From the best-selling author of The Painted House, Skipping Christmas, and The Firm comes a nostalgic novel about high school football in a small Texas town, a place in which football has become a religion. High school all-American Neely Crenshaw was probably the best quarterback ever to play for the legendary Messina Spartans. Fifteen years have gone by since those glory days, and Neely has come home to Messina to bury Coach Eddie Rake, the man who...

In Los Angeles, twelve-year-old Charlie's skill at fantasy football gains the attention of both the local media and the owner of a professional football team.

When the coach's son, Shawn O'Brien, is chosen to play quarterback, eleven-year-old Ben McBain is not surprised--but when he tries to be a good teammate and help the inconsistent Shawn, he is startled to learn that his new friend does not really want the position.

Inheriting the Chicago Stars football team, trendy New Yorker Phoebe Somerville knocks heads with Coach Dan Calebow, who resents her meddling as much as she despises his sexist jocularity, until they discover an unlikely attraction for each other.