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When the Game Stands Tall: The Story of the De La Salle Spartans and Football's Longest Winning Streak Author: Neil Hayes Binding: Paperback Published: 2005-08-23 ISBN: 1583941304 Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours from Frog Books Price: $11.53 Editorial Review: The book that inspired the ESPN documentary 151: The Greatest Streak is now Revised and Updated! 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. The book, which also features interviews with major sports figures like Bill Walsh and John Gruden, is a revealing portrait of the coach who believed above all in instilling basic life skills where winning is not the goal, but merely the byproduct of playing the game. The Streak had become a national story long before it ended in September 2004. In this revised paperback, Neil Hayes catches up on the lives of the main characters and takes readers through the final tumultuous year. What results is a timeless and inspirational story of struggle, tragedy, and triumph. Avg. Customer Rating: 4.5 / 5.0 "Excellent insight to motivation" "Great Book, Great Program" "The best of what's around" "A great example of what happens when you keep the main thing the main thing."   Ready to buy? Price: $11.53 List Price: $16.95 You save: $5.42 (31%)

Customer Reviews:

• Avg. Customer Rating: 4.5 / 5.0

• Excellent insight to motivation
  I thought this book was excellent. Not only is the story of such a remarkable winning streak noteworthy in itself, the story of Coach Bob Ladoceur will change many people's view of the nature of a winning coach. It appears that he and his staff really do care more about their players than about the game and, certainly, The Streak. I learned some key things about what makes high school boys tick and what makes teams accomplish more than they believe they can.

• Great Book, Great Program
  This is a very well written book by Neil Hayes. I liked how the author looks back on the past of the De La Salle football team, while going through the present season. Another thing I liked was the way the author made you feel like you were part of the team. A way he made you feel that way was by showing the speeches head coach Bob Ladeucuer speeches before and after the games. I liked that Neil Hayes followed the team around to show the more in-depth look at one of the most well known High School teams. I... more info

• The best of what's around
  This book is about so much more than football. I am a high school English teacher, but my sports background allows me to appreciate the importance of developing the whole student-to celebrate not only the essays they write, but also the great blocks and hits they have on the field, or the great music they create. Lad and the DLS coaching and teaching staff are successful at doing exactly that: developing whole young men who are thoughtful, respectful,and disciplined in the way a man needs to be as they face... more info

• A great example of what happens when you keep the main thing the main thing.
  Not everybody that read this book liked it, judging from the other reviews here.
  What I appreciated about the book was the look at coach Lad, and what he emphasized in his coaching.
  It seemed that he was most concerned with challenging his players to be disciplined, to work hard, to love each other, and to grow in maturity. He uses football to do it, and I would say that he is very good. De La Salle's winning streak is a symptom of a much deeper, more profound success that that football team is... more info

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