In Reggie White's own fast-paced, inspiring account of his colorful, sometimes controversial career, both in the pros and in the pulpit. Packed with insights, observations, and war stories of his twelve years in the NFL--including his championship season--"In the Trenches" delves into the heart of an amazing athlete who balances an array of extremes: he is both beloved and
In Reggie White's own fast-paced, inspiring account of his colorful, sometimes controversial career, both in the pros and in the pulpit. Packed with insights, observations, and war stories of his twelve years in the NFL--including his championship season--"In the Trenches" delves into the heart of an amazing athlete who balances an array of extremes: he is both beloved and feared, tough and gentle, competitive and compassionate, fierce and generous.
...more
Paperback
,
324 pages
Published
August 1st 2004
by Thomas Nelson Publishers
(first published October 1st 1996)
Reggie White may be my favorite player ever, and I never watched him play. (Skip to the bottom for a quick rant on that, as well as most of the other football thoughts I have on this.)
What you've got in this book are the concentrated effusions of one of the most relentlessly positive and passionate people I've ever read. I mean, there are forests of exclamation points to saw through. I tend to think that this style adds to the likeability and even believability of the narrative, however: if you'
Reggie White may be my favorite player ever, and I never watched him play. (Skip to the bottom for a quick rant on that, as well as most of the other football thoughts I have on this.)
What you've got in this book are the concentrated effusions of one of the most relentlessly positive and passionate people I've ever read. I mean, there are forests of exclamation points to saw through. I tend to think that this style adds to the likeability and even believability of the narrative, however: if you've got a guy who makes his living throwing his body into three hundred pound men and spends much of his free time telling people to love Jesus, it might detract from the ethos of the work to find him engaged in verbal subtleties.
One of the things White speaks out very courageously about (why write a book unless you're trying to get people to like you, right?) is racism, and he does so in a pretty incisive manner. Did you realize that in the mid-90s there was an epidemic of black church burnings in the South? Did you realize that White's own home church was burnt, and that "Die Niggers Die" was painted on the wall? And did you further realize that the federal investigators put over half of the church body through lie detector tests, rather than searching out suspects from local white power organizations? Hmm.
Anyway, this book is interesting for people who like football, people who try to love the Lord, and people who get confused about race relations.
As for football: it's one of my great regrets in life (really) that I was of a reasonable age to see and in some way appreciate guys like White and Jordan play, but didn't because I didn't care about sports until I got out of high school. Raise your kids right, parents of America! Watch sports?
Aside from a bunch of other football stuff, there are a number of Mike Golic (the ESPN radio show guy) mentions, and White names both Jason Garrett and Jim Harbaugh as guys he sacked. Hah!
(Jeditor's note: a few days after I finished the book, I researched a little bit, and it turned out that the federal agencies were right to suspect an inside job. Even if they didn't start the fire themselves, the pastors, Jerry and David Upton, were downright shady individuals and appear to have profited immensely from the donations given to the church building fund. You can tell that the fall-out from the whole episode kind of shook White's faith in the church, if not in the Lord: check out this article.
http://sports.yahoo.com/news/reggies-...
Sad for White, but I don't think it makes me like him any less, or think that his views were incorrect. Failures of praxis by people who surround an individual don't negate that individual's theories. At least, that's what Christians have been saying for the last two thousand years.)
...more
Filled with intrigue, miracles, faith, conviction, humor and so much more, this autobiogrpahy will encourage you in your Christian walk.
At 6 foot 5, weighing over 300 pounds (and easily able to toss opponents with his one-arm signature move on his way to crushing quarterbacks) Reggie White was arguably the best NFL defensive end of all time. More important than all that though, Reggie was a bold witness for Christ.
Reggie passed away in 2004, but not before making his mark in the world for the k
Filled with intrigue, miracles, faith, conviction, humor and so much more, this autobiogrpahy will encourage you in your Christian walk.
At 6 foot 5, weighing over 300 pounds (and easily able to toss opponents with his one-arm signature move on his way to crushing quarterbacks) Reggie White was arguably the best NFL defensive end of all time. More important than all that though, Reggie was a bold witness for Christ.
Reggie passed away in 2004, but not before making his mark in the world for the kingdom of Christ. His deep love for Jesus resonates all throughout his life's story. I highly recommend this book for those who may be going through a dry spell in their walk with Christ. Read Reggie's powerful testimony; it is truly a breath of fresh air.
...more
Reggie White In The Trenches is definitely the best book I have ever read. This book is very appealing to me considering, I am a man of God, and I want to be in the NFL. He has a great life story, and explains it very well in this book.I know someone who was very close to him before he past away, and be able to hear his perspective of his life and someone that was actually there perspective leaves me without words. I go to back to the book to look for encouragement and life advice regularly, bec
Reggie White In The Trenches is definitely the best book I have ever read. This book is very appealing to me considering, I am a man of God, and I want to be in the NFL. He has a great life story, and explains it very well in this book.I know someone who was very close to him before he past away, and be able to hear his perspective of his life and someone that was actually there perspective leaves me without words. I go to back to the book to look for encouragement and life advice regularly, because he was full of wisdom.
...more
I'm a huge football fan, and I saw a special on the NFL channel that highlighted the Eagles team with Reggie White. The documentary discussed Reggie's faith and I wondered if he'd written any books. To my delight, he'd written several!
I really enjoyed reading about Reggie's life, faith, and years "in the trenches" of football. The play-by-play of particular games felt a little heavy, but overall, I found this book to be inspiring, entertaining, and informative.
Great autobiography of Football legend Reggie White. Only Green Bay Packer that I could root for. Reggie White died a few years back and has been inducted into the Football Hall of Fame.