From Booklist
College and professional football generates billions of dollars annually in revenue. Easterbrook, the author of ESPN’s popular column Tuesday Morning Quarterback, looks beyond the dollar signs, examining many of the sport’s darker issues. Among them: the public dollars used to finance the stadiums used by NFL teams when, simultaneously, the same local governments reduce money allocated to education, public infrastructure, and aid to the needy. The book opens with a look at Virginia Tech football, where the graduation rates are high and players learn through the positive reinforcement of head coach Frank Beamer and his staff. Easterbrook then moves to the rest of college football, which mostly exploits the players for the enrichment of the university, the athletic administrators, and the coaching staffs. Another chapter looks at the long-term financial health of NFL players; one organization reports 70 percent of NFL players declare bankruptcy within 10 years of retirement. Despite the wealth of negative content here, Easterbrook still professes to enjoy the game and offers a series of reforms for football at all levels. A valuable analysis that will significantly alter the ways that readers view football. --Wes Lukowsky
Review
Praise for The King of Sports
"The King of Sports is a fantastic book" -- Chuck Todd
“Read this book with a highlighter in hand. It is the most significant book you will ever read on football." –Brian Kenny, former anchor, SportsCenter
"I've long admired Gregg Easterbrook's writing. Now I admire his conscience. The King of Sports is an important book for football America.'' --Peter King, senior writer, Sports Illustrated
“The King of Sports provides a vivid, authoritative, insightful and above all provocative account of the role of football in American life." --Michael Mandelbaum, author of The Meaning of Sports
“The King of Sports is a must-read for all of us who love the game of football.” --Aaron Schatz, editor-in-chief, Football Outsiders.com
"[Easterbrook] delivers hits more devastating than the most ferocious, head-hunting linebacker…. [he] does it again, again and again in The King of Sports, a startling and disturbing new book that takes aim at hypocrisy in the National Football League and big money college football." –Buffalo News
“Provocative and thoughtful.” –Tampa Bay Times
“College and professional football generates billions of dollars annually in revenue. Easterbrook, the author of ESPN’s popular column Tuesday Morning Quarterback, looks beyond the dollar signs, examining many of the sport’s darker issues… A valuable analysis that will significantly alter the ways that readers view football.” --Booklist
“Easterbrook presents muchto consider and discuss in his diagnosis and treatment plan, which should be of interest to a broad audience.” –Library Journal, starred review
“No matter how you feel about football's issues, The King of Sports offers plenty to think about. It's a blitz of sports and cultural perspective well worth any fan's time.” –Creative Loafing Charlotte
Praise for Tuesday Morning Quarterback:
“One of the Web’s surprise cult hits.” — The New York Times
“Hilarious entertainment . . . Tuesday Morning Quarterback has pretty much locked up the genre of humorous football poetry.” — National Public Radio, “All Things Considered”
"Trenchant analysis, wrenching case studies, Utopian recommendations." -- Kirkus Reviews
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