Sports & Recreation : Football

They were America's Team—the high-priced, high-glamour, high-flying Dallas Cowboys of the 1990s, who won three Super Bowls and made as many headlines off the field as on it. Led by Emmitt Smith, the charismatic Deion "Prime Time" Sanders, and Hall of Famers Troy Aikman and Michael Irvin, the Cowboys rank among the greatest of all NFL dynasties. In similar fashion to his New York Times bestseller The Bad Guys Won! , about the 1986 New York Mets, in Boys Will Be Boys , award-winning writer Jeff Pearlman chronicles the outrageous antics and dazzling talent of a team fueled by ego, sex, drugs—and unrivaled greatness. Rising from the ashes of a 1–15 season in 1989 to capture three Super Bowl trophies in four years, the Dallas Cowboys were guided by a swashbuckling, skirt-chasing, power-hungry owner, Jerry Jones, and his two eccentric, hard-living coaches, Jimmy Johnson and Barry Switzer. Together the three built a juggernaut that America loved and loathed. But for a team that was so dominant on Sundays, the Cowboys were often a dysfunctional circus the rest of the week. Irvin, nicknamed "The Playmaker," battled dual addictions to drugs and women. Charles Haley, the defensive colossus, presided over the team's infamous "White House," where the parties lasted late into the night and a steady stream of long-legged groupies came and went. And then there were Smith and Sanders, whose Texas-sized egos were eclipsed only by their record-breaking on-field perfomances. With an unforgettable cast of characters and a narrative as hard-hitting and fast-paced as the team itself, Boys Will Be Boys immortalizes the most beloved—and despised—dynasty in NFL history. more...

Price: $19.95

The ultimate fan's guide to America's most popular sport. Since the last edition of Football For Dummies , new stadiums have been built, new stars have ascended, and records have been broken. This new edition has been revised to reflect today's game, giving football fans up-to-the-minute information on all the rules and regulations, positions, plays, and penalties. more...

Price: $19.99

Few experiences are more rewarding than coaching a youth football team. Your journey through the season will be packed with moments that make you smile and that you and your players will remember for the rest of your lives. But what if you’ve never coached before? No worries! Coaching Football For Dummies is the fun and easy way to tackle the basics of coaching youth football. more...

Price: $19.99

If it were just a game, it would still be heart-pounding enough to justify book-length treatment. The last game of the season, two conference rivals and nearby neighbors, two coaches whose legends still run strong in their home states some thirty years later, both teams unbeaten, ranked #1 and #2 in the nation - with a President in attendance, and seemingly the whole of the country watching. And then, as if that setup wasn't enough, the teams played a game for the ages, a 15-14 contest that turned on an incredible gamble by the winning coach, calling for a long pass play on fourth-and-three in his own territory with a little over four minutes to go in the game. (The young man who made the reception is now in his fifties, and when he is introduced to people to this day he is always greeted with, "Oh yes - you're the guy who caught The Pass."). But it was not just a game, because nothing was so simple in December 1969. The South in general had violently resisted the winds of change that blew through the rest of the country in the 1960s. George Wallace had run an effective and divisive campaign for the presidency the year before, ensuring the election of Richard Nixon and blasting apart the Solid South that had been the backbone of the Democratic party since the Civil War. Nixon's "Southern Strategy" was aimed at building a new coalition by drawing disaffected whites into the Republican ranks; he succeeded spectacularly, losing only Massachusetts and the District of Columbia in the '72 election. And nowhere was the pride of Southern Man more alive than on the gridirons of the colleges throughout the south. In Texas, it is said that the only two true sports seasons are college football and spring college football practice. The Southwestern Conference - no longer in existence today, a victim of shifting alliances of the NCAA and the TV networks - consisted of seven teams in Texas and one outlander over in Fayetteville, Arkansas. more...

Price: $17.99

Tiki Barber, former running back for the New York Giants and current Today show correspondent, has seemingly led a charmed life. Whether on the field or in front of the camera, the Smiling Giant makes everything look easy. But it has taken a lot of motivation, hard work, and help from those around him to get where he is today more...

Price: $11.99