{"product_id":"the-end-of-autumn-reflections-on-my-life-in-football","title":"The end of autumn: Reflections on my life in football","description":"Much of Michael Oriards education took place outside the schoolroom of his native Spokane  Washington  during \"slaughter practices\" on high school football fields. He was taught to \"punish\" and \"dominate \" to rouse his school spirit with religion  and to \"tough it\" through injuries  even serious ones. At the age of eighteen he entered Notre Dame and walked onto the football team  where studying hard was never harder. By his senior year  playing for Ara Parseghians Fighting Irish  he was the starting center and co-captain of the team. After graduating  he signed with the Kansas City Chiefs and head coach Hank Stram. There he learned what it meant to be \"owned.\" He rediscovered the game as it was played by grown men with families who were still treated like children and who dreaded nothing more than the end of their football careers. And without their fully realizing the consequences  every hard tackle inflicted its injury  some gradually growing into chronic conditions  some suddenly cutting a players career short and ushering him off the field to be soon forgotten. In this thoughtful narrative  Oriard describes the dreams of glory  the game day anxieties  the brutal training camps and harsh practices  his starry-eyed experience at Notre Dame  and the cold-blooded business of professional football. Told from the inside  the book leaves aside the hype and the pathos of the game to present a direct and honest account of the personal rewards but also the costs players paid to make others rich and entertained. Originally published in 1982  The End of Autumn recounts the experiences of an ordinary player in a bygone era--before ESPN  before the Bowl Championship Series  before free agency and million-dollar salaries for NFL players. In a new afterword  Oriard reflects on the process of writing the book and how the game has changed in the thirty years since his \"retirement\" from football at the age of twenty-six.","brand":"My Store","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44918992961589,"sku":"ByrdShop_0385177984","price":66.04,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0627\/8139\/0901\/files\/ByrdShop_0385177984.jpg?v=1768476085","url":"https:\/\/atxbooks.com\/products\/the-end-of-autumn-reflections-on-my-life-in-football","provider":"ATX Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}