“A raucous, smash-mouth, first-person takedown of the National Football League." —Wall Street Journal The New York Times bestseller From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of This Town, an equally merciless probing of America's biggest cultural force, pro football, at a moment of peak success and high anxiety Like millions of Americans, Mark Leibovich has spent more of his life tuned into pro football than he'd care to admit. Being a lifelong New England Patriots fan meant growing up on a steady diet of lovable loserdom. That is, until the Tom Brady/Bill Belichick era made the Pats the most ruthlessly efficient and polarizing sports dynasty of the modern NFL, and its fans the most irritating in all of Pigskin America. Leibovich kept his obsession quiet, making a nice career for himself covering that other playground for rich and overgrown children, American politics. Still, every now and then Leibovich would reach out to Tom Brady to gauge his willingness to subject himself to a profile. He figured that the chances of Brady agreeing were a Hail Mary at best, but Brady returned Mark's call in summer 2014 and kept on returning his calls through epic Patriots Super Bowl victory and defeat, and a scandal involving Brady--Deflategate--whose grip on sports media was as profound as its true significance was ridiculous. So began a four-year odyssey that took Mark Leibovich deeper inside the NFL than anyone has gone before. From the owners' meeting to the draft to the sidelines of crucial games, he takes in the show at the elbow of everyone from Brady to big-name owners to the cordially despised NFL Commissioner, Roger Goodell. Ultimately, BIG GAME is a chronicle of "peak football"--the high point of the sport's economic success and cultural dominance, but also the time when the dark side began to show. It is an era of explosive revenue growth, but also one of creeping existential fear. Players have long joked that NFL stands for "not for long," but as the true impact of concussions becomes inescapable background noise, it's increasingly difficult to enjoy the simple glory of football without the buzz-kill of its obvious consequences. And that was before Donald Trump. In 2016, Mark's day job caught up with him, and the NFL slammed headlong into America's culture wars. Big Game is a journey through an epic storm. Through it all, Leibovich always keeps one eye on Tom Brady and his beloved Patriots, through to the 2018 Super Bowl. Pro football, this hilarious and enthralling book proves, may not be the sport America needs, but it is most definitely the sport we deserve.

The Giants and Patriots are about to battle. Ten days before kickoff, one fan plans to watch the big game on TV, until a casual dinner conversation changes everything. Making The Big Game traces an unexpected and modern journey through the quirks of the Super Bowl Lottery, internet frauds, high-tech scalpers, and fan legacies. Jeffrey Fekete wraps a true story of life, work, and relationships around a frantic and often humorous countdown to game day and his pursuit of the ultimate game ticket.

When opinions are flying faster than pucks, Nicholas must devise his own strategy to win the championship game! Nicholas has his parents, his coach, the other spectators, and even his sister doling out advice on how to take on the top team in the league. But with opinions coming at them from all sides, Nicholas and his teammates can't decide who to listen to. Between periods, Nicholas comes up with an ingenious plan to save the day -- and stop every shot on goal! When he shares his winning strategy with the rest of his team, they can't help but come out on top. Featuring Nicholas, the star of the bestselling Where's My Hockey Sweater? and The Best Goalie Ever, fans will love this new story that puts him back on the ice!

John W. Heisman (1869-1936) was a man of many faces whose public image has suffered from a diffused, enigmatic, and mostly misunderstood private personality. Since his death the popular reception of the memorial trophy named in his honor has also obscured his identity. In singling out his many innovative contributions to the development of intercollegiate football, this book attempts to present a true picture of Heisman as both man and coach. Because he coached at schools throughout the country during some of the most eventful years in our history, Heisman's life relates to significant political, economic, and social developments that impacted on American society as well as sports. However, this book is much more than the story of John Heisman's 36-year coaching career. It is also the story of how an indigenous American public ritual--the Big Game---came about and how college football evolved into the complex, problematic, and highly structured big business that it is today.

When Quark holds a poker tournament on Deep Space NineTM someone from almost every sentient race -- Klingons, Cardassians, Romulans, Vulcans, Ferengi -- shows up for what is sure to be the highest-stakes game of all time. But when one player is killed, the stakes get higher than even these big-money players had counted on. With the station rocked by subspace waves that threaten its destruction, Commander Sisko and Security Chief Odo must hunt down the killer in time to save the players, a killer who has information that can save those onboard Deep Space Nine from the invisible enemy they do not even know they face, a killer who holds all the cards...

During the late 1990s, eminent basketball journalist Alexander Wolff traveled the globe to determine how a game invented by a Canadian clergyman became an international phenomenon. Big Game, Small World presents Wolff’s dispatches from sixteen countries spread across five continents and multiple US states. In them, he asks: What can the game tell us about the world? And what can the world tell us about the game? Whether traveling to Bhutan to challenge its king to a pickup game, exploring the women’s game in Brazil, or covering the Afrobasket tournament in Luanda, Angola, during a civil war, Wolff shows how basketball has the power to define an individual, a culture, and even a country. This updated twentieth anniversary edition features a new preface in which Wolff outlines the contemporary rise of athlete-activists while discussing the increasing dominance within the NBA of marquee international players like Luka Dončić and Giannis Antetokounmpo. A loving celebration of basketball, Big Game, Small World is one of the most insightful books ever written about the game.

This new edition of the best-selling classic Dressing & Cooking Wild Game is the complete guide to field dressing and cooking great-tasting dishes with big game, small game, upland birds, and waterfowl. Compared to domestic meat, wild game is richer in flavor and lower in fat and calories. It also provides the ultimate expression of local food and a self-sufficient lifestyle. However, wild game requires unique care. The extremely low-fat meats of elk and pheasant, for example, become dry and tough if handled improperly. Fortunately, Dressing & Cooking Wild Game has all of the answers you need. This book is the complete guide to field dressing, portioning, and cooking great-tasting dishes with big game, small game, upland birds, and waterfowl. This book is filled with more than 150 recipes for wild game, from elk to squirrel to pheasant. More than 300 full-color photographs illustrate step-by-step directions and show finished dishes, making it easy to master the art of preparing wild game. With useful tips on butchering, dressing, and portioning, as well as information on cooking techniques and nutritional content, Dressing & Cooking Wild Game teaches you how to make your wild game dishes as memorable as the hunts that made them possible.