Download or read book Off Guard The Story of the Earliest Drug Scandal in Professional Football as Told by One of the Best Linemen to Ever Play in written by Walt Sweeney and published by Silver Threads. This book was released on 2012-08 with total page 287 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Walt Sweeney was one of the greatest linemen ever to play in the National Football League. During his 13-year career with the San Diego Chargers and the Washington Redskins, he was an All-Star 9 times.
Download or read book League of Denial written by Mark Fainaru-Wada and published by Crown. This book was released on 2014-08-26 with total page 457 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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.
Download or read book Sweetness written by Jeff Pearlman and published by Avery. This book was released on 2012-08-28 with total page 496 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The definitive biography of Chicago Bears and Hall of Fame superstar Walter Payton. Based on meticulous research and interviews with nearly 700 contacts, an unforgettable portrait that describes a man who lived his life just like he played the game: at full speed.
Download or read book It s Only a Game written by Terry Bradshaw and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2001-08-01 with total page 266 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is the absolutely guaranteed 100% mostly true story of Terry Bradshaw: the man who gained sports immortality as the first quarterback to win four Super Bowls -- and the man who later became America's most popular sports broadcaster. IT'S ONLY A GAME "I had a real job once," begins a memoir as honest, unexpected, and downright hysterical as Bradshaw himself. From his humble beginnings in Shreveport, Louisiana, to his success as the centerpiece of the highest-rated football studio show in television history, Terry has always understood the importance of hard work. A veritable jack-of-all-trades, he has probably held more jobs than any other football Hall of Famer ever: pipeline worker, youth minister, professional singer, actor, television and radio talk show host, and now one of the nation's most popular speakers. But let's not forget one of the reasons why so many people know and love Terry Bradshaw: he won four Super Bowls! In It's Only A Game, Terry brings the reader right into the huddle and describes the game from the bottom of a two-ton pile to the top of the sports world. You'll sit right on the fifty-yard line and watch as Terry earns the title world's greatest benchwarmer. And you'll also hear about the single greatest play in pro football -- the Immaculate Reception -- as he never saw it. It's Only A Game is much more than a collection of Terry Bradshaw's favorite and funniest stories, it is the personal account of a great man's search for life before and after football...as only Terry could tell it.
Download or read book My Dirty Little Secrets Steroids Alcohol God written by and published by Loving Healing Press. This book was released on 2009-01-01 with total page 199 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: On the 20th anniversary of his draft in 1989, former Green Bay Packer Mandarich reveals the reasons why he never achieved what was expected of him. His story is an inspiration for alcoholics and drug abusers, and offers hope for those trying to help themselves out of the nightmare of addiction.
Download or read book NFL Confidential written by Johnny Anonymous and published by HarperCollins. This book was released on 2016-01-05 with total page 260 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Meet Johnny Anonymous. No, that’s not his real name. But he is a real, honest-to-goodness pro football player. A member of the League. A slave, if you will, to the NFL. For the millions of you out there who wouldn’t know what to do on Sundays if there wasn’t football, who can’t imagine life without the crunch of helmets ringing in your ears, or who look forward to the Super Bowl more than your birthday, Johnny Anonymous decided to tell his story. Written during the 2014–2015 season, this is a year in the life of the National Football League. This is a year in the life of a player—not a marquee name, but a guy on the roster—gutting it out through training camp up to the end of the season, wondering every minute if he’s going to get playing time or get cut. Do you want to know how players destroy their bodies and their colons to make weight? Do you wonder what kind of class and racial divides really exist in NFL locker rooms? Do you want to know what NFL players and teams really think about gay athletes or how the League is really dealing with crime and violence against women by its own players? Do you wonder about the psychological warfare between players and coaches on and off the field? About how much time players spend on Tinder or sexting when not on the field? About how star players degrade or humiliate second- and third-string players? What players do about the headaches and memory loss that appear after every single game? This book will tell you all of this and so much more. Johnny Anonymous holds nothing back in this whip-smart commentary that only an insider, and a current player, could bring. Part truth-telling personal narrative, part darkly funny exposé, NFL Confidential gives football fans a look into a world they’d give anything to see, and nonfans a wild ride through the strange, quirky, and sometimes disturbing realities of America’s favorite game. Here is a truly unaffiliated look at the business, guts, and glory of the game, all from the perspective of an underdog who surprises everyone—especially himself. JOHNNY ANONYMOUS is a four-year offensive lineman for the NFL. Under another pseudonym, he’s also a contributor for the comedy powerhouse Funny Or Die. You can pretty much break NFL players down into three categories. Twenty percent do it because they’re true believers. They’re smart enough to do something else if they wanted, and the money is nice and all, but really they just love football. They love it, they live it, they believe in it, it’s their creed. They would be nothing without it. Hell, they’d probably pay the League to play if they had to! These guys are obviously psychotic. Thirty percent of them do it just for the money. So they could do something else—sales, desk jockey, accountant, whatever—but they play football because the money is just so damn good. And it is good. And last of all, 49.99 percent play football because, frankly, it’s the only thing they know how to do. Even if they wanted to do something “normal,” they couldn’t. All they’ve ever done in their lives is play football—it was their way out, either of the hood or the deep woods country. They need football. If football didn’t exist, they’d be homeless, in a gang, or maybe in prison. Then there’s me. I’m part of my own little weird minority, that final 0.01 percent. We’re such a minority, we don’t even count as a category. We’re the professional football players who flat-out hate professional football.
Download or read book The Pro Football Weekly 1995 Almanac written by Richard Whittingham and published by Perigee Trade. This book was released on 1995-08 with total page 468 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The editorial team of Pro Football Weekly brings its wealth of knowledge and front-line expertise together in the most complete annual available. This must-have for every football fan contains statistics, facts, behind-the-scenes stories, and expert commentary--all in this one authoritative volume.
Download or read book Player Piano written by Kurt Vonnegut and published by Dial Press. This book was released on 2009-09-30 with total page 353 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “A funny, savage appraisal of a totally automated American society of the future.”—San Francisco Chronicle Kurt Vonnegut’s first novel spins the chilling tale of engineer Paul Proteus, who must find a way to live in a world dominated by a supercomputer and run completely by machines. Paul’s rebellion is vintage Vonnegut—wildly funny, deadly serious, and terrifyingly close to reality. Praise for Player Piano “An exuberant, crackling style . . . Vonnegut is a black humorist, fantasist and satirist, a man disposed to deep and comic reflection on the human dilemma.”—Life “His black logic . . . gives us something to laugh about and much to fear.”—The New York Times Book Review
Download or read book Under Pressure written by Ray Lucas and published by Triumph Books. This book was released on 2014-09-01 with total page 265 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In Under Pressure, Ray Lucas provides fans with a timely, uncensored look at pro football's play-at-all-costs culture. Overcoming questions about his size and skills as a quarterback, Lucas persevered and went on to play seven seasons in the NFL. His professional football career, however, came to a sudden end at age 30, when a neck injury caused him to collapse on the sideline during training camp. Instructed by NFL doctors that surgery wasn't an option, Lucas turned to painkillers for relief, but as his tolerance for medication escalated and his NFL insurance coverage expired, he began to plan his suicide. Just days before he planned to take his life, Lucas was put in touch with a group of doctors who agreed to perform neck surgery free of charge. In this tell-all, Lucas shares how—in a league without guaranteed contracts and careers that average just a few seasons long—players in the training room are perceived to lack the toughness necessary to succeed on the field. He discusses how this prevailing attitude leads to widespread abuse of painkillers and leaves many former players unable to lead a normal life once their playing career ends while also sharing details on how he overcame his drug addiction and turned his own life around.
Download or read book Dynamics of Writing written by Vincent F. Filak and published by CQ Press. This book was released on 2017-12-14 with total page 100 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Dynamics of Writing: An Exercise Guide gives you multiple opportunities to practice your writing skills in-class or as take-home assignments. Each chapter focuses on a different aspect of the newswriting process and offers short-answer, multiple-choice, and writing-prompt activities to help you master the concepts and skills presented in Vincent F. Filak’s comprehensive book. Additional exercises built around the unique demands of online newswriting will prepare you to meet the demands of a changing media landscape. Key Features: “Writing Exercises” enable you to recall & demonstrate your understanding of various elements found in each chapter in Dynamics of News Writing and Reporting. “Practice Writing” exercises empower you to apply their knowledge in a safe, in-class environment. “Live-Action Exercises” encourage you to expand their knowledge and experience through out-of-class reporting and writing opportunities.
Download or read book Boys Will Be Boys written by Jeff Pearlman and published by Harper Collins. This book was released on 2009-10-06 with total page 622 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: New York Times bestseller From celebrated sports writer Jeff Pearlman, author of The Bad Guys Won, a rollicking, completely unabashed account of the glory days of the legendary Dallas Cowboys They were called America's Team. Led by Emmitt Smith, the charismatic Deion "Prime Time" Sanders, Hall of Famers Troy Aikman and Michael Irvin—and lorded over by swashbuckling, power-hungry owner Jerry Jones and his two hard-living coaches, Jimmy Johnson and Barry Switzer—the Cowboys seemed indomitable on the football field throughout the 1990s. Off the field the 'Boys were a dysfunctional circus, fueled by ego, sex, drugs, and jaw-dropping excess. What they achieved on game day was astonishing; what they did the rest of the week was unbelievable. Boys Will Be Boys is the story of the Dallas Cowboys in their prime—a team of wild-partying, out-of-control glory-hounds that won three Super Bowls in four years and earned their rightful place in sports lore as the most beloved and despised dynasty in NFL history.
Download or read book The Sporting News written by and published by . This book was released on 1979-10 with total page 856 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Busted Bronco written by Joe O'Brien and published by Sweetgrass Books. This book was released on 2011-07-15 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Busted Bronco: From Addiction to Redemption is the gripping story of the rise and fall of All-American football star Joe O'Brien, written by O'Brien and Bob Evancho. The charismatic and talented O'Brien watched his NFL hopes dashed by his involvement in drugs, his promising coaching career ending in a dramatic arrest that made headlines. After two years in federal prison, O'Brien turned his life around. This is the story of O'Brien's awakening -- a story of redemption and renewal.
Download or read book Broken Trust written by Samuel P. King and published by University of Hawaii Press. This book was released on 2006-01-01 with total page 344 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Princess Bernice Pauahi Bishop was the largest landowner and richest woman in the Hawaiian kingdom. Upon her death in 1884, she entrusted her property--"known as Bishop Estate--"to five trustees in order to create and maintain an institution that would benefit the children of Hawai'i: Kamehameha Schools. A century later, Bishop Estate controlled nearly one out of every nine acres in the state, a concentration of private land ownership rarely seen anywhere in the world. Then in August 1997 the unthinkable happened: Four revered kupuna (native Hawaiian elders) and a professor of trust-law publicly charged Bishop Estate trustees with gross incompetence and massive trust abuse. Entitled "Broken Trust," the statement provided devastating details of rigged appointments, violated trusts, cynical manipulation of the trust's beneficiaries, and the shameful involvement of many of Hawai'i's powerful. No one is better qualified to examine the events and personalities surrounding the scandal than two of the original "Broken Trust" authors.Their comprehensive account together with historical background, brings to light information that has never before been made public, including accounts of secret meetings and communications involving Supreme Court justices.
Download or read book Sapp Attack written by Warren Sapp and published by Macmillan. This book was released on 2012-08-21 with total page 348 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In his no-holds-barred memoir, Sapp Attack!, Warren Sapp, one of the NFL's most hilarious and candid personalities, reveals a side of football most fans have never before seen. Big Man. Big Talent. Big Star. Big Mouth. Big Heart. Big Personality. Big Smile. Big Headlines. Warren Sapp, one of pro football's most dominating defensive players both on and off the field, has a reputation for being bold, brash, knowledgeable, and outspoken. During his All-American career at the University of Miami, 13 seasons as an NFL star, four years on the NFL Network and one very big season on Dancing with the Stars, Sapp has never held back. Now he brings that same fearless attitude to his memoir, a book that will create controversy and headlines; in other words, pure Warren Sapp. Sapp has won every award possible for a defensive player, but it wasn't just his extraordinarily athletic ability that made him a star; it was also his ability to understand the subtleties of the game. He writes about working his way up from the high school gridiron to one of the top college football programs in the country, to the NFL, and reveals how the system actually works—the behind-the-scenes plays that fans rarely get to see. He'll discuss what it was like to face some of the greatest players in NFL history, including Hall of Famers Steve Young and Jerry Rice, both of whom he put out of the game, and Bret Favre, whom he sacked eleven times during his career. In this revealing, hilarious, and must-read book, Sapp offers readers a look inside the life of one of football's biggest stars and shares his often controversial opinions about the state of pro football today and its future.
Download or read book Dynamics of Media Writing written by Vincent F. Filak and published by SAGE Publications. This book was released on 2021-07-22 with total page 517 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Dynamics of Media Writing Third Edition gives students transferable skills that can be applied across all media platforms—from traditional mass media formats like news, public relations, and advertising to emerging digital media platforms. Whether issuing a press release or tweeting about a new app, today’s media writers need to adapt their message for each specific media format in order to successfully connect with their audience. Throughout this text, award-winning teacher and college media adviser Vincent F. Filak introduces fundamental writing skills that apply to all media, while also highlighting which writing tools and techniques are most effective for specific media formats and why. User-friendly and loaded with practical examples and tips from professionals across mass media, this is the perfect guide for any student wanting to launch a professional media writing career.
Download or read book Oil written by Upton Sinclair and published by . This book was released on 1927 with total page 544 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: First edition of Sinclair's savage satire, loosely based on the life and career of Edward L. Doheny, and the Teapot Dome scandal of the Harding administration. Although Sinclair's famous novel The Jungle deals with Chicago's meatpacking industry, he moved west to Pasadena in 1916 and began writing novels set in California, the best of which was Oil!, the story of the education of Bunny Ross, son of wildcat oil man Joe Ross after oil is discovered outside Los Angeles. The novel was the basis for Paul Thomas Anderson's 2007 film There Will Be Blood. In California Classics, Lawrence Clark Powell called Oil! "Sinclair's most sustained and best writing."