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When The Game Stands Tall, Special Movie Edition: The Story Of The De La Salle Spartans And Football's Longest Winning Streak (2014)

by Neil Hayes(Favorite Author)

4.28 of 5 Votes: 2

ISBN

1583948058 (ISBN13: 9781583948057)

languge

English

genre

Nonfiction

publisher

North Atlantic Books

review 1: The book I read was "When the Game Stands Tall" By John Madden and Neil Hayes. My book was about De La Salle and there 150 game will streak. When they lost to Bellevue they lost the streak; the team fell apart losing there next game also. They play the number 1 team in the nation and need to get back up to the true De La Salle team. The De La Salle team won 150 straight games and on an average out scored there teams 42-3. Teams refused to play them so they scheduled a game against the number two ranked team in the whole nation. It will be the number one ranked team against the number two ranked team and it will be quite a battle. Going into the next season De La Salle lost Terence Kelly and Cam Colvin two of the best prospects of high school football. They went into the ne... morext season as the number one ranked team but lost there first game against Bellevue it was one of the biggest upsets of high school football. After that game they lost all of there confidence and lost there next game to. In one week they play the number one ranked team Long Beach Poly. They have to get back on track to even have a chance against Poly. In the first half of the game De La Salle was up ten points but were worn down. Poly had a 100 man roster so they always had someone to go out when they needed it not like De La Salle. Poly started to come back but with 5 seconds left De La Salle made a goal line stop to save the game and win. They ended up winning the state championship that year and became the true De La Salle team again. De La Salle lost a few games but kept fighting and beat the number one team in the nation. By the end of the season they were number one again and won the championship for the fifth time in a row.
review 2: p.11 They (other coaches) want to know the secret to winning 125 straight games, but there is no secret. There's nothing that can be manufactured, packaged, and distributed. It's a thousand different threads wrapped around a fundamental truth.p.108 There's no eye in the sky offering advice from above. He (Ladouceur) considers input but relies mostly on his own intuition.p.143 'Walt Michaels, former coach of the New York Jets, summed up what kind of man plays on special teams,' concludes the application's introductory paragraph. 'A man with no fear belongs in two places- a mental institution and on special teams.' The paragraph ends with a question: 'Are you that man?' p.300 That's when I started to wonder if he (Ladouceur) was magic.A well rounded presentation of an intriguing story. There is plenty of backstory and the text is brings it all into the light. Two storylines run concurrently through the novel. 2002 football season is explored with a tremendous depth, while opposing chapters highlight the history of the team, coaches, players, and major figures. There are multiple intersecting stories within the larger tale. The reader learns about the history of De La Salle HS and the personal story of Coach Ladouceur. Both topics are covered with precision. Shifting the timescale between chapters is never confusing. After a couple of jumps back and forth in time and the reader is used to the rhythm of the story. The coaching philosophy presented by the group of coaches at De La Salle is a breathe of fresh air. Mixing history with the present allows the personalities of the coaches jump off the page. By the end of the novel, there personalities are quite distinct. The manner in which the program is directed is an example to all current and aspiring coaches. Game action is a component of the text, but in no way dominates the story. The first collection of pictures comes during the textual build up to a big game. All suspense is killed when the pictures relay the score of the game which is the focus of the text. Switching the movie pictures with the pics from 2002 would increase the level of suspense for the reader. One of the interesting aspects of the text is the focus upon the 2002 season. Future NFL star Maurice Jones-Drew plays a major role in the novel as a member of the class of 2002. Learning about the HS career a consistent pro bowl running back was interesting. Edit:p.73 1st paragraph, 1st line. Repeat of last line of previous paragraph.p.159 4th paragraph, lst line. "drew" is not capitalized to begin the sentence.Capitalization of first letter following a colon is sporadic, not constant. Red pen time. less

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