly let the Indians form a team.Although always outnumbered, outmanned and undersized, with the help of innovative coach Glenn "Pop" Warner, they were soon playing competitively with the best teams in the nation."Under Warner's creative tutelage, they had an astounding array of trick plays, reverses, end-arounds, flea flickers, and spirals through the air."They started when football was in its infancy--there was little equipment, no formal officiating, no overt coaching during games, a different scoring system, no passing, a few dozens deaths each year, and lots of cheating and violence.The Indians, with their slight size, skilled passing and great speed eventually changed the way football was played.After one of their best seasons in 1912, the "New York Times" wrote that the football played by Carlisle was "the most perfect brand of football ever seen in America."

Carlisle is probably best remembered as the alma mater of Jim Thorpe.He was originally a track star before becoming a football player.In fact, Pop Warner was reluctant to have Thorpe join the team, thinking he was much too scrawny and not wanting to lose a track athlete (Warner coached both sports).It was Warner who took Thorpe to the Olympics in Stockholm where he came home a champion.

Jenkins provides a well-rounded and fascinating account that explains how these historical events all converged on this tiny campus in Carlisle, PA.The only thing I think is lacking in The Real All Americans is an index.

The Real All Americans
I've been telling all my friends that Sally Jenkins' "Real All-Americans" is the best "guy book" to come out in some time.You get to read about cowboys and Indians, civil war battles, westward expansion, the gold rush, Teddy Roosevelt, Jim Thorpe, and football in its rawest form. One thing I have discovered in my conversations about the book is that there are too many young folks who have never heard of Jim Thorpe.After watching Burt Lancaster in "The Jim Thorpe Story", I spent my whole childhood and some of my adult years running and jumping over gates, fences, garbage cans, cactus, and once the hood of a VW as it was pulling out of a parking spot. Sally's next book should resurrect the memory of one of the greatest American athletes of all time.

Excellent narative history
I think it helps to be a football fan, or at least have a passing knowledge of the game, to fully appreciate this book. Jenkins' skills as a sports writer offer a nice change of pace when it is 'game-time' from her more prosaic, but well-researched historical voice. She changes paces so well that I found the book hard to put down. She offers a fascinating glimpse into the lives of average Native Americans as the American Frontier closed and they were expected to become 'regular Joes'. It bridges the gaps between the era of Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee and the heroic WWII Code Talkers.

The Real AllAmericans
Excellent book.This is a must read for anyone who is interested in how the game of football got started.Great Indian history as well.Much enjoyed ... Read more

Book Description
Is football an athletic contest or a social event? Is it a game of skill, a test of manhood, or merely an organized brawl? Michael Oriard, a former professional player, asks these and other intriguing questions in Reading Football, the first contemporary book about football's formative years.American football began in the 1870s as a game to be played, not watched. Within a brief ten years, it had become a great public spectacle with an immense following, a phenomenon caused primarily by the voluminous commentary about the game conducted in popular newspapers and magazines.Oriard shows how this constant narrative in football's early years developed many different stories about what the game meant: football as pastime, as the sport of gentlemen, as a science, as a game of rules and their infringements. He shows how football became a series of cultural stories about power, luck, strategy, and deception.These different interpretations have been magnified by football's current omnipresence on television. According to Oriard, televised football now plays a cultural role of enormous importance for men, yet within the field of cultural studies the influence of football has been ignored until now. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Touchdown!
This book offers the reader an evaluation of the early years of football and the press' role in popularizing football for the American consumer. A must-read for anyone who loves football. ... Read more

Book Description
Solid blocking, sure tackling, proper footwork, precise routes, correct coverage angles, and synchronized body movements: basic techniques, perhaps, but all essential to winning football. Football Skills & Drills is your guide to success, covering key skills and cons