A Random History of Football

A Random History of Football
Author: Colin Murray
Publisher: Orion
Total Pages: 208
Release: 2009-11-05
Genre: Sports & Recreation
ISBN: 1409112918

'A real knock-out' DAILY TELEGRAPH Random occurences that shaped the history of football - an alternative history of the game from loveable broadcaster Colin Murray. Nowadays a top Premiership football club can spend £50 million on a Portuguese pin-up or a legendary Italian goalkeeper, but you cannot take into account the effects of a dodgy takeaway meal, a dropped bottle of aftershave on a goalkeeper's toe, or the fact that your most creative player has to leave town because of a chance drunken encounter with another player's wife. It is these random moments that have shaped football as much as the headline-grabbing Cantona kung fu kick and that Russian linesman in 1966. In this witty alternative history of football you will learn: * Different sizes of football were used in each half of the inaugural World Cup Final of 1930. * Sheffield United almost signed Diego Maradona. * Saddam Hussein changed the result of an Iraq versus Chelsea match. * Bury FC's Robbie the Bobby tops the league of worst-behaved mascots. From the height of international football to the scandal of the Conference league Christmas party that cost far more than a bar-bill, Colin Murray tries his best to make you believe, once more, in football's unpredictability.

The Pictorial History of Football

The Pictorial History of Football
Author: Roland Lazenby
Publisher: Thunder Bay Press (CA)
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2002
Genre: Football
ISBN: 9781571458384

Tracing the long and colorful history of a nation's most popular spectator sport, this unique book encapsulates football's hazy beginnings in twelfth century England and traces its history to the most recent NFL events. From the development of college football over a hundred years ago to the birth of professional football and how the teams and leagues are today, this complete volume tells it all. The sport's most compelling moments and most talented players and coaches come to life through exciting text and photographs.

The Rock, the Curse, and the Hub

The Rock, the Curse, and the Hub
Author: Randy Roberts
Publisher: Harvard University Press
Total Pages: 460
Release: 2005
Genre: History
ISBN: 9780674015043

The Rock, the Curse, and the Hub is a collection of original essays about the people and places of Boston sports that live in the minds and memories of Bostonians and all Americans. Each chapter focuses on the games and the athletes, but also on which sports have defined Boston and Bostonians.

The Great Book of Football

The Great Book of Football
Author: Bill O'Neill
Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform
Total Pages: 148
Release: 2017-08-29
Genre:
ISBN: 9781975974961

If you love sports trivia, then you'll be all in for The Great Book of Football, which is a must-read for any NFL fan out there. One of the most inclusive NFL football books on the market today, it's a treasure trove of sports stories, random facts, and the most in-depth tales of the most fascinating football players who have made the NFL what it is today. Starting with the foundation of the fledgling NFL in the 1920s and leading right up the thrilling finish at the most recent Super Bowl, The Great Book of Football highlights the best players of every era, the games that separated the boys from the men, and the off-the-field shenanigans and twists of fate that have seen the league go from Midwestern distraction to international obsession. There are lots of football books out there, but The Great Book of Football takes you inside the action from the huddle to the locker room to the draft room to the owner's box. And every chapter ends with trivia questions that are sure to stump your NFL-crazy friends at your next Sunday afternoon watch party. From Red Grange and Sammy Baugh to Tom Brady and J.J. Watt, the best of every era is highlighted, analyzed, and celebrated. Learn the secrets of the unstoppable Wing-T offense; relive Broadway Joe's Namath legendary Super Bowl guarantee; go behind enemy lines to witness the birth of Pittsburgh's Steel Curtain defense; and take pride in how players, owners, and fans have responded to America's greatest battles, from World War II to Hurricane Katrina to September 11. It doesn't matter if it's Super Bowl Sunday or the heart of the offseason, The Great Book of Football is one of those NFL football books that you just won't be able to put down.

America's Game

America's Game
Author: Michael MacCambridge
Publisher: Anchor
Total Pages: 610
Release: 2008-11-26
Genre: Sports & Recreation
ISBN: 0307481433

It’s difficult to imagine today—when the Super Bowl has virtually become a national holiday and the National Football League is the country’s dominant sports entity—but pro football was once a ramshackle afterthought on the margins of the American sports landscape. In the span of a single generation in postwar America, the game charted an extraordinary rise in popularity, becoming a smartly managed, keenly marketed sports entertainment colossus whose action is ideally suited to television and whose sensibilities perfectly fit the modern age. America’s Game traces pro football’s grand transformation, from the World War II years, when the NFL was fighting for its very existence, to the turbulent 1980s and 1990s, when labor disputes and off-field scandals shook the game to its core, and up to the sport’s present-day preeminence. A thoroughly entertaining account of the entire universe of professional football, from locker room to boardroom, from playing field to press box, this is an essential book for any fan of America’s favorite sport.

Historical Dictionary of Soccer

Historical Dictionary of Soccer
Author: Tom Dunmore
Publisher: Scarecrow Press
Total Pages: 339
Release: 2011-09-16
Genre: Reference
ISBN: 0810871882

The Historical Dictionary of Soccer presents a comprehensive history of the game through a chronology, an introductory essay, a bibliography, numerous appendixes that list everything from the FIFA World Player of the Year to FIFA World Cup Winners and Runners-Up to the UEFA Ch...

ESPN College Football Encyclopedia

ESPN College Football Encyclopedia
Author: Michael MacCambridge
Publisher: ESPN
Total Pages: 1654
Release: 2005-09
Genre: Reference
ISBN:

The most comprehensive reference book ever assembled on the history of college football From South Bend, Indiana, to Lincoln, Nebraska, Palo Alto, California, to Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Ann Arbor, Michigan, to Tallahassee, Florida, college football attracts the most dedicated fans in all of sports. This book is their Biblea rich and exhaustive reference guide to the games history, tradition, and lore. Based on three years of research by the nations foremost college football experts, the book features: lCapsule histories for each of the Division 1-A programs, the Ivy League schools, and the historically black colleges lYear-by-year schedules and scores for each school lStatistical leaders from each school lFight-song lyrics lBox scores for every bowl game ever played lWeekly AP and UPI polls dating back to 1936 lA four-color insert illustrating the evolution of each schools helmet design lEssays by the games top wordsmiths, including Dan Jenkins, Beano Cook, Chris Fowler, and more. lAnd a lively round-table discussion on the state of the game with ESPNs popular GameDay team (Fowler, Lee Corso, and Kirk Herbstreit). Packed with tables and charts and designed in an easy-to-read style, the ESPN College Football Encyclopedia is sure to dazzle even the most knowledgeable fan.

On the Origins of Sports

On the Origins of Sports
Author: Gary Belsky
Publisher: Artisan Books
Total Pages: 257
Release: 2016-04-19
Genre: Sports & Recreation
ISBN: 1579656846

New York Times Bestseller “Fascinating.”—Men’s Health, Best Beach Reads for Sports Fans On the Origins of Sports is an illustrated book built around the original rules of 21 of the world’s most popular sports, from football and soccer to wrestling and mixed martial arts. Never before have the original rules for these sports coexisted in one volume. Brimming with history and miscellany, it is the ultimate sports book for the thinking fan. Each sport’s chapter includes a short history, the sport’s original rules, and a deeper look into an element of the sport, such as the evolution of the baseball glove; sports with war roots; a compendium of sports balls; and iconic sports trophies. Written by ESPN The Magazine’s former editor in chief, Gary Belsky, and executive editor, Neil Fine, and filled with period-style line drawings in a handsome package, On the Origins of Sports is a book that sports fans and history buffs alike will want to display on their coffee tables, showcase on their bookshelves, and treasure for generations.

Football for a Buck

Football for a Buck
Author: Jeff Pearlman
Publisher: Mariner Books
Total Pages: 397
Release: 2018
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 0544454383

From a multiple New York Times bestselling author, the rollicking, outrageous, you-can't-make-this-up story of the USFL The United States Football League--known fondly to millions of sports fans as the USFL--was the last football league to not merely challenge the NFL, but cause its owners and executives to collectively shudder. It spanned three seasons, 1983-85. It secured multiple television deals. It 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 J. Trump. The league featured as many as 18 teams, and included such superstars as Steve Young, Jim Kelly, Herschel Walker, Reggie White, Doug Flutie and Mike Rozier. In Football for a Buck, the dogged reporter and biographer Jeff Pearlman draws on more than four hundred 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 airplane brawls and player-coach punch outs, to backroom business deals, to some of the most enthralling and revolutionary football ever seen, Pearlman transports readers back in time to this crazy, boozy, audacious, unforgettable era of the game. He shows how fortunes were made and lost on the backs of professional athletes and also how, thirty years ago, Trump was a scoundrel and a spoiler. For fans of Terry Pluto's Loose Balls or Jim Bouton's Ball Four and of course Pearlman's own stranger-than-fiction narratives, Football for a Buck is sports as high entertainment--and a cautionary tale of the dangers of ego and excess.

An Incomplete and Inaccurate History of Sport

An Incomplete and Inaccurate History of Sport
Author: Kenny Mayne
Publisher: Crown
Total Pages: 258
Release: 2009-02-03
Genre: Humor
ISBN: 0307396193

Presents an irreverent study of the history of sports that combines real-life facts, offbeat trivia, fantastical exaggerations, and humorous personal anecdotes and reflections that cover everything from football and bocce to badminton, skateboarding, and tetherball.