NFL

Feb 14 2011

The Ones Who Hit the Hardest by Chad Millman & Shawn Coyne

Cover of "The Ones Who Hit the Hardest: T...

Cover via Amazon

The sting is beginning to wear off from the heartbreaking Super Bowl loss of my beloved Pittsburgh Steelers – but that game is likely to haunt Steeler fans for a while.

Continuing my attempt at topical or themed reading, I decided to read an appropriate book in the two weeks leading up to Super Bowl XLV.

And one that was in the TBR pile fit perfectly: The Ones Who Hit the Hardest: The Steelers, the Cowboys, the ’70s, and the Fight for America’s Soul.

Steeler fans, those intersted in the history of the NFL and those with a connection to Pittsburgh will want to check this one out.

While at times the differing threads sit awkwardly together, and it is certainly a Steeler focused perspective, but I found it be an engaging and interesting read.

Keep Reading

By Kevin Holtsberry • Reviews • 0 • Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,

Jun 6 2010

In the Mail: What Washington Can Learn From the World of Sports

What Washington Can Learn From the World of Sports by George Allen

Synopsis

There’s a reason you like sports more than politics.It’s because sports make sense and Washington doesn’t. In sports, you have to play by the rules, but in Washington they constantly change the rules to reward special interests they like and punish those they don’t. In sports, referees know how to stay out of the action; the players are the stars. But in Washington, congressmen, senators, and bureaucrats think they’re the stars, and that regulation, not freedom and competition, makes America work. In sports, players know you win or lose as a team, but how many politicians think of “Team America” rather than their petty self-interests?

No one knows sports and politics better than George Allen. The son of a Hall of Fame football coach, and a college quarterback and rugby player himself, Allen has also been a United States Senator and Governor of Virginia. He’s seen the worlds of sports and politics close up, and he knows which one he prefers— it’s the same one you do, because sports work and Washington doesn’t. In What Washington Can Learn from the World of Sports, Allen blends sports anecdotes—memorable, funny, and nostalgic—with the political issues we face, drawing out the principles of sports that have real world applications to our national life and politics.

By Kevin Holtsberry • In The Mail • 0 • Tags: , , ,

Jan 2 2010

Football: An Encyclopedia of Popular Culture

If you had to pick a weekend to discuss football you would be hard pressed to find better one that this one. We are coming to the end of college bowl season and tomorrow will see the last spots filled for the NFL playoffs.  This is a season of either great joy or great sorrow for most fans (a few are saddled with a lingering depression as their teams suffers in the cellar out of reach of bowl games or playoffs).

For those that love the game and not just their chose teams this is a great time of year; full of days on end of football.  But with this enjoyment comes the bittersweet recognition that the season is coming to a close – there are only so many games left and then the dreaded off-season.

If you are a football fan there is a resource that might help you get through the off-season and come out even more knowledgeable about the game you love. Football: An Encyclopedia of Popular Culture edited by Edward J. Rielly is a treasure trove of information for fans and history/culture lovers alike:

Football. Far more than a game, America’s favorite spectator sport is an intrinsic part of the nation’s popular culture—a proving ground for high school athletes, a springboard for stars, a multimillion-dollar business, and a vast entertainment enterprise. Football: An Encyclopedia of Popular Culture provides a detailed look at America’s pastime through the lens of pop culture, a fascinating A-to-Z inventory of how certain aspects of the game affect and reflect broader society.
From African Americans in football to the meaning of Zero in the sport, this volume profiles players and personalities, teams and events, games and football concepts, and sociological and technological changes in the sport. The goal is not to name every Hall of Famer or to retell the game’s entire history, but to give a clear and detailed account of where, in football history, the importance of people and events extends beyond the playing field. Its wide-ranging entries examine such names as Joe Montana and Byron “Whizzer” White and phenomena from concussions, mascots, team names, and literature to U.S. presidents and football’s presence in television commercials. The encyclopedia covers all levels of play—professional, collegiate, high school, and youth—offering a from-the-ground-up, gridiron look at the game of football within the matrix of American culture.
More after the jump. Keep Reading

By Kevin Holtsberry • Reviews • 0 • Tags: , , , , ,