With candor, detail, and insight, star running back of the two-time Super Bowl champion Dallas Cowboys Emmitt Smith takes us onto the field and into his life. From Escambia High School to Texas Stadium, from the rough and tumble on the field to the down and dirty at the contract table, The Emmitt Zone vividly recounts the accomplishments and frustrations that follow this NFL celebrity.
Emmitt Smith, the NFL’s all-time leading rusher of the Dallas Cowboys, Dancing with the Stars champion, and successful real-estate investor, outlines the principles that helped him become a winner on and off the football field. In this book he encourages you to live your God-given dream, now. Emmitt reveals that it’s not only vision and talent that propel us toward our dreams, but also a combination of determination, persistence, humility, courage, and faith. Game On is more than self-help. The book gives readers practical tools to empower them to pursue their God-given purpose with all their mind, heart, and soul.
Preface -- Acknowledgements -- Tom Landry -- Tex Schramm -- Don Meredith -- Bob Lilly -- Lee Roy Jordan -- Mel Renfro -- Bob Hayes -- Roger Staubach -- Cliff Harris & Charlie Waters -- Thomas "Hollywood" Henderson -- Ed "Too Tall" Jones -- Randy White -- Tony Dorsett -- Michael Irvin -- Troy Aikman -- Emmitt Smith.
The moment I walked out of that tunnel that first time I was in the NFL and saw that 70,000 people, I said, "This is me, this is mine, this is what I was meant to do." Some people get scared that first time. Me? Scared my ass. I was loving it. NFL superstar Chad Ochocinco is one of the most feared weapons in football, having amassed six consecutive 1,000-yard receiving seasons and made it to five straight Pro Bowls. And he does things his way–always big, always fun, always outrageous. Take Ochocinco’s extravagant touchdown celebrations: performing the Riverdance jig, mock-proposing to a cheerleader, tossing presents into the crowd on Christmas Eve, performing CPR on the football, putting on a gold sport coat that says "Future Hall of Famer." Or his sense of style: the blond Mohawk, the gold teeth, the nude photo shoot for a sports magazine. Or his trash-talking: People tell me I have to tone it down. Man, do you know what I’ve been through to get here? You’re going to tell me to stop having fun? Sorry, it’s not happening. Or his unabashed self-confidence: I got six paintings of myself in the living room of my town house in Cincinnati. Why? Because I love me. I’m great and I know it. In Ocho Cinco, Chad offers his blunt take on his life and career and on the bizarre game–and business–of football. He takes us back to his days growing up in a poor, dangerous section of Miami, where he was raised by his stern grandmother: You want to know how I turned out like this? Don’t talk to me, talk to my grandmom. A high school quarterback, he went to two junior colleges before landing for a single year at Oregon State. From there he was drafted by the Cincinnati Bengals, a team he eventually helped lead to the playoffs for the first time in fifteen years. Ochocinco reveals what really goes on in the locker room, on the field, and in the clubs where so many of his fellow athletes get in trouble. He talks about fights with teammates, coaches, and owners. He offers his honest observations on drugs, cheating, and women: You get all this money and you get all these women at your disposal. . . . You’re going to do your thing, trust me. You’re going to do it. And he deals frankly with his reputation as a malcontent and drama king: People want to be entertained, but the minute you open up about it and have some fun, they bash you for it. They want you to play inside this little box, and if you ever dare step outside this little box you’re in trouble. Well, there is no box for me. I am completely out of the box. Ocho Cinco gives fans a rare inside look at pro football, presented by a singular athlete who’s not afraid to speak his mind: What I do may be funny, but nothing I do is a joke.
In this unforgettable, dramatic account of one man's experience as an EMT, Peter Canning relives the nerve-racking seconds that can mean the difference between a patient's death and survival, as Canning struggles to make the right call, dispense the right medication, or keep a patient's heart beating long enough to reach the hospital. As Canning tells his graphic, gripping war stories--of the lives he saved and lost; of the fear, the nightmares, and the constant adrenaline-pumping thrill of action--we come away with an unforgettable portrait of what it means to be a hero.
In this lively and probing book, award-winning author Pete Earley traces the extraordinary evolution of Las Vegas -- from the gaudy Mecca of the Rat Pack era to one of the country's top family vacation spots. He revisits the city's checkered history of moguls, mobsters, and entertainers, reveals the real stories of well-known power brokers like Steve Wynn and legends like Howard Hughes and Bugsy Siegel, and offers a fascinating portrait of the life, death, and fantastic rebirth of the Las Vegas Strip. Earley also documents the gripping tale of the entrepreneurs behind the rise and fall and rise again of one of the largest gaming corporations in the nation, Circus Circus -- to which he was given unique access. In his trademark you-are-there style, he takes us behind the scenes to meet the blackjack dealers and hookers, the heavy hitters and bit players, the security officers, cabbies, and showgirls who are caught up in the mercurial pace that pulses at the heart of this astounding city.
An aging amateur takes his shot at glory in the world of mixed martial arts. As a younger man, Matthew Polly traveled to the Shaolin Temple in China and spent two years training with the monks who had invented the ancient art of kung fu. Fifteen years later, his weakness for Chinese takeout and Jack Daniel’s had taken its toll. Firmly into middle age and far removed from his past athletic triumphs, Polly decided to risk it all one last time. Out of shape and over the hill, he jumped headlong into the world of MMA. In Tapped Out, Polly chronicles his grueling yet redeeming two-year journey through an often misunderstood sport. From Thailand to Russia, Manhattan to Las Vegas, Polly studied with the best trainers, concluding with a six-month fight camp at Randy Couture’s legendary gym. He explores the history of fighting sports and joins a fascinating subculture of men who roll around on sweaty mats with one another in appreciation of the purity of contained combat. And in the end, Polly straps on the gloves, gets into the cage, and squares off with a fighter fifteen years younger. An honest and humorous look at a hard-core sport, Tapped Out is a fascinating look into the fastest growing sport in America and what it takes to be an MMA fighter.
This guidebook to all things Gators reveals the most critical moments and important facts about past and present players, coaches, and teams that are part of the storied history that is Florida football. Throughout the pages, readers will find pep talks, records, and Gators lore to test their knowledge, including Steve Spurrier's 1966 Heisman Trophy season and how the quarterback-turned-head coach returned to build one of the nation's elite programs in the 1990s; the teams' unforgettable 1996 championship season, when Spurrier and quarterback Danny Wuerffel led one of the most prolific offenses in college football history; and the Gators' return to the top in 2006 and 2008 behind head coach Urban Meyer and legendary quarterback Tim Tebow. Die-hard fans from the days of Spurrier behind center and new supporters of head coach Will Muschamp's squad alike will appreciate this book that contains everything University of Florida fans should know, see, and do in their lifetime.
Monsters: The 1985 Chicago Bears and the Wild Heart of Football is the New York Times bestselling gripping account of a once-in-a-lifetime team and their lone Super Bowl season. For Rich Cohen and millions of other fans, the 1985 Chicago Bears were more than a football team: they were the greatest football team ever—a gang of colorful nuts, dancing and pounding their way to victory. They won a Super Bowl and saved a city. It was not just that the Monsters of the Midway won, but how they did it. On offense, there was high-stepping running back Walter Payton and Punky QB Jim McMahon, who had a knack for pissing off Coach Mike Ditka as he made his way to the end zone. On defense, there was the 46: a revolutionary, quarterback-concussing scheme cooked up by Buddy Ryan and ruthlessly implemented by Hall of Famers such as Dan "Danimal" Hampton and "Samurai" Mike Singletary. On the sidelines, in the locker rooms, and in bars, there was the never-ending soap opera: the coach and the quarterback bickering on TV, Ditka and Ryan nearly coming to blows in the Orange Bowl, the players recording the "Super Bowl Shuffle" video the morning after the season's only loss. Cohen tracked down the coaches and players from this iconic team and asked them everything he has always wanted to know: What's it like to win? What's it like to lose? Do you really hate the guys on the other side? Were you ever scared? What do you think as you lie broken on the field? How do you go on after you have lived your dream but life has not ended? The result is Monsters: The 1985 Chicago Bears and the Wild Heart of Football, a portrait not merely of a team but of a city and a game: its history, its future, its fallen men, its immortal heroes. But mostly it's about being a fan—about loving too much. This is a book about America at its most nonsensical, delirious, and joyful.
