Presents an overview of the history of the NFL's Dallas Cowboy football team under coach Tom Landry, providing interviews and first-hand accounts from players, coaches, and front-office personal who created the Cowboy's legacy.
This world, decides Nicholas, is too noisy for him. Time to take a trip. He packs a snack, puts on his suit, and takes off . . . to the utterly quiet craters and vast deserts of the distant moon. In this utterly charming picture book, the allure of space travel and the longing for peace and quiet entice a young boy to take his space rocket to the moon for a picnic.
Five Super Bowl titles, fifteen Hall of Famers, and a litany of legendary players, characters, and games later, the Dallas Cowboys franchise has cemented itself among the most successful in all of sports and, with a fan base that extends all over the world, among the most well known. Legends of the Dallas Cowboys takes an in-depth look at some of the legends who have shaped the Cowboys’ identity, beginning with Tom Landry, the man who was hired before Murchison had been awarded a team and who is still the franchise’s enduring image. Also included is Tex Schramm, under whom the Cowboys had twentystraight winning seasons and who is considered the most forward-thinking NFL executive ever, as well as Randy White, Ed “Too Tall” Jones, Bob Lilly, Lee Roy Jordan, Mel Renfro, and more. Also included are innovators such as Bob Hayes, who forced the creation of the zone defense, and Michael Irvin and Thomas “Hollywood” Henderson, who forced the creation of behavioral clauses in contracts. Each of the legends played his own unique role in shaping the lore of one of sports’ greatest franchises, a franchise that began humbly on a winter day in Miami and is now a model of success.
NEW STUDENT GETS OLD TEACHER The bad news is that Cara Landry is the new kid at Denton Elementary School. The worse news is that her teacher, Mr. Larson, would rather read the paper and drink coffee than teach his students anything. So Cara decides to give Mr. Larson something else to read—her own newspaper, The Landry News. Before she knows it, the whole fifth-grade class is in on the project. But then the principal finds a copy of The Landry News, with unexpected results. Tomorrow’s headline: Will Cara’s newspaper cost Mr. Larson his job?
Breakthrough 'Boys tells the inside stories from former players, coaches, and other key figures to explore the fascinating and tumultuous road the Cowboys took to their first championship in 1971.
Don Perkins led a life as one of the most honored athletes in the history of the University of New Mexico and the Dallas Cowboys. But Perkins's life was far more complex and, at times, controversial. He experienced the traumas of racial discrimination, death, divorce, football-related injuries, and a never-ending search for his own identity. In his search, Perkins ventured into sportscasting, public speaking, community relations, big-rig trucking, government work, and even amateur theater, where he portrayed Frederick Douglass and other famous Black leaders. Through it all, he remained a kind, unassuming, charismatic man, universally admired by family members, friends, and millions of fans. Don Perkins: A Champion's Life is the final tribute he so greatly deserves.
“An eloquent, honest tribute to a sports genius.” —Publishers Weekly, Best 100 Books of 2013 As the coach during professional football’s most storied era, Tom Landry transformed the gridiron from a no-holds-barred battlefield to the highly-technical chess match it is today. With his trademark fedora and stoic facade, he was a man of faith and few words, for twenty-nine years guiding “America’s Team” from laughingstock to well-oiled machine, with an unprecedented twenty consecutive winning seasons and two Super Bowl titles. Now, more than a decade after Landry’s death, acclaimed biographer Mark Ribowsky takes a fresh look at this misunderstood legend, telling us as much about our country’s obsession with football as about Landry himself, the likes of whom we’ll never see again.
“I’m mad as hell, and I’m not going to take it anymore!” The words of Howard Beale, the fictional anchorman in 1976’s hit film Network, struck a chord with a generation of Americans. In this colourful new history, Dominic Sandbrook ranges seamlessly over the political, economic, and cultural high (and low) points of American life in the 1970s, exploring the roots of the fears, resentments, cravings, and disappointments we know so well today. From Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan to Anita Bryant and Jerry Falwell, he shows how the 1970s saw the emergence of a new right-wing populism, setting the stage for the bitter partisanship and near-total cynicism of our modern political landscape.
Vince Lombardi and Tom Landry could not have had two more divergent personalities. Yet, while working for the New York Giants in the mid-1950s under head coach Jim Lee Howell, the pair formed what still stands as the greatest set of coordinators on one team. Given their personalities, one might have likened Howell’s job to that of Dwight Eisenhower’s as the general struggled to control the egos and politics of his allied subordinates during WWII. But for some reason, Lombardi and Landry worked almost seamlessly, leading the Giants to the top of the NFL. In the five seasons the two men coached together between 1956 and 1959, the Giants appeared in three championship games, winning the NFL title in ‘56. Both coaches would go on to NFL stardom, Lombardi with the Green Bay Packers and Landry with the Dallas Cowboys. But it was during their years as Giants coordinators that they developed the coaching philosophies they would employ later in their careers. For Lombardi, it was the reliance on the running game that started with Frank Gifford and would continue in the “Packers Sweep” days of Paul Hornung. For Landry, it was his own invention of the 4-3 defense that led to the “Flex” defense of his Super Bowl winners in Dallas. How they developed their ideas, and how they were allowed to implement them, was a testament not only to their genius, but Howell’s willingness to let them handle the strategic matters while he looked after the big picture. In Lombardi and Landry, veteran sportswriter Ernie Palladino takes an in-depth look at these two legends’ formative years in New York, offering up a vivid, revealing portrait of two brilliant coaches just coming into an understanding of their formidable powers.
Sports fans love holding media "experts" accountable for bad predictions. Since 2015, Fred Segal has chronicled “unprophetic” sports predictions on the internet. His Freezing Cold Takes social media pages feature quotes and predictions from members of the sports world that have aged poorly or were, in hindsight, flat-out wrong. The pages have become a guilty pleasure for hundreds of thousands of sports fans who love to see (okay, and mock in good humor) sports media’s infamous “hot takes” that went cold. With this book, Segal focuses on the NFL, and provides a vast collection of poorly aged predictions and analysis from NFL media members and personalities about some of the most famous teams and players in the league’s history. He also explores ill-fated commentary related to draft picks, hiring decisions, and some of the NFL’s most notable games. But this book is not simply a list of quotes. It delves through content mined from internet archives and original interviews with media, players, and coaches. Segal provides important background surrounding each featured mistake to offer essential context as to why the ill-fated prediction was made as well as why the personality who made the prediction is eating their words. Together, the fourteen chapters—each spotlighting Freezing Cold Takes about a specific team or topic within a certain defined period—create a wholly unique and endlessly entertaining lens through which to explore NFL history. A few illustrative examples: (1987-94 San Francisco 49ers): “The 49ers should do everyone a favor. Trade Steve Young. The myth. And the man.” (1989-93 Dallas Cowboys): “The Vikings fleeced the Cowboys to get Herschel Walker” (2000 New England Patriots): "The Patriots will regret hiring Bill Belichick" (2008 Green Bay Packers): "Brian Brohm has more upside than Aaron Rodgers" (NFL Draft Picks): “The Dolphins could have had their next Dan Marino if they selected Brady Quinn” (2007)