I Adore Football; I Adore Reading More; Yesterday, They Merged

Karen Gross
Age of Awareness
Published in
2 min readJan 13, 2025

OK. A scene to behold during a playoff game and captured on television: an NFL player is seen reading a book (not a playbook) on the sidelines. AJ Brown, an Eagles receiver, was reading a book titled Inner Excellence by Murphy. And apparently, he reads this book regularly during games for inspiration and centering. He has even highlighted portions. He’s not embarrassed to be reading and his teammates are well aware of his reading habit. He’s not concerned, it appears by all accounts, about being viewed as a nerd.

Now, we can question athletes as role models as a generalizable principle. But here’s an example of wonderful role modeling for adults and children alike. And to emphasize the influence of this televised caught (as in the received reader) reading moment, the book in question has now soared to Number 1 in Amazon rankings. Pre-game, its ranking was nothing worth mentioning.

Now I have a lot to say about these rankings (much not of which is positive) and the allure of repeatedly tracking them. There are lots of ways to game these rankings, and they are actually a somewhat limited measure of and window into a book’s sales. But, in this instance, wow! Here’s an athlete that actually got folks reading and it is reflected in the Amazon rankings. (And ironically, I had just posted on the value of reading!)

Here is my recommendation: Bring AJ Brown (if he’s willing) into America’s classrooms and let him share the power of words and books and reading.

Below is a photo capture of the post game Amazon ranking for Inner Excellence, photographed a few minutes ago:

Role modeling done well for sure, messaging the profound influence and enormous benefits of books. Another wow.

I just ordered a free sample from this book and I might just order it on Kindle. I’ll be keeping those rankings up. And there must be a lot to learn within this book’s covers. And AJ Brown taught us lots by reading in the middle of an NFL game, regardless of what book was in his most capable receiver’s hands.

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Age of Awareness
Age of Awareness

Published in Age of Awareness

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Karen Gross
Karen Gross

Written by Karen Gross

Author, Educator, Artist & Commentator; Former President, Southern Vermont College; Former Senior Policy Advisor, US Dept. of Education; Former Law Professor

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