In this sixth book of New York Times bestselling author Tim Green’s gripping Football Genius series, Troy must fight hard to win big. Perfect for fans of Mike Lupica. Troy's dreams of the big time have backfired. Sure, he's moved to New Jersey to start his new job as "genius" for the New York Jets, but his dad has taken his entire salary, leaving Troy and his mom broke. Instead of going to the private school of his dreams and playing for a football powerhouse, he's going to be part of a team with an unbroken losing streak. But Troy isn’t giving up without a fight. As soon as he convinces Seth to coach his public school team, Troy feels ready for a perfect season. But when his knack for calling plays slips and his abilities as a quarterback are threatened, he has to dig deep to prove all the naysayers wrong. And it will take all of Troy's football genius to get this team to a perfect season.

“[Freeman is] an excellent storyteller.” —Sports Illustrated The 1972 Miami Dolphins, under the expert leadership of legendary coach Don Shula, remain to this day the only team in the National Football League ever to enjoy a perfect season with no defeats and no ties. Now, 40 years after sports history was made, acclaimed sports writer Mike Freeman celebrates the Dolphins’ singular achievement in Undefeated. A riveting story filled with heartbreaking injuries, miraculous finishes, and tested relationships—featuring a roster of gridiron greats, including Bob Griese, Earl Morrall, Larry Csonka, Paul Warfield, Mercury Morris, Nick Buoniconti and others—Undefeated follows a underdog team on its remarkable run: 14 regular season victories, 2 postseason wins, and a Super Bowl championship. It is a book no football fan will want to miss.

An inspiring portrait of the extraordinary high-school football team whose quest for perfection sustains its hometown in the heartland The football team in Smith Center, Kansas, has won sixty-seven games in a row, the nation's longest high-school winning streak. They have done so by embracing a philosophy of life taught by their legendary coach, Roger Barta: "Respect each other, then learn to love each other and together we are champions." But as they embarked on a quest for a fifth consecutive title in the fall of 2008, they faced a potentially destabilizing transition: the greatest senior class in school history had graduated, and Barta was contemplating retirement after three decades on the sidelines. In Smith Center--population: 1,931--this changing of the guard was seismic. Hours removed from the nearest city, the town revolves around "our boys" in a way that goes to the heart of what America's heartland is today. Joe Drape, a Kansas City native and an award-winning sportswriter for The New York Times, moved his family to Smith Center to discover what makes the team and the town an inspiration even to those who live hundreds of miles away. His stories of the coaches, players, and parents reveal a community fighting to hold on to a way of life that is rich in value, even as its economic fortunes decline. Drape's moving portrait of Coach Barta and the impressive young men of Smith Center is sure to take its place among the more memorable American sports stories of recent years.

Publishing on the 50th anniversary of that magic season, the definitive chronicle of the 1972 Miami Dolphins, the only undefeated team in NFL history—from an award-winning literary sportswriter The 1972 Miami Dolphins had something to prove. Losers in the previous Super Bowl, a ragtag bunch of overlooked, underappreciated, or just plain old players, they were led by Don Shula, a genius young coach obsessed with obliterating the reputation that he couldn’t win the big game. And as the Dolphins headed into only their seventh season, all eyes were on Miami. For the last time, a city was hosting both national political conventions, and the backdrop to this season of redemption would be turbulent: the culture wars, the Nixon reelection campaign, the strange, unfolding saga of Watergate, and the war in Vietnam. Generational and cultural divides abounded on the team as well. There were long-haired, bell-bottomed party animals such as Jim “Mad Dog” Mandich, as well as the stylish Marv Fleming and Curtis Johnson, with his supernova afro, playing alongside conservative, straight-laced men like the quarterbacks: Bob Griese and the crew-cut savior, 38-year-old backup Earl Morrall. Larry Csonka and Jim Kiick, nicknamed “Butch and Sundance,” had to make way for a third running back, the outspoken and flamboyant Mercury Morris. But unlike the fractious society around them, this racially and culturally diverse group found a way to meld seamlessly into a team. The perfect team. Marshall Jon Fisher’s Seventeen and Oh is a compelling, fast-paced account of a season unlike any other.

In 1964, the Evansville College Purple Aces raced undefeated through the Indiana Collegiate Conference, posting a perfect 24–0 regular-season record and winning the College Division NCAA championship. The skeleton of this season exists in newspaper archives and in books that capture the on-court action, but the flesh and blood has never been written—until now. This is the story of Russell Grieger, a starting guard, and his observations, feelings, reactions, and struggles of that season. It provides a game-by-game look into the team, showcasing Grieger's teammates, Coach Arad McCutchan, and Evansville's love for the Aces. The Perfect Season is an insider's inspiring story of a team whose motto—"If you're going to go, go big time or don't go at all"—inspired them to achieve their dream.

In the early 1970s, the United States was much the same as in the radical '60s; Americans dying in Vietnam, anti-war demonstrations on college campuses, conflict between blacks and whites in most major cities. In predominantly white Dolton, a south Chicago suburb, busing had come to Thornridge High School. Black students from nearby Phoenix now attended school with whites from Dolton and South Holland. They were not warmly received. Then, the Thornridge basketball team started winning Fans in black and white communities came together as Thornridge captured consecutive Illinois championships. Led by the national high school athlete of the year, Quinn Buckner, the Falcons stormed to a perfect season in 1972. No team even came close. This is their story told in their own words. THORNRIDGE is about prejudice and acceptance, adversity and triumph, and a team that changed attitudes while the players were having the time of their lives.

In this heartwarming baseball story, Dan Clemens reveals the triumphs, failures, frustrations, and joys of being a youth baseball coach. Through 65 personal journal entries, Clemens takes readers on a behind the scenes tour of his 12-year-old son's baseball season. "It was perfect," he says, "but not in terms of wins and losses." Rather, Coach Dan's team achieved their goals of learning, competing and having fun - the three things he emphasizes that should drive youth sports. Clemens's perfect season is chocked full of humor, passion, lessons learned, and wisdom to make youth baseball an enjoyable and rewarding experience for all involved. He offers many insights that will help youth coaches - and their players - enjoy A Perfect Season of their own.A Perfect Season is a must-read for every youth coach . . . and shows parents what they should expect from someone they are intrusting to coach their kids.