An elementary introduction to the life, work, and popularity of Calvin Johnson, a professional football star wide receiver for the Detroit Lions who is known as "Megatron."
TOUCHDOWN! Few things are as exciting as a football player making a one-handed grab to get a game-winning score--except when that big catch sets a new record! Behind every big-time football record is a dramatic story of how a player or team achieved greatness on the field. From the greatest scoring plays to the hardest-hitting tackles, here are the record-setting moments that will keep football fans turning the page for more.
They?re the best the NFL has ever seen! This title introduces the NFL?s biggest stars, past and present. Readers of all levels will be drawn in by easy-to-read stories, quick-hit sidebars and high-impact photos that tell each player?s story. With spotlight stats, info boxes, a glossary, additional resources, and more, this series is jam-packed with information fit for any football fan. Aligned to Common Core Standards and correlated to state standards. SportsZone is an imprint of ABDO Publishing Company.
It was Thanksgiving Day, 1962. The Detroit Lions handed Green Bay its only loss during the Packers’ championship season. But the Lions didn’t just beat Vince Lombardi’s team—they sacked All-Pro quarterback Bart Starr a league-record eleven times. All-Pro defensive lineman Roger Brown recorded six of those sacks, and he describes this most memorable game in Game of My Life Detroit Lions. Since their founding as the Portsmouth Spartans in 1929, the Detroit Lions have carried the hearts and souls of some of the NFL’s most loyal fans. Now supporters of this storied franchise will go into the locker room and onto the turf with over twenty Lions legends in Game of My Life Detroit Lions. Sportswriter Paula Pasche opens the doors to players’ private remembrances of how it was and how they reacted to the spotlight. Readers will hear tales from Hall of Famers, Pro Bowlers, and fan favorites such as Charlie Sanders, Mel Farr, Shaun Robinson, Doug English, and so many more. Within these pages, Detroit gridiron greats offer glimpses of the National Football League in the 1950s, the 1960s, and right up through the present day. More than fifty years of Lions’ experience is represented in this collection of tales told by the men who lived through some of the most memorable moments in franchise history. Skyhorse Publishing, as well as our Sports Publishing imprint, are proud to publish a broad range of books for readers interested in sports—books about baseball, pro football, college football, pro and college basketball, hockey, or soccer, we have a book about your sport or your team. Whether you are a New York Yankees fan or hail from Red Sox nation; whether you are a die-hard Green Bay Packers or Dallas Cowboys fan; whether you root for the Kentucky Wildcats, Louisville Cardinals, UCLA Bruins, or Kansas Jayhawks; whether you route for the Boston Bruins, Toronto Maple Leafs, Montreal Canadiens, or Los Angeles Kings; we have a book for you. While not every title we publish becomes a New York Times bestseller or a national bestseller, we are committed to publishing books on subjects that are sometimes overlooked by other publishers and to authors whose work might not otherwise find a home.
As a two-time Super Bowl champion, three-time Pro-Bowler, first-round draft pick, and former Jim Thorpe Award recipient, Malcolm Jenkins knows a thing or two about winning. Over the course of his thirteen-year NFL career, the now retired defensive back’s triumphs extend beyond that on the football field. As a successful entrepreneur, he has seen the blossoming of his business ventures with an eponymous company, Malcolm Inc., and a media conglomerate called Listen Up Media. As a philanthropist, he strives to make a positive difference in the lives of young people in underserved communities through The Malcolm Jenkins Foundation. And as the father of two daughters, he understands the challenges of loving his children, and preparing them for an often unkind and hostile world. But for every triumph, there is a tragedy, for every loss, a lesson. In What Winners Won’t Tell You, Jenkins shares the insight he’s gained from winning and losing alike. One moment, Jenkins is riding high from being the only NFL player to have Super Bowl victories against Hall of Fame quarterbacks, Peyton Manning and Tom Brady and then he’s navigating the harrowing low of a divorce from the mother of his children. In another moment he’s advocating for the advances of Black people in America, and then feuding publicly about the direction of this advocacy. Providing fans and readers alike with an intimate portrayal of life on and off the field, detailed breakdowns of his great moments against the games premiere players, and poignant reflections about what it means to straddle the narrow line between victory and defeat, this “thoughtful memoir” (Kirkus Reviews) is the best kept secret for those who want to know what it takes to be a champion.
Truly a Book For All Seasons In her new nonfiction work You Tell the Stories You Need To Believe, queer novelist Rebecca Brown turns her attention to life's biggest questions: time, love, and how we endure. Since 1984, and most known for a novel written and set during the AIDS crisis (The Gifts of the Body), Rebecca Brown has been on the forefront of the avant-garde of American letters. You Tell the Stories You Need to Believe is an exploration of the meaning of life-as told through the cycles of the year, and the art that has been produced about each of the seasons. As Brown fans know, her distinctive sentences are reason enough to read her. One of the gifts of this book is getting to read about the artists who inspire her-from Melville to Denise Levertov, from Stravinsky to the Monkees. Not to mention the cunning and imaginative ways mythology and religion enter the mix.
Calvin Johnson s parents always told their children to learn as much as they could. Calvin followed this advice when he decided to go to college at Georgia Tech. But he was also learning on the football field. Standing at six feet five inches tall, Calvin s size definitely helped in the sport. But he also had enormous talent. The Detroit Lions saw that talent in 2007 when they drafted him into the NFL. In 2011, the Lions made it into the playoffs with Calvin s help. It was the first time in more than ten years that the team had played in a playoff game. With a new deal signed in 2012, it looks like Calvin will be helping the Lions win for many years to come.
The definitive chronicle of underground music in the 1980s tells the stories of Black Flag, Sonic Youth, The Replacements, and other seminal bands whose DIY revolution changed American music forever. Our Band Could Be Your Life is the never-before-told story of the musical revolution that happened right under the nose of the Reagan Eighties -- when a small but sprawling network of bands, labels, fanzines, radio stations, and other subversives re-energized American rock with punk's do-it-yourself credo and created music that was deeply personal, often brilliant, always challenging, and immensely influential. This sweeping chronicle of music, politics, drugs, fear, loathing, and faith is an indie rock classic in its own right. The bands profiled include: Sonic Youth Black Flag The Replacements Minutemen Husker Du Minor Threat Mission of Burma Butthole Surfers Big Black Fugazi Mudhoney Beat Happening Dinosaur Jr.
“A moving, captivating story about the bonds of family and the restorative power of love.” —Tamara Ireland Stone, New York Times Bestselling author of Little Do We Know Brooke and Heath should never have become friends, let alone fallen in love. A year ago, Brooke Covington lost everything when her beloved older brother, Jason, confessed to the murder of his best friend, Calvin. Brooke and her family became social pariahs, broken and unable to console one another. Brooke’s only solace remains the ice-skating rink where she works, but she no longer lets herself dream about a future skating professionally. When Brooke encounters Calvin’s younger brother, Heath, on the side of the road and offers him a ride, everything changes. She needs someone to talk to…and so does Heath. No one else understands what it’s like. Her brother, alive but gone; his brother, dead but everywhere. Soon, they’re meeting in secret, despite knowing that both families would be horrified if they found out. In the place of his anger and her guilt, something frighteningly tender begins to develop, drawing them ever closer together. But when a new secret comes out about the murder, Brooke has to choose whose pain she’s willing to live with—her family’s or Heath’s. Because she can’t heal one without hurting the other. Also by Abigail Johnson: Every Other Weekend The First to Know If I Fix You