Eighteen years ago this morning I awoke to shouts from the hall of my dorm. “We’re going to war! We’re going to war!”…

“Don’t count your reps, make your reps count.”

Empathy isn’t one of football’s commanding virtues. You don’t play because you care about the other guy’s pain. You…

Antonio Brown is the most prolific wide receiver in football over the last eight seasons (or so), even while being…

I was playing in NFL Europe in the spring of 2004, eating schnitzel in Düsseldorf for the Rhein Fire, when I learned…

For the past year, I’ve been dipping a mangled toe into the stand-up comedy waters around L.A. It’s hard, but not…

Some NFL players will tell you the league is like prison—prison with paychecks. Each well-paid inmate has a…

In the quest for homeostasis, pain is your friend. Pain tells you when you’re wrong. When you need to change your…

Football is a lie unto the body. The better you tell it, the better you play. Whether running routes, disguising…

Mike Tyson was a predictable boxer. Michael Jordan was a predictable basketball player. Tom Brady is a predictable…

Brainwashed: One man’s defiance of the science that threatens his legacy.

Roger Goodell is a benevolent man. Last season, while negotiating his own new salary, he demanded lifetime health…

Many of the modern NFL’s legendary coaches have impressive coaching trees. Hefty branches that bore much fruit.…

A few days ago, in the Cowboys-Giants game, Odell Beckham Jr. made a very difficult catch. How? He just did it.

Excerpted from the new epilogue to Slow Getting Up: A Story of NFL Survival from the Bottom of the Pile, now…

Adapted from Slow Getting Up: A Story of NFL Survival from the Bottom of the Pile (Harper).