Smith, Steve. Forever Red: More Confessions of a Cornhusker Fan. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2015. 256 pages. $24.95 paperback. Reviewed by Jorge Iber The recent passing (via suicide while serving time in a California prison) of legendary Nebraska Cornhusker running back Lawrence Phillips at the young age of 40 makes this a more than…
Gitlin, Martin. The Greatest College Football Rivalries of All Time: The Civil War, The Iron Bowl, and Other Memorable Moments. New York: Rowman & Littlefield, 2014. Black and White Photos, Notes, Selected Bibliography, Index. Pp. 345. $40.00 hardback, $39.99 eBook. Reviewed by Mercedes Townsend In the fall, I will be pursuing my J.D. at Tulane University…
Kryk, John. Stagg vs. Yost: The Birth of Cutthroat Football. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2015. Pp. 360. 32 b/w photographs, acknowledgements, selected bibliography, index. $33.82 hardcover. Reviewed by Michael T. Wood As the title suggests, veteran journalist and Michigan football historian John Kryk’s second book, Stagg vs. Yost: The Birth of Cutthroat Football, examines…
By Jon Hart, Guest Contributor In its first season, the well-known Serial podcast tackled the tragic loss of a promising, charismatic, high school senior. The Season, another excellent podcast produced by WNYC, investigates a far less grim and tragic subject: The Columbia University football team, one of the oldest collegiate programs in the country. While the Columbia…
By Edward J. Gray, Guest Contributor On January 16th, 2010, Alabama head football coach Nick Saban made a promise to the Crimson Tide faithful. Coming off the heels of the Tide’s first national championship in nearly twenty years, a 37-21 win over the University of Texas Longhorns, Saban proclaimed that “this is not the end,…
By Lindsay Parks Pieper Tonight, the University of Alabama Crimson Tide and the Clemson University Fighting Tigers will fight for the college football championship trophy. The game marks the sixteenth time the two squads will square off and the first with a national title on the line. Television personalities have discussed the matchup for weeks.…
Marc, David. Leveling the Playing Field: The Story of the Syracuse 8. Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press, 2015. 344 pages, 25 illustrations, notes, bibliography, index. Cloth $39.95. Reviewed by Matt Follett Leveling the Playing Field: The Story of the Syracuse 8 tells the story of how African American football players at Syracuse University protested discrimination in the…
By Michael T. Wood As 2015 comes to a close, we are entering the home stretch of the college football postseason. By the end of the day (or in the first moments of the New Year), thirty-one of the record forty bowl games will be completed, including the two semifinal games of the College Football…
Reviewed by Max Rieger History is a powerful muse at the University of Southern California (USC). In the documentary, “Trojan War”, ESPN gives its viewers a look at one of the nations most successful and unique football programs. Before examining the film and its subjects in some depth, I must make a disclosure. I am…
By Andrew D. Linden “Thanksgiving and football was the perfect blend of two great American creations,” explains ESPN reporter Sal Paolantonio. “Thanksgiving is our own holiday. And football is this great indigenous sport, created here, for Americans, so it was just this great blend of two great American creations.” Indeed, these purported American traditions helped…
Sport in American History 