From payoffs to playoffs, a memoir of the political wrangling behind an NFL franchise “filled with insider stories about the sports scene of New Orleans” (New Orleans Times-Picayune). Before the Saints were synonymous with New Orleans, Dave Dixon was gathering support to create a team and build a Superdome to accommodate them. In this memoir, the man affectionately known as the “Father of the Saints” gives an insider’s perspective on the historical events that shaped the New Orleans sports scene. Little-known facts reveal the negotiations, the payoffs, and the votes that eventually led to the announcement of the sixteenth franchise of the National Football League on November 1, 1966. Nine years after the NFL announcement, the Louisiana Superdome opened on August 3, 1975, as a fifty-two-acre, 269,000-square-foot facility that forever changed the skyline of New Orleans. The facility not only served as the home of the Saints, but later became home to evacuees of Hurricane Katrina. As Dixon reflects on the efforts of the key individuals who worked collectively to make this happen, he shares insight on a national scandal that he credits with altering our political landscape following the 1968 presidential elections—and eventually to the fall of John McKeithen, a dear friend and supporter of the Saints—in “a behind-the-scenes look at the New Orleans NFL” (The Daily Advertiser)./

Telling the story of Saints football in New Orleans is a way to understand larger social, political and economic conditions during pivotal moments of the city's history. This book is the first to explore the team's role in rebuilding the city following Hurricane Katrina. The author documents New Orleans' initial efforts to attract professional football, the Katrina disaster and some successes and failures during 10 years of post-disaster recovery. The narrative of community recovery and cohesion crafted by Saints fans transcends racial divides and illustrates the relationship between professional sports and the American city. The voices of female fans--largely overlooked in the study of sports--compel a more inclusive definition of football fandom.

This insider’s account of the 2013 Super Bowl blackout cuts across the city’s cultural landscape to reveal what change has meant for New Orleanians. Hosting the Super Bowl was set to be a major event for New Orleans. Not only was it a commercial boon for the city, but it would also be the first game played in the Superdome since it had been used as a shelter during Hurricane Katrina. As the big game approached, the entire city was determined to present its best face to the world. Politicians, business leaders and tourism officials declared the rise of the "new New Orleans.” But as game day neared, the preparations revealed the strains of the post-Katrina recovery and the contrasts of the heralded renaissance. The watershed moment culminated in darkness when the lights went out in the Superdome. In this revealing portrait of the breathless months before the game, author Brian W. Boyles unearths the conflicts, ambitions and secret histories that defined the city as it prepared for Super Bowl XLVII.

Famed defensive end Bubba Smith menacing opposing quarterbacks while wearing a New Orleans Saints uniform. Bruising running back Larry Csonka breaking tackles on his way to the end zone for the game-winning touchdown. Future Hall-of-Fame defensive back Ken Houston returning an interception for a touchdown as the New Orleans defense sparks a victory for the Saints. All could have been possible had the New Orleans Saints front office had the scouting competence and foresight to draft the likes of Smith, Csonka and Houston. Instead, trades and draft selections for the likes of soon-forgotten players such as Gary Cuozzo, Les Kelley and Kevin Hardy helped to set a tone for futility that haunted the NFL franchise for many years. Unlike previous books about the New Orleans Saints that have either been an ode to the team or anecdotes about some of the team's more colorful characters, When the Saints Came Marching In: What the New Orleans NFL franchise did wrong (and sometimes right) in its expansion years is a comprehensive look at the crucial first five seasons of the New Orleans NFL franchise and how early decisions impacted the team. The book also takes a look at what the Saints might have done differently from 1967-1971 that could have taken the team in an alternate direction.

America loves sports. This book examines and details the proof of this fascination seen throughout American society—in our literature, film, and music; our clothing and food; and the iconography of the nation. This momentous four-volume work examines and details the cultural aspects of sport and how sport pervasively reflects—and affects—myriad aspects of American society from the early 1900s to the present day. Written in a straightforward, readable manner, the entries cover both historical and contemporary aspects of sport and American culture. Unlike purely historical encyclopedias on sports, the contributions within these volumes cover related subject matter such as poetry, novels, music, films, plays, television shows, art and artists, mythologies, artifacts, and people. While this encyclopedia set is ideal for general readers who need information on the diverse aspects of sport in American culture for research purposes or are merely reading for enjoyment, the detailed nature of the entries will also prove useful as an initial source for scholars of sport and American culture. Each entry provides a number of both print and online resources for further investigation of the topic.

For years, the Chicago Tribune's "10 Things You Might Not Know" column has been informing and entertaining readers on a diverse range of fascinating subjects. 10 Things You Might Not Know About Nearly Everything is a collection of the best of these columns, presented in a fun and easy-to-read format. This book gives readers well-researched, obscure facts on universal topics—including arts and culture, food and leisure, history, politics, science and technology, sports, holidays and religion, lifestyle, language, and more. 10 Things You Might Not Know About Nearly Everything contains a plethora of surprising trivia and pertinent tidbits on so many different areas that will appeal to everyone from history buffs to sports fans to foodies, with an especially riveting look into Chicago-area history and facts. For example, in Zion, Illinois it was once not only illegal to gamble, curse, and sell alcohol and tobacco, but also to whistle on Sundays, put on plays, eat pork or oysters, spit, or wear tan-colored shoes. Some facts will make readers laugh and some will make jaws drop. This collection is a kaleidoscope of the absurd, the outrageous, and the sometimes-gruesome, making a highly entertaining mix of people, places, and things. 10 Things You Might Not Know About Nearly Everything will leave readers brighter, wittier, and curious to learn more about myriad worlds they never encountered before and will never forget.

For fans of professional football who thought they had read everything about the history of the game, Mark L. Ford breaks new ground with this account of the NFL preseason. Described as “test labs” by Ford, the preseason games are a time for trying out new strategies, considering future rule changes, and implementing television coverage innovations. For thousands of players who vie for a spot in the league every summer, the preseason is also the defining moment where careers can be made or broken. A History of NFL Preseason and Exhibition Games: 1960 to 1985 is one of two books by Ford on professional football’s preseason. Along with its companion volume—which covers 1986 to 2013—this resource provides information on every NFL and AFL preseason game played since the AFL was launched in 1960. All the interesting events and people that were part of these summer battles are detailed, as well as the first outings for new teams, new rules, and new stars. In addition, Ford includes amusing anecdotes and mishaps, such as a 1972 game that was lost because the players wore the wrong shoes. Throughout the book, Ford recounts key off-season developments that would transform professional football from a modest enterprise into a global monopoly with annual revenues and assets worth billions. A History of NFL Preseason and Exhibition Games is a unique and important reference for pro football fans and cultural historians alike.

From a multiple New York Times bestselling author, the rollicking, outrageous, you-can't-make-this-up story of the USFL The United States Football League--known fondly to millions of sports fans as the USFL--was the last football league to not merely challenge the NFL, but cause its owners and executives to collectively shudder. It spanned three seasons, 1983-85. It secured multiple television deals. It drew millions of fans and launched the careers of legends. But then it died beneath the weight of a particularly egotistical and bombastic owner--a New York businessman named Donald J. Trump. The league featured as many as 18 teams, and included such superstars as Steve Young, Jim Kelly, Herschel Walker, Reggie White, Doug Flutie and Mike Rozier. In Football for a Buck, the dogged reporter and biographer Jeff Pearlman draws on more than four hundred interviews to unearth all the salty, untold stories of one of the craziest sports entities to have ever captivated America. From 1980s drug excess to airplane brawls and player-coach punch outs, to backroom business deals, to some of the most enthralling and revolutionary football ever seen, Pearlman transports readers back in time to this crazy, boozy, audacious, unforgettable era of the game. He shows how fortunes were made and lost on the backs of professional athletes and also how, thirty years ago, Trump was a scoundrel and a spoiler. For fans of Terry Pluto's Loose Balls or Jim Bouton's Ball Four and of course Pearlman's own stranger-than-fiction narratives, Football for a Buck is sports as high entertainment--and a cautionary tale of the dangers of ego and excess.

While the story of the reintegration of professional football in 1946 after World War II is a topic that has been covered, there is a little-known aspect of this integration that has not been fully explored. After World War II and up until the mid- to late 1960s, professional football teams scheduled numerous preseason games in the South. Once African American players started dotting the rosters of these teams, they had to face Jim Crow conditions. Early on, black players were barred from playing in some cities. Most encountered segregated accommodations when they stayed in the South. And when African Americans in these southern cities came to see their favorite black players perform, they were relegated to segregated seating conditions. To add to the challenges these African American players and fans endured, professional football gradually started placing franchises in still-segregated cities as early as 1937, culminating with the new AFL placing franchises in Dallas and Houston in 1960. That same year, the NFL followed suit by placing a franchise in Dallas. Now, instead of just visiting a southern city for a day or so to play an exhibition game, African American players that were on the rosters of these southern teams had to live in these still segregated cities. Many of these players, being from the North or West Coast, had never dealt with de jure or even de facto Jim Crow laws. Early on, if these African American players didn’t “toe the line” or fought back (via contract disputes, interracial relationships, requesting better living accommodations in the South, protesting segregated seating, etc.), they were traded, cut, and even blackballed from the league. Eventually, though, as the civil rights movement gained steam in the 1950s and 1960s, African American players were able to protest the conditions in the South with success. Much of what happened in professional football during this time period coincided with or mirrored events in America and the civil rights movement.