Fourth and Long: The Fight for the Soul of College Football

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Fourth and Long: The Fight for the Soul of College Football

The New York Times bestseller about the state of college football: Why we love the game, what is at risk, and the fight to save itâ€”â€œA fascinating sagaâ€ (Booklist).

In search of the sportâ€™s old ideals amid the roaring flood of hypocrisy and greed, bestselling author John U. Bacon embedded himself in four college football programsâ€”Penn State, Ohio State, Michigan, and Northwesternâ€”and captured the oldest, biggest, most storied league, the Big Ten, at its tipping point. He sat in as coaches dissected game film, he ate dinner at training tables, and he listened in locker rooms. He talked with tailgating fans and college presidents, and he spent months in the company of the gifted young athletes who play the game.

Fourth and Long reveals intimate scenes behind closed doors, from a teamâ€™s angry face-off with their athletic director to a defensive lineman acing his masterâ€™s exams in theoretical math. It captures the private moment when coach Urban Meyer earned the devotion of Ohio Stateâ€™s Buckeyes on their way to a perfect season. It shows Michiganâ€™s athletic department endangering the very traditions that distinguish the college game from all others. And it re-creates the euphoria of the Northwestern Wildcats winning their first bowl game in decades. Most unforgettably, Fourth and Long finds what the national media missed in the ugly aftermath of Penn Stateâ€™s tragic scandal: the unheralded story of players who joined forces with Coach Bill Oâ€™Brien to save the universityâ€™s treasured programâ€”and with it, a piece of the gameâ€™s soul.

This is the work of a writer in love with an old gameâ€”a game he sees at the precipice. Baconâ€™s deep knowledge of sports history and his sensitivity to the tribal subcultures of the college game power this elegy to a beloved and endangered American institution.
Specifications
Country USA
Manufacturer Simon & Schuster
Binding Kindle Edition
ReleaseDate 2013-09-03
Format Kindle eBook

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Country	USA
Manufacturer	Simon & Schuster
Binding	Kindle Edition
ReleaseDate	2013-09-03
Format	Kindle eBook