It’s that time of year – fall weekends mean football! Whether you’re a fan of high school football, the college game or the pros – you’ll find a wealth of materials to feed your appetite for the sport at the library. From books to movies to video games – we have it all. For starters -- check out the materials described below:
Ron Jaworski, NFL MVP, Monday Night
Football analyst, and pro football’s game-tape guru, breaks down seven of the
most momentous football contests of the last fifty years. With an eye toward
the brilliant game plans and seminal strategic breakthroughs that
revolutionized play on both sides of the ball, Jaworski offers readers a
drive-by-drive, play-by-play guide to the evolutionary leaps that now define
the modern NFL.
The once-vaunted Green Bay Packers
were a laughing stock by the late 1950s. Having failed to field a winning team
in more than a decade and close to losing their franchise to another city, they
were in desperate need of a savior. In a
single year, Vince Lombardi -- the grizzled coach from New York City --
transformed a team of underachievers into winners and resurrected a city known
for its passion for sport.
Kirwan, popular analyst for NFL.com and
Sirius NFL Radio, explains the intricacies and nuances that affect the outcome
of every NFL game. The author takes you
inside a coach's mind as he builds a roster and constructs a game plan, to the
line of scrimmage with the quarterback, and deep into the perpetual chess match
between offense and defense.
Granted unprecedented access during
the 2012 season to programs at the highest levels across the country, the
authors examine the “business” of college football through the eyes of athletic
directors and coaches, high-flying boosters and high-profile TV stars,
five-star recruits and dogged NCAA investigators, and the kids on whom the
whole vast enterprise depends. The System
is both a celebration of the power and pageantry of NCAA football and a
groundbreaking, thought-provoking critique of its excesses.
Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist
Bissinger
chronicles a season in the life of the Permian Panthers high school football
team in the small town of Odessa, Texas.
The author movingly illustrates how single-minded devotion to the team
shapes the community and inspires -- and sometimes shatters -- the teenagers
who wear the Panthers' uniforms.
This popular, critically-acclaimed title inspired both a feature film and a TV
series by the same name.
Drawing on rare access to an NFL
team’s players, coaches and facilities, author Fatsis trained to become a
professional-caliber placekicker with the Denver Broncos during the 2006 season.
As he sharpened his skills, he gained
surprising insight into the daunting challenges—physical, psychological, and
intellectual—that pro athletes must master.
With wry candor and hard-won empathy, A Few Seconds of Panic unveils the mind of the modern pro athlete
and the workings of a storied sports franchise as no book ever has before.
From 1921 to 1939, Joe F. Carr guided
the sport of professional football with intelligence, hard work, and a passion
that built the foundation of what the NFL has become: the number one sports
organization in the world. During his tenure, Carr implemented the standard
player's contract; helped split the NFL into two divisions; established the
NFL's World Championship Game; developed the NFL Draft, and created a vision
for the NFL as a big-city sport.
The
biopic tells the moving story of college football star Ernie Davis,
who overcame poverty and prejudice to play for Syracuse University from
1958-1962. Davis ultimately led his team to a national championship — and
became the first African-American to win the Heisman trophy. Dennis Quaid
and Rob Brown star.
Invincible
tells the inspirational true story of 30 year-old Vince Papale, a
down-on-his-luck substitute teacher in Philadelphia. Out
of work, abandoned by his wife, and biding time as a bartender, Papale answered
an open call for tryouts on the Philadelphia Eagles NFL football team in 1976. Great performances by both Mark Wahlberg (as
Papale) and Greg Kinnear (as coach Dick Vermeil).
Now -- are you ready to play some
football? Check out the just-released 25th
anniversary edition of Madden’s NFL video game – available at the library for
both the Xbox 360 and PS3 game systems.
