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A few seconds of panic: a 5-foot-8, 170-pound, 43-year-old sportswriter plays in the NFL

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Pub. Date:
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Language:
English
Lexile measure:
990L
Description
In Word Freak, Stefan Fatsis infiltrated the insular world of competitive Scrabble players, ultimately achieving expert status (comparable to a grandmaster ranking in chess). Now he infiltrates a strikingly different subculture-pro football. After more than a year spent working out with a strength coach and polishing his craft with a gurulike kicking coach, Fatsis molded his fortyish body into one that could stand up-barely-to the rigors of NFL training. And over three months in 2006, he became a Denver Bronco. He trained with the team and lived with the players. He was given a locker and uniforms emblazoned with the number 9. He was expected to perform all the drills and regimens required of other kickers. He ws unlike his teammates in some ways-most notably, his livelihood was not on the line as theirs was. But he became remarkably like them in many ways: he risked crippling injury just as they did, endured the hazing that befalls all rookies, daily gorged on 4,000 calories, and slogged through two-a-day practices in blistering heat. Not since George Plimpton's stint as a Detroit Lion more than forty years ago has a writer tunneled so deeply into the NFL. At first, the players tolerated Fatsis or treated him like a mascot, but over time they began to think of him as one of them. And he began to think like one of them. Like the other Broncos-like all elite athletes-he learned to perfect a motion through thousands of repetitions, to play through pain, to silence the crowd's roar, and to banish self-doubt. While Fatsis honed his mind and drove his body past exhaustion, he communed with every classic athletic type-the afable alpha male, the overpaid brat, the youthful phenom, the savvy veteran-and a welter of bracingly atypical players as well: a fullback who invokes Aristotle, a quarterback who embraces yoga, and a tight end who takes creative writing classes in the off-season. Fatsis also witnessed the hidden machinery of a top-flight football franchise, from the God-is-in-the-details strategizing of legendary coach Mike Shanahan to the icy calculation with which the front office makes or breaks careers. With wry candor and hard-won empathy, A Few Seconds of Panic unveils the mind of the modern pro athlete and the workings of a storied sports franchise as no book ever has before.
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ISBN:
9781594201783
9781400127672
Lexile measure:
990L
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Grouping Information

Grouped Work ID34b5e6ea-40ee-8bcc-4e11-609e14fe58c8
Grouping Titlefew seconds of panic a 5 foot 8 170 pound 43 year old sportswriter plays in the nfl
Grouping Authorstefan fatsis
Grouping Categorybook
Grouping LanguageEnglish (eng)
Last Grouping Update2024-03-29 02:17:20AM
Last Indexed2024-03-29 02:30:00AM

Solr Fields

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0
accelerated_reader_reading_level
0
auth_author2
Fatsis, Stefan
author
Fatsis, Stefan
author2-role
Fatsis, Stefan,reader
hoopla digital
author_display
Fatsis, Stefan
available_at_catalog
Valley Hi-North Laguna
detailed_location_catalog
Valley Hi-North Laguna
display_description
In Word Freak, Stefan Fatsis infiltrated the insular world of competitive Scrabble players, ultimately achieving expert status (comparable to a grandmaster ranking in chess). Now he infiltrates a strikingly different subculture-pro football. After more than a year spent working out with a strength coach and polishing his craft with a gurulike kicking coach, Fatsis molded his fortyish body into one that could stand up-barely-to the rigors of NFL training. And over three months in 2006, he became a Denver Bronco. He trained with the team and lived with the players. He was given a locker and uniforms emblazoned with the number 9. He was expected to perform all the drills and regimens required of other kickers. He ws unlike his teammates in some ways-most notably, his livelihood was not on the line as theirs was. But he became remarkably like them in many ways: he risked crippling injury just as they did, endured the hazing that befalls all rookies, daily gorged on 4,000 calories, and slogged through two-a-day practices in blistering heat. Not since George Plimpton's stint as a Detroit Lion more than forty years ago has a writer tunneled so deeply into the NFL. At first, the players tolerated Fatsis or treated him like a mascot, but over time they began to think of him as one of them. And he began to think like one of them. Like the other Broncos-like all elite athletes-he learned to perfect a motion through thousands of repetitions, to play through pain, to silence the crowd's roar, and to banish self-doubt. While Fatsis honed his mind and drove his body past exhaustion, he communed with every classic athletic type-the afable alpha male, the overpaid brat, the youthful phenom, the savvy veteran-and a welter of bracingly atypical players as well: a fullback who invokes Aristotle, a quarterback who embraces yoga, and a tight end who takes creative writing classes in the off-season. Fatsis also witnessed the hidden machinery of a top-flight football franchise, from the God-is-in-the-details strategizing of legendary coach Mike Shanahan to the icy calculation with which the front office makes or breaks careers. With wry candor and hard-won empathy, A Few Seconds of Panic unveils the mind of the modern pro athlete and the workings of a storied sports franchise as no book ever has before.
format_catalog
Book
eAudiobook
format_category_catalog
Audio Books
Books
eBook
id
34b5e6ea-40ee-8bcc-4e11-609e14fe58c8
isbn
9781400127672
9781594201783
itype_catalog
Adult Book Non-Fiction
last_indexed
2024-03-29T09:30:00.771Z
lexile_score
990
literary_form
Non Fiction
literary_form_full
Non Fiction
local_callnumber_catalog
796.332092 F254 2008
owning_library_catalog
Sacramento Public Library
owning_location_catalog
Valley Hi-North Laguna
primary_isbn
9781594201783
publishDate
2008
publisher
Penguin Press
Tantor Media, Inc
Tantor Media, Inc.
recordtype
grouped_work
subject_facet
Denver Broncos (Football team)
Fatsis, Stefan
Football
Football players -- United States -- Anecdotes
National Football League
Recreation
Sports
Sportswriters -- United States -- Anecdotes
title_display
A few seconds of panic : a 5-foot-8, 170-pound, 43-year-old sportswriter plays in the NFL
title_full
A Few Seconds of Panic : a 5-foot-8, 170 pound, 43-year-old sportswriter plays in the NFL [electronic resource] / Stefan Fatsis
A Few Seconds of Panic A 5-Foot-8, 170-Pound, 43-Year-Old Sportswriter Plays in the NFL
A few seconds of panic : a 5-foot-8, 170-pound, 43-year-old sportswriter plays in the NFL / Stefan Fatsis
title_short
A few seconds of panic
title_sub
a 5-foot-8, 170-pound, 43-year-old sportswriter plays in the NFL
topic_facet
Fatsis, Stefan
Football
Football players
Nonfiction
Recreation
Sports
Sports & Recreations
Sportswriters

Solr Details Tables

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hoopla:MWT10755278Online Hoopla CollectionOnline HooplaeAudiobookAudio Books1falsetrueHooplahttps://www.hoopladigital.com/title/10755278?utm_source=MARC&Lid=hh4435Available Online

record_details

Bib IdFormatFormat CategoryEditionLanguagePublisherPublication DatePhysical DescriptionAbridged
ils:.b18973309BookBooksEnglishPenguin Pressc2008340 p., [16] p. of plates : photos. ; 24 cm.
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hoopla:MWT10755278eAudiobookAudio BooksUnabridgedEnglishTantor Media, Inc20081 online resource (1 audio file (720 min.)) : digital.

scoping_details_catalog

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