A great example of what happens when you keep the main thing the main thing.

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	• When the Game Stands Tall: The Story of the De La Salle Spartans and Football's Longest Winning Streak Neil Hayes Frog Books, 2005 - 402 pages average customer review:based on 27 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

When The Game Stands Tall

I have had the privilege to play for the De La Salle Spartans on the J.V. level. Although I have never played on var yet, I know what it is to play for the Spartans. There is a brotherhood of love and Unity, that is the key to winning. I know ther is no recruiting, people want to come to De La Salle for more than sports,to learn more about themselves and their lives. After all, the motto is "Enter to learn, leave to serve", and that is exactly what the school and football program do. I would recommend this book to anybody looking for an inspirational guts and glory story.

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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.

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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 especially liked the speech after their first lose in the 2004 season. Overall I thought this was an extremely good book and I would recommend this to anyone who would enjoy a good sports history novel. This was a great read and was easy for me to understand. I also liked the pictures they had in the book to show what the players were like.

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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 experiencing. I love this book because it shows that when you love your players, and they love each other and are willing to work to show each other that love, then winning happens.

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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 the world outside of the classroom, develop meaningful relationships, and eventually become fathers themselves. Thank you so much Coach Lad for allowing Neil Hayes to write this book and inspire the rest of us, football coaches, teachers, parents-to do our best by our boys so they can be their best.

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reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

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.

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