Bøger af Mike Freeman

He was a giant among men, a symbol of a different era in sports . . .The NFL in the 1970s was a ruthless league, rife with concussions, broken bones, unmatched egos, and frequent racial strife. In the midst of this madness, commanding the Oakland Raiders (perhaps the baddest team of them all) was quarterback Ken Stabler?aka Snake?an unassuming and lethal threat as a player. On the field, he was cool and con-fident, but off of it he was a legendary woman chaser and babe magnet, carrying a larger-than-life persona at odds with the performance-drenched focus that characterized the rest of the NFL. Yet the Stabler that would eventually emerge was more than a playboy. No quarterback was tougher or more uniquely talented; his accuracy, particularly with deep throws, was as good as any quarterback's the league had ever seen; he'd won 100 games faster than any quarterback in history, as well as a Super Bowl, and most of all, he helped redefine the Raiders from losers to champions. In Snake, Bleacher Report columnist Mike Freeman details Stabler's childhood in racially segregated Alabama, his emergence as a rare high school talent, his raucous college days under the legendary Bear Bryant at the University of Alabama, and his famed career as a quarterback for the Raiders and, later, the Houston Oilers and New Orleans Saints. Freeman expands his story by offering a rare, personal look at Stabler after his football days?including his warm affection as a husband, father, and grandfather?and even describes how Stabler's death, and subsequent Hall of Fame induction, paved the way for greater CTE awareness, as a 2016 autopsy revealed Stabler had been suffering from the disease. This work examines the complete Stabler portrait: the good, the bad, and the unbelievable. Poignant, blunt, and eye-opening, Snake is a towering biography about a man who forever left his mark on football, the quarterback who studied his playbook by the light of a jukebox.

Each year, every football team sets out to play a perfect season. Only one has ever succeeded in beating the odds.The Miami Dolphins of the late 1960s were a laughingstock, a franchise where careers went to die. Then came Coach Don Shula. In just a few short years?through hard work, long practices, and his no-nonsense attitude?Shula transformed the team into a championship franchise. Led by such greats as Larry Csonka, Bob Griese, Nick Buoniconti, Larry Little, Mercury Morris, and Jake Scott, the team was undefeated in the 1972 regular season and went on to win Super Bowl VII. Along the way, the Dolphins became the team of the 1970s, with Miami as a fascinating backdrop.Based on years of research and interviews, Undefeated, by award-winning journalist Mike Freeman, examines what is perhaps the single greatest accomplishment in team sports history: the unforgettable season in which the Dolphins didn't lose a single game. There has never been a football team like those Miami Dolphins, and there may never be again.

A collection of 48 letters written from 1955-1959 by country recording artist Patsy Cline to her first fan club president and friend gives us a rare opportunity to experience the woman behind the songs.

Patsy Cline's story - both professional and personal - unfolds in this collection of letters written from 1955-1959 to her friend and first fan club president, Treva Miller. In her own words, Patsy talks of the recording sessions, television appearances and tours, but behind the glamor she writes candidly about having flat tires, not getting paid (even after her big hit "Walkin' After Midnight") and what it's like to be a mother and housewife while building a career as a recording artist. Few stars have the longevity of Patsy Cline. She died in a plane crash in 1963, yet her voice still moves us, so much so that she consistently appears on the best country artist lists from publications such as Rolling Stone and Billboard.A collection of 48 letters written from 1955-1959 to her first fan club president and friend gives us a rare opportunity to glimpse the woman behind the songs. She doesn't come across as bold and brassy, as some movies have portrayed her. Although she was traditional in her attitudes about family, she was determined to succeed as a recording artist. Against the backdrop of her recording sessions, tours and television appearances she was also a housewife who often did the family cooking, laundry and ironing before going on stage. It didn't always pay as expected, either. In 1957 she wrote to Treva: "Bill McCall still hasn't give me my money on "Walkin." I've got 2 lawyers working on it."One can imagine, through these letters, that Patsy is sitting across the table from her friend, chatting about her job, her loves and everyday life. We get to know Treva through these letters too. When Treva plans to marry against her mother's objections, Patsy said, "You are all she has and you are her baby, but then too, all these chickens have to find out about life their own way."In September 1960 Treva was killed in an automobile accident. Less than a year after that, Patsy was a passenger in a near fatal, head-on car crash. Two months later, still on crutches, Patsy recorded one of her defining hits, "Crazy." Her career was finally taking off.The introduction is written by Margo Price, a Nashville-based singer-songwriter, who became an overnight success with her album, Midwest Farmer's Daughter. When not appearing solo with her band, she joins Chris Stapleton, Tim McGraw, and Willie Nelson on their tours.

Sheet music for 17 tracks from the Masterharper of Pern CD: Robinton's Whistle Tune; The Duty Song; The Masterharper's Ball; Red Star Passes; The Golden Egg of Faranth (I, II & III); The Plains of Telgar; The Question Song; Fighting Thread; Star Stone; Lessa's Ride; Nonsuch; Fire Lizard; Dragonlady (Annie McCaffrey's Jig); March of the Wings; Merelan. Includes notes on the notation and an index of diagrams for guitar chord used in the book. "The response was overwhelming when we released the Masterharper of Pern CD. It came mostly in the form of two often repeated questions: 'Can we get sheet music for this?' and 'When will you do a recording of Menolly's music?' We'll get to the second question later, but this songbook is the answer to the first. We had to make a lot of decisions about the notation ... We've tried to find the heart of each arrangement, leave out the extras which would tend to make it more difficult to read, and keep the parts that will be most useful to most people. We hope we've at least come close to achieving that goal... "As for the music of Menolly- our second Pern collaboration was released in 2009 and, as so many of you hoped, it is based on the Harperhall novels. Anne expanded some of her lyric snatches (as did we), and she found, among her old files, a complete Pern ballad she wrote in 1969 that had never been published. You'll find all that on the CD Sunset's Gold, available from www.Opland-Freeman.com"

Many years ago, while Anne McCaffrey was writing The Masterharper of Pern - a "biography" of her much-loved fictional musician Masterharper Robinton - she surprised us with a request for music. The idea began with one tune from Robinton's story, but as we worked on it she began suggesting other pieces from her Pern series that she wanted us to compose. After many rough tapes (this was the 1990s - we were using cassettes!) she asked what it would take to get us into a professional studio to make a CD. That first collaboration was given the same title as the novel: "The Masterharper of Pern." No sooner had we finished the one project than she asked us to consider a second CD inspired by the adventures and music of Menolly, a young would-be Harper from a remote seahold, who was the main character in Anne's young adult series based in the Harperhall. Starting with lyric snippets that had appeared throughout the Harperhall Trilogy, Anne did some combining and expanding, as did we. She also found, among her old files, a complete Pern ballad she'd written in 1969 that had never been published. It was probably intended to be The Ballad of Lessa's Ride, but since she had already put together a new set of lyrics for that song for the "Masterharper of Pern" CD, we included her long lost saga under the new title Four Hundred Turns. Finding Elizabeth Malczynski, the artist who created the original Harperhall covers, and getting the use of her fantastic artwork for Dragonsong was the very definition of "icing on the cake." We're happy to be able to feature it here in a larger format than the CD allowed, AND to share a full spread of her Dragonsinger cover art.

Having spent forty years harried by ageless questions of mortality and creation, Mike Freeman suddenly found himself a stay-at-home father in New York City after living for the last decade in Alaska. Unsure of himself as a parent, he reflects upon both his own upbringing and adulthood. While unraveling a lifetime fishing, birding, hunting, and trapping with his father, he realizes how fortifying the outdoors are to all relationships, secular and otherwise. Neither Mountain nor River is a testament to this understanding, and how an acceptance of uncertainty can equally strengthen marital and parental bonds, as well as that to God. Written with depth and beauty, Freeman takes us both outside, into the wild, and inside, into the soul. As he struggles with passing on what he's learned to his own children, we get a unique glimpse into a man who lives purely for the wonders the world brings.

Undefeated explores the Miami Dolphins' legendary 1972 season, the only perfect season in NFL history, and the journey to the championship?a story of heartbreaking injuries, miraculous finishes, and tested relationships.Coach Don Shula transformed the team?through hard work, long practices, and his no-nonsense attitude toward the game?from a laughingstock expansion team, where careers went to die, into a championship franchise. Led by such greats as Larry Csonka, Bob Griese, Nick Buoniconti, Larry Little, Mercury Morris, and Jake Scott?the Dolphins were undefeated in the regular season and went on to win Super Bowl VII, in one of the greatest feats of toughness, perseverance, and discipline the NFL has ever seen.Based on years of research and interviews, Undefeated examines what is perhaps the single greatest accomplishment in team sports history: the unforgettable NFL season in which the Dolphins never lost a single game. There has never been a football team like those Miami Dolphins, and there may never be again.

An honest, uncensored look at the National Football League that captures the good, the bad, and the bloody. Award-winning sports reporter Michael Freeman goes were few civilians dare: inside the locker rooms, boardrooms, and everywhere in-between to offer an entertaining and provocative portrait of the National Football League. In Bloody Sundays he dissects the NFL, spotlighting the personalities and the politics that shape the game on and off the field, exploring how the game has influenced American life and culture, and identifying the issues and challenges facing the game today--from violence on the field to the maniacal coaching methods of Super Bowl winner Jon Gruden, to physical injury and longevity, to race and labor relations. Here, too, are the legends, heroes, and plays that make the game what it is, including a groundbreaking exclusive interview with an active gay player. Part investigative journalism, part critical analysis, and part tribute, Bloody Sundays uniquely captures the entirety of the league in all its greatness and ugliness.

The definitive biography of Bobby Bowden, one of the greatest college football coaches of all time, and his enduring legacyHe is a giant among coaches, a Hall of Famer, and arguably the greatest Division I college football coach in history. Following a tumultuous but successful tenure at West Virginia University, Bowden accepted the head coaching post at Florida State University, a failing program in danger of being terminated. What Bowden accomplished at FSU is nothing short of miraculous: twenty-one bowl wins and two national championships. A brilliant tactician, he helped usher the pro-passing game into college football. An unrivaled recruiter, he produced thirty-one consensus all-Americans over the course of his tenure. Along the way he had to deal with devastating family tragedies, scandals, and the rise and fall of his own three sons' coaching careers. Based on six years of research and interviews, Bowden by award-winning journalist and author Mike Freeman examines the remarkable life of Bobby Bowden and a stellar career that spanned six decades. It is the story of the making of a legend; a towering biography of a man who has left his indelible mark on the game of college football.

He intimidated people on and off the football field. He was brutal yet brilliant, narcissistic yet magnanimous, relentless yet unyielding. Most of all, he was the greatest football player of all time. He was Jim Brown.Jim Brown was an astonishing physical specimen with tremendous skills and intelligence. An athlete who played a number of sports at Syracuse University, he ultimately discovered that it was the violence of football that appealed to him most. The idea of physically dominating other men, surviving ferocious battles on the field against opponents who would just as soon call him a nigger as try to gouge out his eyes fueled an astonishing, record-making NFL career that led to the Hall of Fame. He battled his defenses, sometimes his teammates, and often the Cleveland Browns' legendary head coach Paul Brown.But Jim Brown had ambitions greater than football. He used his athletic brilliance to launch a movie career, becoming Hollywood's first black action hero, culminating in a scandalous love scene with America's sweetheart Raquel Welch. He leveraged his popularity into helping the NFL's black players and becoming a civil rights activist. Never shy about expressing his opinions, Brown would become the subject of FBI investigations and surveillance throughout parts of his life.Then there were the women. The patient wife who was essentially a single mother and who endured public humiliation. The girlfriends he ran through and the scandalous accusations of violence made by some of them.A complex and fascinating story, Jim Brown is a towering biography of a living legend.

Offers an understanding of the principles of geometrical and physical optics, useful for students engaged in the study of the visual sciences. This text explains these difficult concepts in order to apply them to the practical and clinical aspects of vision, suitable for the non-physicist.