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The League
- How Five Rivals Created the NFL and Launched a Sports Empire
- Narrated by: Daniel Thomas May
- Length: 11 hrs and 50 mins
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From Monday Night Football to Super Bowl Sunday, the NFL is a dominating force in the lives of millions of fans who tune in and passionately cheer for their favorite teams. And when the games are over, the conversation is just getting started. Who's the greatest player of all time? Which coaches truly shaped the game we known and love today? Why is professional football such an undeniable part of our culture? Three-time Super Bowl winner Michael Lombardi has done it all—from scout to executive to coach—and now he sets the record straight on these questions and more.
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Publisher's summary
The epic tale of the five owners who shepherded the NFL through its tumultuous early decades and built the most popular sport in America
The National Football League is a towering, distinctly American colossus spewing out $14 billion in annual revenue. But it was not always a success. In The League, John Eisenberg focuses on the pioneering sportsmen who kept the league alive in the 1920s, 1930s, and 1940s, when its challenges were many and its survival was not guaranteed. At the time, college football, baseball, boxing, and horseracing dominated America's sports scene. Art Rooney, George Halas, Tim Mara, George Preston Marshall, and Bert Bell believed in pro football when few others did and ultimately succeeded only because at critical junctures each sacrificed the short-term success of his team for the longer-term good of the league. At once a history of a sport and a remarkable story of business ingenuity, The League is an essential listen for any fan of our true national pastime.
Critic reviews
"[A] deeply researched, surprise-on-every-page, and altogether marvelous new book"—Weekly Standard
Featured Article: Get Ready for Kickoff—Tackle These 25 Essential Football Listens Before the Big Game
Queue up one of these listens while you place your bets and prep the nachos. Whether you're already getting your jersey and corresponding face paint ready or you're a casual fan more interested in the commercials and finger foods, these 25 fanfare-worthy, football-focused listens are sure to amp up your team spirit—and help you bide time through the off-season too. Discover some listens you won't want to miss.
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 52
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 50
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 50
In the 1960s, on the heels of the “Greatest Game Ever Played”, professional football began to flourish across the country - except in Texas, where college football was still the only game in town. But in an unlikely series of events, two young oil tycoons started their own professional football franchises in Dallas the very same year: the NFL’s Dallas Cowboys, and, as part of a new upstart league designed to thwart the NFL’s hold on the game, the Dallas Texans of the AFL. Almost overnight, a bitter feud was born.
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2 out of 5 stars
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Magnamonious?
- By steve finkelstein on 03-01-21
By: John Eisenberg
-
The Yucks
- Two Years in Tampa with the Losingest Team in NFL History
- By: Jason Vuic
- Narrated by: Patrick Lawlor
- Length: 7 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 52
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 45
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 45
Long before their first Super Bowl victory in 2003, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers did something no NFL team had ever done before and that none will ever likely do again: They lost 26 games in a row. It started in 1976, in their first season as an expansion team, and it lasted until the penultimate game of the 1977 season, when they defeated Archie Manning and the New Orleans Saints on the road. It was the beginning of a new streak for a team that had come to be called "The Yucks".
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5 out of 5 stars
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Just what you want.
- By Shane King on 03-28-23
By: Jason Vuic
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The Gipper
- George Gipp, Knute Rockne, and the Dramatic Rise of Notre Dame Football
- By: Jack Cavanaugh
- Narrated by: Nancy Linari
- Length: 9 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 54
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 48
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 48
Win one for The Gipper. Has there ever been a better-known and widely-used exhortative phrase in sports? Not likely. But who was the "Gipper", this mythical-like sports figure whose nickname has aroused, in turn, awe, wonderment, curiosity, and amusement since the second decade of the 20th century, and why is his story important? Answering those questions is the formidable task taken on here by veteran sportswriter Jack Cavanaugh.
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3 out of 5 stars
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Not sure why my grade 1 teacher was reading this
- By Thomas on 07-23-13
By: Jack Cavanaugh
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Rising Tide
- Bear Bryant, Joe Namath, and Dixie's Last Quarter
- By: Randy Roberts, Ed Krzemienski
- Narrated by: Alan Sklar
- Length: 15 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 43
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 41
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 39
The extraordinary story of how Coach Paul "Bear" Bryant and Joe Namath, his star quarterback at the University of Alabama, led the Crimson Tide to victory and transformed football into a truly national pastime. During the bloodiest years of the civil rights movement, Bear Bryant and Joe Namath - two of the most iconic and controversial figures in American sports - changed the game of college football forever.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Love Alabama football? Read this!!
- By Miss Faulk on 07-16-15
By: Randy Roberts, and others
-
Football for a Buck
- The Crazy Rise and Crazier Demise of the USFL
- By: Jeff Pearlman
- Narrated by: Joel Richards
- Length: 14 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 482
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 418
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 416
The United States Football League was the last football league to not merely challenge the mighty NFL but also to cause it to collectively shudder. It spanned three seasons, featured as many as 18 teams, secured multiple television deals, drew millions of fans, and launched the careers of legends - but then it died beneath the weight of a particularly egotistical and bombastic owner, a New York businessman named Donald Trump. Jeff Pearlman draws on more than 400 interviews to unearth all the salty, untold stories of one of the craziest sports entities to have ever captivated America.
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5 out of 5 stars
-
Ahhh the USFL
- By Film Lover on 10-11-18
By: Jeff Pearlman
-
Players
- The Story of Sports and Money - and the Visionaries Who Fought to Create a Revolution
- By: Matthew Futterman
- Narrated by: George Newbern
- Length: 9 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 47
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 43
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 43
For fans of Michael Lewis, the astounding untold story of how professional sports transformed, in the span of a single generation, from a cottage industry into a massive global business. In the cash-soaked world of contemporary sports, where every season brings news of higher salaries, endorsement deals, and television contracts, it is mind-boggling to remember that as recently as the 1970s elite athletes earned so little money that many were forced to work second jobs in the off-season to make ends meet.
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4 out of 5 stars
-
Starts slow...
- By John on 08-09-16
-
12
- The Inside Story of Tom Brady's Fight for Redemption
- By: Casey Sherman, Dave Wedge
- Narrated by: Greg Baglia
- Length: 8 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 94
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 80
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 81
12 is the propulsive story of this gritty comeback. It's a drama that unfolds in the locker room, the court room, and under the brightest lights in all of sports - the Super Bowl. Now for the first time, listeners will have an exclusive look into Tom Brady's experience and the NFL's shocking strangle-hold on their players. With unprecedented access to Brady himself, his teammates, and his lawyers, we will see just how a football legend went up against one of the largest corporations in the world to stage the greatest comeback in NFL history and emerge a god of the gridiron.
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5 out of 5 stars
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He didn't do it
- By Rigid on 08-03-18
By: Casey Sherman, and others
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Saban
- The Making of a Coach
- By: Monte Burke
- Narrated by: Barry Abrams
- Length: 12 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 442
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 388
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 387
As the head coach of the University of Alabama's football team, Nick Saban is perhaps the most influential - and controversial - man in the sport. Unpredictable in his professional loyalties, uncompromising in his vision, and unyielding in his pursuit of perfection, the highest-paid coach in college football has changed the face of the game. His program-building vision has delivered packed stadiums, rabid fans, legions of detractors, countless NFL draft picks, and a total of four championships.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Narrator is awful.
- By kenneth on 08-12-15
By: Monte Burke
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NFL Century
- The One-Hundred-Year Rise of America's Greatest Sports League
- By: Joe Horrigan
- Narrated by: Mark Deakins
- Length: 11 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 114
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 95
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 95
The NFL has come a long way from its founding in Canton, Ohio, in 1920. In the 100 years since that fateful day, football has become America’s most popular and lucrative professional sport. The former scrappy upstart league that struggled to stay afloat has survived a host of challenges to produce American icons like Vince Lombardi, Joe Montana, and Tom Brady. It is an extraordinary and entertaining history that could be told only by Joe Horrigan, former executive director of the Pro Football Hall of Fame and perhaps the greatest living historian of the NFL.
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4 out of 5 stars
-
Details of the formation and growth of the NFL
- By Donald J. Bentley on 03-17-24
By: Joe Horrigan
-
Boys Among Men
- How the Prep-to-Pro Generation Redefined the NBA and Sparked a Basketball Revolution
- By: Jonathan Abrams
- Narrated by: Mirron Willis
- Length: 11 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 86
-
Performance3.5 out of 5 stars 81
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 81
When Kevin Garnett shocked the world by announcing that he would not be attending college - as young basketball prodigies were expected to do - but instead would enter the 1995 NBA draft directly from high school, he blazed a trail for a generation of teenage basketball players to head straight for the pros. That trend would continue until the NBA instituted an age limit in 2005, requiring all players to attend college or another developmental program for at least one year.
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3 out of 5 stars
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Bad pronunciation
- By K. Spearman on 07-03-16
By: Jonathan Abrams
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Scribe
- My Life in Sports
- By: Bob Ryan
- Narrated by: Bob Ryan
- Length: 11 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 82
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 72
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Story4 out of 5 stars 74
Ever since he joined the sports department of the Boston Globe in 1968, sports enthusiasts have been blessed with the writing and reporting of Bob Ryan. Tony Kornheiser calls him the "quintessential American sportswriter". For the past 25 years, he has also been a regular on various ESPN shows, especially The Sports Reporters, spreading his knowledge and enthusiasm for sports of all kinds.
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2 out of 5 stars
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No my idea of a memoir
- By Michael Friedman on 12-19-14
By: Bob Ryan
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The Club
- How the English Premier League Became the Wildest, Richest, Most Disruptive Force in Sports
- By: Joshua Robinson, Jonathan Clegg
- Narrated by: Shaun Grindell
- Length: 13 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 507
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 449
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 445
No one knew it when their experiment began, but without any particular genius or acumen, the motley cast of billionaires and hucksters behind the modern Premier League struck gold. Pretty soon, everyone wanted to try their luck, from Russian oligarchs to Emirati sheikhs, American tycoons, and Asian Tiger titans. Some succeeded beyond their wildest dreams. Some lost everything. Today, players are sold for tens of millions, clubs are valued in the billions, and games are beamed out to nearly 200 countries, all while the league struggles to preserve its English soul.
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4 out of 5 stars
-
Read don't listen
- By JR3 on 01-23-19
By: Joshua Robinson, and others
-
The National Team (Updated and Expanded Edition)
- The Inside Story of the Women Who Dreamed Big, Defied the Odds, and Changed Soccer
- By: Caitlin Murray
- Narrated by: Andi Arndt
- Length: 11 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 182
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 160
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 158
The US Women’s National Soccer Team has won three World Cups and four Olympic gold medals, set record TV ratings, drawn massive crowds, earned huge revenues for FIFA and US Soccer, and helped to redefine the place of women in sports. But despite their dominance, and their rosters of superstar players, they’ve endured striking inequality: low pay, poor playing conditions, and limited opportunities to play in professional leagues.
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1 out of 5 stars
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Too much swearing
- By Rebecca Sheldon on 01-23-20
By: Caitlin Murray
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The Breaks of the Game
- By: David Halberstam
- Narrated by: Brian Troxell
- Length: 17 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 304
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 266
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 265
A New York Times best seller, David Halberstam's The Breaks of the Game focuses on one grim season (1979-80) in the life of the Bill Walton-led Portland Trail Blazers, a team that only three years before had been NBA champions. The tactile authenticity of Halberstam's knowledge of the basketball world is unrivaled. Yet he is writing here about far more than just basketball. This is a story about a place in our society where power, money, and talent collide and sometimes corrupt, a place where both national obsessions and naked greed are exposed.
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5 out of 5 stars
-
This book is a must read for all NBA junkies.
- By Kyle on 06-13-18
By: David Halberstam
-
The "Down Goes Brown" History of the NHL
- The World's Most Beautiful Sport, the World's Most Ridiculous League
- By: Sean McIndoe
- Narrated by: Sean McIndoe
- Length: 7 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 229
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 218
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 217
Sean McIndoe of Down Goes Brown, one of hockey's favorite and funniest writers, takes aim at the game's most memorable moments - especially if they're memorable for the wrong reasons - in this warts-and-all history of the NHL.
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5 out of 5 stars
-
Great and funny book on the NHL
- By LSmith on 01-11-19
By: Sean McIndoe
-
War Room
- The Legacy of Bill Belichick and the Art of Building the Perfect Team
- By: Michael Holley
- Narrated by: Mirron Willis
- Length: 12 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 76
-
Performance3.5 out of 5 stars 65
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 64
Bill Belichick is one of the titans of today's game of football. Now, sports commentator and best-selling author Michael Holley follows three NFL teams - the New England Patriots, Kansas City Chiefs, and Atlanta Falcons - from training camp 2010 through the Super Bowl and into the April draft, opening a new window into Belichick's influence on the game. This one-of-a-kind exploration takes football fans behind the scenes of the most popular sport in America, with unprecedented insider access to the head coaches, scouts, trainers, and players.
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3 out of 5 stars
-
Narrator choice - HUH?
- By Ryan Mullaney on 03-25-18
By: Michael Holley
-
The Missing Ring
- How Bear Bryant and the 1966 Alabama Crimson Tide Were Denied College Football's Most Elusive Prize
- By: Keith Dunnavant
- Narrated by: Jay Snyder
- Length: 13 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 33
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 31
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 31
Very few institutions in American sports can match the enduring excellence of the University of Alabama football program. Across a wide swath of the last century, the tradition-rich Crimson Tide has claimed twelve national championships, captured 25 conference titles, finished 34 times among the country's top ten, and played in 53 bowl games.
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5 out of 5 stars
-
Fantastic
- By John Rogers on 03-29-18
By: Keith Dunnavant
-
Fall from Grace
- The Truth and Tragedy of "Shoeless Joe" Jackson
- By: Tim Hornbaker
- Narrated by: Malcolm Hillgartner
- Length: 10 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 122
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 108
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 106
Considered by Ty Cobb as the "finest natural hitter in the history of the game," "Shoeless Joe" Jackson is ranked with the greatest players to ever step onto a baseball diamond. With a career .356 batting average - which is still ranked third all-time - the man from Pickens County, South Carolina, was on his way to becoming one of the greatest players in the sport's history. That is until the "Black Sox" scandal of 1919, which shook baseball to its core.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Entertaining and Educational
- By Colorfinger on 06-14-19
By: Tim Hornbaker
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NFL Century
- The One-Hundred-Year Rise of America's Greatest Sports League
- By: Joe Horrigan
- Narrated by: Mark Deakins
- Length: 11 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 114
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 95
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 95
The NFL has come a long way from its founding in Canton, Ohio, in 1920. In the 100 years since that fateful day, football has become America’s most popular and lucrative professional sport. The former scrappy upstart league that struggled to stay afloat has survived a host of challenges to produce American icons like Vince Lombardi, Joe Montana, and Tom Brady. It is an extraordinary and entertaining history that could be told only by Joe Horrigan, former executive director of the Pro Football Hall of Fame and perhaps the greatest living historian of the NFL.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Details of the formation and growth of the NFL
- By Donald J. Bentley on 03-17-24
By: Joe Horrigan
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The Wingmen
- The Unlikely, Unusual, Unbreakable Friendship Between John Glenn and Ted Williams
- By: Adam Lazarus
- Narrated by: Barry Abrams
- Length: 9 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 20
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 18
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 18
It was 1953, the Korean War in full throttle, when two men—already experts in their fields—crossed the fabled 38th Parallel into Communist airspace aboard matching Panther jets. John Glenn was an ambitious operations officer with fifty-nine World War II combat missions under his belt. His wingman was Ted Williams, the two-time American League Triple Crown winner who, at the pinnacle of his career, was inexplicably recalled to active service in the United States Marine Corps. Together, the affable flier and the tempestuous left fielder soared into North Korea, creating a death-defying bond.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Great insight into the men's accomplishments and friendships
- By Jason Houghton on 05-08-24
By: Adam Lazarus
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Playmakers
- How the NFL Really Works (and Doesn't)
- By: Mike Florio
- Narrated by: Dan Woren
- Length: 12 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 232
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 195
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 190
In recent decades, the NFL has simultaneously become an athletic, financial, and cultural powerhouse—and a League that can’t seem to go more than a few weeks without a scandal. Whether it’s about domestic violence, performance-enhancing drugs, racism, or head trauma, the NFL always seems to be in some kind of trouble. Yet no matter the drama, the TV networks keep showing games, the revenue keeps rising, and the viewers keep tuning in.
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3 out of 5 stars
-
Disappointed.
- By S Werley on 03-22-22
By: Mike Florio
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The Cloudbuster Nine
- The Untold Story of Ted Williams and the Baseball Team That Helped Win World War II
- By: Anne R. Keene, Claudia Williams - foreword
- Narrated by: Anne R. Keene
- Length: 10 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 41
-
Performance3.5 out of 5 stars 33
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 33
In 1943, while the New York Yankees and St. Louis Cardinals were winning pennants and meeting in that year's World Series, one of the nation's strongest baseball teams practiced on a skinned-out college field in the heart of North Carolina. Ted Williams, Johnny Pesky, and Johnny Sain were among a cadre of fighter-pilot cadets who wore the Cloudbuster Nine baseball jersey at an elite Navy training school at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Great book about the little known history of baseball.
- By Hays Collins on 05-26-24
By: Anne R. Keene, and others
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Football Done Right
- Setting the Record Straight on the Coaches, Players, and History of the NFL
- By: Michael Lombardi
- Narrated by: Dan Woren, Michael Lombardi, Jim Nantz
- Length: 13 hrs
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 45
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 41
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 41
From Monday Night Football to Super Bowl Sunday, the NFL is a dominating force in the lives of millions of fans who tune in and passionately cheer for their favorite teams. And when the games are over, the conversation is just getting started. Who's the greatest player of all time? Which coaches truly shaped the game we known and love today? Why is professional football such an undeniable part of our culture? Three-time Super Bowl winner Michael Lombardi has done it all—from scout to executive to coach—and now he sets the record straight on these questions and more.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Great overview on history. Not the best top 100 list.
- By Rajiv on 09-05-23
By: Michael Lombardi
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Rocket Men
- The Black Quarterbacks Who Revolutionized Pro Football
- By: John Eisenberg
- Narrated by: Brad Sanders
- Length: 14 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 3
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 3
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 3
In Rocket Men, John Eisenberg offers the definitive history of Black quarterbacks in the NFL—men who shaped not only the history of football but the cause of civil rights in America. From early pioneers like Fritz Pollard to groundbreaking modern standouts like Marlin Briscoe and James “Shack” Harris, Black quarterbacks had to be twice as good as their white counterparts to get playing time—and even then, many never got that chance. That didn’t begin to change in earnest until the 1990s and the 2000s, when racist notions about what Black quarterbacks supposedly couldn’t do began to fade.
By: John Eisenberg
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NFL Century
- The One-Hundred-Year Rise of America's Greatest Sports League
- By: Joe Horrigan
- Narrated by: Mark Deakins
- Length: 11 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 114
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 95
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 95
The NFL has come a long way from its founding in Canton, Ohio, in 1920. In the 100 years since that fateful day, football has become America’s most popular and lucrative professional sport. The former scrappy upstart league that struggled to stay afloat has survived a host of challenges to produce American icons like Vince Lombardi, Joe Montana, and Tom Brady. It is an extraordinary and entertaining history that could be told only by Joe Horrigan, former executive director of the Pro Football Hall of Fame and perhaps the greatest living historian of the NFL.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Details of the formation and growth of the NFL
- By Donald J. Bentley on 03-17-24
By: Joe Horrigan
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The Wingmen
- The Unlikely, Unusual, Unbreakable Friendship Between John Glenn and Ted Williams
- By: Adam Lazarus
- Narrated by: Barry Abrams
- Length: 9 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 20
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 18
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 18
It was 1953, the Korean War in full throttle, when two men—already experts in their fields—crossed the fabled 38th Parallel into Communist airspace aboard matching Panther jets. John Glenn was an ambitious operations officer with fifty-nine World War II combat missions under his belt. His wingman was Ted Williams, the two-time American League Triple Crown winner who, at the pinnacle of his career, was inexplicably recalled to active service in the United States Marine Corps. Together, the affable flier and the tempestuous left fielder soared into North Korea, creating a death-defying bond.
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5 out of 5 stars
-
Great insight into the men's accomplishments and friendships
- By Jason Houghton on 05-08-24
By: Adam Lazarus
-
Playmakers
- How the NFL Really Works (and Doesn't)
- By: Mike Florio
- Narrated by: Dan Woren
- Length: 12 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 232
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 195
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Story4 out of 5 stars 190
In recent decades, the NFL has simultaneously become an athletic, financial, and cultural powerhouse—and a League that can’t seem to go more than a few weeks without a scandal. Whether it’s about domestic violence, performance-enhancing drugs, racism, or head trauma, the NFL always seems to be in some kind of trouble. Yet no matter the drama, the TV networks keep showing games, the revenue keeps rising, and the viewers keep tuning in.
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3 out of 5 stars
-
Disappointed.
- By S Werley on 03-22-22
By: Mike Florio
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The Cloudbuster Nine
- The Untold Story of Ted Williams and the Baseball Team That Helped Win World War II
- By: Anne R. Keene, Claudia Williams - foreword
- Narrated by: Anne R. Keene
- Length: 10 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 41
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Performance3.5 out of 5 stars 33
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Story4 out of 5 stars 33
In 1943, while the New York Yankees and St. Louis Cardinals were winning pennants and meeting in that year's World Series, one of the nation's strongest baseball teams practiced on a skinned-out college field in the heart of North Carolina. Ted Williams, Johnny Pesky, and Johnny Sain were among a cadre of fighter-pilot cadets who wore the Cloudbuster Nine baseball jersey at an elite Navy training school at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Great book about the little known history of baseball.
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By: Anne R. Keene, and others
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Football Done Right
- Setting the Record Straight on the Coaches, Players, and History of the NFL
- By: Michael Lombardi
- Narrated by: Dan Woren, Michael Lombardi, Jim Nantz
- Length: 13 hrs
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 45
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 41
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 41
From Monday Night Football to Super Bowl Sunday, the NFL is a dominating force in the lives of millions of fans who tune in and passionately cheer for their favorite teams. And when the games are over, the conversation is just getting started. Who's the greatest player of all time? Which coaches truly shaped the game we known and love today? Why is professional football such an undeniable part of our culture? Three-time Super Bowl winner Michael Lombardi has done it all—from scout to executive to coach—and now he sets the record straight on these questions and more.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Great overview on history. Not the best top 100 list.
- By Rajiv on 09-05-23
By: Michael Lombardi
-
Rocket Men
- The Black Quarterbacks Who Revolutionized Pro Football
- By: John Eisenberg
- Narrated by: Brad Sanders
- Length: 14 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 3
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 3
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Story5 out of 5 stars 3
In Rocket Men, John Eisenberg offers the definitive history of Black quarterbacks in the NFL—men who shaped not only the history of football but the cause of civil rights in America. From early pioneers like Fritz Pollard to groundbreaking modern standouts like Marlin Briscoe and James “Shack” Harris, Black quarterbacks had to be twice as good as their white counterparts to get playing time—and even then, many never got that chance. That didn’t begin to change in earnest until the 1990s and the 2000s, when racist notions about what Black quarterbacks supposedly couldn’t do began to fade.
By: John Eisenberg
-
You Can't Make This Up
- Miracles, Memories, and the Perfect Marriage of Sports and Television
- By: Al Michaels, L. Jon Wertheim
- Narrated by: Al Michaels, Ray Porter
- Length: 9 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 813
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 723
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 722
In this highly entertaining and insightful memoir, one of television’s most respected broadcasters interweaves the story of his life and career with lively firsthand tales of some of the most thrilling events and fascinating figures in modern sports.
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5 out of 5 stars
-
Great, everything I hoped for, but...
- By Shortfellow on 11-30-14
By: Al Michaels, and others
-
America's Game
- The Epic Story of How Pro Football Captured a Nation
- By: Michael MacCambridge
- Narrated by: Sean Runnette
- Length: 22 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 32
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 25
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 24
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.
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5 out of 5 stars
-
The most thorough history of the NFL
- By Julie K. O'reilly on 03-17-24
-
Gridiron Genius
- By: Michael Lombardi, Bill Belichick - foreword
- Narrated by: Michael Lombardi
- Length: 8 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 834
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 725
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 717
Former NFL general manager and three-time Super Bowl-winner Michael Lombardi reveals what makes football organizations tick at the championship level. From personnel to practice to game-day decisions that win titles, Lombardi shares what he learned working with coaching legends Bill Walsh of the 49ers, Al Davis of the Raiders, and Bill Belichick of the Patriots, among others, during his three decades in football.
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5 out of 5 stars
-
please please hire a reader for this amazing book
- By Christopher J. Burden on 10-10-18
By: Michael Lombardi, and others
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Football for a Buck
- The Crazy Rise and Crazier Demise of the USFL
- By: Jeff Pearlman
- Narrated by: Joel Richards
- Length: 14 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 482
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 418
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 416
The United States Football League was the last football league to not merely challenge the mighty NFL but also to cause it to collectively shudder. It spanned three seasons, featured as many as 18 teams, secured multiple television deals, drew millions of fans, and launched the careers of legends - but then it died beneath the weight of a particularly egotistical and bombastic owner, a New York businessman named Donald Trump. Jeff Pearlman draws on more than 400 interviews to unearth all the salty, untold stories of one of the craziest sports entities to have ever captivated America.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Ahhh the USFL
- By Film Lover on 10-11-18
By: Jeff Pearlman
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The Greatest Beer Run Ever
- A Memoir of Friendship, Loyalty, and War
- By: John "Chick" Donohue, J.T. Molloy
- Narrated by: Malcolm Hillgartner
- Length: 5 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,955
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,698
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 1,689
One night in 1967, 26-year-old John Donohue - known as Chick - was out with friends, drinking in a New York City bar. The friends gathered there had lost loved ones in Vietnam. Now, they watched as anti-war protesters turned on the troops themselves. One neighborhood patriot came up with an inspired - some would call it insane - idea. Someone should sneak into Vietnam, track down their buddies there, give them messages of support from back home, and share a few laughs over a can of beer. It would be the Greatest Beer Run Ever.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Really a good book. Brings back memories
- By Bruce on 06-21-21
By: John "Chick" Donohue, and others
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Wish It Lasted Forever
- Life with the Larry Bird Celtics
- By: Dan Shaughnessy
- Narrated by: Dan Shaughnessy
- Length: 6 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 240
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 215
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 217
Before primetime ESPN coverage, lucrative branding deals like Air Jordans, and $40 million annual player salaries, there was the NBA of the 1970s and 1980s. Enter Dan Shaughnessy, then the beat reporter for The Boston Globe who covered the Boston Celtics every day from 1982 to1986. It was a time when reporters travelled with professional teams—flying the same commercial airlines, riding the same buses, and staying in the same hotels. Drawing on unprecedented access and personal experiences, Shaughnessy takes us inside the legendary Larry Bird-led Celtics teams.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Enjoyable Read
- By Donna Daily on 12-03-21
By: Dan Shaughnessy
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Madden
- A Biography
- By: Bryan Burwell
- Narrated by: Mark Moseley
- Length: 8 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 188
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 164
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Story5 out of 5 stars 165
Several years after his playing career was cut short by injury before it had a chance to really begin, John Madden was hired as an assistant coach by the Oakland Raiders, one of professional football's most iconoclastic franchises. Two years later he was named the team's head coach and proceeded to lead the Raiders to five championship games in his first seven seasons. Following years of heartbreaking losses in some of history's most memorable games.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Essential For Raider And Madden Fans
- By MovieGuy on 03-08-16
By: Bryan Burwell
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The Football 100
- Sports Series, Book 1
- By: The Athletic, Dan Kaufman
- Narrated by: Jamie Lincoln Smith
- Length: 18 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 12
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 11
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 11
At The Athletic, home to the best newsroom in sports, this question would become a labor of love for dozens of the best football writers on the planet, including Mike Sando and Dan Pompei. Over the course of 100 riveting profiles—each drawing upon unparalleled access and superlative storytelling to offer intimate perspective on what made the greatest players tick—these writers reveal their findings. In the process, they also uncover the history of football.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Awesome 👏🏾
- By Eric on 05-24-24
By: The Athletic, and others
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The Forgotten 500
- By: Gregory A. Freeman
- Narrated by: Patrick Lawlor
- Length: 10 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,851
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,391
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 1,396
Here is the astonishing, never-before-told story of the greatest rescue mission of World War II: when the OSS set out to recover more than 500 airmen trapped behind enemy lines. During a bombing campaign, hundreds of American airmen were shot down in Nazi-occupied Yugoslavia. Local Serbian villagers risked their own lives to give refuge to the soldiers, and for months the airmen lived in hiding, waiting for rescue.
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4 out of 5 stars
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an amazing tale
- By Ron on 10-28-07
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Guts and Genius
- The Story of Three Unlikely Coaches Who Came to Dominate the NFL in the '80s
- By: Bob Glauber
- Narrated by: Jamie Renell
- Length: 10 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall5 out of 5 stars 150
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 133
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Story5 out of 5 stars 131
Bill Walsh, Joe Gibbs, and Bill Parcells dominated what may go down as the greatest decade in pro football history, leading their teams to a combined eight championships and developing some of the most gifted players of all time in the process. In interviews with more than 150 players, coaches, family members and friends, Guts and Genius digs into the careers of three men who overcame their own insecurities and doubts to build Hall of Fame legacies that transformed their generation and continue to impact today's NFL.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Great history
- By Michael G. Salardino on 12-10-19
By: Bob Glauber
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The System
- The Glory and Scandal of Big-Time College Football
- By: Jeff Benedict, Armen Keteyian
- Narrated by: Mark Deakins
- Length: 17 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 504
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 438
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 440
College football has never been more popular - or more chaotic. Millions fill 100,000-seat stadiums every Saturday; tens of millions more watch on television every weekend. The 2013 Discover BCS National Championship game between Notre Dame and Alabama had a viewership of 26.4 million people, second only to the Super Bowl. Billions of dollars from television deals now flow into the game; the average budget for a top-ten team is $80 million; top coaches make more than $3 million a year; the highest paid, more than $5 million.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Gripping Inside Look at an Industry to Itself
- By W Perry Hall on 01-23-14
By: Jeff Benedict, and others
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Out of the Pocket
- Football, Fatherhood, and College GameDay Saturdays
- By: Kirk Herbstreit, Gene Wojciechowski - contributor
- Narrated by: Kirk Herbstreit
- Length: 12 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall5 out of 5 stars 605
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 539
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Story5 out of 5 stars 538
Kirk Herbstreit is a reflection of the sport he loves, a reflection of his football-crazed home state of Ohio, where he was a high school star and Ohio State captain, and a reflection of another Ohio State football captain thirty-two years earlier: his dad Jim, who battled Alzheimer’s disease until his death in 2016.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Great read for true college FB fans
- By Bbmc on 08-30-21
By: Kirk Herbstreit, and others
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What listeners say about The League
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Daniel Mosca
- 11-08-18
what a great book. loved it completely.
had a great time reading it. Had some history I was unaware of in the NFL. if you're a football fan of must-read.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- S. Jackson
- 01-04-19
Great listen.
Very good historical account of the early days of the NFL. Highly recommended for fans of the game.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- dustin
- 09-24-19
loved it
love the history of the NFL definitely worth checking out of you are interested in how it all started.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Paul
- 01-24-19
Must for NFL fans
Great historical tale of how not only League was shaped but also how the Rules of the Sport were shaped for the better. A must for any NFL fan, especially fans of the Bears, Eagles, Giants, Redskins, and Steelers.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- steve finkelstein
- 01-21-21
Veeck as in Wreck
The book is fascinating. It is a wonderful listen. However, the narrator needs to be able to know how to pronounce names correctly, please
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Geoff
- 05-23-23
Great history of the NFL
If you are interested in the story of the NFL, you will enjoy this book.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Michael G. Salardino
- 03-11-24
Almost a miracle
That five very different men could continue to be intensely competitive yet have the wisdom and foresight to put league above team is almost a miracle. They could not have known what they were creating. Without their unselfishness this would not have happened. As a Catholic, I was also impressed that three of them were devout Catholics. I am also impressed that the families of those three continue to own those teams today! A very great book!
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Clint Zenk
- 06-23-20
Great read about NFL's birth
I read this book after reading Eisenberg's other piece 'The Ten Gallon War' but I would suggest reading this one first as it chronologically fits better and you'll then know the players in that one referenced outside the state of Texas that influenced that sports conflict.
This book really shows how the NFL, from its birth, has always been about collective success and survival. Some of that out of necessity, some of it out of trying to maintain competition balance. I always wondered why MLB seems to be everyone out for themselves from players to even owners amongst themselves whereas the NFL has never seemed to have that problem & has seen collective success over time develop long before the salary cap/CBA came to be. This book really illustrates how, despite the different personalities who came together to form the league, that cohesion was always the focus even in the midst of some owners hurting their own team's opportunities in favor of others. George Halas remains the central figure not only as the Bears' owner but the guiding force behind that cohesion & collective effort. I truly want to read a biography about him now having finished this.
If you're looking for a book about how it takes different personalities for a team to succeed, this is a very nice read as well as a historical look at one of the greatest American sports.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Amazon Customer
- 02-23-20
ANY FAN WOULD LOVE THIS
This book is one that awakened my hunger to learn about football it should do the same for you .
The narration is perfect and the level of detail is good enough to make it seem like. you know the people involved.
The 5 owners focused om made the NFL what it is. Well worth the credit or the price.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Jasmine
- 05-08-23
Cool sports history
Definitely a fun read for any fan. Lots of great characterizations of football personalities and insight into key business moves/decisions.
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