bayboy's review against another edition

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4.0

INSPIRING AND TRULY LEGENDARY STORY!!!

ashrafulla's review against another edition

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4.0

I really enjoyed the human elements of this story. The author was able to dig into the personalities of the coaches, the players and the school. The key elements for me were the open emotional honesty of the team to each other and the open criticism that comes with ownership.

The emotional honesty is a modern change in typically macho environments. More and more groups are finding that it is healthier to admit emotion than hide it, especialky with coworkers. This team is not adults so it makes sense that they can be more honest than a professional football team.

The ownership model is another modern change that shows in the coach taking equal rather than complete blame for losses. Aaron Rodgers does this too, and it gives ownership to the entire team. Now you can't expect so,eone to cover your ass freely, so you help cover everyone's ass. That collective is a stark contrast from the top-down leadership model often seen in sports.

Besides De La Salle, the author does a very good job characterizing their rivals and those rivals' concerns about De La Salle. Along with all the life lessons from the book, this notable ministory is an important part of context. You need to hear the rivals to get an understanding of what the communities are like and how they see this suburban Catholic school.

I recommend the book as a casual read. It took me about ten hours of reading time. You can even read it in combination with other books, mainly because it's easy to remember your place.

tfrey544's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional hopeful informative inspiring lighthearted reflective medium-paced

5.0

Easily the best book about high school sports I’ve read. A true treasure trove of information 

la_cori's review

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4.0

“There’s only one word to describe the reason for our success—mystery,” Ladouceur will say at the postseason banquet. “The spirit that exists at De La Salle High is mysterious. You can’t define, box it, buy or sell it. You just allow it in, with all respect and humility. Our job is to allow the spirit to work within us to change our small corner of the world—one play at a time, one relationship at a time, one love at a time, one child at a time—and when it’s all said and done you’ll understand that it begins with you.”

Da appassionata di football americano, avevo sentito parlare del record della De La Salle di 151 vittorie consecutive. A differenza del film, che avevo già visto, il libro si concentra sulla stagione del 2002, anno in cui Neil Hayes ha seguito come un'ombra la squadra e contemporaneamente ripercorre la storia della scuola (dalla sua fondazione e la creazione del programma di football, all'arrivo di Bob Ladouceur e il primo record di 72 vittorie consecutive).

cyndilouwho5's review against another edition

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3.0

The story of the coach and the teams he created is amazing. I would highly recommend this book to anyone who works with kids, especially high school boys. However, as much as I love football, I would have liked it better if the play-by-play of the games was greatly reduced. It also jumped around in time a lot.