Andy Staples

Return once again to the timeless account of the Permian Panthers of Odessa--the winningest high-school football team in Texas history. Odessa is not known to be a town big on dreams, but the Panthers help keep the hopes and dreams of this small, dusty town going. Socially and racially divided, its fragile economy follows the treacherous boom-bust path of the oil business. In bad times, the unemployment rate barrels out of control; in good times, its murder rate skyrockets. But every Friday night from September to December, when the Permian High School Panthers play football, this West Texas town becomes a place where dreams can come true. With frankness and compassion, H.G. Bissinger chronicles a season in the life of Odessa and shows how single-minded devotion to the team shapes the community and inspires--and sometimes shatters--the teenagers who wear the Panthers' uniforms.

Quarterback Dads love the attention. They love their son. They love football. But too often, they go overboard. In Quarterback Dads, you'll hear from a father who says his 14-year-old can become "the LeBron James" of football. Another who let his 13-year-old drive to the gym. Another who tweets so relentlessly, his son blocked him. And one who created a three-minute hype video of his kid for Facebook. When he was 6. The book provides a mix of jaw-dropping stories and advice for parents whose kids participate in youth sports. Joel Klatt and Brady Quinn are adamant that young athletes refrain from specializing. Play shortstop. Play point guard. Play tag. Illinois coach Bret Bielema suggests young QBs work on their communications skills - even acting. Northwestern's Pat Fitzgerald says it's essential to build a relationship with your son so "you'll know when it's time to push, when it's time to hug and when it's time to give 'em a kick in the britches." Longtime Chicago Tribune columnist Teddy Greenstein interviewed nearly 50 coaches, private quarterback trainers, recruiting analysts, top youth QBs, dads, sons and a few moms in his quest to paint a vivid picture of Quarterback Dads, whom ESPN's Pete Thamel described as "the most important power brokers in college football."

The Club is the previously untold inside story of how English soccer’s Premier League became the wildest, richest, most popular sports product on the planet. This is a sports and business tale of how money, ambition, and twenty-five years of drama remade an ancient institution into a twenty-first-century entertainment empire. 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 two hundred countries, all while the league struggles to preserve its English soul. Deeply researched and drawing on one hundred exclusive interviews, including the key decision makers at every major English team, The Club is the definitive and wildly entertaining narrative of how the Premier League took over the world.

"One of the most insightful books ever written about college football." - The New York Times "Easily among the best sports books of the new millennium." - Paul Finebaum, columnist and radio host In this unprecedented look at college football’s secret season, Bruce Feldman rips the cover off the game’s frenzied pursuit of raw talent, taking you deep inside the SEC war room of recruiting legend Ed Orgeron,the combustible Cajun who helped build national championship teams at the University of Miami and at USC. In a stunning, blow-by-blow account of the year leading up to National Signing Day 2007, the award-winning journalist shadows Orgeron and his Ole Miss assistants as they set about hunting high school students, pleading, plotting, and inventing ways to lure them to their sleepy Oxford campus. Packed with candid confessions and outrageous off-the-field action, Meat Market makes what happens on the field seem almost tame by comparison. From the Trade Paperback edition.