On Fridays in the fall, a fog rises from Nancy Creek behind Marist School's Hughes Spalding Stadium and floats across the football field. The apparition, called "the Ghosts of Marist Football," represents the Great Spirit of Marist High School, a school Sports Illustrated ranked number fifteen in its list of top athletic programs in the country. The War Eagle tradition boasts more than six hundred victories, a trophy case filled with championships and thirty straight years of playoff appearances in Georgia high school football, all while playing much larger schools. Join author and Marist alumnus Franklin Cox for three years inside the Spartan-esque tradition and learn why no team dares allow itself to dishonor the glorious roll call of War Eagle history.
Fair? Balanced? To some, Bill O'Reilly is a semi-demented cable TV talk show host who can be an obnoxious, insufferable, opinionated, rude loudmouth whose views, the kinder ones say, are typical right-wing drivel. But there is much more to O'Reilly than what meets eye. O'Reilly is the paradigm of idiosyncrasy in television journalism. On the rough road to the top, O'Reilly learned how to give the public what it wants and thinks it needs. From his early education at the hands of nuns to an advanced degree in public policy from Harvard, from working at local television stations and rising through the ranks to network news, O'Reilly spent nearly twenty-five years learning his craft before he became an overnight star at Fox News. In this very intimate look at the man and what matters to him, veteran media critic Marvin Kitman explores all the experiences that led to the making of Bill O'Reilly—a nonconformist in a business that demands conformity as the price of success, and a man who has risen to the top by not playing by the rules of broadcast news. Kitman shows that O'Reilly is not a knee-jerk conservative, but an "independent" freethinker with a mind of his own, and he believes what journalism needs is more Bill O'Reillys. Not screamers, the blowhards like the current O'Reilly clones rushed on the air since his success, but trained journalists, reporting the news and telling us why, in their opinion, the world is a crazy place. Supported by twenty-nine interviews with O'Reilly, Marvin Kitman chronicles a descent from reporter of news to spewer of views.
This is the story of a sport told through its communities. Rugby League in New Zealand: A People’s History unveils the compelling journey of a game flourishing against the odds. Beginning with the game’s introduction to the country in 1907, Ryan Bodman reveals the deep-rooted connections between rugby league’s development and the evolving cultural fabric of New Zealand. By questioning the mythic status of rugby union in the nation’s identity, this history highlights how power, politics and people have collectively shaped the country’s sporting scene. Drawing on first-hand interviews and a wide range of illustrations and archival material, Bodman locates rugby league history in working-class suburbs, and among Kiingitanga Māori, Pasifika migrants, and clubs and communities across the country. The people behind the game share accounts of change, triumph and resilience, while emphasising rugby league’s lasting influence on New Zealanders’ lives.
Few teams in Georgia high school football can document their history as far back as the Bulldogs. Cedartown High School played its first game at the turn of the century, kicking off a historic tradition that endures today. Join author William Austin, born and raised in Cedartown, as he recounts the history of this proud football program. Austin covers the careers of expert coaches like Doc Ayers and John Hill and highlights the star players and crucial games that helped shape Cedartown's legacy of tough play on the gridiron. From that first game in 1900 to the 1946 conference champions, through the 1963 state champion team and all the way to the 2001 state championship game, here for the first time is the history of Bulldogs football.
From an award-winning journalist, the inside story of the brilliant, hypercompetitive young coaches who threw out decades of received wisdom to fundamentally remake America’s most popular sport. When Kyle Shanahan became the NFL’s youngest offensive coordinator in 2008, he had one prevailing rule: Tell me the why. If a colleague couldn’t justify his position by providing the unassailable reasoning behind it, he was told to get the hell out of Shanahan’s office. Shanahan and the members of his coaching tree—including Sean McVay, Mike McDaniel, Raheem Morris, and Matt LaFleur—came up in a sport where innovation was the exception, not the rule. There had been brilliant football minds before, from Paul Brown to Bill Walsh to Bill Belichick. But for the most part, coaches learned a particular system and stuck to it no matter what—no matter the players on their team, no matter what the opponent might do. This group of young coaches would change all that. The Why Is Everything is the story of old dogmas falling before astonishingly creative new strategies and game plans. Drawing on unmatched access across the league, longtime NFL reporter Mike Silver takes us into the key moments in this still-unfolding revolution, from the education of Mike Shanahan, Kyle’s father and a two-time Super Bowl champion, in the 1980s; to the Washington Redskins’ football laboratory in the early 2010s, where the coaches first worked together, shocking the league with their cutting-edge scheme for rookie quarterback Robert Griffin III; to McVay’s Super Bowl victory in 2022 and Kyle Shanahan’s Super Bowl agony in 2019 and 2024. Less than a decade after their emergence, these men are the stars of their profession and have helped propel the NFL to new heights of viewership and drama. With The Why Is Everything, Silver reveals how it all happened, and in the process gives us a timeless account of friendship, rivalry, and the never-ending pursuit of perfection.
What you do not know about Georgia's greatest athletes and some of its leading citizens you will learn in Gene Asher's Legends. Anthony Joseph (Zippy) Morocco won a football scholarship to the University of Georgia but he won All-American honors in basketball. Phil. (Knucksie) Niekro failed to get a contract when he tried out for the Pittsburgh Pirates. The Milwaukee Braves did sign him but kept him on the bench or in the minors for six years. So what happened to Niekro, the knuckle ball pitcher? As an Atlanta Brave, he was selected to the major league All Star game five times won five Golden Glove awards and earned membership in baseball's hallowed Hall of Fame. Bill and Jeanne Daprano of Fayetteville have won more than 100 pieces of Gold in Masters Track Championships, more than any other husband-wife team in the history of U.S. Track and Field. The late Bill Paschal of Atlanta, a Georgia Tech dropout, played one season on the B team before joining the New York Giants and twice leading the National Football League in ground gaining. At age 89, Juvenile Court Judge Aaron Cohn of Columbus is the longest serving juvenile court judge is America and a champion tennis player. These and untold stories of Georgia Bulldog immortal Charley Trippi, 86-year-old Furman Bisher, who continues to be one of the most prolific sports columnists in America, and Lee Burge, the man who went from the mailroom to the boardroom of Equifax are among many other sports and civic greats included in Gene Asher's Legends.
In this inspiring and provocative memoir about a young black man, Caylin Moore tells the against-all-odds story of his rise from racial injustice and cruel poverty in gang-ridden Los Angeles to academic success at the University of Oxford, with hope as his compass. A Dream to Big is for readers who want to … enjoy a compelling, true, hard-to-believe inspirational story; thoughtfully embrace a long-overdue conversation about equality and justice in America; and be inspired and find hope from a firsthand account of redemption through even the most painful life experiences. When Caylin Louis Moore was a young child, his mother gathered her three young children and fled an abusive marriage, landing in poverty in a heavily policed, gang-ridden community. When Moore’s mother suffered from health complications and a devastating experience in the hospital and his father was sentenced to life imprisonment, Moore was forced to enter adulthood prematurely. His hope was fueled by embracing his mother's steely faith in a brighter future. Moore skirted the gangs, the police, and the violence endemic to Compton to excel as a student and athlete, eventually reaching the pinnacles of academic achievement as a Rhodes Scholar. Moore's eye-opening, against-all-odds story reveals that there is no such thing as a dream too big.
THE INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER “In the pursuit of authenticity, of accurate history and undeniable courage, no words matter more than, ‘I was there.’ Read Luck of the Draw and the life of Frank Murphy and ponder this: how did those boys do such things?” —Tom Hanks The epic true story of an American hero who flew during WWII, as featured in the Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks TV Series, Masters of the Air. Beginning on August 17, 1942, American heavy bomber crews of the Eighth Air Force took off for combat in the hostile skies over occupied Europe. The final price was staggering. 4,300 B-17s and B-24s failed to return; nearly 21,000 men were taken prisoner or interned in a neutral country, and a further 17,650 made the ultimate sacrifice. Luck of the Draw is more than a war story. It’s the incredible, inspiring story of Frank Murphy, one of the few survivors from the 100th Bombardment Group, who cheated death for months in a German POW camp after being shot out of his B-17 Flying Fortress. Now with a new foreword written by his granddaughter Chloe Melas, of NBC, and daughter Elizabeth Murphy. “A gripping, inspirational account of incredible bravery, resilience, and sheer will to survive. A truly extraordinary story!” —General David Petraeus, U.S. Army (Ret.)
Since the 1970s, a “Polynesian Pipeline” has brought football players from American Sāmoa to Hawaii and the mainland United States to play at the collegiate and professional levels. In Gridiron Capital Lisa Uperesa charts the cultural and social dynamics that have made football so central to Samoan communities. For Samoan athletes, football is not just an opportunity for upward mobility; it is a way to contribute to, support, and represent their family, village, and nation. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork, archival research, and media analysis, Uperesa shows how the Samoan ascendancy in football is underpinned by the legacies of US empire and a set of imperial formations that mark Indigenous Pacific peoples as racialized subjects of US economic aid and development. Samoan players succeed by becoming entrepreneurs: building and commodifying their bodies and brands to enhance their football stock and market value. Uperesa offers insights into the social and physical costs of pursuing a football career, the structures that compel Pacific Islander youth toward athletic labor, and the possibilities for safeguarding their health and wellbeing in the future. Duke University Press Scholars of Color First Book Award recipient
"Your too small" those were familiar words he heard from the critics growing up. With his blend of charisma and unparallel work ethic, overachieving talent and fierce determination, Sean Stellato defines the underdog. "There is so much I have learned throughout my career that I am looking forward to giving back to today's youth." Now, in the same committed way he approached the game. Sean takes us into his life and onto the field. With his faith and detail, he talks about the influence of his parents, the work ethic they instilled in him, constant love they always displayed towards him at a young age, his true inspiration and guidance of significant others that kept him on course to conquer his dreams. The commitment he has made to God has saved him and shaped him into the man he is today. He takes us back to Salem, Massachusetts a city rich in history, where be broke several school records and overcame tremendous adversity. A couple of particulars acts that almost cost him his life. He talks about his college career playing two Division I sports and finding time to get it done in the classroom as well as finding the love of his life. He reveals his struggles in the land of strictly business. He gives the reader a preview of one of the fastest growing sports in the USA, Arena Football. What are the odds of playing at the professional level.
