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Junior Seau: Overcoming the Odds
After nine NFL seasons, many experts consider San Diego's Junior Seau to be the best linebacker in football today. He has started 140 of 141 regular season games during his career, and is averaging 119.8 tackles per season. He has been named to eight consecutive Pro Bowls. Seau also established The Seau Foundation, a charitable organization to benefit San Diego youth programs. In 1994, Seau's charitable endeavors were recognized when he was named the True Value Hardware NFL Man of the Year.
92 pages, Paperback
First published October 1, 2000
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
January 16, 2013
**I couldn't find the book i read on this website; the book I read was "Junior Seau, The Real Story" by Jill Lieber Steeg.**
I first picked up this book because Junior Seau is one of my favorite players of all time; being a native San Diegan and huge football fan, I've been following him throughout his entire career. This man was arguably the nicest guy in football of his generation, but towards the end of his life he lost his path. But throughout his late life hardships, he was still idolized buy many San Diegans and Americans alike.
This book starts as far back as Junior's pre-highschool days, and travels as far as American Samoa. It describes how much he had to overcome to achieve greatness and become the man he was. His story starts out in a small house in Oceanside, where he and his brothers shared shared a converted garage bedroom. There he would work day and night to become a better football player as well as human being. Once he dominated at Ocean Side High School, he received many awards and notifications from local and national sports groups. This put him on many D-1 colleges radar. At the end of his senior year he chose the University of Southern California and moved to LA to pursue his dream.
While arriving at his dream school he didn't make grades to play his Freshmen season, so he sat out a year to catch up on his school work. After that was out of the way it was time for Seau to prove himself on the field. Very quickly he got a shot and made the most of his opportunity. As a standout at USC he helped the Trojans win many games and bowls; making a name for himself along the was. In college he wore number 55, and honorary number bestowed upon only the greatest of Linebackers at the University.
Leaving school a year early to start his very promising professional career, he entered the NFL draft in 1990. Junior Seau was drafted as the fifth pick in the first round of the draft, selected by none other than the home team San Diego Chargers. This was a dream come true for Seau, as a kid growing up in San Diego, then later on playing for the Chargers; he couldn't have been happier, as showed on draft day when his name was called. In blue and gold #55 had an amazing career from his first season as a rookie, and after three great seasons he led his team to it's first Super Bowl appearance.
Fast forwarding a few years, past a Hall of Fame tenure in SD, he got older and was respectively traded to the Miami Dolphins. He retired once, missed the game and came back to the league and played for the New England Patriots. He made it back to the big game but lost in the final minutes. This proved to be the end to his football career.
Most of this book was about Seau's troubles after football and, like many other retired players; he had trouble adapting to the "normal life." The downward spiral started, he got into gambling, drugs and was very depressed. All the while continuing to be a father to his three children. He struggled with this aspect of life but he, they always had a strong bond. On May 2, 2012 Junior Seau committed suicide; shooting himself in the chest, and leaving a note wishing that his brain would be used in research for brain trauma, a result of his many years of head on collisions.
This book contained a good story, but it wasn't what I expected. It focused a lot on the later part of Seau's life. A lot of the bad aspects. Only the first few chapters were about his amazing football career. And it was mostly written in and informational, which at time got kind of boring. That's why I only rated the book 2 stars.
I first picked up this book because Junior Seau is one of my favorite players of all time; being a native San Diegan and huge football fan, I've been following him throughout his entire career. This man was arguably the nicest guy in football of his generation, but towards the end of his life he lost his path. But throughout his late life hardships, he was still idolized buy many San Diegans and Americans alike.
This book starts as far back as Junior's pre-highschool days, and travels as far as American Samoa. It describes how much he had to overcome to achieve greatness and become the man he was. His story starts out in a small house in Oceanside, where he and his brothers shared shared a converted garage bedroom. There he would work day and night to become a better football player as well as human being. Once he dominated at Ocean Side High School, he received many awards and notifications from local and national sports groups. This put him on many D-1 colleges radar. At the end of his senior year he chose the University of Southern California and moved to LA to pursue his dream.
While arriving at his dream school he didn't make grades to play his Freshmen season, so he sat out a year to catch up on his school work. After that was out of the way it was time for Seau to prove himself on the field. Very quickly he got a shot and made the most of his opportunity. As a standout at USC he helped the Trojans win many games and bowls; making a name for himself along the was. In college he wore number 55, and honorary number bestowed upon only the greatest of Linebackers at the University.
Leaving school a year early to start his very promising professional career, he entered the NFL draft in 1990. Junior Seau was drafted as the fifth pick in the first round of the draft, selected by none other than the home team San Diego Chargers. This was a dream come true for Seau, as a kid growing up in San Diego, then later on playing for the Chargers; he couldn't have been happier, as showed on draft day when his name was called. In blue and gold #55 had an amazing career from his first season as a rookie, and after three great seasons he led his team to it's first Super Bowl appearance.
Fast forwarding a few years, past a Hall of Fame tenure in SD, he got older and was respectively traded to the Miami Dolphins. He retired once, missed the game and came back to the league and played for the New England Patriots. He made it back to the big game but lost in the final minutes. This proved to be the end to his football career.
Most of this book was about Seau's troubles after football and, like many other retired players; he had trouble adapting to the "normal life." The downward spiral started, he got into gambling, drugs and was very depressed. All the while continuing to be a father to his three children. He struggled with this aspect of life but he, they always had a strong bond. On May 2, 2012 Junior Seau committed suicide; shooting himself in the chest, and leaving a note wishing that his brain would be used in research for brain trauma, a result of his many years of head on collisions.
This book contained a good story, but it wasn't what I expected. It focused a lot on the later part of Seau's life. A lot of the bad aspects. Only the first few chapters were about his amazing football career. And it was mostly written in and informational, which at time got kind of boring. That's why I only rated the book 2 stars.
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September 10, 2015This book was great! The main characters in this book are Junior Seau, Gina Seau (ex wife) and Seau's kids. It takes place in a time period of 20 years and takes place in various places. The problem to solve and figuring out what led to the sudicide of Seau. Many say it had to do with the brain injuries he had in the past. The main points of the book are the death of Junior Seau. They talked about his troubled childhood and how his parents couldn't afford to live in a house. His family lived in his grandparents garage. His NFL career was one of the best career of any NFL player and he was one of the best linebackers of all time. I liked this book because it gave me information about Junior Seau that I did not know. This book had nothing to dislike and I would recommend it to someone that has interest in sports.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews