Game of My Life: Cleveland Browns


Book Description

For the city of Cleveland and the fans of the Browns, it’s not just a football team: it’s a way of life. From rabid fan clubs all around the country to fans around Northeast Ohio wearing the colors of the brown and orange, time stops when the Browns take the field each week. The team joined the NFL in 1950 and won a championship in their first year in the league, and went on to win three more, the last of which was 1964 when they shutout the Baltimore Colts 27-0 at Cleveland Municipal Stadium. Since then fans have been waiting, through good years and bad, for the glory to return to the Browns franchise. They have had to endure the harshest of defeats, losing three times to the Denver Broncos in the 1980’s on the doorstep of playing in their first Super Bowl. They also had to live out the nightmare of their franchise being ripped away during the 1995 season, as then owner Art Modell moved them to Baltimore in one of the most shocking moves in NFL history. This book will give you an idea of the fanfare and the love that former players and fans have for the Cleveland Browns. Read as Bernie Kosar, Ozzie Newsome, Don Cockcroft, Eric Metcalf, and other beloved players remember the glory days, with exciting trips to the postseason. You’ll understand after reading this just how much Cleveland loves its football team, and how the players feel the same. Skyhorse Publishing, as well as our Sports Publishing imprint, are proud to publish a broad range of books for readers interested in sports—books about baseball, pro football, college football, pro and college basketball, hockey, or soccer, we have a book about your sport or your team. Whether you are a New York Yankees fan or hail from Red Sox nation; whether you are a die-hard Green Bay Packers or Dallas Cowboys fan; whether you root for the Kentucky Wildcats, Louisville Cardinals, UCLA Bruins, or Kansas Jayhawks; whether you route for the Boston Bruins, Toronto Maple Leafs, Montreal Canadiens, or Los Angeles Kings; we have a book for you. While not every title we publish becomes a New York Times bestseller or a national bestseller, we are committed to publishing books on subjects that are sometimes overlooked by other publishers and to authors whose work might not otherwise find a home.




Tony DiPardo: Life, Love, Music and Football


Book Description

This heart-warming autiobiography blends the magic of music with the thrill of Kansas City football. For almost half a century, Tony DiPardo was the band director for the Knasas City Chiefs. In this humerous, touching, and lively memoir, fans will re-live all the greatest moments of Chiefs football through the unqiue, smiling eyes of the longest running music act in the NFL.




What It Takes


Book Description

In 2011, he became starting linebacker for the New York Giants and triumphed in the Super Bowl—after being told his cancer diagnosis meant he would never play football again.... As a child, Herzlich found true meaning in football, eventually turning his passion into a first-team All-American spot at Boston College. But the budding star was sidelined by persistent, debilitating pain in his left leg. The shocking diagnosis: He had Ewing’s sarcoma, a rare bone cancer. Doctors put his odds of survival as low as ten percent—and no one thought he would be able to run, much less play football, again. Then Herzlich learned of a radical treatment that would give him the best chance to regain his strength and maybe even play football again, but it could cost him his life. Relying on family, friends, faith, and deep wells of determination to help him through treatment, his plan worked. Not only could he run, but he was physically stronger than ever, and mentally ready to battle his way into the NFL. When he was passed over by all thirty-two teams in the draft, he dug deeper and continued his training, winning a spot in the Giants’ training camp and, eventually, on the team. Mark Herzlich fought a battle against cancer, against statistics, and some days against himself. Told with candor and raw emotion, What It Takes 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. INCLUDES PHOTOS With a foreword by New York Giants head coach Tom Coughlin




Growing Up Colt


Book Description

You watched him vie for the Heisman and national championship, and earn a third-round NFL draft spot. Now meet Colt McCoy up-close and personal! Growing Up Colt—A Father, a Son, a Life in Football is a unique biography by both the Cleveland Browns quarterback and his father, Brad, a highly-respected football coach in his native Texas. Get a behind-the-scenes view of the formative events of Colt’s football experience and the foundational principles of his family and faith life. Growing Up Colt promises an inspiring read for football fans of all ages—and don’t miss the exciting full-color photo section!




The Last Lecture


Book Description

The author, a computer science professor diagnosed with terminal cancer, explores his life, the lessons that he has learned, how he has worked to achieve his childhood dreams, and the effect of his diagnosis on him and his family.




Love and Football


Book Description

Love and Football will keep you on the edge! Star quarterback Cimeon and his beautiful cheerleader wife, Ebony, will take you on a suspenseful, exciting, loving, action-packed, funny, emotional ride. The perfect couple. Together since they were five years old. From high school, college, and to the pros, he has remained the baddest quarterback on the planet while she remained the hottest cheerleader on the planet! Boom! She gets kidnapped by the mob! The only way to win her back is to go to the Super Bowl . . . and lose! By the way, she is pregnant! Can he carry his city, his team, and his family on his back? Boom! Touch down! Who wins, love or hate?




Love, Football, and Other Contact Sports


Book Description

A collection of stories about high school students from one end of the social spectrum to the other.




My Life on the Line: How the NFL Damn Near Killed Me and Ended Up Saving My Life


Book Description

A riveting account of life as a closeted professional athlete from gay NFL player O’Callaghan, against the backdrop of depression, opioid addiction, and the threat of suicide. “[O’Callaghan’s] story is one of beautiful vulnerability, and it further shows the importance of knowing you aren’t alone.” —Oprah Daily, recommended by Gayle King Ryan O’Callaghan’s plan was always to play football and then, when his career was over, kill himself. Growing up in a politically conservative corner of California, the not-so-subtle messages he heard as a young man from his family and from TV and film routinely equated being gay with disease and death. Letting people in on the darkest secret he kept buried inside was not an option: better death with a secret than life as a gay man. As a kid , Ryan never envisioned just how far his football career would take him. He was recruited by the University of California, Berkeley, where he spent five seasons, playing alongside his friend Aaron Rodgers. Then it was on to the NFL for stints with the almost-undefeated New England Patriots and the often-defeated Kansas City Chiefs. Bubbling under the surface of Ryan’s entire NFL career was a collision course between his secret sexuality and his hidden drug use. When the league caught him smoking pot, he turned to NFL-sanctioned prescription painkillers that quickly sent his life into a tailspin. As injuries mounted and his daily intake of opioids reached a near-lethal level, he wrote his suicide note to his parents and plotted his death. Yet someone had been watching. A member of the Chiefs organization stepped in, recognizing the signs of drug addiction. Ryan reluctantly sought psychological help, and it was there that he revealed his lifelong secret for the very first time. Nearing the twilight of his career, Ryan faced the ultimate decision: end it all, or find out if his family and football friends could ever accept a gay man in their lives.




Learning to Live to Love Life


Book Description

First, I’d like to thank God for the blessings with which he has blessed me and the wisdom, knowledge, and the ability to relate to people on their level. Sometimes you have to place yourself right along with them to make them know they can trust them and come to you with the things that are not right. With that sort of relationship, you can get the best out of them. Knowing how to relate, but then, again, you’ve got to love what you are doing. The games I’ve coached have been sort of easy because I played them and wasn’t bad at it. I had great moral support from my pretty daughter, Lateka; my lovely niece, Vonnie, my loving sister, Mamie, and from all my nieces and nephews that backed me up at all the events I put on. It’s a thrill seeing these young girls and boys competing. I really wasn’t aware I had done so much until the surveys began to come in. I remember what someone said one day, when I was on the field pepping up my relay team. “Would Mr. Washington get off the field? You are no coach.” If I’m not a coach, what am I? I’m thrilled to know I’ve touched lives and helped make a difference. I hope by this book, we can build a sport center that will cut down crime that has destroyed many youth who have been cut short of learning to live to love life; for life is a gift to be used every day. We all can play a big part, a kind deed, a word, even a smile. It will all come back to you. Learn to Live to Love Life, Through Tee’s Eyes




Above Head Height


Book Description

'The Fever PItch of five-a-side' TONY PARSONS A must-have for anyone who has ever played and enjoyed amateur football. James Brown has been playing football since growing up in the backstreets of Leeds. The sudden death of one his long-standing team mates made James ponder the unique bond between men who meet each other once a week for years, but don't know any personal details beyond pitch prowess. Five-a-Side football is where you play the beautiful game for love, not money. You play it for life and you play it everywhere. Your kit is damp and your legs are a leopard's back of bruises. Shirts are often tight around the belly, with your hero's name plastered across your shoulder blades. The showers are too cold in winter and too hot in summer. Your used sports bag stays unpacked in the hall, and your water bottles are under the kitchen sink. The post-match warm down takes place in the pub. As does the match analysis. By contrast the warm up is non-existent. Your performance is patchy and maybe not what it used to be. But we all still think we played great. Five-a-Side is sporting Karaoke - a time and place to live out our dreams. This is a book for all of us - school mates, work colleagues, total strangers - bonded by the desire to blast one into the net from two feet away.