Third and Long: Men's playbook for solving marital/relationship problems and building a winning team [Paperback]

Steve Campbell (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 17, 2005

It could happen to any man...As women's need for authentic, equitable relationships has emerged in recent decades, the challenge to men has never been greater; get better at relationships - fast - or else risk losing your partner, Today's stronger, more confident women are walking away from unsatisfying marriages in rising numbers. The good news is that the situation can be improved very quickly and men don't have to stop being men to do it. This book tells them how.After his own marriage failed and he began noticing other marriages were in trouble, Steve Campbell realized that men needed a to-the-point guide to getting better at relationships. Written by a man who's learned the hard way (and edited by his ex-wife!), Third and Long leverages the idea of game preparation and teamwork to convey to men how to be more authentic and loving in their romantic relationships.Third and Long helps men diagnose the areas in which their relationships might in trouble, and provides concrete ideas to begin fixing those problems right away. Perhaps most importantly, this book shows men to understand and address the need for deeper love and connection over the long-term.Concise yet loaded with valuable tips and plays that can be put into action immediately, Third and Long is the essential men's playbook for building a winning relationship team.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Short and concise, it could possibly be the best relationship book for men ever written. -- Jim Skinner, relationship counsellor

This is the book men should read early in a relationship or marriage. -- Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, February 2, 2005

From the Publisher

This book is unique in the relationship literature in that it has been written by a separated man "who learned the hard way" and lost his marriage. Our hope is for this effort to be among the best relationship books for men ever written. This is an ambitious objective, of course, but there is cause for optimism.

Presented concisely in 144 reader-friendly pages — a length no man can say with honesty that he doesn’t have the time to read — this book reveals to men the things they need to do right now to repair and strengthen their marriages in what are highly volatile times in the battle of the sexes. Our greatest hope is that men will pay attention to the well-researched advice of someone who’s been there, i.e., hands-on tips from the trenches, as opposed to the kind of textbook analysis widely available and targeted overwhelmingly to female readers.

Third and Long features a sports/football theme to further enhance its readability, and introduces readers to well-known and more detailed relationship books such as Relationship Rescue, Mars and Venus, and others. If your marriage is in deep trouble or just needs a minor tuneup Third and Long is a concise and simply presented guidebook for men who need to get better at relationships right now.

Too many relationship books out there?

Some might say there are already too many relationship books out there. Unfortunately, much of the recommended reading is simply too theoretical, intellectual or long for many male readers. Third and Long, conversely, gets right to the point: it’s action-oriented, just like most men. The book goes through the fundamentals of a relationship, sets up a framework for understanding aimed specifically at men, and provides some 50+ tips and new skills designed to achieve results quickly. Men need positive feedback, and these tips provide it. Third and Long also refers readers to works by experts such as Dr. Phil, Barbara De Angelis, and others. You’ll find there really doesn’t appear to be any book like it.

Men learned about relationships from their grandfathers

As a group, today’s men are disadvantaged, having learned about conducting a relationship mainly by watching their fathers, who in turn learned from men for whom "love" was likely a topic of secondary concern and little or no reflection. As a result, any change occurs too slowly as each generation of men learns a bit more from their mistakes and passes it on. This system doesn't work, given the much more rapid evolution of women who today are unwilling to stay with partners who can’t or won’t address their needs.

Therefore, the book’s main thrust, for men who want to keep their marriages intact, is that they’d better start putting more effort into their primary relationships immediately, stop "faking," and start bridging the relationship gap. Women are not about to reduce their rising demands for equality and satisfaction in their romantic relationships — that much is apparent — so an expedited social transformation of men’s relationship awareness and skills is absolutely crucial.

Because women are not going back, in our opinion, it’s just a matter of how rapidly this generation of men improves these skills and how much pain men and women will have to endure along the way while that process occurs. Any tools (books, courses, etc.) available to help speed the transition can only help. The ultimate achievement for Third and Long would be to help speed that transformation.

While Third and Long has been written as a warning – third and long is a challenging situation in any football game – the book is upbeat and positive. And, if our viewpoint is correct — that this generation of men needs a radical transformation of its relationship skills and know how — then this book just might provide the spark and traction needed to help get things moving faster. That is our objective in publishing Third and Long – Men’s Playbook for Solving Marital/relationship Problems and Building a Winning Team.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 144 pages
• Publisher: AuthorHouse (January 17, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1420818104
• ISBN-13: 978-1420818109
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,399,461 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Third and Long is worth it if you want to keep your marriage, March 6, 2005

By 

M. Sherrett - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Third and Long: Men's playbook for solving marital/relationship problems and building a winning team (Paperback)

I was hunting around looking for a men's relationship book (read my wife was pestering me into looking) and found Third and Long: Men's Playbook for Solving Marital/Relationship Problems and Building a Winning Team. One of the problems I've seen with my friends is that when their marriage gets in trouble, they don't know what to do or they do the wrong thing. What I need is a book that gives a range of tips and things to do that can help solve my relationship problems, whether they're serious or smaller. That's what Third and Long does.

It provides more than 50 tips and relationship skills that I could pick up on right away. More than just a tips book, it uses a football sports theme to guide you through understanding (scouting) where your marriage is at, where you are at, where she is at and also how to relate to what she needs. You'll definitely learn a lot of things you didn't know.

What I particularly liked is that it's readable, written in a football playbook style that can be read in a night, allowing you to implement tips almost immediately. It provides a plan framework to start taking action to improve your marriage or help make a good relationship much better.

Another bonus besides being that Third and Long is not long is that it gets to the point. It looks at tools for you to address your problems and not just get on the endless examination of emotions. I think that's a great feature because who really has time to read long-winded relationship books when the situation is "third and long" or even "fourth and desperate." If you think you, or a friend or man in your family, needs a book like this, then you should definitely read it. Third and Long will help you better manage your relationship.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Men: Read this book!, February 25, 2005

By 

R. D. Owen (Little Rock, Ark. USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Third and Long: Men's playbook for solving marital/relationship problems and building a winning team (Paperback)

Men, if you can read only one relationship book, let this be the one. Third and Long provides you with the information you need to be build a successful relationship with the woman in your life. While primarily addressing married men, the book will also be helpful for single men who want to understand how women think and feel. Author Steve Campbell demystifies women, explaining what they want from their men and why. Campbell acknowledges that women are more skilled at relationships and he seeks to help men catch up in that area. I'm a woman and I found the section on the five stages of a marital breakup range completely true. It's uncanny how well Campbell captures the different ways men and women identify the stages and the different emphasis we place on each one. Campbell says he hopes the book will help married men recognize the red flags in their relationships - so they won't be caught completely off-guard, as so many men are when their marriage collapses. He clearly shows how paying more attention to what's going on in a relationship can pay off - and, from personal experience, he lets men know what happens if they continue on in their usual way, blithely unaware of the unhappiness brewing and the resulting meltdown. This book is accessible to just about anyone - the language is clear, the tone candid and kind, but also forthright. And, men, pay attention to the sections that you may think make little difference: the ones on grooming and cleanliness. Campbell is right on in his assessment that looking good - respectably good, not GQ good - will be a definite plus for your relationship. (He somehow managed to pick up on one small thing that's a huge turn-off for women: nose hair. Bravo!) This book is a champion in the world of self-help books. Get it, read it, live it.

4.0 out of 5 stars Third And Long, March 13, 2005

By 

T Zac "Zac" (Zac) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Third and Long: Men's playbook for solving marital/relationship problems and building a winning team (Paperback)

Campbell is provides a valuable message to all men. Participate in your relationship is risk loosing your mate. Modern marriage statistics are laughable and Campbell is a learned statistic. Who better to hear the warning signs from?

We still want to be men and Campbell's sports parallels allow us to examine our role in the relationship and yet still let out the odd "Tim the Toolman Taylor Ape grunt" for comfort. Campbell offers many insights into potential existing problems and ideas for their repair, as any sports coach worth his weight must do.

Third and Long is an easy read, yet raises valuable red flag insights for men who are active (or non-active) in a relationship. For single men, T & L offers nuggets of insight from his true life experience of having to punt.

Give it a read and grow as a team player.