The Education of a Coach (2005)

Although the New England Patriots' 2005 season has gotten off to a bumpy start, there's a reason the team has won three of the past four Super Bowls: brainiac head coach Bill Belichick. Single-minded in out-preparing the opponent, he is equal parts Vince Lombardi and Sun Tzu, believing the winner is determined before the opening coin toss. Armed with a tireless work ethic handed down by his father — an itinerant and undersung college coach, and the subject of Education of a Coach's most moving passages — Belichick seems hardwired for the gridiron's Xs and Os. David Halberstam is a thorough storyteller, writing in prose both elegant and simple (''He was not a man of charisma...but rather a quiet man of chalk''). Still, his biggest accomplishment is that he almost convinces you that Belichick's Pats might just win it all again this year.