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machielse's review
4.0
Bacon brilliantly illustrates a cross-section of the state of college football by following Northwestern, Michigan, and Penn State through the 2012 Big Ten football season. In doing so, he reveals what we know and love about college football, as well as how its future has been jeopardized by the latest generation of athletic directors and NCAA administrators.
tesshuelskamp's review
4.0
bacon follows four big ten teams in the 2012 season (the year following the Joe Paterno scandal) and takes a look at their seasons through the players' and fans' persepctives. bacon got to know the player and fans by spending a lot of time with them and as a result the book is incredibly well researched; the book is filled with quality stories about the players day to day life throughout the season.
interspersed with all of the player commentary were criticisms of the NCAA/B1G money making scheme (Michigan basketball season tickets now prioritize donations instead of loyalty to the program and critizcies decisions Michigan athletic director Dave Brandon has made; he talks with fans who won't go the games anymore bc it's much cheaper to watch at home; and takes a lot at the perhaps money centered reason Rutgers and Nebraska were added to the B1G) that were well argued and convincing. I didn't think anything was too editorialized (though it is his book)
most of my complaints were about the lack of coverage Michigan State's program got. though, full disclosure I am a recent MSU grad and Spartan Marching Band alum; bacon is a Michigan grad so I understand why this is. Michigan State got a chapter of coverage (and given the time spent on Penn State, OSU, Michigan, and Northwestern, IMO we were better left out) during the 2012 OSU game which he was clearly only there for. though bacon does a good job explaining the history of MSU , talking about the successes of former MSU president John Hannah, I was annoyed that his tour guide was a michgan graduate turned MSU grad student and that he praises OSU's marching band and made no mention of the SMB (TBDBITL is good but come on!).
all in all I enjoyed reading this book and would recommend it to any B1G fan (the book rarely talks about the other conferences. Yes even MSU fans) who wants a good read.
interspersed with all of the player commentary were criticisms of the NCAA/B1G money making scheme (Michigan basketball season tickets now prioritize donations instead of loyalty to the program and critizcies decisions Michigan athletic director Dave Brandon has made; he talks with fans who won't go the games anymore bc it's much cheaper to watch at home; and takes a lot at the perhaps money centered reason Rutgers and Nebraska were added to the B1G) that were well argued and convincing. I didn't think anything was too editorialized (though it is his book)
most of my complaints were about the lack of coverage Michigan State's program got. though, full disclosure I am a recent MSU grad and Spartan Marching Band alum; bacon is a Michigan grad so I understand why this is. Michigan State got a chapter of coverage (and given the time spent on Penn State, OSU, Michigan, and Northwestern, IMO we were better left out) during the 2012 OSU game which he was clearly only there for. though bacon does a good job explaining the history of MSU , talking about the successes of former MSU president John Hannah, I was annoyed that his tour guide was a michgan graduate turned MSU grad student and that he praises OSU's marching band and made no mention of the SMB (TBDBITL is good but come on!).
all in all I enjoyed reading this book and would recommend it to any B1G fan (the book rarely talks about the other conferences. Yes even MSU fans) who wants a good read.
kate_elizabeth's review against another edition
3.0
Damn it Penn State. I DON'T WANT TO LIKE YOU. And DAMN IT DAVE BRANDON. I am trying so hard not to hate you, BUT YOU MAKE IT HARD. I love you, college football. Forever and ever, even though you also make it hard lately.
trundlings's review against another edition
3.0
John U. Bacon has a tendency to repeat things... both in person and in his books, so props to consistency. His writing is also well enough that a generally sports-apathetic person like me is somewhat drawn into the action of many of the games he details, and chortling at various quotes from players and coaches. I liked this less than Three and Out, but my affinity towards his books is probably proportional to the degree of focus Bacon expends on Michigan versus the rest of the Big Ten. Very intriguing history detailed, though, as to exactly how integral football was to the development of collegiate education in the Midwest; I'd like to read more about the relationship between sports and education, especially in the American Southeast.
manogirl's review
3.0
This book was weirdly paced. Slow, interesting, slow interesting slow. Back and forth and back and forth. Also, something that REALLY bothered me: there were a few chapters that had entire three or four paragraph sections repeated verbatim from other chatpers. I totally cannot understand why I caught that, and an editor didn't. Nothing annoys me more than reading the same thing twice in one book. I mean. Come on.
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