Are You Ready for Some Football (Books)!

Chips, beer, pizza, goal-line stands, facemasks, and ... reading?

As we near that unofficial winter holiday also known as Super Sunday, BTW thought it only proper to have a look at the top 15 bestselling football titles at Book Sense bookstores -- in both the adult and children's categories -- during this past 2004 NFL football season.

Topping the adult football list was Friday Night Lights: A Town, a Team, and a Dream by H.G. Bissinger (Da Capo), and, at Number 2 was Season of Life: A Football Star, a Boy, a Journey to Manhood by Jeffrey Marx (Simon & Schuster).

Interestingly, while the New York Giants didn't rank as one of the top 15 football teams this year, their former players are well represented as either authors or subject matter in the top 15 bestselling adult football titles. Sunday Morning Quarterback (HarperCollins) by Phil Simms, the former Giants QB, one-time Super Bowl MVP, and current CBS football analyst, came in at Number 8, while his former teammate Lawrence Taylor's tome, LT: Over the Edge follows at number 9. Meanwhile, at 13 is a book about Simms' and Taylor's former head coach, When the Tuna Went Down to Texas: How Bill Parcells Led the Cowboys Back to the Promised Land by Mike Shropshire.

In the children's category, the top seller this past season was T Is for Touchdown: A Football Alphabet by Brad Herzog (Sleeping Bear), with Football Nightmare by Matt Christopher (Little, Brown) at Number 2 on the list.

Here are the Book Sense Football Bestseller Lists, which are based on sales at independent bookstores with Book Sense nationwide during the NFL's 2004 - 2005 football season.

The Book Sense Football Bestseller List

1. Friday Night Lights: A Town, a Team, and a Dream by H.G. Bissinger, Da Capo, $15.95, 0306813742
2. Season of Life: A Football Star, a Boy, a Journey to Manhood by Jeffrey Marx, S&S, $18, 0743269748
3. The Heisman: Great American Stories of the Men Who Won by Bill Pennington, Regan Books, $25.95, 0060554711
4. Golden Boy by Paul Hornung, S&S, $25, 0743266196
5. America's Game: The Epic Story of How Pro Football Captured a Nation by Michael Maccambridge, Random House, $27.95, 0375504540
6. The All Americans by Lars Anderson, St. Martin's, $24.95, 0312308876
7. Football Physics: The Science of the Game by Timothy Gay, Rodale, $21.95, 157954911X
8. Sunday Morning Quarterback: Going Deep on the Strategies, Myths & Mayhem of Football by Phil Simms, Vic Carucci, HarperCollins, $24.95, 0060734272
9. LT: Over the Edge: Tackling Quarterbacks, Drugs, and a World Beyond Football by Lawrence Taylor, Steve Serby, HarperTorch, $7.99, 0061031496
10. Do You Love Football?!: Winning with Heart, Passion, and Not Much Sleep by Jon Gruden, Perennial, $13.95, 0060579455
11. Third Down and a War to Go: The All-American 1942 Wisconsin Badgers by Terry Frei, University of Wisconsin, $26.95, 0870203606
12. When the Game Stands Tall: The Story of the de La Salle Spartans and Football's Longest Winning Streak by Neil Hayes, North Atlantic, $25, 1583940863
13. When the Tuna Went Down to Texas: How Bill Parcells Led the Cowboys Back to the Promised Land by Mike Shropshire, William Morrow, $24.95, 0060572116
14. Football Skills & Drills by Tom Bass, Human Kinetics, $18.95, 0736054561
15. Committed: Confessions of a Fantasy Football Junkie by Mark St. Amant, Scribner, $24, 0743267567

The Book Sense Children's Football Bestseller List

1. T Is for Touchdown: A Football Alphabet by Brad Herzog, Sleeping Bear, $16.95, 1585362336
2. Football Nightmare by Matt Christopher, Little Brown, $4.50, 0316143073
3. Football by James Buckley, Jr., DK, $15.99, 0789447258
4. Kick, Pass, and Run by Leonard P. Kessler, HarperTrophy, $3.99, 0064442101
5. Catch That Pass! by Matt Christopher, Little Brown, $4.50, 0316139246
6. Long Arm Quarterback: A New Football Team Sparks an Old Rivalry by Matt Christopher, Little Brown, $4.50, 0316105627
7. The Great Quarterback Switch by Matt Christopher, Little Brown, $4.99, 0316140775
8. The Team That Couldn't Lose: Who Is Sending the Plays That Make the Team Unstoppable? by Matt Christopher, Little Brown, $4.50, 0316141674
9. Play Football! by Tim Polzer, DK, $12.99, 0789488434
10. 1,001 Facts About Runningbacks by Brian C. Peterson, DK, $8.99, 0789498618
11. Whiz Kid Quarterbacks by Tom Barnidge, DK, $3.99, 0789498626
12. Win One for the Gipper: America's Football Hero by Kathy-Jo Wargin, Sleeping Bear, $16.95, 1585362212
13. Running Loose by Chris Crutcher, Greenwillow, $6.99, 0060094915
14. 1,001 Facts about Quarterbacks by Matt Marini, DK, $8.99, 078949860X
15. NFL Megastars 2004 by James Preller, Scholastic, $5.99, 043969177X