The System: The Glory and Scandal of Big-Time College Football Author: Jeff Benedict | Language: English | ISBN:
B00C0AM2XG | Format: EPUB
The System: The Glory and Scandal of Big-Time College Football Description
AN EXPLOSIVE AND REVELATORY PORTRAIT REPORTED FROM DEEP BEHIND THE SCENES OF BIG-TIME NCAA COLLEGE FOOTBALL: THE PASSION, THE THRILLING ACTION—AND THE SHOCKING REALITIES THAT LIE BENEATH THIS COLOSSAL, MULTIBILLION-DOLLAR BUSINESS COLLEGE FOOTBALL has never been more popular—or more chaotic. Millions fill 100,000-seat stadiums every Saturday; tens of millions more watch on television every weekend. The 2013 Discover BCS National Championship game between Notre Dame and Alabama had a viewership of 26.4 million people, second only to the Super Bowl. Billions of dollars from television deals now flow into the game; the average budget for a top-ten team is $80 million; top coaches make more than $3 million a year; the highest paid, more than $5 million.
But behind this glittering success are darker truths: “athlete-students” working essentially full-time jobs with no share in the oceans of money; players who often don’t graduate and end their careers with broken bodies; “janitors” who clean up player misconduct; football “hostesses” willing to do whatever it takes to land a top recruit; seven-figure black box recruiting slush funds. And this: Despite the millions of dollars pouring into the game, 90 percent of major athletic departments still lose money. Yet schools remain caught up in an ever-escalating “arms race”—at the expense of academic scholarships, facilities and faculty.
Celebrated investigative journalists Jeff Benedict and Armen Keteyian were granted unprecedented access during the 2012 season to programs at the highest levels across the country at a time of convulsive change in college football. Through dogged reporting, they explored every nook and cranny of this high-powered machine, and reveal how it operates from the inside out. The result: the system through the eyes of athletic directors and coaches, high-flying boosters and high-profile TV stars, five-star recruits and tireless NCAA investigators and the kids on whom the whole vast enterprise depends.
Both a celebration of the power and pageantry of NCAA football and a groundbreaking, thought-provoking critique of its excesses,
The System is the definitive book on the college game.
From the Hardcover edition.- File Size: 6238 KB
- Print Length: 433 pages
- Page Numbers Source ISBN: 0385536615
- Publisher: Doubleday (September 17, 2013)
- Sold by: Random House LLC
- Language: English
- ASIN: B00C0AM2XG
- Text-to-Speech: Enabled
X-Ray:
- Lending: Not Enabled
- Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #17,662 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
- #2
in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Nonfiction > Sports > Miscellaneous > Sociology of Sports - #4
in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Business & Money > Industries > Sports & Entertainment - #5
in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Nonfiction > Sports > Football (American)
- #2
in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Nonfiction > Sports > Miscellaneous > Sociology of Sports - #4
in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Business & Money > Industries > Sports & Entertainment - #5
in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Nonfiction > Sports > Football (American)
As a father of a 17 yr old athelete who is just now experiencing he recruiting process for a D1 program, we eagerly read this book to help us prepare for the next 12 months of chaos.
While there were no blockbuster revelations, it has given us great insight in to the inner workings of college football. It is very well written, and at times both heartbreaking and hopeful.
I must point out, amid the scandal, rumor and secrecy of most college football programs, the authors have inadvertently shined a light on the program that stands in stark contrast to all the others.
BYU deserves praise for their program that puts football well behind the spiritual, intellectual, and character building of their young men.
All I knew about BYU was Danny Ainge, Steve Young and tea-totalling students. After my son and I read the book, without speaking a word, we moved BYU to the top of our list of potential programs.
I believe that this exceptional book will be a catalyst for change and a long needed overhaul of the college football system.
Fantastic read for any fan--casual or diehard alike.
By blue32
Released earlier this week, The System: The Glory and Scandal of Big-Time College Football is sure to raise our collective eyebrows. While this book is definitely a must read for college football fans, it is sure to grip even the most apathetic of sports fans. But this sports book isn't all fun and games. Instead, it takes a hard look behind the scene to widen our football lens. The authors cover seat-squirming topics with unprecedented research into issues like the use of college co-eds (or Hostesses) to lure high school recruits to big-time programs, or female co-eds using their physical assets to reward the student-athletes they tutor. The ugly story of a rape case is followed by a good story of faith and second chances. Finally, The System addresses the elephant in the locker room: money. Is college football all about money? The money it takes to build multi-million dollar football stadiums and facilities? The millions it takes to hire big-time football coaches? The millions most college football programs lose every year? Meanwhile, college tuitions rise to help cover athletic department budgets, student-athletes receive injuries to last a lifetime, and the NCAA gets their knickers in a twist over dollars received by student-athletes while these players endure boot camp-like experiences in the name of conditioning while receiving zero pay. Perhaps The System will leave you scratching your head: almost everyone involved in the game of college football has a paycheck--except the guys with the numbers on their jerseys receiving concussion-causing hits. The System includes stories of players who make it Pro, but it also makes clear that most college football players will never play on Sundays. The System is a well-written, painstakingly detailed book for both the sports fan and the indifferent onlooker as its research illuminates the good, the bad and the ugly of the religion America calls college football.
By michaela
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