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In this original and provocative study of contemporary African film and literature, Vlad Dima investigates the way that football and cinema express individual and collective fantasies, and highlights where football and cinema converge and diverge with regard to neocolonial fantasies. Shedding new light on both well-known and less familiar films by Mahamat-Saleh Haroun, Abderrahmane Sissako, Jean-Pierre Bekolo, Moussa Touré, Safi Faye, Cheick Doukouré, and Joseph Gaï Ramaka, among others, the study asks just whose fantasy is articulated in football and African cinema. Answering this question requires the exploration of body and identity issues, here through the metaphor of skin: fantasy as a skin; the football jersey as a skin; and ultimately film itself as a skin that has visual, aural, and haptic qualities. The neocolonial body is often depicted as suffering and in the process of being flattened or emptied. So frequently do African cinema and literature replicate this hollowed body, all skin as it were, that it becomes the very type of body that defines neocolonialism. Could the body of film—the depth of both characters and story within the cinematic skin—hold the key to moving into a post-neocolonial era, an era defined by “full” bodies and personal affirmation? This is the question Dima seeks to answer.

In the City of Brotherly Love, no team tugs at the hearts and weighs on the minds of fans more than the Philadelphia Eagles. But, much more than a local obsession, the Eagles are also one of football's most storied franchises.Amply illustrated with 200 photos of the players, coaches, fans, and the stadiums in which the team has played, The Eagles Encyclopedia recounts the greatest moments in the team's history, and brings to life the men who helped create modern football.Fans will read about: * Bert Bell's 1933 purchase of the Frankford Yellow Jackets, the city's first NFL franchise * The Philadelphia-Pittsburgh "Steagles"during WWII, which produced the team's first winning season * The 1960 NFL title victory over the Packers and the 1980 Super Bowl game * The sterling careers of Hall of Famers like Chuck Bednarik and Steve van Buren * The Duffel Bag Dynasty of 1947-1949, when the Eagles went to three consecutive NFL championships, including back-to-back championships * The thrilling 21st century, which has so far seen four consecutive NFC championship games and a second Super Bowl bid!But wait, there's more! The Eagles Encyclopedia also includes: * A year by year history of the team—from 1933 to the present, with stats from each season * Individual profiles of more than 100 Eagles players—from Swede Hanson to Donovan McNabb * A statistical chapter that provides all the Eagles records—a complete roster, and every draft pickWritten by Pro Football Hall of Fame writer Ray Didinger and local sports historian Robert S. Lyons, The Eagles Encyclopedia is the first comprehensive chronicle of the team's history and an indispensable guide for every Eagles fan.This book is not sanctioned by the NFL or its teams.

Fly, Eagles, Fly! They did it again. The Eagles routed the Kansas City Chiefs in Super Bowl LIX to claim their second NFL championship in the Jeffrey Lurie era. Author Ray Didinger has done it again too, revising and updating his best-selling The Eagles Encyclopedia: Champions Edition to celebrate the latest victory.
 
Quarterback Jalen Hurts described the city’s love for the Eagles as “a Philly thing,” and no one understands that better than Didinger, who has followed the team since the 1950s. In Champions II, he brings that history up to date by writing about the Tush Push, Saquon Barkley’s reverse hurdle, and other milestones of the 2024 season.
 
This new edition includes:

• More than 60 new photographs plus a 16-page color insert.
• Dozens of new player, coach and front-office profiles.
• Tributes to the team's newest Hall of Fame inductees: Eric Allen, Dick Vermeil and Harold Carmichael.
• An expanded chapter on the Eagles–Cowboys rivalry.
• An updated statistics and records section.

 
The Eagles Encyclopedia: Champions II is a must have for any E-A-G-L-E-S fan who wants to relive the Big Game and all the drama that led up to it.

Much of Michael Oriard's education took place outside the schoolroom of his native Spokane, Washington, during "slaughter practices" on high school football fields. He was taught to "punish" and "dominate," to rouse his school spirit with religion, and to "tough it" through injuries, even serious ones. At the age of eighteen he entered Notre Dame and walked onto the football team, where studying hard was never harder. By his senior year, playing for Ara Parseghian's Fighting Irish, he was the starting center and co-captain of the team.

After graduating, he signed with the Kansas City Chiefs and head coach Hank Stram. There he learned what it meant to be "owned." He rediscovered the game as it was played by grown men with families who were still treated like children and who dreaded nothing more than the end of their football careers. And without their fully realizing the consequences, every hard tackle inflicted its injury, some gradually growing into chronic conditions, some suddenly cutting a player's career short and ushering him off the field to be soon forgotten.

In this thoughtful narrative, Oriard describes the dreams of glory, the game day anxieties, the brutal training camps and harsh practices, his starry-eyed experience at Notre Dame, and the cold-blooded business of professional football. Told from the inside, the book leaves aside the hype and the pathos of the game to present a direct and honest account of the personal rewards but also the costs players paid to make others rich and entertained.

Originally published in 1982, The End of Autumn recounts the experiences of an ordinary player in a bygone era--before ESPN, before the Bowl Championship Series, before free agency and million-dollar salaries for NFL players. In a new afterword, Oriard reflects on the process of writing the book and how the game has changed in the thirty years since his "retirement" from football at the age of twenty-six.

The 1988 cult classic behind football’s data analytics revolution, now back in print with a new foreword and preface.

Data analytics have revolutionized football. With play sheets informed by advanced statistical analysis, today’s coaches pass more, kick less, and go for more two-point or fourth-down conversions than ever before. In 1988, sportswriters Bob Carroll, Pete Palmer, and John Thorn proposed just this style of play in The Hidden Game of Football, but at the time baffled readers scoffed at such a heartless approach to the game. Football was the ultimate team sport and unlike baseball could not be reduced to pure probabilities. Nevertheless, the book developed a cult following among analysts who, inspired by its unorthodox methods, went on to develop the core metrics of football analytics used today: win probability, expected points, QBR, and more. With a new preface by Thorn and Palmer and a new foreword by Football Outsiders’s Aaron Schatz, The Hidden Game of Football remains an essential resource for armchair coaches, fantasy managers, and fans of all stripes.

Some folks think Brian the mouse is too small. He may be a tough little fella, but they are not sure Brian has what it takes. The Mouse Who Played Football, by former Philadelphia Eagles running back Brian Westbrook Sr. and sports reporter Lesley Van Arsdall, shows how Brian the mouse proves everyone wrong with unyielding confidence that his small size can be his strength.

This charming children’s book, featuring appealing and dynamic illustrations by Mr. Tom, demonstrates how Brian the mouse overcomes what others see as a “big problem.” His determination—as well as speed and toughness on the gridiron—helps him become a star player in high school, college, and eventually, the MFL, the Mouse Football League.

The Mouse Who Played Football, based on Westbrook’s own experiences,is an inspiring story that encourages young readers to believe in themselves and make their unique differences their strengths.

During his four-decade career at NFL Films, writing and directing segments for weekly highlight shows and national telecasts, Bob Angelo saw and heard things that never made their way into his productions. Now, in The NFL Off-Camera, Angelo mines the thousands of interviews he conducted to compile a revealing collection of short, insightful essays profiling his favorite—and least favorite—pro football players, coaches, team owners, executives, and broadcasters—all of whom he interacted with personally.
 
Angelo effuses about his meeting with the larger-than-life Jim Brown and appreciates the trash talking John Randle. He poignantly reflects on “Bullet” Bob Hayes, the world's fastest man who “could not outrun his demons,” and showcases the mercurial Duane Thomas and the free-wheeling Tony Siragusa. The NFL Off-Camera reveals why Angelo sparred with Hall-of-Fame player turned broadcaster Frank Gifford and demonstrates why Super Bowl champion head coach Sean Payton is his “least favorite person in pro football.” 

From Jared Allen to Jim Zorn, The NFL Off-Camera explores nearly 100 of the game’s outsized personalities and debunks some of football's most enduring myths. Angelo’s original, unfiltered look at Pro Football is as hard-hitting and exciting as any one of his NFL Films.
 
 

The National Football League is one of the most significant cultural engines in contemporary American life. Yet despite intense and near ubiquitous media coverage, commentators rarely turn a critical lens on the league to ask what material and social forces have contributed to its success, and how the NFL has influenced public life in the United States.  

 

The editors of and contributors to The NFL examine the league as a culturally, economically, and politically powerful presence in American life. The essays, by established and up-and-coming scholars, explore how the NFL is packaged for commercial consumption, the league's influence on American identity, and its relationship to state and cultural militarism.

 

The NFL is the first collection of critical essays to focus attention on the NFL as a cultural force. It boldly moves beyond popular celebrations of the sport and toward a fuller understanding of football's role in shaping contemporary sport, media, and everyday life. 

 

Contributors include: David L. Andrews, Aaron Baker, Michael Butterworth, Jacob Dittmer, Dan Grano, Samantha King, Kyle Kusz, Toby Miller, Ronald L. Mower, Dylan Mulvin, Oliver J.C. Rick, Katie Rodgers, and the editors. 

A testament to the rituals, rivalries, loyalties, and generational faith of SEC football

For most of the United States, September marks the arrival of autumn. In the South, it signals something else entirely: the return of college football season. In The Religion of SEC Football, Terry Barr and Michael Nelson explore how SEC football has become one of the South’s most distinctive cultural traditions and the parallels it shares with religious devotion. Using history, humor, archival research, personal testimony, and decades of fandom, they examine the rituals, rivalries, communities, and legacies that transform ordinary Saturdays into something more sacred.

For generations, fans across the South have organized life around kickoff times and these “sacred Saturdays.” Weddings, family gatherings, and travel plans are often arranged around the football calendar. They make pilgrimages to beloved stadiums, gather with family and friends to observe longstanding game-day traditions, and invest their hopes, memories, and identities in the teams they love. For many, college football is more than entertainment—it’s a shared culture, a lifelong inheritance, and an enduring act of faith.

From tailgate lore to stadium pilgrimages, Barr and Nelson reveal a world where coaches become saints, miracle plays become scripture, and fandom becomes a family inheritance. Along the way, they celebrate the stories, passions, and personalities that have made SEC football a defining part of Southern life and an enduring act of faith. Regardless of your team’s colors, mascot, or fight song, The Religion of SEC Football celebrates the traditions, stories, and experiences that unite generations of fans across the South and remind us why, year after year, it truly just “means more.”
 

Anywhere football is played, Texas is the force to reckon with. Its powerhouse programs produce the best football players in America. In The Republic of Football, Chad S. Conine vividly captures Texas’s impact on the game with action-filled stories about legendary high school players, coaches, and teams from around the state and across seven decades.

Drawing on dozens of interviews, Conine offers rare glimpses of the early days of some of football’s biggest stars. He reveals that some players took time to achieve greatness—LaDainian Tomlinson wasn’t even the featured running back on his high school team until a breakthrough game in his senior season vaulted him to the highest level of the sport—while others, like Colt McCoy, showed their first flashes of brilliance in middle school. In telling these and many other stories of players and coaches, including Hayden Fry, Spike Dykes, Bob McQueen, Lovie Smith, Art Briles, Lawrence Elkins, Warren McVea, Ray Rhodes, Dat Nguyen, Zach Thomas, Drew Brees, and Adrian Peterson, Conine spotlights the decisive moments when players caught fire and teams such as Celina, Southlake Carroll, and Converse Judson turned into Texas dynasties. Packed with never-before-told anecdotes, as well as fresh takes on the games everyone remembers, The Republic of Football is a must-read for all fans of Friday night lights.

At a time when “Friday night lights” shone only on white high school football games, African American teams across Texas burned up the gridiron on Wednesday and Thursday nights. The segregated high schools in the Prairie View Interscholastic League (the African American counterpart of the University Interscholastic League, which excluded black schools from membership until 1967) created an exciting brand of football that produced hundreds of outstanding players, many of whom became college All-Americans, All-Pros, and Pro Football Hall of Famers, including NFL greats such as “Mean” Joe Green (Temple Dunbar), Otis Taylor (Houston Worthing), Dick “Night Train” Lane (Austin Anderson), Ken Houston (Lufkin Dunbar), and Bubba Smith (Beaumont Charlton-Pollard).

Thursday Night Lights tells the inspiring, largely unknown story of African American high school football in Texas. Drawing on interviews, newspaper stories, and memorabilia, Michael Hurd introduces the players, coaches, schools, and towns where African Americans built powerhouse football programs under the PVIL leadership. He covers fifty years (1920–1970) of high school football history, including championship seasons and legendary rivalries such as the annual Turkey Day Classic game between Houston schools Jack Yates and Phillis Wheatley, which drew standing-room-only crowds of up to 40,000, making it the largest prep sports event in postwar America. In telling this story, Hurd explains why the PVIL was necessary, traces its development, and shows how football offered a potent source of pride and ambition in the black community, helping black kids succeed both athletically and educationally in a racist society.