The Greatest Football Stories Ever Told: Twenty Tales of Gridiron Glory
by By Noe, Eric (EDT)
Category: Sports & Recreation , Essays

As warm weather turns cool, thoughts turn to¿football. When the last touchdown is scored, the last pass made, who can help but devour the vivid descriptions of the game in books likeFriday Night Lights or magazines like Sports Illustrated? In this lively anthology, fiction and nonfiction combine to offer something for every fan. Included are winners like Pat Conroy's description of an immortal run inThe Prince of Tides, Robert Powell's account of ten-year-olds scrapping it out in Miami's most football-crazed neighborhood, and Ira Berkow's story about a white quarterback at a black college. Also included are the likes of Elwood Reid's shame-filled recollection of misbehavior on a college team, Buzz Bissinger's year with the Permian High School team in Odessa, Texas, and John Ed Bradley's melancholy reunion with the team he avoided for twenty years.Here are time-tested favorites and new classics, including contributions from:Michael Chabon - Andy Griffith - Pat Conroy - Robert Andrew Powell - Elwood Reid - Bill Conlin - Sally Jenkins - John Feinstein - H.G. Bissinger - Don DeLillo - Frank Deford - Jay Neugeboren - Herbert Wilner - John Ed Bradley - W.C. Heinz - Arthur Kretchmer - Charles M. Young - Ivan Maisel - Kelly Whiteside - William Nack - Rick Reilly - Ira Berkow - Gary Smith