Books like Next Man Up by John Feinstein

An inside look at a single season of the Portland Trail Blazers, revealing the dynamics of stars, salaries, media, fans, ethics, drugs, and racial tension in professional basketball.

Stefan Fatsis immerses himself in the Denver Broncos as a professional-caliber placekicker, revealing the physical, mental, and cultural challenges that NFL athletes confront.

Boys Will Be Boys chronicles the rise of the 1990s Dallas Cowboys—a dynasty of Super Bowl champions, star players, and off‑field controversy—from a 1–15 cellar‑dweller to a national icon under owner Jerry Jones and coaches Jimmy Johnson and Barry Switzer.

Sally Jenkins, bestselling co-author of It's Not About the Bike, revives a forgotten piece of history in The Real All Americans. In doing so, she has crafted a truly inspirational story about a Native American football team that is as much about football as Lance Armstrong's book was about a bike.If you'd guess that Yale or Harvard ruled the college gridiron in 1911 and 1912, you'd be wrong. The most popular team belonged to an institution called the Carlisle Indian Industrial School. Its story begins with Lt. Col. Richard Henry Pratt, a fierce abolitionist who believed that Native Americans deserved a place in American society. In 1879, Pratt made a treacherous journey to the Dakota Territory to recruit Carlisle's first students. Years later, three students approached Pratt with the notion of forming a football team. Pratt liked the idea, and in less than twenty years the Carlisle football team was defeating their Ivy League opponents and in the process changing the way the game was played.Sally Jenkins gives this story of unlikely champions a breathtaking immediacy. We see the legendary Jim Thorpe kicking a winning field goal, watch an injured Dwight D. Eisenhower limping off the field, and follow the glorious rise of Coach Glenn "Pop" Warner as well as his unexpected fall from grace.The Real All Americans is about the end of a culture and the birth of a game that has thrilled Americans for generations. It is an inspiring reminder of the extraordinary things that can be achieved when we set aside our differences and embrace a common purpose.

A comprehensive biography that charts Michael Jordan’s rise to basketball legend and examines the people, teams, and commercial forces that shaped him.

E-Book Extra: Bill Belichick: Snapshots and StatsAn unprecedented look at the innerworkings of a pro football team and the rise, fall, and rise of a champion When Bill Belichick arrived in New England, the Patriots were a laughingstock, an organization with a losing record, spiraling morale, salary cap problems, and a bloated payroll filled with a who's who of underperforming players. Belichick was supposed to change all that. But there were many questions: Could he turn it around? Could he win without Bill Parcells? He is smart, certainly, some would say a genius, but could he inspire and motivate a team to win it all? After his mediocre run as head coach of the Cleveland Browns, and the strange end to his relationship with Parcells and the New York Jets, what kind of head coach could he be?Four years later, he has two Lombardi trophies in his hands, and the Patriots organization has become the gold standard in professional football. How did they do it? With unprecedented access granted by Belichick and his staff, author Michael Holley takes us deep inside the heart of a champion. A fly on the wall for two years, Holley captures Belichick at his most candid in team, coaches, and production meetings. What emerges is a portrait of a complicated man who is cerebral, yes, but also tough, demanding, stubborn, funny, profane, and a master strategist.With his brain trust -- Scott Pioli, Romeo Crennel, Charlie Weis, and Ernie Adams -- Belichick has imposed a winning system and painstakingly selected players who thrive in that system. Holley provides, for the first time, insights into how Belichick and his coaching Cabinet prepare for opponents, evaluate talent, run the draft, and how they design their offensive and defensive schemes. Readers will also learn the real stories behind the controversial Drew Bledsoe trade and the cutting of Lawyer Milloy, and how Belichick fought to keep the team together.Frank, uncompromising, and stunning, Patriot Reign is required reading for football fans who want to understand what makes a champion tick.

When the California Dreams’ offensive line fails doping tests, teen investigators Steve Thomas and Susan Carol Anderson uncover a cover‑up by the team’s owner that threatens to wreck the biggest American sporting event.

Former NFL coach Tony Dungy shares how faith, family, and humility guided him to the first Super Bill win for an African‑American head coach.