A journalist and mother of two athletic kids exposes the physical and emotional dangers of our over-the-top youth sports culture—and offers practical solutions for positive change. A decade ago, Joan Ryan’s exposé, Little Girls in Pretty Boxes, changed the way we look at elite sports, namely figure skating and gymnastics. Today, there is another crisis in youth sports. It may affect any child, from the kindergartner on the soccer field to the high school athlete competing for scarce scholarship money. Regan McMahon’s Revolution in the Bleachers is a wake-up call for parents who spend their lives shuttling their kids from one field and practice to the next and wonder what happened to family life. Have late weeknight practices made family meals a thing of the past? Do you spend hours in the car each week, driving to games across town (or across the state)? Do you worry that your kids will miss out (on competitive experiences, college scholarships, and other advantages) if they do not specialize in one sport early on? Do you feel pressured to have your kids join elite club teams with steep fees and demanding travel schedules? Do your kids get repetitive stress injuries that necessitate trips to orthopedic surgeons or physical therapists? Do you miss your non-sports-related vacations as a family? If so, the good news is, you are not alone. Other parents and kids (and even some coaches) are on your side. And you have a choice. Regan McMahon’s book began as a cover story for the San Francisco Chronicle Magazine. Titled "How Much is Too Much?" it got a tremendous response. Finally, someone had dared to say what many parents were thinking! Parents, kids and coaches responded, prompting McMahon to criss-cross the country, doing interviews and research to find out how deep the problem goes and how to fix it. In Revolution in the Bleachers, McMahon traces the evolution of the over-the- top youth culture and gives you a practical plan of action to bring balance back to kids’ lives and our families. McMahon’s rallying cry for a revolution in the bleachers could not be more timely or useful for parents trying to do the best for their kids.

Beyond an occasional sports-inspired sermon illustration, sports are generally regarded as having little relevance to the Christian faith. More often, they are viewed as a welcome and safe reprieve from politics and religion. Quietly, however, as they avoid the discerning eye of the church, sports are slowly overtaking families and overwhelming parents. Under the labels "elite," "select," and "travel," a new experience of sports has taken root in American culture demanding financial burdens, time commitments, and heightened pressures never before seen. Community leaders from various public sectors have criticized many recent trends in youth sports, but, alas, where has the church been? This new "elite" expression of youth sports is quickly building an intimidating front against the church. As church attendance declines, "elite" youth sports participation is on the rise. This book ventures into the challenging, controversial, and powerful world of youth sports. Young people participate in sports more than just about any other activity, and the church has neglected its role in providing a voice of discernment for what participating in sports should look like. Christians are desperately in need of a manifesto for helping them wrestle with the complex, exciting, and often exhausting world of youth sports.

This provocative critique of the youth sports movement examines the various issues surrounding children in sports and provides a plan for reform based on a change in philosophy and practice. Many American children spend more than 20 hours a week in organized sports, forgoing free time and unstructured recreational activities for the rigors of training and competition. This book offers a comprehensive critique of the youth sports movement, pitting the reality of adult-run sports programs against the needs and interests of children. It examines whether the tradeoff of "normal play time" for structured sports activities teaches discipline and leads to stronger character development, or if the pressures of the game, the physical strain of practicing, and the general overscheduling of children's lives have eroded the benefits associated with playing sports. Educator and former coach Steven J. Overman contends that youth-based sports programs require a radical change for the well-being of the young participants. The book explores the various problems in organized sports, including stress on the family, physical health hazards, violence, emotional duress, elitism, and hyper-competitiveness. Incorporating the perspectives of coaches, athletes, parents, physicians, and social scientists, the narrative scrutinizes the role of adults as promoters and coaches and concludes with a discussion of current and needed reforms.

For the last twenty-five years, the most dominant offensive strategy in college football has been the spread offense, which relies on empty backfields, lots of receivers and passing, and no huddles between plays. Where the spread offense started, why it took so long to take hold, and the evolution of its many variations are the much-debated mysteries that Bart Wright sets about solving in this book. Football Revolution recovers a key, overlooked, part of the story. The book reveals how Jack Neumeier, a high school football coach in California in the 1970s, built an offensive strategy around a young player named John Elway, whose father was a coach at nearby California State University, Northridge. One of the elder Elway’s assistant coaches, Dennis Erickson, then borrowed Neumeier’s innovations and built on them, bringing what we now know as the spread offense onto the national stage at the University of Miami in the 1980s. With Erickson’s career as a lens, this book shows how the inspiration of a high school coach became the dominant offense in college football, prepping a whole generation of quarterbacks for the NFL and forever changing the way the game is played.

This collection of 19 essays examine the role of baseball's Cubs in the history and politics of Chicago. They focus on topics such as the rise of a nationwide fan base through the long reach of superstation WGN; the local uses and views of icons Ernie Banks, Ron Santo, and Ryne Sandberg; historical divides along lines of race (on the field) and class (in the stands); Wrigley Field as a public space both sacred and cursed; the importance of local and nationwide media coverage; and the Cubs' impact on Chicago music and literature.

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • High school all-American Neely Crenshaw was probably the best quarterback ever to play for the legendary Messina Spartans. Fifteen years have gone by since those glory days, and Neely has come home to Messina to bury Coach Eddie Rake, the man who molded the Spartans into an unbeatable football dynasty. Now, as Coach Rake’s “boys” sit in the bleachers waiting for the dimming field lights to signal his passing, they replay the old games, relive the old glories, and try to decide once and for all whether they love Eddie Rake – or hate him. For Neely Crenshaw, a man who must finally forgive his coach – and himself – before he can get on with his life, the stakes are especially high. Don’t miss John Grisham’s new book, THE EXCHANGE: AFTER THE FIRM!