January 13, 2025
Bill Streicher/Imagn Images
A.J. Brown was spotted reading 'Inner Excellence' by Jim Murphy on the sidelines during the Eagles' playoff win over the Packers on Sunday. The book is now the No. 1 bestseller on Amazon.
A.J. Brown found inspiration in a book during the Eagles' playoff win over the Packers on Sunday. Along with becoming a meme, the wide receiver's sideline reading time also skyrocketed sales for his book of choice.
Brown was reading "Inner Excellence: Train Your Mind for Extraordinary Performance and the Best Possible Life" by Jim Murphy in the middle of the game. By Monday morning, the book, which was released in 2020, was the No. 1 bestseller in books on Amazon.
Brown told Sports Illustrated that teammate Moro Ojomo recommended the book to him and that he brings it to every game because it gives him a "sense of peace." He also posted about it on X (formerly Twitter) after the game, showing off some of the passages he underlined and highlighted.
"This game is 90% mental and 10% physical for me," Brown wrote on X. "I bring it to every game and I read it between each drive. I use it to refocus and lock in despite what may transpire in the game good or bad."
AJ Brown is reading a book on the sideline? 📚😂
— FOX Sports: NFL (@NFLonFOX) January 13, 2025
📺 FOX pic.twitter.com/jQGv8smD9N
"Inner Excellence" encourages readers to improve their lives by providing a guide of mental techniques to develop self-mastery, overcome anxiety, remove mental blocks and train the subconscious mind, the book's Amazon page said. Murphy was an outfielder for the Chicago Cubs, before coaching with the Texas Rangers and in the Olympics. In 2003, he got rid of half his possessions and moved to the Sonoran Desert in Arizona, where he lived in solitude and spent five years researching the answer to the questions, "How can an Olympic athlete train for four years, for an event that may last less than 60 seconds, and perform with complete peace and confidence?"
That research became the original version of "Inner Excellence," which came out in 2009. Murphy later realized he had "a lot more stories to share" and released the revised version, which Brown was reading Sunday, in 2020. Murphy told Sports Illustrated that he was nearly $90,000 in debt following the completion of the original book, but his life began changing as "Inner Excellence" was picked up by pro athletes and business leaders. He said he's "grateful" for the attention being brought to his book by Brown and plans to reach out to the wide receiver.
"It’s been a pretty amazing night," Murphy told Sports Illustrated on Sunday after the Eagles game. "I’m sitting here in a hotel by myself. I was like, What’s with all these messages? And then I saw what happened and I’m like, Oh my God that’s crazy. Really neat. ... It’s really an honor to be a part of his life and to have a meaningful place in anyone’s life."
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