• Like a Rose

  • Life Lessons from a Training Camp with Hank Stram and the Kansas City Chiefs
  • By: Rick Telander
  • Narrated by: Scott Thomsen
  • Length: 2 hrs and 35 mins
  • 4.6 out of 5 stars (5 ratings)

Prime logo Prime members: New to Audible?
Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Premium Plus auto-renews for $14.95/mo after 30 days. Cancel anytime.
Like a Rose  By  cover art

Like a Rose

By: Rick Telander
Narrated by: Scott Thomsen
Try for $0.00

$14.95/month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy for $6.95

Buy for $6.95

Pay using card ending in
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and Amazon's Privacy Notice. Taxes where applicable.

Editorial reviews

Strap on your helmet, pull on your pads, and get ready to hit the field with this simultaneously reflective and rip-roaring memoir about author Rick Telander’s brief pro football career: his time training with the NFL’s Kansas City Chiefs.

Noted Chicago Sun-Times sports writer Telander’s Like a Rose: Life Lessons from a Training Camp with Hank Stram and the Kansas City Chiefs is based on journal entries which he produced while striving for professional sports success, but contains lessons for any listeners, regardless of their prowess with the old pigskin. Actor Scott Thomsen brings a great humorous energy to his performance of this work, emphasizing Telander’s highs and empathizing with his lows. A truly feel-good listen about sports, family, and fanaticism!

Publisher's summary

"Football is, at heart, such a brutal, harsh game. Only someone who truly loves it and truly writes so very well can somehow make it sound lovely. Rick Telander does." (Frank Deford, National Public Radio, Sports Illustrated, HBO's Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel)

More than 30 years ago, acclaimed author and Chicago Sun-Times sports columnist Rick Telander was drafted out of Northwestern University by a Kansas City Chiefs team filled with future Pro Football Hall of Famers and coached by the legendary Hank Stram. In 2004, Telander found the tattered, spiral-bound journal he kept while in that training camp and, after rereading the entries he kept until being cut from the team, was amazed and moved by the life lessons he took away from that once-in-a-lifetime experience and how they can be applied to people’s lives today.

In Like a Rose, Rick Telander reproduces his training-camp journal, following each entry with his views today on how those unique events and the heartbreak of not being able to fulfill his NFL dream helped propel him into a life as one of the country’s most highly respected and well-known sportswriters. Telander, whose other books include Heaven Is a Playground, ranked as the 15th-best sports book of all time by Sports Illustrated, hopes to show how a game some see as being violent can instead offer lessons that people from any walk of life can understand. He also promises to explain the poignancy behind the enigmatic title, Like a Rose.

©2004, 2012 Rick Telander (P)2012 Audible, Inc.

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.

More from the same

What listeners say about Like a Rose

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    3
  • 4 Stars
    2
  • 3 Stars
    0
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0
Performance
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    1
  • 4 Stars
    2
  • 3 Stars
    1
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0
Story
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    1
  • 4 Stars
    2
  • 3 Stars
    1
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.