A Random History of Football

A Random History of Football PDF Author: Colin Murray
Publisher: Orion
ISBN: 1409112918
Category : Sports & Recreation
Languages : en
Pages : 208

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Book Description
'A real knock-out' DAILY TELEGRAPH Random occurences that shaped the history of football - an alternative history of the game from loveable broadcaster Colin Murray. Nowadays a top Premiership football club can spend £50 million on a Portuguese pin-up or a legendary Italian goalkeeper, but you cannot take into account the effects of a dodgy takeaway meal, a dropped bottle of aftershave on a goalkeeper's toe, or the fact that your most creative player has to leave town because of a chance drunken encounter with another player's wife. It is these random moments that have shaped football as much as the headline-grabbing Cantona kung fu kick and that Russian linesman in 1966. In this witty alternative history of football you will learn: * Different sizes of football were used in each half of the inaugural World Cup Final of 1930. * Sheffield United almost signed Diego Maradona. * Saddam Hussein changed the result of an Iraq versus Chelsea match. * Bury FC's Robbie the Bobby tops the league of worst-behaved mascots. From the height of international football to the scandal of the Conference league Christmas party that cost far more than a bar-bill, Colin Murray tries his best to make you believe, once more, in football's unpredictability.

A Random History of Football

A Random History of Football PDF Author: Colin Murray
Publisher: Orion
ISBN: 1409112918
Category : Sports & Recreation
Languages : en
Pages : 208

Get Book Here

Book Description
'A real knock-out' DAILY TELEGRAPH Random occurences that shaped the history of football - an alternative history of the game from loveable broadcaster Colin Murray. Nowadays a top Premiership football club can spend £50 million on a Portuguese pin-up or a legendary Italian goalkeeper, but you cannot take into account the effects of a dodgy takeaway meal, a dropped bottle of aftershave on a goalkeeper's toe, or the fact that your most creative player has to leave town because of a chance drunken encounter with another player's wife. It is these random moments that have shaped football as much as the headline-grabbing Cantona kung fu kick and that Russian linesman in 1966. In this witty alternative history of football you will learn: * Different sizes of football were used in each half of the inaugural World Cup Final of 1930. * Sheffield United almost signed Diego Maradona. * Saddam Hussein changed the result of an Iraq versus Chelsea match. * Bury FC's Robbie the Bobby tops the league of worst-behaved mascots. From the height of international football to the scandal of the Conference league Christmas party that cost far more than a bar-bill, Colin Murray tries his best to make you believe, once more, in football's unpredictability.

The Pictorial History of Football

The Pictorial History of Football PDF Author: Roland Lazenby
Publisher: Thunder Bay Press (CA)
ISBN: 9781571458384
Category : Football
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
Tracing the long and colorful history of a nation's most popular spectator sport, this unique book encapsulates football's hazy beginnings in twelfth century England and traces its history to the most recent NFL events. From the development of college football over a hundred years ago to the birth of professional football and how the teams and leagues are today, this complete volume tells it all. The sport's most compelling moments and most talented players and coaches come to life through exciting text and photographs.

The Great Book of Football

The Great Book of Football PDF Author: Bill O'Neill
Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform
ISBN: 9781975974961
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 148

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Book Description
If you love sports trivia, then you'll be all in for The Great Book of Football, which is a must-read for any NFL fan out there. One of the most inclusive NFL football books on the market today, it's a treasure trove of sports stories, random facts, and the most in-depth tales of the most fascinating football players who have made the NFL what it is today. Starting with the foundation of the fledgling NFL in the 1920s and leading right up the thrilling finish at the most recent Super Bowl, The Great Book of Football highlights the best players of every era, the games that separated the boys from the men, and the off-the-field shenanigans and twists of fate that have seen the league go from Midwestern distraction to international obsession. There are lots of football books out there, but The Great Book of Football takes you inside the action from the huddle to the locker room to the draft room to the owner's box. And every chapter ends with trivia questions that are sure to stump your NFL-crazy friends at your next Sunday afternoon watch party. From Red Grange and Sammy Baugh to Tom Brady and J.J. Watt, the best of every era is highlighted, analyzed, and celebrated. Learn the secrets of the unstoppable Wing-T offense; relive Broadway Joe's Namath legendary Super Bowl guarantee; go behind enemy lines to witness the birth of Pittsburgh's Steel Curtain defense; and take pride in how players, owners, and fans have responded to America's greatest battles, from World War II to Hurricane Katrina to September 11. It doesn't matter if it's Super Bowl Sunday or the heart of the offseason, The Great Book of Football is one of those NFL football books that you just won't be able to put down.

America's Game

America's Game PDF Author: Michael MacCambridge
Publisher: Anchor
ISBN: 0307481433
Category : Sports & Recreation
Languages : en
Pages : 610

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Book Description
It’s difficult to imagine today—when the Super Bowl has virtually become a national holiday and the National Football League is the country’s dominant sports entity—but pro football was once a ramshackle afterthought on the margins of the American sports landscape. In the span of a single generation in postwar America, the game charted an extraordinary rise in popularity, becoming a smartly managed, keenly marketed sports entertainment colossus whose action is ideally suited to television and whose sensibilities perfectly fit the modern age. America’s Game traces pro football’s grand transformation, from the World War II years, when the NFL was fighting for its very existence, to the turbulent 1980s and 1990s, when labor disputes and off-field scandals shook the game to its core, and up to the sport’s present-day preeminence. A thoroughly entertaining account of the entire universe of professional football, from locker room to boardroom, from playing field to press box, this is an essential book for any fan of America’s favorite sport.

ESPN College Football Encyclopedia

ESPN College Football Encyclopedia PDF Author: Michael MacCambridge
Publisher: ESPN
ISBN:
Category : Reference
Languages : en
Pages : 1654

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Book Description
The most comprehensive reference book ever assembled on the history of college football From South Bend, Indiana, to Lincoln, Nebraska, Palo Alto, California, to Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Ann Arbor, Michigan, to Tallahassee, Florida, college football attracts the most dedicated fans in all of sports. This book is their Biblea rich and exhaustive reference guide to the games history, tradition, and lore. Based on three years of research by the nations foremost college football experts, the book features: lCapsule histories for each of the Division 1-A programs, the Ivy League schools, and the historically black colleges lYear-by-year schedules and scores for each school lStatistical leaders from each school lFight-song lyrics lBox scores for every bowl game ever played lWeekly AP and UPI polls dating back to 1936 lA four-color insert illustrating the evolution of each schools helmet design lEssays by the games top wordsmiths, including Dan Jenkins, Beano Cook, Chris Fowler, and more. lAnd a lively round-table discussion on the state of the game with ESPNs popular GameDay team (Fowler, Lee Corso, and Kirk Herbstreit). Packed with tables and charts and designed in an easy-to-read style, the ESPN College Football Encyclopedia is sure to dazzle even the most knowledgeable fan.

Chelsea Football Club

Chelsea Football Club PDF Author: Rick Glanvill
Publisher: Headline
ISBN: 9780755314683
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
The history of Chelsea features glamour, controversy, hooligans, high and low fashion, huge excitement on the pitch and terrible disappointments. In the Chelsea FC: The Official Biography, Rick Glanvill brought the century of the UK's highest profile club to life in words. In this pictorial history, he has researched never-before-made-public images to show the breadth of the club's 100 years in photographs. Fully integrated and highly designed, with over 200 colour and black and white photographs and fascinating accompanying text on the story of the club, The Official History in Pictures offers all fans, and anyone with an interest in the biggest story in British football, unforgettable images and legendary faces from the past 100 years.

ESPN Southeastern Conference Football Encyclopedia

ESPN Southeastern Conference Football Encyclopedia PDF Author: Michael MacCambridge
Publisher: ESPN Books
ISBN: 034551386X
Category : Football
Languages : en
Pages : 434

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Book Description
THE ESPN SEC FOOTBALL ENCYCLOPEDIA INCLUDES • expanded profiles and histories of all twelve Southeastern Conference football programs, as well as former SEC schools Georgia Tech and Tulane • original essays on what makes each SEC program unique written by such experts as Winston Groom (Alabama), Lou Holtz (South Carolina), and Buster Olney (Vanderbilt) • two-page record books for each school, with all-time and annual leaders • all-time teams, college and pro football hall of fame inductees, first-round draft choices, and retired numbers for every school • a complete bowl history for each team, including box scores • a history of the Southeastern Conference written by Chuck Culpepper, and the all-time SEC team as selected by Ivan Maisel, author of A War in Dixie

Outside the Box

Outside the Box PDF Author: Duncan Alexander
Publisher: Random House
ISBN: 1473536774
Category : Sports & Recreation
Languages : en
Pages : 281

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Book Description
In football, numbers are everywhere. From touches in the opposition box to expected goals, clear-cut chances to win-loss ratios. In the modern game, these numbers help provide the narrative, the drama, and the conversation. They are scrutinised in order to justify results and to predict future outcomes. They even dictate transfer policy and drive clubs to achieve the impossible. But when did the numbers become so important and what do they mean? In Outside the Box, Duncan Alexander looks back at twenty-five years of the Premier League and beyond, uncovering the hidden truths and accepted myths that surround the game. Using the archives of OptaJoe and never-before-seen data, we discover why Liverpool have gone 27 years without winning a league title and why Lionel Messi is the best player in the game’s history. Or is he? Insightful, wry, and hugely entertaining, Outside the Box is an enlightening and accessible account of football across the decades, analysing data from the some of the greatest seasons, players, teams and managers.

Football - Bloody Hell!

Football - Bloody Hell! PDF Author: Patrick Barclay
Publisher: Random House
ISBN: 1407084712
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 508

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Book Description
SHORTLISTED FOR THE BRITISH SPORTS BOOK AWARDS Sir Alex Ferguson is the most controversial and compelling figure in football. For many he ranks as the greatest manager of all time. He is certainly the most successful. It's been more than ten years since Ferguson's Manchester United triumphed over Bayern Munich in the dying seconds of the Champions League final. Since then he has presided over the rise and fall and rise again of José Mourinho; the arrival and departure of the world's best player, Ronaldo; the removal of one English talisman - Beckham - and the irresistible instalment of another - Rooney. Ferguson has been instrumental in making the Premier League the most successful competition in football, and he has endured while the mountains of cash have turned to valleys of debt. Throughout, award-winning journalist Patrick Barclay has been pitch-side and spoken to all those who know Ferguson best - fellow managers, former players, colleagues and commentators. The result is Football - Bloody Hell!: the definitive work on the game's greatest living legend.

Newton's Football

Newton's Football PDF Author: Allen St. John
Publisher: Ballantine Books
ISBN: 034554515X
Category : Sports & Recreation
Languages : en
Pages : 273

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Book Description
In the bestselling tradition of Freakonomics and Scorecasting comes a clever and accessible look at the big ideas underlying the science of football. Did you hear the one about the MacArthur genius physicist and the NFL coach? It’s not a joke. It’s actually an innovative way to understand chaos theory, and the remarkable complexity of modern professional football. In Newton’s Football, journalist and New York Times bestselling author Allen St. John and TED Speaker and former Yale professor Ainissa Ramirez explore the unexpected science behind America’s Game. Whether it’s Jerry Rice finding the common ground between quantum physics and the West Coast offense or an Ivy League biologist explaining—at a granular level—exactly how a Big Mac morphs into an outside linebacker, Newton’s Football illuminates football—and science—through funny, insightful stories told by some of the world’s sharpest minds. With a clear-eyed empirical approach—and an exuberant affection for the game—St. John and Ramirez address topics that have long beguiled scientists and football fans alike, including: • the unlikely evolution of the football (or, as they put it, “The Divinely Random Bounce of the Prolate Spheroid”) • what Vince Lombardi has in common with Isaac Newton • how the hardwired behavior of monkeys can explain a head coach’s reluctance to go for it on fourth-down • why a gruesome elevator accident jump-started the evolution of placekicking • how Teddy Roosevelt saved football using the same behavioral science concept that Dreamworks would use to save Shrek • why woodpeckers don’t get concussions • how better helmets actually made the game more dangerous Every Sunday the NFL shares a secret with only its savviest fans: The game isn’t just a clash of bodies, it’s a clash of ideas. The greatest minds in football have always possessed an instinctual grasp of science, understanding the big ideas and gritty realities that inform the game’s rich past, as well as its increasingly uncertain future. Blending smart reporting, counterintuitive creativity, and compelling narrative, Newton’s Football takes gridiron analysis to the next level, giving fans a book that entertains, enlightens, and explains the game anew. Praise for Newton’s Football “It was with great interest that I read Newton’s Football. I’m a fan of applying of science to sport and Newton’s Football truly delivers. The stories are as engaging as they are informative. This is a great read for all football fans.”—Mark Cuban “A delightfully improbable book putting science nerds and sports fans on the same page.”—Booklist “This breezily-written but informative book should pique the interest of any serious football fan in the twenty-first century.”—The American Spectator “The authors have done a worthy job of combining popular science and sports into a work that features enough expertise on each topic to satisfy nerds and jocks alike. . . . The writers succeed in their task thanks to in-depth scientific knowledge, a wonderful grasp of football’s past and present, interviews with a wide array of experts, and witty prose. . . . [Newton’s Football is] fun and thought-provoking, proving that football is a mind game as much as it is a ball game.”—Publishers Weekly