Continuing its series of spectacular coffee-table books for the holiday season, Sports Illustrated presents The College Football Book, the ultimate gift for America's most passionate fans. SI launched this series in 2005 with The Football Book, devoted to the professional game. A New York Times best-seller that year, the book has taken root as a perennial, selling more than 200,000 copies to date. Now the editors of Sports Illustrated return to the gridiron, this time to serve the most avid football fans of all. With the best words and pictures SI has to offer, The College Football Book, brings to life the game's unparalleled excitement and pageantry, its legendary players, historic teams and epic rivalries. In 288 pages of the greatest photography and writing available anywhere, The College Football Book spans the sport's history, from its infancy in the 1800s right up to the postseason showdowns of 2008. The book is packed with stunning pictures, award-winning stories, original stats, decade-by-decade all-star teams and iconic artifacts photographed exclusively for this book at the College Football Hall of Fame--the same exciting mix of elements that makes each book in the SI series a must-have for sports fan.
This book will end many arguments— and start some new ones. Any college football fan, no matter where they live now or where their college loyalty lies has opinions about the game. Now, SI's team of experts once and for all settles the questions college football fans have debated since the first kickoff in College Football's Greatest. For instance, which is the greatest program of all time, Alabama or Notre Dame? What about Ohio State? Where do Tim Tebow and Peyton Manning rank among the best college quarterbacks? Which was the better team, the 1995 Cornhuskers or the 2001 Hurricanes? Where would you find the better game-day experience — in Ann Arbor or Baton Rouge? Every facet of the game is debated and evaluated, from running back to coach and everything in between. Throughout this deluxe edition, essays and articles from the Sports Illustrated Archives are paired with the iconic photography that SI is known for and the talented team of editors and writers weigh in with their expert opinions as well as some of their personal favorites. College Football's Greatest is the book that no football fan can be without.
The history of college basketball is a tale of giants (Mikan, Russell, Alcindor), mammoth personalities (Wooden, Knight, Krzyzewski) and larger-than-life moments (N.C. State's upset in 1983, Laettner's shot in 1992 and, just last year, Butler's near-miss at a championship miracle). With over a half-century of experience covering the game, Sports Illustrated is uniquely positioned to tell that story, and in 256 super-sized pages, continuing in the tradition of its annual sport-specific coffee-table series, it has found just the right format to capture the enormously entertaining wonder of it all. Hall of Fame writers, including Frank Deford, Curry Kirkpatrick, Alexander Wolff and Gary Smith, have covered all the great back-door plays, morality plays and passion plays of perhaps our most emotional sport. They were there for North Carolina's triple overtime takedown of Wilt Chamberlain and Kansas in 1957, for Texas Western's historic upset of Kentucky in 1966 and for Villanova's brilliant upending of Georgetown in 1985. Having chronicled all the madness from the fall (Midnight) through the spring (March) year after year, SI's award-winning photographers have captured the indelible images of buzzer-beating shots, of court-storming celebrations and of some of the world's largest men bawling over heartbreaking defeats. Those memorable stories and pictures are presented here as never before in this magnificent, must-have book for any college hoops fan.
SI's team of experts answer once again tackle the questions pro football fans have been debating since the pigskin started flying. Who's the greatest quarterback of all time? The most dominant linebackers? In 2012, Sports Illustrated sought to answer this question in Football’s Greatest. In the past five years, new players have come on the scene, coaches have come and gone and great games have been played. Through it all, SI has been there, analyzing, tracking, photographing and reporting on every game as only SI can. Now, in Football’s Greatest: Revised and Updated, an all-new team of experts comes together to debate everything that makes football, football – whether it’s the best players, the best on the defensive line, the cheerleaders, or the stadiums, our team of experts have ranked them. Additionally, for this revised and updated edition, we’ve added a “Roundtable with the Stars” that includes some of the most legendary NFL Hall of Famers discussing whom they consider to the greatest. We’ve also added two new categories to the rankings: “Rivalries” and “Most Entertaining Players,” that makes Football’s Greatest: Revised and Updated an essential addition to any football fan’s library. Once again, this is the book that's sure to end many arguments, and help start some new ones.
The rules of the game have changed in the past hundred years, but human nature has not. "In March [1892] Stanford and California had played the first college football game on the Pacific Coast in San Francisco . . . The pregame activities included a noisy parade down streets bedecked with school colors. Tickets sold so fast that the Stanford student manager, future president Herbert Hoover, and his California counterpart, could not keep count of the gold and silver coins. When they finally totaled up the proceeds, they found that the revenues amounted to $30,000—a fair haul for a game that had to be temporarily postponed because no one had thought to bring a ball!"—from College Football: History, Spectacle, Controversy, Chapter Three In this comprehensive history of America's popular pastime, John Sayle Watterson shows how college football in more than one hundred years has evolved from a simple game played by college students into a lucrative, semiprofessional enterprise. With a historian's grasp of the context and a novelist's eye for the telling detail, Watterson presents a compelling portrait rich in anecdotes, colorful personalities, and troubling patterns. He tells how the infamous Yale-Princeton "fiasco" of 1881, in which Yale forced a 0-0 tie in a championship game by retaining possession of the ball for the entire game, eventually led to the first-down rule that would begin to transform Americanized rugby into American football. He describes the kicks and punches, gouged eyes, broken collarbones, and flagrant rule violations that nearly led to the sport's demise (including such excesses as a Yale player who wore a uniform soaked in blood from a slaughterhouse). And he explains the reforms of 1910, which gave official approval to a radical new tactic traditionalists were sure would doom the game as they knew it—the forward pass. As college football grew in the booming economy of the 1920s, Watterson explains, the flow of cash added fuel to an already explosive mix. Coaches like Knute Rockne became celebrities in their own right, with highly paid speaking engagements and product endorsements. At the same time, the emergence of the first professional teams led to inevitable scandals involving recruitment and subsidies for student-athletes. Revelations of illicit aid to athletes in the 1930s led to failed attempts at reform by the fledgling NCAA in the postwar "Sanity Code," intended to control abuses by permitting limited subsidies to college players but which actually paved the way for the "free ride" many players receive today. Watterson also explains how the growth of TV revenue led to college football programs' unprecedented prosperity, just as the rise of professional football seemed to relegate college teams to "minor league" status. He explores issues of gender and race, from the shocked reactions of spectators to the first female cheerleaders in the 1930s to their successful exploitation by Roone Arledge three decades later. He describes the role of African-American players, from the days when Southern schools demanded all-white teams (and Northern schools meekly complied); through the black armbands and protests of the 60s; to one of the game's few successful, if limited, reforms, as black athletes dominate the playing field while often being shortchanged in the classroom. Today, Watterson observes, colleges' insatiable hunger for revenues has led to an abuse-filled game nearly indistinguishable from the professional model of the NFL. After examining the standard solutions for reform, he offers proposals of his own, including greater involvement by faculty, trustees, and college presidents. Ultimately, however, Watterson concludes that the history of college football is one in which the rules of the game have changed, but those of human nature have not.
Fans of Alabama football will treasure this compendium of Crimson Tide lore from the editors of Sports Illustrated. Featuring the brilliant photography and insightful writing that they are known for, Sports Illustrated Alabama Football allows fans to relive 'Bama's glorious history on the gridiron, from the earliest years of the program through its first 12 national titles and all the way up to the 2009 national championship team. This book contains classic Sports Illustrated coverage of all the Crimson Tide greats, including stories featuring Bear Bryant and Nick Saban; rare photographs of Alabama football as seen through the lenses of SI photographers; a retrospective of the Iron Bowl, one of the greatest rivalries in college football; introduction by Eli Gold, the voice of Alabama football; and full coverage of this year's title run. Plus, as a special bonus, this collector's edition also boasts a sure-fire argument starter: Sports Illustrated's selection of the All-time Alabama Team. If crimson is your favorite color, Sports Illustrated Alabama Football is for you.
A dual biography of two coaching legends -- Bear Bryant and Nick Saban -- who built the Alabama Crimson Tide into a true football dynasty. Both Bear Bryant and Nick Saban are undeniable kings of college football, two coaches at Alabama who have each won more national championships -- six apiece -- than anyone else in the history of the game. Chasing the Bear examines how they did it, revealing along the way their similarities in style, background, football philosophy, and recruiting methods, while providing readers a rare inside look at two of the greatest leaders in the history of sports. Bear Bryant and Nick Saban never met, but they have more in common than either of them realize. Both grew up in small towns -- Bryant in Moro Bottom, Arkansas, a dot on the map, and Saban from Monongah, West Virginia, population five hundred. As a child, Saban pumped gas at his father's service station, washing and waxing cars and doing anything he could to help the business. Bryant's father suffered from multiple physical ailments, which forced Bryant to work to keep the family farm going. Both men knew the value of hard work from the time they were young boys, and both understood that there were no shortcuts to success. But both dreamed of escaping their hometowns, and both used football as the means to do so. Separated by two generations, Bear Bryant and Nick Saban are mythic figures linked by a school, a town, and a barroom debate centering on one question: Which is the greatest college coach of all time?
Who's the greatest slugger of all time, Babe Ruth or Ted Williams? Where do Derek Jeter and Cal Ripken Jr. rank on the list of the best shortstops? At third base, would you rather have Mike Schmidt or Brooks Robinson? Is Fenway or Wrigley the better ballpark? This book will end many arguments-and start some new ones. Sports Illustrated's has polled its Major League Baseball experts to determine the ultimate Top 10 in more than 20 categories. The rankings appear alongside stunning photography and classic stories from SI's archives. This is the best of the best in the major leagues, or, more simply, Baseball's Greatest.
Covering individual teams (Hello, 1972 Miami Dolphins!) but also the best eras in famous teams' history, such as the Patriots of the '00s and the Steelers of the late 1970s, the editors at Sports Illustrated Kids dissect the best of the gridiron to show the whys and hows of team building, brilliant strategy, player combinations, and that special magic that the greatest teams have and which owners can't buy--even if there weren't a salary cap. Player profiles, stats and records, and thrilling narratives show the march to the Super Bowl and into history of America's favorite spectator sport. Amazing photos, insider stories, and fun facts capture the cultural phenomenon that is football in the U.S.! The SI Kids editors won't forget college ball! Picture the 2001 Miami Hurricanes cruising to the national title with a perfect season that was fun and full of swagger, displaying an absurd level of talent with six first-team All-Americans leading the way.
