The Football (American) category has 72 audiobooks on Listento.it, with an average listener rating of 4.7★ across 193 ratings. The most-rated is The TB12 Method.
The TB12 Method
Summary
The number one New York Times best seller by the six-time Super Bowl champion The first book by Tampa Bay Buccaneers and former New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady - the six-time Super Bowl champion who is still reaching unimaginable heights of excellence at 42 years old - a gorgeously illustrated and deeply practical “athlete’s bible” that reveals Brady’s revolutionary approach to sustained peak performance for athletes of all kinds and all ages. In this new edition of The TB12 Method, Tom Brady further explains and details the revolutionary training, conditioning, and wellness system that has kept him atop the NFL at an age when most players are deep into retirement. Brady - along with the expert Body Coaches at TB12, the performance lifestyle brand he cofounded in 2013 with Alex Guerrero - explain the principles and philosophies of pliability, a paradigm-shifting fitness concept that focuses on a more natural, healthier way of exercising, training, and living. Filled with lessons from Brady’s own training regimen, The TB12 Method provides step-by-step guidance on how develop and maintain one’s own peak performance while dramatically decreasing injury risks. This illustrated, highly visual manual also offers more effective approaches to functional strength and conditioning, proper hydration, supplementation, cognitive fitness, restorative sleep, and nutritious, easy-to-execute recipes to help readers fuel-up and recover. Brady steadfastly believes that the TB12 approach has kept him competitive while extending his career, and that it can make any athlete, male or female, in any sport and at any level achieve his or her own peak performance and do what they love, better and for longer. With instructions, drills, photos, in-depth case studies that Brady himself has used, along with personal anecdotes and experiences from his legendary career, The TB12 Method gives you a better way to train and get results with Tom Brady himself as living proof. PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your Library section along with the audio.
©2017 Tom Brady (P)2017 Simon & Schuster Audio
The Dynasty
Summary
New York Times Best Seller From the number-one New York Times best-selling coauthor of Tiger Woods comes the definitive inside story of the New England Patriots - the greatest sports dynasty of the 21st century. It’s easy to forget that the New England Patriots were once the laughingstock of the NFL, a nearly bankrupt team that had never won a championship and was on the brink of moving to St. Louis. Everything changed in 1994, when Robert Kraft acquired the franchise and soon brought on board Head Coach Bill Belichick and Quarterback Tom Brady. Since then, the Patriots have become a juggernaut, making 10 trips to the Super Bowl, winning six of them, and emerging as one of the most valuable sports franchises in the world. Today, the team’s 20-year reign atop the NFL stands as the longest in league history. How was the Patriots dynasty built? And how did it last for two decades? In The Dynasty, acclaimed journalist Jeff Benedict provides richly reported answers in a sweeping account based on exclusive interviews with more than 200 insiders - including team executives, coaches, players, players’ wives, team doctors, lawyers, and more - as well as never-before-seen recordings, documents, and electronic communications. Through his exhaustive research, Benedict uncovers surprising new details about the inner workings of a team notorious for its secrecy. He puts listeners in the room as Robert Kraft outmaneuvers a legion of lawyers and investors to buy the team. We listen in on the phone call when the greatest trade ever made - Bill Belichick for a first-round draft choice - is negotiated. And we look over the shoulder of 40-year-old Tom Brady as a surgeon operates on his throwing hand on the eve of the AFC Championship Game in 2018. But the portrait that emerges in The Dynasty is more rewarding than new details alone. By tracing the team’s epic run through the perspectives of Kraft, Belichick, and Brady - each of whom was interviewed for the book - the author provides a wealth of new insight into the complex human beings most responsible for the Patriots’ success. We watch the NFL’s savviest owner treat Brady like a son, empower Belichick to cut and trade beloved players, and spend sleepless nights figuring out diplomatic ways to keep Brady and Belichick together for two decades. We come to understand how a genius head coach keeps his players at an emotional distance and blocks out anything that gets in the way of winning. And we experience the relentless drive, ferocious competitive nature, and emotional sensitivity that allows Brady to continue playing football into his 40s. The result is an intimate portrait that captures the human drama of the dynasty’s three key characters while also revealing the secrets behind their success. This is perhaps the most compelling and illuminating book that will ever be written about the greatest professional sports team of our time.
©2020 Rockspring Media, LLC. All rights reserved. (P)2020 Simon & Schuster, Inc. All rights reserved.
Football for a Buck
Summary
The United States Football League was the last football league to not merely challenge the mighty NFL but also to cause it to collectively shudder. It spanned three seasons, featured as many as 18 teams, secured multiple television deals, drew millions of fans, and launched the careers of legends - but then it died beneath the weight of a particularly egotistical and bombastic owner, a New York businessman named Donald Trump. In Football for a Buck, Jeff Pearlman draws on more than 400 interviews to unearth all the salty, untold stories of one of the craziest sports entities to have ever captivated America. From 1980s drug excess to some of the most enthralling and revolutionary football ever seen, Pearlman transports listeners back in time to this crazy, boozy, audacious era of the game. He shows how fortunes were made and lost and how, 30 years ago, Trump was a scoundrel and a spoiler. This is sports as high entertainment - and a cautionary tale of the dangers of ego and excess.
©2018 Jeff Pearlman (P)2018 Dreamscape Media, LLC
Where Men Win Glory
Summary
The best-selling author of Into the Wild, Into Thin Air, and Under the Banner of Heaven delivers a stunning, eloquent account of a remarkable young man's haunting journey. Like the men whose epic stories Jon Krakauer has told in his previous best sellers, Pat Tillman was an irrepressible individualist and iconoclast. In May 2002, Tillman walked away from his $3.6 million NFL contract to enlist in the United States Army. He was deeply troubled by 9/11, and he felt a strong moral obligation to join the fight against al-Qaeda and the Taliban. Two years later, he died on a desolate hillside in southeastern Afghanistan. Though obvious to most of the two dozen soldiers on the scene that a ranger in Tillman's own platoon had fired the fatal shots, the Army aggressively maneuvered to keep this information from Tillman's wife, other family members, and the American public for five weeks following his death. During this time, President Bush repeatedly invoked Tillman's name to promote his administration's foreign policy. Long after Tillman's nationally televised memorial service, the Army grudgingly notified his closest relatives that he had probably been killed by friendly fire while it continued to dissemble about the details of his death and who was responsible. In Where Men Win Glory, Jon Krakauer draws on Tillman's journals and letters, interviews with his wife and friends, conversations with the soldiers who served alongside him, and extensive research on the ground in Afghanistan to render an intricate mosaic of this driven, complex, and uncommonly compelling figure, as well as the definitive account of the events and actions that led to his death. Before he enlisted in the army, Tillman was familiar to sports aficionados as an undersized, overachieving Arizona Cardinals safety whose virtuosity in the defensive backfield was spellbinding. With his shoulder-length hair, outspoken views, and boundless intellectual curiosity, Tillm...
©2009 Jon Krakauer (P)2009 Random House Audio
The Truth About Aaron
Summary
The unvarnished true story of the tragic life and death of Aaron Hernandez, the college All-American and New England Patriots star convicted of murder, told by one of the few people who knew him best, his brother. To football fans, Aaron Hernandez was a superstar in the making. A standout at the University of Florida, he helped the Gators win the national title in 2008. Drafted by the New England Patriots, in his second full season with the team he and fellow Patriots’ tight end Rob Gronkowski set records for touchdowns and yardage, and with Tom Brady, led New England to Super Bowl XLVI in 2012. But Aaron’s NFL career ended as quickly as it began. On June 26, 2013, he was arrested at his North Attleboro home, charged with the murder of Odin Lloyd, and released by the Patriots. Convicted of first-degree murder, Aaron was sentenced to life in prison without parole. On May 15, 2014, while on trial for Lloyd's murder, Aaron was indicted for two more murders. Five days after being acquitted for those double murders, he committed suicide in his jail cell. Aaron Hernandez was 27 years old. In this clear-eyed, emotionally devastating biography - a family memoir combining football and true crime - Jonathan (formerly known by his nickname DJ) Hernandez speaks out fully for the first time about the brother he knew. Jonathan draws on his own recollections as well as thousands of pages of prison letters and other sources to give us a full portrait of a star athlete and troubled young man who would become a murderer, and the darkness that consumed him. Jonathan does not portray Aaron as a victim; he does not lay the blame for his crimes on his illness. He speaks openly about Aaron’s talent, his sexuality, his crimes and incarceration, and the CTE that ravaged him - scientists found that upon his death, Aaron had the brain of a 67-year old suffering from the same condition. Filled with headline-making revelations, The Truth About Aaron is a shocking and moving account of promise, tragedy, and loss - of one man’s descent into rage and violence, as told by the person who knew him more closely than anyone else.
©2018 Jonathan Hernandez (P)2018 HarperCollins Publishers
The Blind Side
Summary
In football, as in life, the value we place on people changes with the rules of the games they play. When we first meet the young man at the center of this extraordinary and moving story, he is one of 13 children by a mother addicted to crack; he does not know his real name, his father, his birthday, or any of the things a child might learn in school. And he has no serious experience playing organized football. What changes? He takes up football, and school, after a rich, Evangelical, Republican family plucks him from the mean streets. Their love is the first great force that alters the world’s perception of the boy, whom they adopt. The second force is the evolution of professional football itself. In The Blind Side, Lewis shows us a largely unanalyzed but inexorable trend in football working its way down from the pros to the high school game, where it collides with the life of a single young man to produce a narrative of great and surprising power.
©2006 Michael Lewis (P)2006 Books on Tape
Talking to GOATs
Summary
A star-studded, dynamic production performed by Jim Gray with a foreword written and read by Tom Brady. Talking to GOATs audio also features appearances by Bob Costas, Vin Scully, Carol Burnett, and Snoop Dogg. “As a sportscaster and sports historian, Jim’s career genuinely stands the test of time.... This book is sports history about some of the greats by one of the greats, who was taking it all in on the sidelines, in the stands or the dugout, by the 18th green, courtside, or in the broadcast booth.” (Tom Brady, six-time NFL Super Bowl champion GOAT) A riveting, insightful memoir of never-before-told stories from Jim Gray, 12-time Emmy Award-winner, Hall of Fame sports broadcaster, and renowned interviewer - that explores the author's career and the inside stories and memorable moments of the famous legends he has covered including, Muhammad Ali, Tom Brady, Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, Michael Jordan and Mike Tyson. In Talking to GOATs, award-winning broadcaster Jim Gray looks back at his four decades of sports reporting from the unparalleled perspective of one of the world’s most respected and skilled interviewers. A journalist who many iconic athletes have trusted to tell their stories (of both triumph and disgrace), Jim has had unprecedented access to the people, places and extraordinary events in the world of sports. Asking tough but fair questions, he has broken numerous stories, and landed squarely in the middle of others, from the Ben Johnson and Barry Bonds steroid scandals, to Michael Jordan’s surprise retirement, to the off-the-court Kobe/Shaq feud which led to their on-the-court break up, to being part of the live broadcast for 22 Super Bowls. He’s climbed into the ring to interview Mike Tyson after he bit off a chunk of Evander Holyfield’s ear, and stood next to Ron Artest when the “Malice at the Palace” melee erupted, and was on site at the bombing of the Atlanta Olympics. Anyone who has watched Jim effortlessly engage his subjects at the precise moment of triumph or tragedy has little idea what it takes to secure the interview, or what actually happens when the camera cuts away. These are real, mesmerizing, and previously untold stories. Talking to GOATs features numerous world-class athletes, including Muhammad Ali, Tom Brady, Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, Michael Jordan, Floyd Mayweather, Michael Phelps, Mike Tyson, and Tiger Woods, and world leaders George W. Bush, Barack Obama, Mikhail Gorbachev, and many more. Jim gives the listener a coveted all-access pass as he reviews the best interviews, the best athletes, and the best games in modern sports history. It’s like a personal introduction to the characters and careers of these heroes and villains we’ve known since childhood. He examines how money, celebrity, the media, and power interact, and how sports, more than any other institution, has led to momentous transformations in American society.
©2020 Jim Gray and Greg Bishop (P)2020 HarperAudio
Relentless
Summary
Bill Belichick: "Julian is the epitome of competitiveness, toughness, and the great things that are possible when someone is determined to achieve their goals." Tom Brady: "It's a privilege for me to play with someone as special as Julian." The Super Bowl champion wide receiver for the New England Patriots shares his inspiring story of an underdog kid who was always doubted to becoming one of the most reliable and inspiring players in the NFL. When the Patriots were down 28-3 in Super Bowl LI, there was at least one player who refused to believe they would lose: Julian Edelman. And he said so. It wasn't only because of his belief in his teammates, led by the master of the comeback, his friend and quarterback Tom Brady - or the coaching staff run by the legendary Bill Belichick. It was also because he had been counted out in most of his life and career, and he had proved them all wrong. Whether it was in Pop Warner football, where his Redwood City, California, team won a national championship; in high school, where he went from a four-foot-ten, 95-pound freshman running back to quarterback for an undefeated Woodside High team; or college, where he rewrote records at Kent State as a dual-threat quarterback, Edelman far exceeded everyone's expectations. Everyone's expectations, that is, except his own and those of his father, who took extreme and unorthodox measures to drive Edelman to quiet the doubters with ferocious competitiveness. When he was drafted by the Patriots in the seventh round, the five-foot-ten college quarterback was asked to field punts and play wide receiver, though he'd never done either. But gradually, under the tutelage of a demanding coaching staff and countless hours of off-season training with Tom Brady, he became one of the NFL's most dynamic punt returners and top receivers who can deliver in the biggest games. Relentless is the story of Edelman's rise, and the continuing dominance of the Patriot dynasty, filled with memories of growing up with a father who was as demanding as any NFL coach, his near-constant fight to keep his intensity and competitiveness in check in high school and college, and his celebrated nine seasons with the Patriots. Julian shares insights into his relationships and rivalries and his friendships with teammates such as Tom Brady, Wes Welker, Matt Slater, and Randy Moss. Finally, he reveals the story behind "the catch" and life on the inside of a team for the ages. Inspiring, honest, and unapologetic, Relentless proves that the heart of a champion can never be measured. PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your Library section along with the audio.
©2017 Julian Edelman (P)2017 Hachette Audio
QB
Summary
In the most candid and compelling sports memoir since Andre Agassi's riveting bestseller Open, former San Francisco 49er, Super Bowl champion, NFL MVP, and Hall of Famer Steve Young gives listeners an unprecedented and stunning inside look at what it takes to become a super-elite professional quarterback. Steve Young was not expected to become one of the greatest quarterbacks of all time. A devout Mormon, he had a perfect GPA in school, studied Latin and calculus, and was blessed with a photographic memory. His mother pleaded that he not play football. But Young was determined to become the next Roger Staubach. QB tells the story of a boy with a gentle demeanor who overcame personal fears and his teammates' and coaches' indifference to reach the pinnacle of America's most violent game. Football was a test and a quest: listed eighth on the depth chart at Brigham Young University, Young was told he'd never play quarterback in college. He went on to endure intense media scrutiny as the highest-paid player in sports history before he ever stepped on the field as a professional. As a 49er, he went head-to-head with the legendary Joe Montana in what became the NFL's greatest quarterback controversy. But Young's biggest hurdles were invisible to the public: the physical pain that comes with being an ordinary-size man in a league of giants; the loneliness of playing sixteen seasons as a bachelor; and an undiagnosed case of separation anxiety that made him dread getting out of bed and caused him to vomit in locker room bathrooms before games. Through sheer grit, Young put on a helmet week after week, season after season, leading his team to a Super Bowl championship, endearing himself to both the city of San Francisco and football fans everywhere.
©2016 J. Steven Young. (P)2016 Brilliance Audio, all rights reserved.
I Feel Like Going On
Summary
Ray Lewis, legendary Baltimore Ravens linebacker and one of the greatest defensive players of his generation, holds nothing back on the state of football as well as his troubled childhood, his rise to athletic greatness, the storm that threatened to ruin his NFL career, and the devastating injury that nearly cost him a final moment of glory. A lot of folks, they know my game, but they don't know my deal. This audiobook right here, it tells the story of my 17-year NFL career. It tells of my two Super Bowls, the mark I was blessed to be able to make on the game, on the city of Baltimore. But it also tells the story of how I grew up - abandoned by my no-account father, raised with my siblings by our God-fearing, hardworking single mother. It tells how I sometimes struggled off the field. It tells of the anguish and controversy that found me away from the game. Mostly it tells how heartbreak can sometimes lift you to greatness and glory - if you find a way to put your focus on faith and faith in your focus. When I left the game, confetti raining down on my teammates and me after winning the Super Bowl, I made a promise to myself to show how the game is really played at the highest level. That's what you'll find in this audio - a raw, honest look at the business of football and a look behind the scenes at some of the most torturous aspects of the game. The grind of the NFL - that's what shines through. My deal? That grind is a given. Every player who wears an NFL uniform has to slog through the same battles just to get to the league. But it's how you prepare for those battles that defines you - and here I hope to show how an unwavering trust in God and an unbreakable sense of purpose can lift you from tragedy to triumph. From strength to strength, man - that's the deal.
©2015 Ray A. Lewis Jr. (P)2015 Simon & Schuster
Al Davis: Behind the Raiders Shield
Summary
Al Davis was such a polarizing figure that people either admired or despised him. Most cared about what Davis thought on any issue, and he was captivating before an audience. Yet Davis rarely revealed much about himself, his philosophy and decision-making. Everyone knew of Davis and his catchy slogans, especially "Just Win, Baby". But no one knew much about the man. Everyone, it seemed, had a strong opinion about Davis, but precious few had enough information about Davis to proffer an informed description. For the first time, people will receive an accurate, detailed portrayal of a man in the pantheon of notable sports figures of the 20th century, in a book chock-full of firsthand accounts from those who were present and played a role in many of the seminal moments in Davis illustrious career as the patriarch of the Raiders. Seldom is so much revealed about someone who went to such great lengths to perpetuate an aura of mystery, and control the nature and volume of information disseminated. Bruce Kebric and Jon Kingdon have teamed with Steve Corkran to take listeners to a place long thought to be forbidden: Behind the Raiders Shield, for an unvarnished look at what it was like working for Al Davis.
©2017 Rather Be Feared Publishing Bruce Kebric, Jon Kingdon and Steve Corkran (P)2017 Rather Be Feared Publishing Bruce Kebric, Jon Kingdon and Steve Corkran
Mind and Matter
Summary
A New York Times best seller John Urschel, mathematician and former offensive lineman for the Baltimore Ravens, tells the story of a life balanced between two passions By the time he was 13, Urschel was auditing a college-level calculus course. But when he joined his high school football team, a new interest began to eclipse the thrill he felt in the classroom. Football challenged Urschel in an entirely different way, and he became addicted to the physical contact of the sport. After he accepted a scholarship to play at Penn State, his love of math was rekindled. As a Nittany Lion, he refused to sacrifice one passion for the other. Against the odds, Urschel found a way to manage his double life as a scholar and an athlete. While he was an offensive lineman for the Baltimore Ravens, he simultaneously pursued his PhD in mathematics at MIT. Weaving together two separate narratives, Urschel relives for us the most pivotal moments of his bifurcated life. He explains why, after Penn State was sanctioned for the acts of former coach Jerry Sandusky, he declined offers from prestigious universities and refused to abandon his team. He describes his parents’ different influences and their profound effect on him, and he opens up about the correlation between football and CTE and the risks he took for the game he loves. Equally at home discussing Georg Cantor’s work on infinities and Bill Belichick’s playbook, Urschel reveals how each challenge - whether on the field or in the classroom - has brought him closer to understanding the two different halves of his own life and how reason and emotion, the mind and the body, are always working together. “So often, people want to divide the world into two”, he observes. “Matter and energy. Wave and particle. Athlete and mathematician. Why can’t something (or someone) be both?”
©2019 John Urschel (P)2019 Penguin Audio
Laurent Duvernay-Tardif
Summary
Depuis que le Kansas City Star a qualifié Laurent Duvernay-Tardif d’«homme le plus intéressant de la NFL», les médias américains et canadiens se passionnent pour son parcours atypique. Et pour cause: en plus de jouer avec les Chiefs de Kansas City, Duvernay-Tardif poursuit en parallèle des études de médecine à l'Université McGill, ultime pied de nez à tous ceux qui lui enjoignaient de choisir entre le sport et les études. Dans la biographie que le journaliste Pierre Cayouette lui consacre, on découvre une histoire qui pique la curiosité et force l'admiration. De son enfance à Mont-Saint-Hilaire à l'école alternative, des deux années qu’il a passées à bord d'un voilier avec sa famille jusqu'à son repêchage par la plus prestigieuse ligue de football en Amérique du Nord, Laurent Duvernay-Tardif démontre des qualités d'athlète et d'intellectuel, une détermination et un charisme indéniables. Infatigable, il s'investit, grâce à sa fondation, dans la promotion de l'activité physique et de saines habitudes de vie chez les jeunes (fondationldt.com).
©2017 Flammarion Québec (P)2020 Audible, Inc.
Truth Doesn't Have a Side
Summary
One day in 2002 the 50-year old body of former Pittsburgh Steeler and hall of famer Mike Webster was laid on a cold table in front of pathologist Dr. Bennet Omalu. Webster's body looked to Omalu like the body of a much older man, and the circumstances of his behavior prior to his death were clouded in mystery. But when Omalu cut into Webster's brain, it appeared to be normal. Something didn't add up. It was at this moment, Omalu studying slides of Webster's brain tissue under a microscope, that the world of contact sports would never be the same: the discovery of Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy. CTE can result in an array of devastating consequences including deterioration in attention, memory loss, social instability, depression, and even suicide. And Omalu's discovery of CTE in the brain of an American football player has become the catalyst of a blazing controversy across all contact sports. At the center of that controversy stands the unlikely Dr. Bennet Omalu, a Nigerian-born American citizen, a mild-mannered, gentle man of faith. It is fascinating that it would take someone on the outside of American culture to make this amazing discovery, and refuse to let it be kept hidden. Dr. Omalu began his life in strife, growing up in war-torn Nigeria. But his medical studies in forensic pathology proved to be a lifeline. It fed his natural curiosity and awakened within a deeper desire to always search for the truth. Who would have thought that such an unexpected character would play such a role in bringing to life this world-changing data? In Truth Doesn't Have a Side, discover the truth about CTE: Its causes and symptoms, how we might keep our children safe and guide professional athletes when CTE sets in. The problem of CTE is coming to light with each new story about an athlete's concussion problem, and we are likely facing dramatic changes to professional sports. You'll be inspired by Dr. Bennet Omalu a man driven by his love and concern for the welfare of all people, and his professional vow to speak the truth.
©2017 Omalu, LLC (P)2017 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved.
Uncommon
Summary
Super Bowl-winning coach and number-one New York Times best-selling author Tony Dungy has had an unusual opportunity to reflect on what it takes to achieve significance. He is looked to by many as the epitome of the success and significance that is highly valued in our culture. He also works every day with young men who are trying to achieve significance through football and all that goes with a professional athletic career, such as money, power, and celebrity. Coach Dungy has had all that, but he passionately believes there is a different path to significance, a path characterized by attitudes, ambitions, and allegiances that are all too rare but uncommonly rewarding. Uncommon reveals lessons on achieving significance that the coach has learned from his remarkable parents, his athletic and coaching career, his mentors, and his journey with God. A particular focus of the book: what it means to be a man of significance in a culture that is offering young men few positive role models.
©2009 Tony Dungy (P)2009 Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.
The Soul of a Team
Summary
From the New York Times best-selling author of The Mentor Leader and Quiet Strength comes an audiobook sure to transform your team or organization! For most people, succeeding in life requires mastering the art of teamwork. Whether at work, school, church, or home, virtually everyone is part of a team - and when they work well, teams can accomplish more than individuals working by themselves. But not all teams are created equal. When a team isn’t functioning well, individual strengths can be undermined and weaknesses accentuated, making the work environment a terrible place to be. So what does a truly effective team environment look like, and how can you create one within your own organization? As a former Super Bowl-winning coach, Tony Dungy is an expert at building and bringing out the best in a team. Drawing on his experiences from years of coaching and working with other leaders, this football fable lays out four essential principles practiced by truly effective teams. Telling the story of a fictional NFL team looking for a turnaround, The Soul of a Team not only identifies some of the most common issues that hold a team back, but also lays out a game plan for winning teamwork. Whether you aspire to be a better leader or a stronger team player, The Soul of a Team will show you how to contribute to a stronger, healthier, more productive team destined for success.
©2019 Tony Dungy (P)2019 Recorded Books
I Beat the Odds
Summary
The football star made famous in the hit film The Blind Side reflects on how far he has come from the circumstances of his youth. Michael Oher is the young man at the center of the true story depicted in The Blind Side movie (and book) that swept up awards and accolades. Though the odds were heavily stacked against him, Michael had a burning desire deep within his soul to break out of the Memphis inner-city ghetto and into a world of opportunity. While many people are now familiar with Oher's amazing journey, this is the first time he has shared his account of his story in his own words, revealing his thoughts and feelings with details that only he knows, and offering his point of view on how anyone can achieve a better life. Looking back on how he went from being a homeless child in Memphis to playing in the NFL, Michael talks about the goals he had for himself in order to break out of the cycle of poverty, addiction, and hopelessness that trapped his family for so long. He recounts poignant stories of growing up in the projects and running from child services and foster care over and over again in search of some familiarity. Eventually, he grasped onto football as his ticket out of the madness and worked hard to make his dream into a reality. But Oher also knew he would not be successful alone. With his adoptive family, the Touhys, and other influential people in mind, he describes the absolute necessity of seeking out positive role models and good friends who share the same values to achieve one's dreams. Sharing untold stories of heartache, determination, courage, and love, I Beat the Odds is an incredibly rousing tale of one young man's quest to achieve the American dream.
©2011 Michael Oher (P)2011 Penguin Audio
Gunslinger
Summary
A towering figure on the field for two decades and destined for the Hall of Fame, Brett Favre was one of the game's last cowboys, a fastball-throwing, tobacco-chewing gunslinger who refused to give up without a fight. This peerless quarterback guided the Green Bay Packers to two Super Bowls and one championship win, shattering countless NFL records along the way. Gunslinger tells Brett Favre's full, definitive story for the first time, drawing on more than 500 interviews, including many from the people closest to Favre. Jeff Pearlman charts Favre's journey, from his rough rural childhood and lackluster high school football career to landing the last roster spot at Southern Mississippi to a late-night car accident that nearly took his life. Favre clawed back, getting drafted into the NFL, first to Atlanta, then to Green Bay, where he restored the Packers to greatness and inspired a fan base as passionate as any in the game. Yet he struggled with demons: addiction, infidelity, the loss of his father the day before he honored him by playing the greatest game of his career, and ultimately a fraught, painfully prolonged exit from the game he loved.
©2016 Jeff Pearlman (P)2016 HighBridge, a division of Recorded Books
Just Win, Baby
Summary
Revealing how an obscure young assistant coach, in less than a decade, progressed to become a head coach, general manager, league commissioner, and controlling partner of the Oakland Raiders franchise, this biography pays tribute to the late Al Davis. Contrary to Davis’s notoriously quirky and reclusive reputation, this account is based on the inside scoop he personally gave the author, lending his full cooperation to relate the account of his life and career. With a treasure trove of previously untold anecdotes, personal reminiscences, and highlights of Davis’s leadership of the Raiders as professional football became America’s premier spectator sport, this chronicle details the major impact this maverick owner had - not only on professional football, but also on America’s sports scene as a whole. The subject’s influence on the merger of the American and National Football Leagues into the greater NFL is also reviewed as is his election to the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
©2012 Murray Olderman (P)2012 Audible, Inc.
Elway
Summary
The unauthorized biography of John Elway, Hall of Fame quarterback, two-time Super Bowl champion, now president of football operations and general manager of the Denver Broncos. John Elway's historic moments are known by two-word phrases. He was at the center of the wildest play in college football history, simply known as "The Play". Before he signed a pro contract, there was "The Trade". His NFL career included "The Drive" and "The Fumble", and, of course, "The Helicopter", one of the most iconic highlights in Super Bowl lore. There are so many memorable comeback victories and heroic plays that people have to make lists rather than consider Elway in the context of any singular event. Yet Elway's story is filled with one challenge after another. At Stanford, he never played in a bowl game. He was ripped for being petulant after refusing to sign with the Baltimore Colts when he was drafted number one overall and later for his failure to get along with Coach Dan Reeves. Over the first 10 years of his career, Elway led Denver to three Super Bowls, but lost in progressively worse fashion each time. Finally, after 15 years of perseverance, Elway led the Broncos to back-to-back championships, including one of the biggest upsets in Super Bowl history. Elway won the MVP award in his final Super Bowl and then walked away from the game. Within four years, Elway's father and twin sister both died, and he went through a difficult divorce. Reeling in his post-retirement, he returned to football...at the bottom, running the Colorado Crush of the Arena Football League. He waited more than a decade to return to his beloved Broncos. While many people doubted him initially, Elway navigated the Broncos through massive changes and to victory in Super Bowl 50, making Elway the rare Hall of Famer to win a title both on and off the field. Elway has put his passion for competition on display in a way that only a handful of other NFL greats have ever done, and Elway is the most complete look at one of the most accomplished legends in the history of American sports.
©2020 Jason Cole (P)2020 Hachette Books