Winning From Walk On To Captain In Football And Life

Framed within the frenzy leading up to a Super Bowl, Gary Brackett flashes back to the defining moments and lessons in his journey leading to the threshold of a championship season. With his heart metaphorically on his jersey sleeve, Gary invites the reader inside the world of NFL football and the drama leading up to the biggest game day of the year. Along the way, Gary provides glimpses of real-life heroes, on and off the field, as he recounts the stories in this touching testament to the memory of his mom, dad and brother.

Captain for Life offers a unique and powerful personal tale about the great joy and devastating price of playing professional football, by a legendary former NFL linebacker Harry Carson. One of the greatest linebackers to ever play professional football, Harry Carson built a reputation during his 13 years in the NFL as a fearsome, physical and passionate player who would give everything he had to win. Whether violently tackling running backs, engaging blockers with reckless abandon or ferociously attacking the line of scrimmage, Carson will always be remembered as having played the game the way it's meant to be played--all out. For the first time ever, this legendary athlete takes readers on an unlikely journey to the NFL that began in the small town of Florence, South Carolina to his days at little known South Carolina State University--and then the bright lights of professional football in New York, playing for the Giants. Carson's story of his life as a football player and after his retirement is more powerful and eye-opening than any that's come before. Within these pages, Carson reveals the startling truth behind the sacrifices these great warriors make for our entertainment, the thrill of stepping onto a field with 80,000 fans screaming your name, and the debilitating physical and mental toll this violent and uncompromising game takes. With insight into some of the game's biggest stars, from Lawrence Taylor to Bill Parcells to Phil Simms this book is a must for any NFL fan.

Anyone who cheers for the underdog will be enthralled by the story of Auburn’s 1972 football team. The Tigers were predicted to drop into the bottom half of the Southeastern Conference standings after losing quarterback Pat Sullivan, who won the 1971 Heisman Trophy, and All-American receiver Terry Beasley. Going into their opening game, they had only five offensive plays. Auburn proved its critics wrong all year long, capping an unbelievable season with a jaw-dropping upset of Alabama, returning two blocked punts for touchdowns in the game’s closing minutes. Instead of finishing in sixth place in the SEC, the team finished fifth—in the country! The Amazin’s, as they were nicknamed, won as a result of the bonds they formed during grueling winter workouts and August two-a-day practices under the unforgiving Alabama sun. Fifty years later, the Amazin’s still find strength in each other, facing new challenges as teammates for life. If you cherish Auburn football, great rivalries, and want to learn how to apply lessons from the gridiron to everyday life, then you’ll love this inspiring story of the university’s most unforgettable team—then and now.

A Walking Distance is an autobiography that takes you from a small growing border town in south Texas to the Middle East. Along the way, the story derives from growing up in the hardships of a low income family and the dream of a young man searching for a purpose while divided between religion, race and the choices in life. He learns and grows by staying away from the constant drugs and gangs in school only to find the association he wanted in the football team. After being a part of an up-and-rising successful Texas high school football program, his experience in the football stardom takes him one step higher to the hardest task he had ever come across as he joins the elite fighting force in the United States Marines. He quickly learns that the Marine Corps is not at all what he expected as he lives the life of a marine and is flown overseas to fight in the Iraq War. A Walking Distance truly takes you for a ride as the road twists and turns towards an indefinite conclusion. The author carries you from Laredo to the Middle East then back again in a constant cycle as he walks towards what is needed to be successful and the simple pursuit of happiness in an unseen future.

Faith has always liked to play it safe. She has never been on a date, gone to a school dance, or even kissed anyone. She has always wanted to sing in the school talent show, but she's never had the courage to walk out on that stage. A senior in high school, she likes to read, sing, write songs, and volunteer at the local medical center. While working at the medical center, she meets a boy from her school. Aaron is the captain of the football and baseball teams. After a serious back injury leaves him on the sidelines, Aaron goes from having it all to having nothing at all. Aaron starts to get depressed and feels like giving up on life. He doesn't really care about his physical therapy until he meets Faith, and she helps him with his therapy. They get to know each other and begin spending more and more time together. Faith changes Aaron's life for the better and shows him that there is more to life than just sports. Aaron returns the favor when he gives her the courage she has been searching for her whole life. As you read this book, you will learn that tomorrow is not promised, so when it comes to life, you should walk with faith. "Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be any grievous ways in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!" (Psalms 139:23-24)

Making Jesus Attractive is an in-depth look at the history and theology of this parachurch organization dedicated to ministry with young people. Beginning with the theological background of founder Jim Rayburn and moving through the decades of the ministry, this book examines not only the articulated theological statements of the organization but the lived theology as well. This book provides a thorough overview of the theological underpinnings of the Young Life organization and challenges their model of an attractive Christianity, providing insights that could be utilized by all youth ministry workers.

Graeme Souness is a Glasgow Rangers icon, and a Liverpool legend in the same bracket as Kenny Dalglish, Steven Gerrard and Jamie Carragher. He has racked up getting on for fifty years in and around the world of professional football. The game has been his life, and his enduring passion. Souness has written a perceptive and opinionated autobiography. It chronicles one of the most successful and colourful careers in the history of British football. But it also provides an intriguing assessment of the game which has dominated his existence, drawing extensively on his incredibly rich and varied experiences as a player, manager and pundit. The result is a shrewd, incisive and hard-hitting memoir, at times tinged with hindsight and regret, which also grapples with many of the major talking points affecting the game today. It is shot through with Souness' trademark tenacity and wisdom, and with fantastic anecdotes from his glittering career. In many ways, Football: My Life, My Passion is the story of the last half-century of British football writ large.