The Manning family is like royalty when it comes to our favorite sport, and Eli has gone from under-study prince of the family, to undisputed King with his amazing play, not only getting the New York Giants to Super Bowl XLVI, but also winning the game and being named MVP.  Again!  Eli, you are the man.

Our new book is called Super G-Men.   We wrapped it up at about 4:15 AM Eastern on Monday morning- that would be approximately 6 hours after the game ended.

It literally came down to the last second, the final play before we knew which book we’d be doing.  We were ready for the Patriots too— That book would have been called Pats Payback, in reference to them getting some revenge after losing to the Giants in the Super Bowl 4 years ago.  I loved the design and layout of the Pats book that we would have published.  I was tempted to just go with Gisele on the cover in a bikini or Versace ad, but probably would have gone with her hubby.

Our new book is our best yet, and I believe worthy for the best fans in the NFL and the city of New York.  I tweaked the layout a little, and Giants fans will love the detailed look back at the entire season. We have an interesting narrative on every single game in the regular season.  The photos in this book are explosive, telling the story of a team that lived on the edge the entire regular season, before catching fire at just the right time and becoming unbeatable the last month and a half.

We have a separate section on Eli Manning, and the book is loaded with so much great information.  The Super Bowl was one of the most compelling I’ve ever seen, because of the legacies it affected by the outcome. Think about all that transpired because of the way it ended. Tom Brady looks like a tough-luck quarterback now with a very high-maintenance wife.   Bill Belichick seems like a grumpy old man in a tattered sweatshirt that can’t win a Super Bowl unless he’s taping his opponent’s practices.  Tom Couhglin is now a sure Hall of Famer.

And Eli Manning is wearing the crown as the best QB in the NFL.  Oh, he’s also the reigning title holder of ‘best quarterback in his family,” which might be even more impressive.

Congrats Giants.  Enjoy the book everybody.  It’s so worth $10 bucks whether you live in New York or not.

Website to purchase—www.rylinmedia.com

To say the 2011 Alabama Crimson Tide was a team of destiny doesn’t fully give this amazing squad the credit they deserve, and earned. Destiny implies that factors out of their control were at play, guiding, and prodding and assisting, and if there’s one characteristic that stands out about this dynamic collection of incredible championship talent it’s this: The Tide earned everything they got and deserved everything they won on the field.

But off the field, there was a feeling of destiny that surrounded this special team. Never have college athletes and coaches played for a bigger purpose, or had their championship season enjoyed, and needed by more people than Nick Saban’s latest collection of BCS Champs.

Congratulations to a great football team, for the staggering accomplishment of not only winning the 2012 BCS Championship, but doing it with style, flair, and utter and complete domination. In a word, the only way to describe this season, and this team, which carried the hopes and dreams of an entire community on their shoulder pads is this: Destined.

I am an Alabama Crimson Tide fan. I love their history, their uniforms, their stadium and their mascot. What’s not to love about an elephant? And the fans are just so damn passionate. I was at the Florida vs. Bama game in Gainesville this fall, and got to see it in person. I couldn’t believe how many Bama fans were there— and what struck me about most of them was this quiet confidence that straddled the line of cockiness but never crossed it. Kind of like they knew their team was great, they knew they would win that game that night, and that’s just the way it was.

Anyway, I was rooting for the Tide in the BCS Championship game. I wanted Alabama to win the National Championship ever since that terrible tornado wiped out a huge part of Tuscaloosa last spring. I just respect greatness, and in my mind there is no greater coach than Nick Saban, and I’ve never seen a defense as bad ass as Bama’s this past season. I had a blast putting together the book on the 2012 Champs. It was cool watching the resilience it took to rally after losing to LSU earlier in the season, and I had no doubts, with 40-plus days to prepare, Saban would coach circles around Les Miles and he did.

I’m very proud of our new book, “Pride Of The Tide!” and if you are an Alabama football fan you have to have it. It will be for sale throughout the Southeast this week, starting Thursday (Jan 12) and you will probably do a double take when you see the cover. It has a photo more rare than a Bigfoot sighting. More unbelievable than a Republican campaign sign on Alec Baldwin’s front lawn. We got a shot of Nick Saban smiling, celebrating and cutting loose.

Hey Bama fans—that alone makes this book a must have! Enjoy the book. It’s my favorite of the 20 or so I’ve done. Order it online here—www.rylinmedia.com

I have a funny feeling I’ll be doing my third Bama Championship book next year at this time.

Jack has been unbelievable.  He’s transcended sports and become part of pop culture lore because he played in the Super Bowl with a broken leg.  We were on the

Jim Rome Show on October 25, in studio with Rome and his crew in Irvine, California, when Jack explained to Romey’s million plus listeners that the break was not a crack.  “Let’s get that out of the way right now.  This was not a stress fracture or a crack.  It was broken clear through the tibia.  It snapped like a pencil,” Jack said in his gruff baritone that is part of the reason he’s been called the “John Wayne of football.”   My favorite quote in the book we put on the cover.  It’s from John Madden.  He says, “If an alien from Mars came to my front door and asked me ‘what’s a football player?’, I’d get Jack Youngblood. “ (This was back in the day when John Madden used to say interesting and clever things.  Unlike the last decade and a half of his career)

We also did all the shows on ESPN, including SportsCenter.   (They call it the carwash.  That’s when ESPN has you booked on a complete tour of shows.  You go to every studio and appear on every show you can on TV, radio and print.  The Car Wash.)  We also were at the Florida Gators vs. Alabama game in Gainesville.  Worked the Big Apple, hitting Sirius XM, and Boomer Esiason’s show, and then a big signing at ESPN Zone at LA Live in downtown LA.  It’s been very cool.

The highlights for me have been getting to know Jack Youngblood, and seeing what true greatness is like in person.  He’s so gracious with his fans, signing every single autograph and posing for every single picture.  Plus at the age of 60, he still works out daily and I guarantee you he could deliver a vicious head slap that would knock you into the middle of next month.  He’s damn strong.   We shared a lot of cigars the past month, and it’s been humbling seeing how fans of Jack freak out and damn near tremble in his presence when they see him.  He’s brought a lot of joy to a lot of people as a player, and he’s continuing to do it now on our book tour.

Here’s the video clip from when we had Jack on the TV show Extra with Mario Lopez, plus a behind the scenes video we shot from Jack’s garage in the wee hours of the morning before a book signing.

Enjoy—and if you want to get your hands on without question the very best sports bio of the year, and quite possibly the last 25 years, in fact I can’t think of a book that’s better, buy it today right here www.youngbloodbook.com and I’ll make sure Jack autographs it for you.

Usually we have to produce two. One exception was what went down the last couple weeks leading up to that awesome World Series between the St. Louis Cardinals and Texas Rangers. We thought we had distribution deals in place in both Dallas and St. Louis, but at the last moment the Rangers book was a no go. Not sure why, but we were only going to write and produce a St. Louis book. So let me tell you this—I became the biggest damn Cardinals fan West of the Mississippi and south of the St. Louis arch! (My wife is a St. Louis native, so it wasn’t tough)

Hell, I felt like an out-of-control gambling junkie who bet the rent on the 7th race at Pimlico. (I’m not a horse racing fan, or a gambler, I don’t even know if that last sentence makes sense)

Essentially, it came down to this. I wasn’t going to start on the book for the Cardinals until they won 2 games in the series, which happened quickly. So I laid out the game plan for the book, all the sections, the chapters, the story lines and started sifting through the hundreds of thousands of photos on AP Images. But after those three games in Texas, I thought there was no damn way the Cardinals were going to be able to pull it out. If the Rangers got one of the final two games in St. Louis, no book! A lot of wasted time and effort with no financial reward. But if the Cards could pull it out, well, flip the script.

http://www.rylinmedia.com

I was coming back from Minneapolis and in the car heading home when Game 6 was in the later innings. The driver turned up the volume and I heard it all slipping away. Rangers were starting to pull away. I told him to turn the radio off, and I was ticked off. I knew a book on the Cardinals would be huge—these are the best sports fans in baseball, without question more knowledgeable and sane and less grating and obnoxious than their over-rated counterparts in Boston. When I got home, I would turn on the game just to check the score. Rangers up one. Than two. It was over. I couldn’t even watch the ninth inning when all the magic happened and the miraculous comeback went down. My wife and I did watch the 10th inning. And the 11th. I can’t believe the heart of this Cardinals team. It was equal parts, fate, destiny, divine intervention, talent and strategy. Oh, and luck. But after they won game 6, there was no doubt they’d wrap it up the next night and they did.

So—Friday afternoon about 3 O’clock Pacific we came up with the name. Comeback Cards! We jammed on that book all day long.

It was still no guarantee though that we’d do the book— we needed the Cards to actually win Game 7, and, as we all know they did. After the final out, we shifted it into over-drive and wrapped it all up at 4 AM. It was done. Off to the printer, and get this:
In Stores in St. Louis by Sunday! Less than two days later.

So that’s the story on my latest book. It turned out great, and I love the action shot on the cover with hometown hero David Freese.

With this book selling, it’s time to get back to promoting my Jack Youngblood bio!

Moment of Zen – College Coaches from Tom Zenner on Vimeo.

I’ve seen the trailer for Adam Sandler’s new movie. It looks like it will truly suck like most of his last few flicks have. He’s become quite consistent, but if Sandler ever gets even more un-inspired and mails in a script for the sequel of Anger Management, may I suggest he get his inspiration from college football coaches. There are some angry dudes out there roaming the sidelines.

In fact some are so incensed, ticked off and out of control, that they look like their heads will simultaneously explode as their veins pop like water balloons. Hey coaches—got a little message for you—take one deep breath—2 chill pills—and stop acting like idiots!

Seriously—You are embarrassing yourself, your school, your team, your alumni, your cardiologist, your band, your hair dresser and your family —-and did I mention you look like unstable, out-of-touch, abusive, psychotic, control freaks? Well, you do.

While some coaches spend Saturday’s acting like complete fools on the sidelines, there are others that save their brain locks until the press conference. Yes, I’m talking about you Mike Gundy, and that other circus clown from the small school in Tennessee that was talking about his cats and dogs earlier this year. (Google it. You’ll be embarrassed for his family, I guarantee you.)

I think it’s important to mention the coaches that think it’s okay to embarrass their players in front of millions of people on a semi-regular basis. That would be Brian Kelley of Notre Dame, Will Muschchamp of Florida, Mike Stoopes- formerly of Arizona and the gum-chomping, vein bulging, ulcer developing, Bo Pellini of Nebraska.

I have to ask you a question coaches; were you aware your games were televised when you signed your contracts? Oh, and while you expect perfection out of your players apparently, may I suggest you screaming dictators take a good look in the mirror and realize what you’re doing might not be working!

I know football is tough and discipline is important. I played in college for 2 future NFL head coaches, (Hue Jackson of the Raiders and Jon Gruden) one who won a Super Bowl, so I get it. I really do.

But times have changed you dinosaurs. Encouragement goes further than verbal beat downs and humiliation. So coaches, the next time a player misses a tackle runs the wrong route or fumbles, just think happy thoughts. Like unicorns jumping over rainbows or something. Although, I feel bad for that poor one-horned horse if it were to screw up.

So, check it out if you can at 12:30 Pacific, 3:30 Eastern. If you can’t catch it live, we’ll have the clip on the Youngblood book website for the book.

Momentum is picking up, and damn, it is absolutely mind boggling how many fans he has and the passion they have for the way he played football.

Jack is going to tear it up on the show like he always does. Follow all his appearances promoting the book on our website and if you are a fan of Jack, it is a must read. David W. Cooper did a phenomenal job capturing his spirit in the book. Check out the Youngblood Book website.

Follow me on Twitter @tomzener

and I’ll give you all the behind the scenes info on the media bliz and promotional tour we’re doing with Jack. We’re gearing up to blow this thing out on October 1st at the Florida Gators and Alabama game in Gainesville.
Here’s the cover of the book! It’s a beauty.

 

When it opened in November 2008, Pelican Hill created its own brand-new class of luxury, service and sophistication in the resort world. Visually stunning, the resort’s architecture is as bold and massive as it is elegant and detailed, embodying the vision and principles of Italy’s most renowned Renaissance architect, Andrea Palladio. For guests, venturing onto the property is like being transported to a charming Italian village, where villas and bungalows line streets that encircle the resort’s world-class golf course, and where clear days offer truly breathtaking views of the surrounding area. All these aspects combine to form a guest’s ideal journey into a tranquil paradise.

Got a news flash for the Miami Heat. You celebrate NBA championships during June, not July. Yes, I know, you had your fancy smoke machine last July, your empty promises and your phantom championship to celebrate before the three goofs could deposit their first paycheck. Meanwhile, in Dallas, the Mavericks were starting on their journey the old fashioned way, with the perfect combo of talent, dedication, chemistry and leadership. And it did not hurt to have a seven foot scoring machine taking his game to a whole new level. What an NBA Finals series we all saw. And we’re here to help Maverick fans relive it forever.

We cranked production of our new book Big D over Big 3 to overdrive as soon as LeBron and company took their talents to a South Beach nightclub to drown their sorrows and by 4:30 AM on Monday June 13, about 6 hours or so after Mark Cuban lit up his victory cigar with a billion dollar bill he kept in his wallet for emergencies, we had sent our book to the printers.

And they will be in stores in Dallas on Tuesday, June 14, in time for the victory parade!

It’s a great book, and if you are like millions of true basketball fans who respect and admire a true team performance, you’ll want to get your hands on this book and relive the magic for a long time. Order it here right now!