Growing Up on the Gridiron
Football, Friendship, and the Tragic Life of Owen Thomas
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Narrated by:
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Brian Conover
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By:
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Vicki Mayk
About this listen
Explores the experience of one young man and the concerns about CTE he helped to illuminate, and the cultural allure of football in America that keeps boys trying to make the team despite the dangers
Award-winning journalist Vicki Mayk raises a critical question for football players and their communities: Does loving a sport justify risking your life? This is the insightful and deeply human story of Owen Thomas - a star football player at Penn, who took his own life when he was 21, the result of the pain and anguish caused by chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE).
It was Owen's landmark case which demonstrated that a player didn't need years of head bashing in the NFL, or even multiple sustained brain concussions, to cause the mind-altering, life-threatening, degenerative disease known as CTE. And Owen's case could not have come to light without Dr. Ann McKee, the neuropathologist who bucked conventional wisdom, and the football establishment, as she examined Owen's brain and its larger significance, building an ever-stronger case that said, at the very least, football should not be played by children under the age of 14.
With its focus on a single life and the community touched by it - Owen's family, his teammates and friends, his teachers and coaches, and, later, Dr. McKee - Growing Up on the Gridiron explores the place of football in our lives. It doesn't make a heavy-handed argument to abandon the sport. Rather, it explores why football matters so deeply to many young men, and why they continue to take risks despite the evidence of serious, long-term harm.
©2020 Vicki Mayk (P)2020 Random House AudioListeners also enjoyed...
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Critic reviews
"There have been other books about football and concussions, but none quite like this. In Vicki Mayk’s hands, the tragic story of Owen Thomas is simultaneously a cautionary tale about playing the game and a love letter to a sport that means so much to so many young players. Deftly walking that fine line, Mayk produces a main character you won’t soon forget.” (John Eisenberg, author of The League: How Rivals Created the NFL and Launched a Sports Empire)
“Vicki Mayk’s compelling book should be a wake-up call for all involved in youth football - coaches, parents, and players. Not a predictable diatribe, Growing Up on the Gridiron is beautifully written and nuanced yet completely frightening for those concerned about our children’s brains.” (Mark Hyman, author of Until It Hurts: America’s Obsession with Youth Sports and How It Harms Our Kids)
“Mayk seamlessly integrates details of CTE into this moving story of a family who lost a son.” (Booklist)
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Story
No one can touch Bart Starr's record setting 5 NFL Championships including 3 straight. America's Quarterback tells the story of the man who helped create the legend of Vince Lombardi and the Green Bay Packers. This biography traces Starr’s life from childhood in Alabama to stardom in Green Bay and beyond. Not a simple sports story, Dunnavant traces the story of one man reaching for the American dream while professional football emerged from the shadows to capture the nation’s imagination.
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awesome
- By Anthony nyman on 03-30-15
By: Keith Dunnavant
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Head On
- A Memoir
- By: Larry Csonka
- Narrated by: Phil Thron
- Length: 10 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
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Larry Csonka ran the football with audacity and authority. He lived his off-the-field life with equal abandon. As part of the NFL's 100th Anniversary, he and his undefeated 1972 Miami Dolphins teammates were named the best team in NFL history. In Head On, Csonka shares how they achieved their legendary Perfect Season. From quitting football at a young age, to his often-combative relationship with Coach Don Shula, to brazen exploits with his NFL pals, Csonka narrates a life that is colorful, unbridled, and thrilling.
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My Childhood Hero
- By Amy MacDougall on 01-28-23
By: Larry Csonka
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Pistol
- The Life of Pete Maravich
- By: Mark Kriegel
- Narrated by: Lloyd James
- Length: 12 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
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Pistol is more than the biography of a ballplayer. It's the stuff of classic novels: the story of a boy transformed by his father's dream and the cost of that dream. Even as Pete Maravich became Pistol Pete, a basketball icon for baby boomers, all the Maraviches paid a price. Now acclaimed author Mark Kriegel has brilliantly captured the saga of an American family: its rise, its apparent ruin, and, finally, its redemption.
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Extremely Good!
- By steve on 12-12-12
By: Mark Kriegel
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Intangibles
- Unlocking the Science and Soul of Team Chemistry
- By: Joan Ryan
- Narrated by: Joan Ryan
- Length: 8 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
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Does team chemistry actually exist? Is team chemistry as real and relevant as on-base percentages and wins above replacement? In Joan Ryan's groundbreaking audiobook, we discover that the answer to all of the above is a resounding "Yes". As Ryan puts it, team chemistry, or the combination of biological and social forces that boosts selfless effort among more players over more days of a season, is what drives sports teams toward a common goal, encouraging the players to be the best versions of themselves. These are the elements of teams that make them "click".
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Intangibles
- By Joseph on 11-17-20
By: Joan Ryan
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It's Better to Be Feared
- The New England Patriots Dynasty and the Pursuit of Greatness
- By: Seth Wickersham
- Narrated by: Richard Poe
- Length: 19 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
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Over two unbelievable decades, the New England Patriots were not only the NFL's most dominant team, but also - and by far - the most secretive. How did they achieve and sustain greatness - and what were the costs? In It's Better to Be Feared, Seth Wickersham, one of the country's finest long form and investigative sportswriters, tells the full, behind-the-scenes story of the Patriots, capturing the brilliance, ambition, and vanity that powered and ultimately unraveled them.
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Don’t bother if you’ve read other patriots books
- By Brandon O. on 10-14-21
By: Seth Wickersham
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Until It Hurts
- America’s Obsession with Youth Sports and How It Harms Our Kids
- By: Mark Hyman
- Narrated by: Mike Chamberlain
- Length: 5 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
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Every year, more than 3.5 million children under age 15 require medical treatment for sports injuries, nearly half of which are the result of simple overuse. Journalist Mark Hyman investigates the evolution of youth sports from mere games to full-on quests to turn children into tomorrow's superstar athletes by pushing them beyond physical and emotional limits. Opening up a crucial discussion about the perils of youth-sports culture today, Hyman offers the solutions and answers we need.
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Are We Pushing Young Athletes Too Far?
- By Susie on 01-04-13
By: Mark Hyman
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Saban
- The Making of a Coach
- By: Monte Burke
- Narrated by: Barry Abrams
- Length: 12 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
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As the head coach of the University of Alabama's football team, Nick Saban is perhaps the most influential - and controversial - man in the sport. Unpredictable in his professional loyalties, uncompromising in his vision, and unyielding in his pursuit of perfection, the highest-paid coach in college football has changed the face of the game. His program-building vision has delivered packed stadiums, rabid fans, legions of detractors, countless NFL draft picks, and a total of four championships.
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Narrator is awful.
- By kenneth on 08-12-15
By: Monte Burke
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Tanking to the Top
- The Philadelphia 76ers and the Most Audacious Process in the History of Professional Sports
- By: Yaron Weitzman
- Narrated by: Yaron Weitzman
- Length: 9 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
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When a group of private equity bigwigs purchased the Philadelphia 76ers in 2011, the team was both bad and boring. Attendance was down. So were ratings. The Sixers had an aging coach, an antiquated front office, and a group of players that could best be described as mediocre. Enter Sam Hinkie - a man with a plan straight out of the PE playbook, one that violated professional sports' Golden Rule: You play to win the game.
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Great history of tanking by Sixers
- By Alan Bernstein on 03-11-23
By: Yaron Weitzman
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Across the River
- Life, Death, and Football in an American City
- By: Kent Babb
- Narrated by: Ryan Vincent Anderson, Kent Babb
- Length: 11 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
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On the west bank of the Mississippi lies the New Orleans neighborhood of Algiers. Short on hope but big on dreams, its mostly poor and marginalized residents find joy on Friday nights when the Cougars of Edna Karr High School take the field. For years, this football program has brought glory to Algiers, winning three consecutive state championships and sending dozens of young men to college on football scholarships. Although he is preparing for a fourth title, Head Coach Brice Brown is focused on something else: keeping his players alive.
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One man can make a difference…and does!!
- By Willike7 on 01-30-24
By: Kent Babb
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When the Game Stands Tall
- The Story of the De La Salle Spartans and Football's Longest Winning Streak
- By: Neil Hayes
- Narrated by: J. P. Linton
- Length: 14 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
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By 2002, The Streak - a historic 13-year run of consecutive wins by the Spartans, a high-school football team from Concord, California, that couldn't be beat - was still going strong. In this revised edition of When the Game Stands Tall, author Neil Hayes, who had unrestricted access to the De La Salle team, writes from the inside about the games, the players, and their visionary coach, Bob Ladouceur, who managed to amass the highest winning percentage in football history (.995) through standing for something greater than winning.
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Great story and message but PAINFULLY detailed
- By AudioAddict on 03-21-15
By: Neil Hayes
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The Gipper
- George Gipp, Knute Rockne, and the Dramatic Rise of Notre Dame Football
- By: Jack Cavanaugh
- Narrated by: Nancy Linari
- Length: 9 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
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Win one for The Gipper. Has there ever been a better-known and widely-used exhortative phrase in sports? Not likely. But who was the "Gipper", this mythical-like sports figure whose nickname has aroused, in turn, awe, wonderment, curiosity, and amusement since the second decade of the 20th century, and why is his story important? Answering those questions is the formidable task taken on here by veteran sportswriter Jack Cavanaugh.
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Not sure why my grade 1 teacher was reading this
- By Thomas on 07-23-13
By: Jack Cavanaugh
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A Giant Win
- Inside the New York Giants' Historic Upset over the New England Patriots in Super Bowl XLII
- By: Tom Coughlin, Greg Hanlon - contributor, Eli Manning - foreword
- Narrated by: Donald Corren, Tom Coughlin
- Length: 6 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
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In A Giant Win, Coach Tom Coughlin reveals the intricacies of football, sharing details only a coach would know. He also details relationships with some of the most iconic players from the Giants, including Eli Manning and Michael Strahan. A Giant Win provides a frame for Coach Coughlin to discuss his life in football—including his years with the Giants as an assistant coach in the late 1980s and 1990, when he helped win a Super Bowl working under Hall of Fame Head Coach Bill Parcells and alongside the coach he’d oppose in Super Bowl XLII: Bill Belichick.
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Love Coach Coughlin Story
- By Alison on 02-29-24
By: Tom Coughlin, and others
What listeners say about Growing Up on the Gridiron
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Flint H.
- 09-10-20
For the rookie
If you have never heard of football or CTE, this book is for you. The first half of the book spends time discussing football, football’s popularity, and CTE. The second half does a better job focusing on Owen, his story, and the tragic tale of a young player dying of CTE without a significant concussion, but due to numerous subconcussive hits.
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- laura slocum
- 12-17-20
Super Interesting!
I enjoyed this book very much. Having boys who are just a bit younger, they played sports, ice hockey and soccer in the Lehigh Valley so I could relate to this story. Even though they didnt play football, this could have happened to anyone playing contact sports so it is great that organizations take measures now to help prevent CTE and head traumas in athletes, in any age group, and that stories like this are told for education and further research.
Great story of love and camaraderie amongst fellow athletes, which is so important. There are always risks in anything we do but people have to follow their passions and play hard at sports (if that is their love), but learning and being safe can be an accepted part of the game too!
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- Matthew F.
- 01-22-21
A CTE Interventionist's Perspective
This story honors Owen Thomas well. It also perpetuates the sociocultural narrative which exalts violence. When it is mentioned that 99% of football players don't get CTE, we wonder why. Genetics, perhaps. Rehab processes and lifestyle choices following head trauma, probably. Social conditioning to venerate and utilize outward violence as the narrow end of the funnel through which we are taught to filter the majority of our internal emotions and experiences...the research on this topic is going to be invaluable in making sense of the valid correlative findings of the brain researchers.
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