Reviews (10)

Beyond the Game of Football
As both an avid sports fan and reader of sports literature I found this to be by far the most outstanding sports related book I've ever read. (I've read lots of them)
Notfootball's Moneyball, but a great read nonetheless..
If you are looking for the football version of Moneyball you might be a bit disppointed by Blind Side. It's not really that kind of book. (Indeed, there are few books that completely alter one's view of a subject the way Moneyball did)There are some interesting chapters about Bill Walsh and the innovations he brought to the offensive side of football, but Blind Side is much more of a human interest story. It's a highly readable and engaging story and it will surely make you pay more attention next time an Ole Miss game is on TV. I highly recommend it.

You Will Enjoy It Even If You Don't Love Football
Of course, I do love football, and my young son plays on offensive and defensive lines, so the description of the book and its high ranking on the Top 100 list motivated me to purchase and read.
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Subjects:  1. Biography    2. Biography & Autobiography    3. Biography/Autobiography    4. College sports    5. Football - General    6. Football - Professional    7. Football players    8. Oher, Michael    9. Sports & Recreation    10. Sports - General    11. United States    12. Soccer (Association football)    13. Social history    14. Sports & Recreation / Football   

Editorial Review

The global power of soccer might be a little hard for Americans, living in a country that views the game with the same skepticism used for the metric system and the threat of killer bees, to grasp fully. But in Europe, South America, and elsewhere, soccer is not merely a pastime but often an expression of the social, economic, political, and racial composition of the communities that host both the teams and their throngs of enthusiastic fans. New Republic editor Franklin Foer, a lifelong devotee of soccer dating from his own inept youth playing days to an adulthood of obsessive fandom, examines soccer's role in various cultures as a means of examining the reach of globalization. Foer's approach is long on soccer reportage, providing extensive history and fascinating interviews on the Rangers-Celtic rivalry and the inner workings of AC Milan, and light on direct discussion of issues like world trade and the exportation of Western culture. But by creating such a compelling narrative of soccer around the planet, Foer draws the reader into these sport-mad societies, and subtly provides the explanations he promises in chapters with titles like "How Soccer Explains the New Oligarchs", "How Soccer Explains Islam's Hope", and "How Soccer Explains the Sentimental Hooligan." Foer's own passion for the game gives his book an infectious energy but still pales in comparison to the religious fervor of his subjects. His portraits of legendary hooligans in Serbia and Britain, in particular, make the most die-hard roughneck New York Yankees fan look like a choirboy in comparison. Beyond the thugs, Foer also profiles Nigerian players living in the Ukraine, Iranian women struggling against strict edicts to attend matches, and the parallel worlds of Brazilian soccer and politics from which Pele emerged and returned. Foer posits that globalization has eliminated neither local cultural identities nor violent hatred among fans of rival teams, and it has not washed out local businesses in a sea of corporate wealth nor has it quelled rampant local corruption. Readers with an interest in international economics are sure to like Read more

Reviews (59)

Please stay out of the field...!!!
This book is a bigotry masqueraded behind the veil of a "scholarly work." Every rule of rigorous work has been violated in this piece of work building on the darkest but forever smallest side of "soccer." Wasting this great opportunity to reveal the multi-dimensional power of the game the author invests his bitterness against the sport page-after-page. A sweet revenge for "soccer" rejecting him in his early age? Well... my advise to the author... keep on running away from the ball sir... and please stay away from it!!! You are RUINING THE GAME!!!

Insightful
This is a very insightful book. I have been a big soccer fan all my life and went to hundreds of games when I still lived in Europe, but this book contains many facts I had never heard of. Some chapters are better and more fascinating than others and the link of soccer to globalization seems to be artificial at times. I found the thoughts on soccer in the U.S. (last chapter) especially interesting.
Perhaps the appeal of soccer is that, for the moment, it exists in the happy realm between intelligence and pure fandom
Franklin Foer is a staff writer at the New Republic and his writing has appeared in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, and many others...In his book, How Soccer Explains the World: An Unlikely Theory of Globalization: Soccer has become a favorite pastime of the American intellectual. What brought soccer to the smart set? Well, one could simply argue that soccer's time had come. But while much of soccer-love may come from nostalgia, a bit of it feels like it is self-styled. It's fair to assume that a great many of the new wave of soccer fans came to the sport in their teens and 20s--the lack of satellite TV and the Internet making the international game difficult to follow until then. Unlike those who had baseball thrust upon them since birth and never paused to adequately consider the implications, soccer fans were liable to ask themselves, What would being a soccer fan say about me? Well, it would say a lot of things, many of them flattering. Taking an interest in soccer indicates a certain cosmopolitanism; the game is an international one. A rooting interest in a British club like Arsenal might indicate Anglophilia, which never hurts in polite society. Soccer-love also says--and this is perhaps most important--that you reject the overweening hype and made-for-TV packaging that surrounds American sports for something that, in theory, approaches a purer experience. "If you're an intellectual, the kitsch that shrouds, say, football is almost intolerable," says Franklin Foer. "If you look at a European soccer crowd, all the shouting is coming organically from the crowd itself--that's so much more appealing." Soccer, largely divorced from shrieking announcers and Jumbotrons, feels more like an artistic endeavor than a television show. In a weak moment, the soccer intellectual might even admit that the sport's stars are aspirational male role models. Most soccer players are not human grotesqueries like NFL stars or attenuated beanpoles like NBA players. They're possessed of attainable physiques, strong and compact--the kind that might impress intellectuals and the women who love them. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. General    2. Globalization    3. Popular Culture - General    4. Soccer    5. Sociology Of Sports    6. Sports    7. Sports & Recreation    8. Sports & Recreation / General   

Editorial Review

At last, the Dummies series is tackling football. Former Raider all-pro defensive end and current Fox TV analyst Howie Long calls the signals, and if he doesn't always go deep--he's got a lot of ground to cover--at least he connects. With all its X's and O's, football is a complicated sport, and Long works hard to smooth the way: "Once you break through that initial fear of being overwhelmed by football and what you don't understand," he counsels, "I know everything else about the game, like dominoes, will fall into place." In his role as guide, Long plays those dominoes, from peewees to the pros to the fantasy leagues, explaining positions, analyzing offenses and defenses, and detailing strategies. As with all Dummies guides, the fun part is the "Part of Tens," the series of top-10 lists that dig in for the final chapter. He scores big with his inclusions of John Hannah and Hugh McElhenny among the greatest offensive players ever, but should be penalized for overemphasizing tight ends and forgetting the electricity that wide receivers bring to the game. This, of course, reflects a defensive end's natural bias; since they muck it up more with the hulkier tight ends, they simply let the speedballs fly by. Read more

Reviews (25)

Still can't understand football.
I think it was written for people with a basic knowledge of football and not the non-fan. The terms in the glossary didn'tmake sense to me at all. Decided to forget about finishing the book and just make appetizers instead for the actual fans. Sorry but it didn't inspire me to learn about the game at all.

Hey Buckethead! You may have been a real good DE, but you failed CFL football 101!
The Canadian Pro Football League, which
Football for Anyone
I have a keen interest in North American Football and overtime I have picked up some terms and tactics, but as I am not North American I lack allot of detail knowledge on the game. So I wanted a guide to American Football that would give me not only the fundamentals but more detailed information.
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Subjects:  1. Football    2. Football - General    3. General    4. Handbooks, manuals, etc    5. Sports    6. Sports & Recreation    7. American football    8. Soccer (Association football)    9. Sports & Recreation / Football   

Editorial Review

In the States, Nick Hornby is best know as the author of Read more

Reviews (119)

A great look at sports and life
Let me begin by noting that I find soccer/football incredibly dull.Dull, dull, dull!But Hornby's book is a great read.
Amusing, but mostly average
I'll admit, its probably just me.Maybe its just that I dont understand British culture all that much, nor the culture of football or the mind of the obsessive sports fan...but aside from a few amusing passages (between LONG spells of really dull ones) I really wasnt all that impressed with this book.It had a few moments that made me chuckle, but it certainly wasnt as drop-dead funny to me as all the reviews led me to believe.It was long, drawn-out, and filled with names and places of people I've neither heard of nor cared about.But again, its just a clash of culture; this would be like someone from England reading a book about the Dawg Pound in Cleveland or the fans with terrible towels in Pittsburgh.Basically, if you're not a sports fan or if you dont know anything about soccer or its culture, I'd pass on this one.While it did give some interesting insight into the mind of the obsessive sports fan and a glimpse of a true English soccer fan I just wasnt entertained.Then again, I'm probably not the type of person to whom this book was intended...I really should have read High Fidelity!

The Mind of The Hardcore Sports Fan
Hornby takes the reader into the mind and obsessions of the hardcore sports fan in "Fever Pitch", a tale of the author's obsessive relationship with Arsenal, one of London's main football (soccer) clubs.
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Subjects:  1. 20th century    2. Authors, English    3. Biography    4. Biography & Autobiography    5. Biography / Autobiography    6. Biography/Autobiography    7. English authors    8. Great Britain    9. Historical - British    10. Hornby, Nick    11. Literary    12. Soccer    13. Sports - General    14. Family & Relationships / Parenting   

Reviews (6)

Great Soccer Drills: The Baffled Parent's Guide
I found this book to be very useful.I am a 1st time soccer coach this year and I love the fact that this book went step by step and that it divided things out according to age.I had my 1st practice last night and it was a huge success.Thank you!

Excellent Drills
This another good soccer book with great games.It's a great supplement to Coching Youth Soccer:A Baffled Parent's Guide, however if you are planning on only purchasing one go with Coaching Youth Soccer.

Great drills with no lines
This book has great drills involving the entire team so the kids don't have to stand in line waiting for their turn, getting antsy and goofing off.I'm coaching U12 boys and while I thought the first section of drills was a bit basic the rest were awesome.And looking back, the basic drills are good for warm-ups and fun, short little exercises.There's an index in the back that shows you which drills help with which skills.I highly recommend this book.I'm looking forward to putting the drills in action. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Coaching    2. General    3. Soccer    4. Soccer for children    5. Sports    6. Sports & Recreation    7. Training    8. Soccer (Association football)    9. Sports & Recreation / General    10. Sports coaching   

Reviews (6)

Soccer for Spectators
An excellent refresher for those out-of-touch with soccer as well as for those just learning the game.As the parent of a former high school and college soccer player, but that was a few years back, I thought I knew the game.Now with 4 grandchildren playing, I wanted a easy-to-read refresher.This is it.I applaud the writer and encourage all who are players, or spectators, to spend a few evenings with this easy, and fun to read, book. It is very well done.
Great intro
This is a book, especially for parents who are trying to figure out the game and people who'd like to learn more about it.

A complete waste of time
This is the first time I have reviewed a book for Amazon. I am doing this because I consider this book to be 100% garbage. Read more

Subjects:  1. Soccer    2. Sports    3. Sports & Recreation    4. Soccer (Association football)    5. Sports & Recreation / Soccer   

Reviews (2)

A great read -- more than a sports book
I picked up this book expecting to read a sports biography and discovered alot more.It profiles Anson Dorrance, the most famous women's soccer coach in the world and arguably the originator of the whole women's soccer phenomenon. The book also offers insight into what it takes to be a leader, how leadership is born, how it is developed and maintained over time.The author reveals, through anecdotes and direct quotes, what drives Dorrance and what has made him so successful.The book is a primer and a workbook on how to coach any sport at any level as well as a leadership guide.

Highly recommended
This book is a must-read for anyone who wishes to be inspired.In detailed prose, through literary excerpts, game-day speeches, letters, quotes, and humorous anecdotes, Tim Crothers has unlocked the hidden treasures of Anson Dorrance's extraordinary coaching and its force in directing young lives to greatness.More than a simple biography, THE MAN WATCHING brings the dramatic and riveting story of Dorrance building the UNC women's soccer legacy to life.This real-life story reads like a novel but it is all the more compelling because it is true--phenomenal! ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Biography    2. Biography & Autobiography    3. Biography & Autobiography - General    4. Biography / Autobiography    5. Biography/Autobiography    6. Children's Books/Ages 9-12 Fiction    7. Coaching - Soccer    8. Soccer    9. Soccer coaches    10. Soccer for women    11. Sports - General    12. United States   

Reviews (59)

I agree with another reader
Bill Buford does go analytical about half way into the book, this is a good book, 4 stars imho but not a great book and I would take a few things he says with a grain of salt; so in other words, I don't always believe what Bill says but it may be so. It is a candidate for one of those books that spurs on reading more books on the topic to see, "what in the world is going on here" and truly, when other reviewers mention other books to read, that is helpful.
Fascinating
Whether you are a fan of soccer or not, Among the Thugs is a very interesting insight into the minds and motivations of hooligans. An American now residing in England for years, Bill Buford recounts time spent in an attempt to understand the culture of violence that attracts so many young fans. Less about the game, and more about a seedy and fascinating sub-culture of the more belligerent fans of the sport. An excellent read.

Good read.
Interesting read. I grew up watching the games in England in the 80's and was unaware of quite the extent of violence that went on. This would be an ideal book for someone studying about crowd violence or football thugs. I did however find that the book was difficult to read in parts and did it not seem to flow. I thought some of the detailed analysis of crowds was un-necessary and would have preferred more detail on the thugs and violence. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Europe - Great Britain - General    2. Great Britain    3. Hoodlums    4. Political Freedom & Security - Law Enforcement    5. Soccer    6. Soccer fans    7. Social aspects    8. Sociology    9. Sports & Recreation    10. Biography: general    11. Soccer (Association football)    12. Sports & Recreation / Soccer    13. United Kingdom, Great Britain   

Subjects:  1. Soccer    2. Sports & Recreation    3. Soccer (Association football)   

Reviews (8)

Great Book
I love football and i know some things about this sport, but this guide gives you a complete step by step explanation.
Good for football culture, kinda weak and jargony on actual rules
I like the straightforwardness of the writing, and the insight into the appeal of the game.Alas, if you're an outsider hoping to learn the game from scratch, you're going to have a lot of trouble--after teaching you rudimentary terms, the writers start describing the game as if you've been watching it all your life, tossing barely-introduced jargon around all over the place.I was really disappointed that the one aspect of the game I was most interested in (the actual GAME) was so poorly rendered.

You will know football even though you are not an American
I'm a Chinese girl and never watched any American football games in Hong Kong until I married to an American and moved to United States one and half years ago. He is a football fan and he keeps track his team every day, not to mention especially during the regular season every Sunday.
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Subjects:  1. Football    2. Football - General    3. Reference    4. Rules    5. Sports    6. Sports & Recreation    7. United States    8. Soccer (Association football)    9. Sports & Recreation / Football   

Reviews (3)

Pretty "Good"
I enjoyed this book.It was exectly what I expected, a little bit of insight, a little bit of instruction and a little bit of personal observation. Good new coach book with many team building exercises
I read this book after reading Anson Dorrance's Training Soccer Champions and Lauren Gregg's The Champions Within.This book is better for the new coach who may be just forming their coaching attitudes and style.For coaches of totally dedicated Premier level teams or higher, the other two books are probably better.Catch Them Being Good shares many of the viewpoints of the other two books on building teams, motivating players, and forming strong positive attitudes.The other two books had better technical information and (perhaps because I read them first) struck me more powerfully than this one.This book was more readable for a beginning coach.I think the team building exercises are a real plus and are the biggest items I will take away from reading this book.

My Experience
Ok, this book is wonderful.Tony and Colleen put it all together for you coaches and parents out there!The truth in black and white. I am a product of this type of coaching. I was blessed to have been a soccer player who was led by Dr. Colleen Hacker at Pacific Lutheran University.She caught me being good more often than bad and I thrived mostly as a young woman but also on the soccer field.The book takes you through the life of a season from the very beginning to the end.Tony gives examples of experiences he has had with players/coaches on the US National Team.A valuable tool and great food for thought. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Coaching    2. Psychological aspects    3. Soccer    4. Soccer for women    5. Sports    6. Sports & Recreation    7. Sports & Recreation / General   

Subjects:  1. Biography: sport    2. Soccer (Association football)   

Reviews (20)

Great Book!
I'm a second year coach with very limited playing experience.I played soccer during elementary school but it was essentially mob ball.This book has helped a great deal. It gives great suggestions for organizing practices and the drills, ahem I mean games, are great. The problem, analysis, solution section is also very helpful.

Wonderful!Highly Recommended!
This book helped organize my practices and provided ideas for drills that kept my U8 Boys team interested the entire season.I received numerous compliments from parents that their kids enjoyed the variety of "games" (i.e. drills) we played in practice.My team went 11-2 this past season and all my players chose to return for the spring season over baseball and other sports.I honestly feel this book improved my coaching style and played a large part in the success of our team.

extremely helpful
I am coaching my daughter's U-8 AYSO soccer team this season and was in desperate need of an easy overview of rules as well as age and skill appropriate drills for practices.This book was very helpful and I am using it as a resource. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Coaching    2. Coaching - Soccer    3. Parenting - General    4. Soccer    5. Soccer for children    6. Sports    7. Sports & Recreation    8. Soccer (Association football)    9. Sports & Recreation / General   

Reviews (9)

Good book for coaches, parents, soccer lovers
Wow. I am thoroughly impressed with this book. I have played soccer since I was 12, and at 30 am now starting to coach and referee. This book does a great job mixing up stories, advice for coaching kids (and parents) and a little history lesson. I wrote down some of its suggestions for my team. I definitely have caught soccer fever and would recommend this book to others who love soccer or have kids interested in soccer.

You've read this one before
The problem with Jim Haner's Soccerhead is that he may be writing about a sport that's new to Americans, but he's using it to tell an old story in an old way.A middle class white guy finally leaves his prolonged adolescence through watching (and in this case coaching) his childplay sports.As America changes to accept soccer and becomes a richer nation for doing so, so has his life become better, more adult (part of the subtext within the book is that soccer with its nuances and chess-like strategy is much like modern life) for the experience.
Good start for the aspiring youth soccer coach.
Nice job blending the fun and frustrations of coaching with the history of soccer in this country - which is a much richer history then I would have guessed.Bogs down a bit in the middle, but definitely worth the time. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Coaching    2. Coaching - Soccer    3. History    4. Soccer    5. Sports    6. Sports & Recreation    7. United States    8. Sports & Recreation / Soccer   

Subjects:  1. Football    2. Football - General    3. Rules    4. Sports    5. Sports & Recreation    6. Soccer (Association football)    7. Sports & Recreation / General   

Reviews (4)

Inspirational
This book is a must for anyone dealing with either Ulcerative Colitis or Crohn's Disease.I put off buying this book because I have Crohn's disease, but I must tell you it was one of my biggest mistakes.If you, or someone you love, is dealing with IBD get this book.So many of Rolf's feelings and thoughts were the same thing I was thinking when I first had to deal with this disease.Rolf is an inspiration, he proves that you can live your life with these diseases and live it to the fullest.

Inspiring Book
As a young woman with an ostomy, I was very inspired by the personal account in this book.Rolf showed me that I could go on with my life and go back to a normal exercise pattern.The personal photographs that he shares helped me explain what happened to me to my children.I would recommend this book for anyone who is having a hard time coping with their ostomy.It turned my whole point of view around!

What a Guy - what a book!
In this inspirational story, the former placekicker for the San Diego Chargers tells of his own journey with IBD and subsequent surgery.His bravery and humanity come through crystal clear although its obvious Rolfis simply trying to help others via his experience and not blow his ownhorn.Nevertheless, no reader can help but admire the perserverance, bothpersonal and professional, of this fine human being. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Soccer    2. Sports & Recreation    3. Adoption    4. Biography    5. National Football League    6. Ulcerative Colitis, Crohn's Disease and Ostomy Surgery   

Subjects:  1. Biography: sport    2. Soccer (Association football)   

Reviews (2)

It's a wonderful world after all
Mr Biss takes you in this beautiful journey around the globe with photographs thatare inteligent and witty. It made me fall in love with the beautiful game all over again. This is the best photo book on soccer I've ever seen.

One for the soccer enthusiast's coffee table
While recovering from the World Cup and looking for travel books, I found this 380-page volume of photographs and quotations that depict soccer around the world.Levon Biss, a British photographer, travelled to 26 countries--from Peru to Norway, from the beaches of the Canary Islands to the military fields of China, from Namibia to Virginia Beach--in search of images of people playing soccer. He found some good ones.
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Subjects:  1. Photography Of Specific Subjects    2. Soccer    3. Sports    4. Sports & Recreation    5. Subjects & Themes - Sports    6. Sports & Recreation / Soccer   

Reviews (23)

Over price status symbol book
Once again, I find another [...] publication not living up to the hype in other dragondoor books. The price [...] was not worth it. The book had few illustrations and and seldon corresponded to the type. A person could get very frustrated in trying to figure out how to do these few exercises. There were never enough illustrations to properly understand the exercises.Horrible- little thought went into this book just hype on how to be a great player. Dragondoor is a rip -off factory.NOT RECOMMENDED

For experienced weight trainers
I have played football very competively in both high school and college and can tell you that the fooundation that Davies lays out in his book produces better results than any other workout I have seen. There are some problems with the book however. First, as everyone has stated, there is no scheduled training guideline, this requires the reader to formulate their own. Thankfully I was very experienced and could do so with no problem. But I know that not everyone else is. Another problem with the book is that Davies has no emphasis whatsoever on gaining size. And yes, ask anyone who played real football and they will tell you that speed and then size are the two most important things (acceleration x mass= force). Davies has few if any exercises for developing much mass and even alludes to size slowing one down. Big mistake for anyone who wants to play a high level of football. It is few and far in between when someone has so much muscle that they are slowed down by it, look at the professionals. So again I had to go back and address that problem as well. Lastly, these exercises are not easy to accomplish. Many require considerable experience on how to perform the lifts, though Davies does a decent job with the pictures of showing you how to perform them. I strongly recommend this book to anyone with enough experience to formulate their own routine, if not it will only give you insight into some new lifts.

Picture book
This book is a collection of exercises and drills you can do to train for football. It's just a bunch of pictures with descriptions. There is no guidance on how to sequence your training. Dissapointed. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Exercise    2. Football - General    3. Sports    4. Sports & Recreation    5. Training    6. Fitness training    7. Soccer (Association football)   

Reviews (3)

Louis van Gaal: Genius
During the late 1960's and early 1970's Rinus Michels and Ajax took flowing, attacking soccer and turned it into a science.This science has become widely known as 'Total Football.' Offensiv soccer when it`s best !!
This a Bibel for all people, that likes Ajax Amsterdams 4-3-3 soccer. You simply become glad for Van Gaals`, and the others Ajax coaches way to think about the greatest sport, soccer !!

easy scoring
great subject,lot's of jari,and no adze's at all. makes me feel melancholic considering the lame results of ajax nowadays. But it remains to be the best club in the world so we have rank this book in importanceabove (for example) the work shakespierre or goethe ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Soccer    2. Sports    3. Sports & Recreation    4. Training    5. Coaching    6. Soccer (Association football)    7. Soccer--Coaching    8. Sports training & coaching