Countdown To Super Bowl

Countdown to Super Bowl tells the whole story of the game of the century, written by the man who followed every movement of the Jets from the first kick-off of the season, who lived, breathed, and agonized with them for the ten nerve-tingling days before the Colts went down to defeat in the Super Bowl. Here, by Dave Anderson of the New York Times, is the play-by-play, moment-by-moment saga of how Super Joe Namath and the Jets made good Namath’s boast that they would humble the NFL and vanquish the invincible Colts. This book provides all the color, the action, and the behind-the-scenes drama of the greatest upset in football history. In celebration of the fiftieth anniversary of that miraculous New York Jets Super Bowl win, fans can relive the stories and moments that led up to that victory. “My experience working with Skyhorse is always a positive collaboration. The editors are first-rate professionals, and my books receive top-shelf treatment. I truly appreciate our working relationship and hope it continues for years to come.” –David Fischer, author

This book includes the most significant sporting events of the 1960s, covering all the moments that generated tremendous growth in professional and college sports in America during this decade. It features stories such as Roger Maris breaking Babe Ruth’s home run record, Wilt Chamberlain scoring 100 points, and Muhammad Ali beating Sonny Liston. Sports became a national obsession in the 1960s as people tuned in on their new televisions to watch the exploits of some of the most legendary athletes and teams in history. It was the decade of Mickey Mantle, Jim Brown, Bill Russell, Bobby Hull, and Arnold Palmer, the decade when the Celtics dominated basketball, Joe Namath delivered on his Super Bowl guarantee, and the Miracle Mets won the World Series. In The 1960s in Sports: A Decade of Change, Miles Coverdale looks back at what was arguably the greatest decade in sports history, when the sports world of today began to take shape during a very tumultuous period of American history. At the start of the decade, thirteen years after Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in baseball, major league rosters were still populated mostly by white Americans. The NFL and NBA were struggling financially and were much less popular than college football and basketball. The Olympics were still open only to amateur athletes. But the sports landscape changed dramatically in the 1960s. Coverdale traces this development by covering the significant events and iconic players of the decade, including stars such as Sandy Koufax, Johnny Unitas, Bobby Orr, and Jack Nicklaus. There were great teams and incredible rivalries, and professional and college sports alike expanded and thrived. Featuring over 70 photos of legendary athletes and memorable moments, The 1960s in Sports transports the reader back to a golden age in sports. With additional coverage of important historical events such as the Cold War, Vietnam, and the Civil Rights Movement, this book also reveals how social and political events impacted the sports world, making it an invaluable resource for anyone interested in this significant decade.

A de facto American national holiday and phenomenon, the Super Bowl claims a spot as one of the most significant sporting events in the world and the most widely celebrated, feasted and feasting event of the year— with $14+ billion at stake, commercials costing $7 million for a 30-second spot, record-setting broadcast ratings, and 113+ million viewers. More avocados (105 million pounds) are consumed, and more beer is drunk (325 million gallons) on the single day of Superbowl Sunday. But there is much more at play than partying at our annual sports extravaganza, as this scholarly researched yet readable volume demonstrates: Here you will read a historical perspective that includes discussions of the meta-event’s economics (stakeholders, host cities, advertising, gambling, and media), fandom, ratings, halftime entertainment, the roles of mythic spectacle and religion, football’s sexist, militaristic language, gender issues like cheerleaders and sex trafficking, the Puppy Bowl, medical concerns like concussions and violence, tailgating and foodie ideas—all along with tidbits about your favorite team(s) and player(s). Touchdown!

In 1966, as the champions of the AFL and NFL prepared to play each other for the first time, Kansas City Chiefs–owner Lamar Hunt wrote the following to Commissioner Pete Rozelle: “I have kiddingly called [the championship game] the Super Bowl, which obviously can be improved upon.” How wrong Hunt was. After the AFL merged with the NFL, “Super Bowl” became the official title of the NFL championship game in the years to come. In celebration of the first fifty Super Bowls, David Fischer traces its evolution from a game that didn’t sell out in 1967 to a worldwide phenomenon with a viewership in the hundreds of millions. Packed with dozens of arresting full-color illustrations—highlighting game action, memorabilia, and players and coaches—The Super Bowl includes sections on the greatest games, individual performances, and game-changing plays. Fischer explores unique Super Bowl angles as well, including a ranking of “The Best Who Never Won” and “The Best Who Never Lost,” along with perspectives from players and fans. He covers the action, the heroes, the strategy, and the records from half a century of championship football. This celebration of the fiftieth anniversary of America’s premier sporting event is an essential addition to any football fan’s collection. Skyhorse Publishing, as well as our Sports Publishing imprint, are proud to publish a broad range of books for readers interested in sports—books about baseball, pro football, college football, pro and college basketball, hockey, or soccer, we have a book about your sport or your team. Whether you are a New York Yankees fan or hail from Red Sox nation; whether you are a die-hard Green Bay Packers or Dallas Cowboys fan; whether you root for the Kentucky Wildcats, Louisville Cardinals, UCLA Bruins, or Kansas Jayhawks; whether you route for the Boston Bruins, Toronto Maple Leafs, Montreal Canadiens, or Los Angeles Kings; we have a book for you. While not every title we publish becomes a New York Times bestseller or a national bestseller, we are committed to publishing books on subjects that are sometimes overlooked by other publishers and to authors whose work might not otherwise find a home.

It’s difficult to imagine today—when the Super Bowl has virtually become a national holiday and the National Football League is the country’s dominant sports entity—but pro football was once a ramshackle afterthought on the margins of the American sports landscape. In the span of a single generation in postwar America, the game charted an extraordinary rise in popularity, becoming a smartly managed, keenly marketed sports entertainment colossus whose action is ideally suited to television and whose sensibilities perfectly fit the modern age. America’s Game traces pro football’s grand transformation, from the World War II years, when the NFL was fighting for its very existence, to the turbulent 1980s and 1990s, when labor disputes and off-field scandals shook the game to its core, and up to the sport’s present-day preeminence. A thoroughly entertaining account of the entire universe of professional football, from locker room to boardroom, from playing field to press box, this is an essential book for any fan of America’s favorite sport.

Cast as the ultimate hardhats, football players of the 1960s seemed to personify a crewcut traditional manhood that channeled the Puritan work ethic. Yet, despite a social upheaval against such virtues, the National Football League won over all of America—and became a cultural force that recast politics in its own smashmouth image. Jesse Berrett explores pro football's new place in the zeitgeist of the 1960s and 1970s. The NFL's brilliant harnessing of the sports-media complex, combined with a nimble curation of its official line, brought different visions of the same game to both Main Street and the ivory tower. Politicians, meanwhile, spouted gridiron jargon as their handlers co-opted the NFL's gift for spectacle and mythmaking to shape a potent new politics that in essence became pro football. Governing, entertainment, news, elections, celebrity--all put aside old loyalties to pursue the mass audience captured by the NFL's alchemy of presentation, television, and high-stepping style. An invigorating appraisal of a dynamic era, Pigskin Nation reveals how pro football created the template for a future that became our present.

Longlisted for the Center for Fiction First Novel Prize One of The Millions' Most Anticipated Books of 2022 A searching, sharply observed debut novel on the interconnection between work and life, loneliness and kinship, and the projects that occupy our time. How do we take stock of a life—by what means, and by what measure? This is the question that preoccupies Alice, a Taiwanese immigrant in her late thirties. In the off-hours from her day job, Alice struggles to create a project about the enigmatic downtown performance artist Tehching Hsieh and his monumental, yearlong 1980s performance pieces. Meanwhile, she becomes the caretaker for her aging stepfather, a Vietnam vet whose dream of making traditional Chinese furniture dissolved in alcoholism and dementia. As Alice roots deeper into Hsieh’s radical use of time—in one piece, the artist confined himself to a cell for a year; in the next, he punched a time clock every hour, on the hour, for a year—and his mysterious disappearance from the art world, her project starts metabolizing events from her own life. She wanders from subway rides to street protests, loses touch with a friend, and tenderly observes her father’s slow decline. Moving between present-day and 1980s New York City, with detours to Silicon Valley and the Venice Biennale, this vivid debut announces Lisa Hsiao Chen as an audacious new talent. Activities of Daily Living is a lucid, intimate examination of the creative life and the passage of time.