Guts and Genius


Book Description

How three football legends -- Bill Walsh, Joe Gibbs, and Bill Parcells -- won eight Super Bowls during the 1980s and changed football forever. Bill Walsh, Joe Gibbs and Bill Parcells dominated what may go down as the greatest decade in pro football history, leading their teams to a combined eight championships and developing some of the most gifted players of all time in the process. Walsh, Gibbs and Parcells developed such NFL stars as Joe Montana, Lawrence Taylor, Jerry Rice, Art Monk and Darrell Green. They resurrected the careers of players like John Riggins, Joe Theismann, Doug Williams, Everson Walls and Hacksaw Reynolds. They did so with a combination of guts and genius, built championship teams in their own likeness, and revolutionized pro football like few others. Their influence is still evident in today's game, with coaches who either worked directly for them or are part of their coaching trees now winning Super Bowls and using strategy the three men devised and perfected. In interviews with more than 150 players, coaches, family members and friends, GUTS AND GENIUS digs into the careers of three men who overcame their own insecurities and doubts to build Hall of Fame legacies that transformed their generation and continue to impact today's NFL.




First Down and a Billion


Book Description

The funny, frank, and revealing inside story of Gene Klein's two tumultuous decades as owner of the San Diego Chargers, presenting a hilarious view of the business of sports and the sport of business.




Martyball


Book Description

No coach in National Football League history endured more playoff heartache than Marty Schottenheimer. Despite racking up two hundred regular-season victories (only five coaches in the entire ninety-year history of the NFL ever won more games), Marty never reached the Super Bowl during his coaching career. Martyball tells the story of a man who persevered through an avalanche of misfortune and playoff agony that would have brought most men to their knees. But Marty never lost sight of why he fell in love with coaching in the first place: he wanted to teach and mold men through the game of football. Based on more than one hundred hours of interviews with Marty, his players, assistants, family, and friends, this book will give readers a look into the mind of an exceptional coach, and explain why he never gave up or succumbed to self-pity despite a long streak of bad luck. Get the background on Schottenheimer’s life, from his childhood in rural Pennsylvania to his playing and coaching careers in pro football, and learn why he kept believing in the game he loved—and how he found valuable lessons about life and football beyond each and every loss.




LT & Me


Book Description

As a teenager, Ladainian Tomlinson made three promises to his mom: he would go to college, play professional football, and make her the proudest mother in the world. Loreane Tomlinson tells the story of how all of these once seemingly impossible dreams came true.




San Diego Chargers


Book Description

Get your football fanatic readers into the action. Inside the NFL uses chronological narratives to tell the beginnings of the San Diego Chargers, relate the greatest and lowest moments of the team, introduce the best players and coaches, and share other fun facts that help round out Chargers' history. Mini-biographies, sidebars, fun facts, fantastic quotes, and full-color, action-packed photographs will bring the NFL to your library.




NFL Rush Zone - Season of the Guardians


Book Description

First issue in an ongoing series! From his headquarters in the NFL Hall of Fame, Ish, the first NFL Guardian, is charged with protecting the NFL Powercores from a mysterious, otherworldly threat. Join Ish, his friends, a cast of NFL personalities, and the ever-loyal Rusherz as they battle a horde of Blitz Botz and their megalomaniacal overlord. An officially licensed NFL book based on the hit Nicktoons series!




Junior Seau


Book Description

This intimate biography of the NFL icon by a veteran sports reporter sheds light on his singular life and the controversy surrounding his tragic death. Tiaina Baul “Junior” Seau is widely considered to be among the best linebackers in NFL history, a ten-time All-Pro, a twelve-time Pro Bowl selection, and a first-ballot entrant into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. But in 2012, just two years after retiring from football, Junior Seau committed suicide. Studies of his brain by the National Institutes of Health concluded that Seau suffered from chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), a brain disease often caused by repeated hits to the head. Seau’s suicide spawned numerous investigations into the brains of deceased NFL players, and many were found to have CTE. Drawing on exclusive access to Seau’s family as well as Seau’s never-before-seen diaries and letters, Jim Trotter paints a moving and revealing portrait of a larger-than-life sports star whose achievements on the field were rivaled by his personal demons. “Few people knew Junior Seau like Jim Trotter . . . he took a sports book and artistically crafted it into a lyrical narrative about dreams, love, and, ultimately, heart-wrenching loss.”—Lars Anderson, author of The All Americans




NFL Teams (Set)


Book Description

Feel like you are on the field with today's NFL teams with these exciting and informative books. Learn about the history, best moments, and top players of teams like the New England Patriots, Kansas City Chiefs, and Minnesota Vikings. With easy text and heart-racing photos, these hi-lo books will have any young reader going for the extra point! Aligned to Common Core standards & correlated to state standards. Fly! is an imprint of Abdo Zoom, a division of ABDO.




The Cincinnati Bengals Story


Book Description

Starting with black, white, and orange uniforms, the Cincinnati Bengals resembled their division rival, the Cleveland Browns. Fortunately the Bengals' uniforms have evolved. Today they wear bold, black stripes like Bengal tigers. Read about the Cincinnati BengalsÕ drive and evolution since 1968 in this title for young readers.




Meet the San Diego Chargers


Book Description

An introduction to the San Diego Chargers professional football team. Includes information about the team's history, stadium, star players, uniforms and more. Features a true or false quiz, photos, vintage trading cards reproductions, maps, and records. Includes access to the Team Spirit Overtime website which provides regularly updated information and photos. Aligns to Common Core State Standards requirements for Reading Informational Text. Table of Contents, glossary, additional resources and index.