Bowls, Polls, and Tattered Souls: Tackling the Chaos and Controversy that Reign Over College Football
 | Wiley, 2007, Kindle Edition Customer Rating: 12 reviews Recommend |
|---|
Sports Illustrated columnist Stewart Mandel tackles the ten issues that confound college football fans
If your heart beats faster on Saturday afternoons as your team takes the field, this book will give you new insight into the fanaticism and chaos that characterize college football today. Stewart Mandel takes a provocative, hard-hitting look at the hot-button issues: the controversial BCS; the polls and their largely arbitrary rankings; the ego-inflating recruiting craze; cheating and recent scandals; the huge pressures and salaries heaped on coaches; the Heisman hype-fest; the NFL draft; the clunky conference expansions; privileged Notre Dame, college football's greatest juggernaut; and the proliferation of bowl games. You'll getbehind-the-scenes insights on how the issues evolved and why some are almost impossible to resolve.
You'll see how tradition, politics, and money influence college football today. You'll discover that, while the rules of the game are hard and fast, the rules governing college football are blurred and pliable. And you'll find a book that's as entertaining, passionate, and thought-provoking as the game itself.
"Stewart Mandel writes about college football's major controversies with a wit and depth of knowledge that will impress even the most obsessed fans. And because he's both fair and objective, there is something in this book to infuriate nearly everyone."
—Warren St. John, author of the bestselling Rammer Jammer Yellow Hammer: A Road Trip into the Heart of Fan Mania
"In a book dripping with sarcasm, Stewart Mandel plays tour guide on an interesting ride through the college football nuthouse."
—Bruce Feldman, author of Meat Market and senior writer for ESPN the Magazine
Title: Bowls, Polls, and Tattered Souls: Tackling the Chaos and Controversy that Reign Over College Football
Sales Rank: 2930 in Books
Author: Stewart Mandel
Publisher: Wiley, 2007-08-31, Kindle Edition, 272 pages
- YES!
- Forget the Smith and Street, SI or ESPN's preseason primers this is the only reading you'll need to do to understand this season, last season and a whole lot of others season yet to come. More reviews
- Best explanation of college football.
- I read Stewart Mandel's stuff in Sports Illustrated. I like his take on college football. When he wrote this book, I knew that I had to have it. I was not disappointed.
He tackles all the weirdness that is college football. He makes as much sense of the BCS as a person can. He writes about rankings. He tells stories about the great programs and even… More reviews
- Great Book and Great Service
- I am very pleased with the book and the service provided!
Thanks More reviews
- A glorious and uniquely American bar brawl
- "(NFL) scouts are to football what the third base coach is to baseball - an excuse for a whole bunch of old-timers to stay a part of the fraternity and collect a paycheck to boot." - Stewart Mandel
There are two U.S. sport seasons: Football and No Football. As far as I'm concerned, it's even a finer point than that: College Football and No College Football. BOWLS,… More reviews
- Phenomenal Book
- I have been reading Mandel's columns and Mailbags for 3 years now and love his writing style. His book BP&TS has all of what makes his writing great on [...] plus even more detail than you can get into an online column.
The book provides a wonderful inside look at the politics of college football. You understand… More reviews
