With more than 200 duotone images, this book captures the first season of the Houston Texans, from the NFL players' draft to the final game of the team's inaugural year.

On July 20, 1969, humanity paused with attention locked to television and radio broadcasts as the astronauts of the Apollo 11 mission dramatically touched down on the dusty face of the moon. The first word from the lunar surface: Houston. Houston, Space City USA is a visual celebration of the city’s historic ties to the US human space program. When President Kennedy declared, “We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard,” he did so from the campus of Rice University. More than half a century later, Houston continues to serve as the nerve center of the American human space program. Author and photographer Ray Viator, a longtime Houstonian, has lovingly captured the spirit of a city’s devotion to space exploration from then to now. Using striking photographs of the full moon as a visual motif of Houston’s connection to spaceflight, Viator also weaves together historic images to show how former cow pastures transformed into mission control. Some connections are obvious—the Houston Astros or the Houston Rockets. Others are hidden in plain sight, like the arm patches on the uniform of every Houston police officer that read, “Space City U.S.A.” Viator’s lens captures this and more. Houston, Space City USA not only marks the important milestone of the first lunar landing, but it also helps readers discover and rediscover a city’s constellation of connections to one of humankind’s greatest achievements. The author's proceeds from the sale of this book will benefit Houston Public Media.

The Texas team came to Hershey with a mandate to win. A year earlier, Texas had lost to the Pennsylvania all-stars 12-6 in the most significant defeat in the state's proud history. This was considered blasphemy in a place where football outranked religion. Texas coach Bobby Layne was mad-as-hell that he was forced to play with second stringers in '64. So he and assistant coach Doak Walker traveled to Austin and asked Texas governor John Connally to end the scheduling conflict with the in-state all-star game so he could suit up the best players. Layne also sought permission to recruit black players. After all, Texas was flush with black stars, some of whom would mature into the most notable players in the history of the National Football League.Layne's scheme never would have worked without Bradley and LeVias. Together--and with Layne's indomitable will to win--the two led their team proudly to face down the competition at Hershey Stadium.

In a small Texas neighborhood, an affluent group of mothers has been repeatedly rocked by catastrophic flooding—the 2015 Memorial Day flood, the 2016 Tax Day flood, and sixteen months later, Hurricane Harvey. Yet even after these disrupting events, almost all mothers in this neighborhood still believe there is only one place for them to live: Bayou Oaks. In Too Deep is a sociological exploration of what happens when climate change threatens the carefully curated family life of upper-middle-class mothers. Through in-depth interviews with thirty-six Bayou Oaks mothers whose homes flooded during Hurricane Harvey, Rachel Kimbro reveals why these mothers continued to stay in a place that was becoming more and more unstable. Rather than retreating, the mothers dug in and sustained the community they have chosen and nurtured, trying to keep social, emotional, and economic instability at bay. In Too Deep provides a glimpse into how class and place intersect in an unstable physical environment and underlines the price families pay for securing their futures.

This is a comprehensive reference work covering Joe Namath's entire professional football career, following it season by season and game by game. After a lengthy opening chapter discussing Namath's college career and his enormous impact on professional football after turning pro in 1965, the book proceeds to chronicle every game of his pro career. Chapter 6 documents Super Bowl III while the concluding chapter sizes up Namath's career and addresses the debate over his Hall of Fame status.

Here's What Former NFL Players Think About "THE ULTIMATE GAME" “(THE ULTIMATE GAME) reads as if Tom Clancy hijacked Monday Night Football; it’s that cutting edge.” – Joe Kapp; Super Bowl Quarterback and CFL Hall of Fame Inductee “THE ULTIMATE GAME puts the sport of professional football in a futuristic setting and tells a tale of what technology could one day allow. It’s a positive, exciting thrill-ride for all ages. It’s a frightening and intriguing look at how the game could be manipulated.” – Dan Pastorini; Pro Bowl Quarterback “I cheer Kevin (Bakko) for writing a fast moving, fun, futuristic novel that thoroughly entertained me. And he found no need to load the book with the smut that has been filling most sports books to date.” – Phil Villapiano; Super Bowl Champion Linebacker “If John Grisham and Issac Asimov got together to write a novel about pro football – this is what they would write. You have to read it to believe it!” – Jeff Nixon; Former Player, and Editor / Nat’l Advocacy Committee Member of ‘Fourth and Goal Assists’ “Kevin Bakko does a great job of conveying the spirit of the players and their drive to be the World Champions of NFL football. He also points out the price that players pay to play in the NFL both mentally and physically.” – Carl Mauck; Thirty-Four Year NFL Veteran Player and Assistant Coach “THE ULTIMATE GAME is a book that honors the NFL alumnus of yesterday, today, and tomorrow.” – George Martin; Super Bowl Champion Defensive End and President of the NFL Alumni Association IMAGINE THE MOST TECHNOLOGICALLY ADVANCED VIDEO FOOTBALL GAME EVER CREATED. IMAGINE SOME OF THE GREATEST PRO PLAYERS TO EVER STEP ON THE GRIDIRON AT THE CONTROLS. NOW IMAGINE BOTH, MANIPULATING A REAL NFL FOOTBALL TEAM... WITHOUT THEIR KNOWLEDGE... WITHOUT THEIR CONSENT. 2019 is the 100th Anniversary of the National Football League, and the Houston Texans have just won their second Super Bowl in a row. Now comes their quest for an unprecedented third consecutive trip to the championship game. Yet accomplishing this extraordinary feat will not be left to either dutiful preparation or divine providence. A glory-driven head coach (Walt Griffin) and a narcissistic neuroscientist in need of human guinea pigs (Dr. John McLane) have combined forces to reach the final phase of their respective life’s ambition. But murder, mayhem, and the pursuit of answers to gut-wrenching questions are driving veteran All-Pro quarterback Rod Mackenna to make sense of the resulting toll that has been taken by his team, his teammates, and his long – but no longer – unrequited love interest. On the day of the Super Bowl – with the final piece to an unimaginable puzzle firmly in his grasp – Griffin and McLane catch Mac within the confines of the clandestine command center used by their band of former gridiron heroes to control the active players, on-the-field, like a macabre video game. Only the threat of harm to his (now) fiancée keeps Mac on the sideline with a bogus injury as the final contest of the season kicks off.