Football: Great Writing about the National Sport

by Various, John Schulian (Editor)

Overview

Men’s Journal’s “Ultimate Football Reading List”

“First-rate” sports writing on American football from an all-star line-up that includes Red Smith, Jimmy Breslin, Michael Lewis, and more (Wall Street Journal)

Since football’s meteoric rise in the mid-twentieth century, the standout writers on the sport have gone behind and beyond the spectacle to reveal the complexity, the contradictions, and the deeper humanity at the heart of the game.

In a landmark collection, The Library of America brings together the very best of their work: gems of deadline reportage, incisive longform profiles of football’s storied figures, and autobiographical accounts by players and others close to the game. Celebrating the sport without shying away from its sometimes devastating personal and social costs, the forty-four pieces gathered here testify to football’s boundless capacity to generate outsized characters and memorable tales.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781598534177
Publisher:	Library of America
Publication date:	05/12/2015
Pages:	490
Product dimensions:	9.20(w) x 6.00(h) x 1.10(d)

About the Author

JOHN SCHULIAN  was a sports columnist for the Chicago Sun-Times and Philadelphia Daily News before moving to Hollywood, where he was, among other things, the co-creator of Xena: Warrior Princess. With George Kimball, he co-edited the Library of America anthology At the Fights. He is the author most recently of Sometimes They Even Shook Your Hand: Portraits of Champions Who Walked Among Us.

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The Ghost of the Gridiron: Red Grange Could Carry the Ball by W. C. HEINZ
(Continues…)

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Table of Contents

Preface to the Paperback Edition ix

Introduction John Schulian xi

Grantland Rice from The Tumult and the Shouting 1

The Ghost of the Gridiron W. C. Heinz 4

from The Game That Was: Johnny Blood Myron Cope 17

The Redskins' Longest Day Shirley Povich 25

The Most Important Thing Red Smith 28

The Lost Cause 30

from A Fan's Notes Frederick Exley 34

from Iron Men: Pat Summerall Stuart Leuthner 38

Moment of Truth Gary Smith 47

The Best There Ever Was Frank Deford 65

Concrete Charlie John Schulian 71

from When Pride Still Mattered David Maraniss 85

Greatness Jimmy Cannon 91

…The One Last Good One That Wasn't to Be Jimmy Breslin 94

from Paper Lion George Plimpton 102

An Upside-Down Game Dan Jenkins 112

A Whistle-Stop School with Big-Time Talent Jerry Izenberg 119

from Instant Replay Jerry Kramer Dick Schaap 135

from Fifth Quarter Jennifer Allen 144

Gale Sayers: The Hard Road Back Al Silverman 155

Don't Look Now… but the Funny Little League is No. 1 Jim Murray 167

from … And Every Day You Take Another Bite Larry Merchant 170

Butkus Arthur Kretchmer 179

Yesterday's Hero Paul Hemphill 203

Tom Landry: Melting the Plastic Man Gary Cart Wright 213

Smith Hates for It to End Like This Tom Archdeacon 224

Bear Bryant's Miracles Richard Price 229

A Matter of Life, and Sudden Death Rick Reilly 246

A Miracle in Miami Leigh Montville 259

from Friday Night Lights H. G. Bissinger 263

No Pain, No Game Mark Kram 272

Legends of the Fall Charles P. Pierce 285

The Minority Quarterback Ira Berkow 294

Flesh and Blood Peter Richmond 314

The Best Years of His Life John Ed Bradley 328

Pulled Pork & Pigskin: A Love Letter to Southern Football Wright Thompson 341

Atkins a Study in Pride and Pain Rick Telander 351

Broncos Earn Respect With Improbable Victory Pat Forde 355

The Kick Is Up and It's… a Career Killer Michael Lewis 360

G-L-O-R-Y! Jeanne Marie Laskas 377

from Slow Getting Up Nate Jackson 395

The Ferocious Life and Tragic Death of a Super Bowl Star Paul Solotaroff 401

Friday Night Tykes Bryan Curtis 413

Immaculate Memory Roy Blount Jr. 435

Sources and Acknowledgments 447

Index 451

Editorial Reviews

"I'd take the over on this being the finest football volume of all time. . . . Nearly everything will knock you off the readerly line of scrimmage." — Colin Fleming, San Francisco Chronicle

"This fall's load of football books is better than most: livelier, lighter on the lap. Most centrally there is Football: Great Writing About the National Sport, edited by John Schulian. It's a necessary anthology, filling a gap as authoritatively as Red Grange did." — Dwight Garner, The New York Times

"The Ultimate Football Reading List." — Men's Journal

“Editor John Schulian and the Library of America have produced an exceptional collection. It has long been the accepted wisdom that boxing and baseball are the two sports most likely to be associated with great writing. This book demonstrates that like a lot of accepted wisdom, that contention bears reconsideration.” — Bill Littlefield, NPR's Only a Game

“A tribute to the sublime beauty and ugliness of our national obsession.” — Christine Smallwood, Harper's Magazine

"Mr. Schulian has collected 44 pieces of first-rate writing, from Jimmy Breslin on Y. A. Tittle to Michael Lewis on Adam Vinatieri. Football fans and fans of great writing will love it." — Wall Street Journal

"Schulian includes press box legends like Red Smith, Jimmy Cannon, and Dan Jenkins in the book, along with some less predictable choices like Fred Exley and Richard Price. All told, it's a memorable mosaic, right down to the final piece by Roy Blount Jr., who finds on a visit to the current Pittsburgh Steelers that you can't go home again." — Doug Moe, Wisconsin State Journal

"Editor John Schulian does not turn away from the dark side of football, but neither does he forget the joy, inspiration, and even the humor to be found in the game." — The Christian Science Monitor

"It's a powerful package. But what distinguishes it from the usual rah-rah collections that greet every new season in almost every sport, are its surprises." — Rick Kogan, Chicago Tribune

From the Publisher

"It's a powerful package. But what distinguishes it from the usual rah-rah collections that greet every new season in almost every sport, are its surprises."

Rick Kogan

"Editor John Schulian does not turn away from the dark side of football, but neither does he forget the joy, inspiration, and even the humor to be found in the game."

The Christian Science Monitor

"Schulian includes press box legends like Red Smith, Jimmy Cannon, and Dan Jenkins in the book, along with some less predictable choices like Fred Exley and Richard Price. All told, it's a memorable mosaic, right down to the final piece by Roy Blount Jr., who finds on a visit to the current Pittsburgh Steelers that you can't go home again."

Doug Moe

"Mr. Schulian has collected 44 pieces of first-rate writing, from Jimmy Breslin on Y. A. Tittle to Michael Lewis on Adam Vinatieri. Football fans and fans of great writing will love it."

Wall Street Journal

“A tribute to the sublime beauty and ugliness of our national obsession.

Christine Smallwood

“Editor John Schulian and the Library of America have produced an exceptional collection. It has long been the accepted wisdom that boxing and baseball are the two sports most likely to be associated with great writing. This book demonstrates that like a lot of accepted wisdom, that contention bears reconsideration.

Bill Littlefield

"The Ultimate Football Reading List."

Men's Journal

"This fall's load of football books is better than most: livelier, lighter on the lap. Most centrally there is Football: Great Writing About the National Sport, edited by John Schulian. It's a necessary anthology, filling a gap as authoritatively as Red Grange did."

Dwight Garner

"I'd take the over on this being the finest football volume of all time. . . . Nearly everything will knock you off the readerly line of scrimmage."

Colin Fleming