Michael Holley

The first of "The Big Three" was Paul Pierce. As Boston Celtics fans watched the team retire Pierce's jersey in a ceremony on February 11, 2018, they remembered again the incredible performances Pierce put on in the city for fifteen years, helping the Celtics escape the bottom of their conference to become champions and perennial championship contenders. But Pierce's time in the city wasn't always so smooth. In 2000, he was stabbed in a downtown nightclub eleven times in a seemingly random attack. Six years later, remaining the sole star on a struggling team, he asked to be traded and briefly became a lightning rod among fans. Then, in 2007, the Boston Celtics General Manager made two monumental trades, bringing Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett to Boston. A press conference on July 31, 2007 was a sight to behold: Pierce, KG, and Ray Allen holding up Celtics jerseys for the flood of media. Coach Doc Rivers made sure the team bonded over the thought of winning a title and living by a Bantu term called Ubuntu, which translates as "I am because we are." Rivers wanted to make it clear that togetherness and brotherhood would help them maximize their talent and win. What came next-the synthesis of the Celtics' "Big Three" and their dominant championship run-cemented their standing as one of great teams in NBA history, a rival to Kobe Bryant's Lakers and LeBron James's Cavaliers. This is the team that brought excitement back to the Garden, and therefore to one of the most storied franchises in all of sports. They met their historic rivals, the Lakers, in the 2008 NBA Finals, winning the series in Game 6, in a rout on their home court with a raucous, concert like atmosphere. Along the victory parade route, Paul Pierce smoked a cigar-as a tribute to legendary former Celtics Coach Red Auerbach. In a city now defined by a wealth of championships, "The Big Three" joined the club. Michael Holley, the premier chronicler of Boston sports, brings their story to life with countless untold stories and behind-the-scenes details in another bestselling tome for New England and sports fans across the country.

A New York Times bestselling sportswriter tells the inside story of how three star players joined together to form the most dominant team in basketball and lead the Boston Celtics to their first championship in more than two decades. The first of "The Big Three" was Paul Pierce. As Boston Celtics fans watched the team retire Pierce's jersey in a ceremony on February 11, 2018, they remembered again the incredible performances Pierce put on in the city for fifteen years, helping the Celtics escape the bottom of their conference to become champions and perennial championship contenders. But Pierce's time in the city wasn't always so smooth. In 2000, he was stabbed in a downtown nightclub eleven times in a seemingly random attack. Six years later, remaining the sole star on a struggling team, he asked to be traded and briefly became a lightning rod among fans. Then, in 2007, the Boston Celtics General Manager made two monumental trades, bringing Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett to Boston. A press conference on July 31, 2007 was a sight to behold: Pierce, KG, and Ray Allen holding up Celtics jerseys for the flood of media. Coach Doc Rivers made sure the team bonded over the thought of winning a title and living by a Bantu term called Ubuntu, which translates as "I am because we are." Rivers wanted to make it clear that togetherness and brotherhood would help them maximize their talent and win. What came next--the synthesis of the Celtics' "Big Three" and their dominant championship run--cemented their standing as one of great teams in NBA history, a rival to Kobe Bryant's Lakers and LeBron James's Cavaliers. This is the team that brought excitement back to the Garden, and therefore to one of the most storied franchises in all of sports. They met their historic rivals, the Lakers, in the 2008 NBA Finals, winning the series in Game 6, in a rout on their home court with a raucous, concert like atmosphere. Along the victory parade route, Paul Pierce smoked a cigar--as a tribute to legendary former Celtics Coach Red Auerbach. In a city now defined by a wealth of championships, "The Big Three" joined the club. Michael Holley, the premier chronicler of Boston sports, brings their story to life with countless untold stories and behind-the-scenes details in another bestselling tome for New England and sports fans across the country.

Long before the Patriots took the 21st century by storm and became the most dominant team in NFL history, pro football was something entirely different in New England, something comically atrocious and riddled with heartbreak. Before those juggernaut years of Bill Belichick, Tom Brady, and sold-out crowds at Gillette Stadium came a hapless franchise that managed only a single playoff victory in a quarter century and spent its entire first decade of existence just trying to establish a permanent home field (and even when they did, none of the toilets worked). In From Darkness to Dynasty, bestselling author Jerry Thornton irreverently chronicles those easily glossed-over, downtrodden decades--years when the team claimed more headlines for lawsuits, arrests, power struggles, drug problems, and inept, bizarre, behavior from players, coaches, and owners than for anything they accomplished on the field. Relive the behind-the-scenes dysfunction, the turmoil of prolonged irrelevance, and the improbable way the Patriots finally ascended to greatness. By turns hilarious and eye-opening, this is an essential history for fans and disparagers alike, and a pointed reminder that the best stories of triumph start with humble beginnings.

WITH A NEW AFTERWORD "Baseball fans of all loyalties will enjoy learning about Ortiz's] unique experiences in and out of the game." --Library Journal David "Big Papi" Ortiz is a baseball icon and one of the most popular figures ever to play the game. A key part of the Boston Red Sox for fifteen years, Ortiz helped to win three World Series, bringing back a storied franchise from "never wins" to "always wins." He helped upend the doubters, the naysayers, and the nonbelievers, and, as he launched balls into the stands again and again and again, he captured the imagination of millions of fans. Ortiz made Boston and the Red Sox his home, his place of work, and his legacy. As he put it: This is our f*&#ing city. In Papi, his ultimate memoir, Ortiz opens up as never before. The result is a revelatory, fly-on-the-wall story of a career by a player with a lot to say at the end of his time in the game to which he gave so much and which gave so much to him. "The rise of Ortiz from scrap-heap bench player to Hall of Famer is an unlikely and entertaining story, and engagingly told . . . The memoir lives up to its 'no-holds-barred' billing." --Washington Post

In Patriot Reign (2004), Michael Holley wrote a bestselling look inside what makes the Patriot organization tick and win. In War Room (2011), Holley explored the draft and personnel strategy that makes the Patriots win year in and year out. Now, in BELICHICK & BRADY, he examines how the relationship between these two men has formed the core of arguably the greatest dynasty in the modern-day NFL. Holley is interviewing current and former Patriots players and coaches to provide an unprecedented portrait of Belichick and Brady, two future Hall of Famers. Timed for the beginning of the 2016 NFL season, this book reveals how their partnership has yielded four Superbowl rings, a feat unsurpassed by any other NFL team in recent history. Holley explores their partnership, how they strategized together, weathered controversies, and the big game wins, all fueled by behind-the-scenes anecdotes and information. It will be required reading for Patriots fans and students of the game of football.

Love them or hate them, what New England has been able to do over the past 15 years is nothing short of remarkable. Now, not only boasting four Super Bowl Championships, the Patriots also have the best coach in the league, a smart and savvy front office, and a future Hall of Fame quarterback who is internationally recognized as the face of the NFL. And as the Patriots continue to dominate, on the field as well as in the media and the American pop culture landscape, the harder it is for anyone to remember them as anything other than a model franchise and the ultimate paradigm of success and accomplishment. Anyone, that is, except for Jerry Thornton. It wasn’t always sunshine and roses for the Patriots; in fact, for the bulk of their existence, it was exactly the opposite. Though difficult to fathom now, the New England Patriots of old were not just bad—they were laughably bad. Not too long ago, the Pats were not only the laughingstock of the NFL, but of the entire sporting world. From Darkness to Dynasty reveals the unlikely history of the New England Patriots as it has never been told before. From their humble beginnings as a team bought with rainy day money by a man who had no idea what he was doing to that fateful 2001 season that saw them win their first Super Bowl, Jerry Thornton shares the wild, humiliating, unbelievable, and wonderful stories that comprised the first 40 years of what would ultimately become the most dominant franchise in NFL history. Witty, hilarious, and brutally honest, From Darkness to Dynasty returns to the thrilling, perilous days of yesteryear—a welcome corrective for those who hate the Patriots, and a useful reminder, for those who love them, that all glory is fleeting.

Bill Belichick is one of the titans of today's game of football. Now, sports commentator and bestselling author Michael Holley follows three NFL teams--the New England Patriots, Kansas City Chiefs, and Atlanta Falcons--from training camp 2010 through the Super Bowl and into the April draft, opening a new window into Belichick's influence on the game. This one-of-a-kind exploration takes football fans behind the scenes of the most popular sport in America, with unprecedented insider access to the head coaches, scouts, trainers, and players who make the game what it is--including new insights from Bill Parcells, Todd and Dick Haley, and Belichick himself. For true fans of the game, and for readers of Badasses, Patriot Reign, and Boys Will Be Boys, Holley's War Room is not to be missed.

Bill Belichick is one of the titans of today's game of football. Now, sports commentator and bestselling author Michael Holley follows three NFL teams--the New England Patriots, Kansas City Chiefs, and Atlanta Falcons--from training camp 2010 through the Super Bowl and into the April draft, opening a new window into Belichick's influence on the game. This one-of-a-kind exploration takes football fans behind the scenes of the most popular sport in America, with unprecedented insider access to the head coaches, scouts, trainers, and players who make the game what it is--including new insights from Bill Parcells, Todd and Dick Haley, and Belichick himself. For true fans of the game, and for readers of Badasses, Patriot Reign, and Boys Will Be Boys, Holley's War Room is not to be missed.

The story of the changing face of baseball and the inner workings of its finest organization After a hundred "cursed" years, the Boston Red Sox rose gloriously to baseball domination. Under the leadership of manager Terry Francona, an extraordinary team of wildly disparate personalities--from the inscrutable Manny Ramirez to the affable David "Big Papi" Ortiz--pulled off two improbable post-season comebacks to make it to the World Series twice in three years . . . and ultimately emerged victorious. In Red Sox Rule, Michael Holley, bestselling author of Patriot Reign, provides a fascinating, insightful, and surprising inside look at how it all happened. With the exclusive cooperation of Terry Francona and stories from the clubhouse and the conference room, Holley reveals the private sessions and the dugout and front-office strategies that have made the Red Sox a budding dynasty, overtaking their archrivals, the powerful New York Yankees, as the American League's elite team.

"Tedy gives you something to believe in. Whether we're winning or losing, he holds his head high, and he knows himself and handles himself so well, others can't help but follow him. The way he practices and plays forces you to become a better teammate; the way he demands hustle and toughness forces you to become a better leader; and the way he carries himself inspires you to become a better person. This made his return to playing on October 30 against Buffalo all the more electrifying. The stadium was louder that night than the nights we had raised our Super Bowl banners. Our captain, our leader, our inspiration was back on the field doing what he loved to do. Tedy had spent months rehabbing, had countless doctor visits, and had undergone hundreds of tests trying to play again. Just eight months after our victory in Super Bowl XXXIX, here we were celebrating a much bigger victory on our home field. Sure it was great to win the game, but that night we were celebrating Tedy's return as he showed us teammates, fans, family, and friends what it takes to become victorious in life." You might be coming to this book as a fan of Tedy's football skills and, don't get me wrong, gaining the insights of one of the best defenders in Patriots history is worth the price of admission, but that's just part of the story. There are a lot of reasons to look up to him, and I promise you will finish this book with an admiration for him on a much deeper level." --Tom Brady (from the Foreword)

A profile of Bill Belichick, head coach of the New England Patriots, provides an inside look at the philosophy, work ethic, leadership qualities, and principles of the man who has guided his team to two Super Bowl victories in the past three years, analyzing what makes Belichick an exceptional coach in the cutthroat world of professional football. Reprint. 50,000 first printing.