Drew "The Dart" Howard has always been the quarterback for his touch football team. Now the boys are playing full pads tackle football for the first time ever. The team is looking to the Dart to lead them to victory again. But Drew has started throwing ducks--his dad's term for a bad pass--instead of darts. He's lost his confidence and fallen into a quarterback crisis. Everyone has a suggestion for fixing his throws, but nothing is working. Soon, the new kid, Tyler Wade, has replaced Drew as QB, but he isn't happy about it either. Will a little teamwork help Drew get back his position? Or is it all over for the Dart? Zach Riley brings the action and emotion of football to young readers with Quarterback Crisis. Get into the heart of the game with Zach Riley books! Aligned to Common Core Standards and correlated to state standards. Calico is an imprint of Magic Wagon, a division of ABDO.
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • The story of how the NFL, over a period of nearly two decades, denied and sought to cover up mounting evidence of the connection between football and brain damage “League of Denial may turn out to be the most influential sports-related book of our time.”—The Boston Globe “Professional football players do not sustain frequent repetitive blows to the brain on a regular basis.” So concluded the National Football League in a December 2005 scientific paper on concussions in America’s most popular sport. That judgment, implausible even to a casual fan, also contradicted the opinion of a growing cadre of neuroscientists who worked in vain to convince the NFL that it was facing a deadly new scourge: a chronic brain disease that was driving an alarming number of players—including some of the all-time greats—to madness. In League of Denial, award-winning ESPN investigative reporters Mark Fainaru-Wada and Steve Fainaru tell the story of a public health crisis that emerged from the playing fields of our twenty-first-century pastime. Everyone knows that football is violent and dangerous. But what the players who built the NFL into a $10 billion industry didn’t know—and what the league sought to shield from them—is that no amount of padding could protect the human brain from the force generated by modern football, that the very essence of the game could be exposing these players to brain damage. In a fast-paced narrative that moves between the NFL trenches, America’s research labs, and the boardrooms where the NFL went to war against science, League of Denial examines how the league used its power and resources to attack independent scientists and elevate its own flawed research—a campaign with echoes of Big Tobacco’s fight to deny the connection between smoking and lung cancer. It chronicles the tragic fates of players like Hall of Fame Pittsburgh Steelers center Mike Webster, who was so disturbed at the time of his death he fantasized about shooting NFL executives, and former San Diego Chargers great Junior Seau, whose diseased brain became the target of an unseemly scientific battle between researchers and the NFL. Based on exclusive interviews, previously undisclosed documents, and private emails, this is the story of what the NFL knew and when it knew it—questions at the heart of a crisis that threatens football, from the highest levels all the way down to Pop Warner.
This volume centers on the relationship between media and crisis communication, the need to address which has only been heightened by the recent experience of COVID-19 and the needs for public health crisis communication. With multiple voices and multiple fields engaging simultaneously with crisis communication, this book illuminates the role of media in crisis communication within this complex environment. Both traditional and digital media, including social media platforms, respond to an array of crisis contexts including political crises, public health crises, disasters, and organizational crises. The book presents original research that approaches the effects of media in any of the possible crisis contexts. This collection will interest scholars and students of crisis communication, public relations, risk communication, digital media, and political communication.
In the 150 years of college football history, the national championship has been decided by unanimous vote only 33 times. This book analyzes the various methods of selecting these champions and what made the teams special. Drawing on archives and early published works, a firsthand description of the 1869 inaugural game between Princeton and Rutgers is provided, along with details of how these earliest teams were managed. The contributions and innovations of Walter Camp, the "Father of Football," are explored, as is the evolution of the game itself. Each unanimous season since the turn of the 20th century--from Yale in 1900 to LSU in 2019--is covered in detail, with a brief history of each school's football program. The question "is there a best ever team" is explored.
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.
NFL coaches love to say that quarterbacks always get too much credit for winning or too much blame for losing. Football fans know better. The great quarterbacks are difference makers. They make the split-second decisions that produce big plays, elevate their teammates, and lead the way to Super Bowl glory. The great quarterback is, in short, the most irreplaceable player on the field. The San Francisco 49ers could not have won their first four Super Bowls without Joe Montana, a genius at picking apart defenses and pulling out last-minute victories. The Pittsburgh Steelers would not have won four Super Bowls in six years without the powerful arm and irrepressible leadership of Terry Bradshaw. The New York Jets could never have pulled off the most famous NFL upset of all time, a Super Bowl III win over the Baltimore Colts, without the swagger and skill of Broadway Joe Namath. He guaranteed a victory, then made good on his guarantee. In Riddell Presents The Gridiron's Greatest Quarterbacks, fans will meet the legendary field generals who grace the annals of professional football. Author Jonathan Rand ranks the top 25 quarterbacks of all time and recalls the greatest triumphs, extraordinary talents, and powerful personalities that made them and their teams winners. From Sammy Baugh and Sid Luckman, who put the quarterback position on the map, to Bart Starr, John Unitas, Bradshaw. Montana, John Elway, Dan Marino and Brett Favre, these are players of diverse skills, sizes, and temperaments who each arrived at the destination of greatness. Rand also details the rise of the African-American quarterbacks, who overcame decades of racism and cynicism to make their mark, the trade secrets of thegreat comeback quarterbacks, and how it feels to get buried under enormous defensive players and be the most marked man on the field. Through the words of these great quarterbacks and their teammates, coaches and opponents, readers will gain an understanding as to why the gridiron's greatest quarterbacks and the gridiron's greatest players are so often the same people.
Damaging stories and rumors can go viral in an instant—now, the nation’s premier political spin doctor teaches you how to cope with disasters in business, politics, and life by telling it all, telling it early, and telling it yourself. TELL IT ALL, TELL IT EARLY, TELL IT YOURSELF These days, every scandal is tried in the court of public opinion. Political insider and legal crisis manager Lanny Davis has spent years helping politicians, sports figures, business executives, and corporations—including Bill Clinton, Martha Stewart, Washington Redskins owner Dan Snyder, and Macy’s, to name a few—through the biggest reputation crises of our times. In this fascinating and practical resource, Davis tells the real stories behind his famous clients’ very public scandals and how each case has aided him in the creation of five invaluable rules that absolutely anyone can use to protect himself. Damaging falsehoods can go viral in an instant. The nation’s premier political spin doctor will teach you how to fight back.
“Unputdownably romantic!” —Tammara Webber, New York Times bestselling author of Easy For most of her teenage life, CeCe Edmonds has been dealing with the stares and the not-so-polite whispers that follow her around Edgelake High. So she has a large scar on her face—Harry Potter had one on his forehead and people still liked him. CeCe never cared about her looks—until Emmett Brady, transfer student and football darling, becomes her literature critique partner. The only problem? Emmett is blindsided by Bryn DeNeuville, CeCe’s gorgeous and suddenly shy volleyball teammate. Bryn asks CeCe to help her compose messages that’ll charm Emmett. CeCe isn’t sure there’s anything in his head worth charming but agrees anyway—she’s a sucker for a good romance. Unfortunately, the more messages she sends and the more they run into each other, the more she realizes there’s plenty in his head, from food to literature. Too bad Emmett seems to be falling for the wrong girl... Disclaimer: This Entangled Teen Crush book involves one fiercely scarred girl who wants the new guy in town, the new guy who thinks he wants the new girl, and the new girl who really isn’t sure what she wants, and the misunderstanding that brings them all together. This modern Cyrano de Bergerac retelling will make you laugh, swoon, and fall in love.
This book explores how and why an event is a precursor to the emergence of a crisis and how a given crisis affects an organization and its stakeholders. Using existing systems theory blended with innovative use of wave, epidemiological, immunological and psycho-social theories, the author discusses ways to understand the effects of different types of crises while showing how to document and/or quantitatively measure those effects. The book offers new models illustrating how events trigger crises and how they subsequently morph into catastrophes and disasters. Using theories and tools tested in organizational settings to identify contributors to a traumatic event, this book makes a valuable contribution to organizational and crisis management literature.
One of only two remaining charter members of the National Football League, the Chicago Bears are a team steeped in history. With nine pro football championships and twenty-six hall of famers, the Bears are also among the most successful franchises in all of professional sports. Revised and updated to include the latest seasons on the gridiron, Chicago Bears: The Complete Illustrated History brings the team’s vibrant history to life. Beginning with the franchise’s 1919 origins as the Decatur Staleys, this lavishly illustrated book presents the highs and lows from more than nine decades of football. Here is the story of the first dynasty under George “Papa Bear� Halas; the “Monsters of the Midway� of the 1940s; the team’s resurgence in the late 1960s; its 1985 Super Bowl win; and the run for the title in 2006. Former Chicago Tribune sportswriter and longtime Bears aficionado Lew Freedmen highlights the legends who have donned Bears uniforms, outsize characters like Red Grange, Bronko Nagurski, Sid Luckman, Mike Ditka, Dick Butkus, Gayle Sayers, Walter Payton, Mike Singletary, Brian Urlacher, and many more. He includes the numbers behind the stories---the stats and team records---as well as pivotal plays in Bears’ history, from Halas’ T-formation to William “The Refrigerator� Perry’s touchdown runs. The book presents a key chapter of sports history and offers a fitting tribute to one of football’s most beloved teams.
