It s America s most popular sport, played by thousands, watched by
millions, and generating billions in revenues every year. It s also
America s most controversial sport, haunted by the specter of
life-threatening injuries and plagued by scandal, even among its most
venerable personalities and institutions. At the college level, we often
tie football s tales of corruption and greed to its current popularity
and revenue potential, and we have vague notions of a halcyon time
before the new College Football Playoff, power conferences, and huge TV
contracts. Perhaps we conjure images of young Ivy Leaguers playing a
gentleman s game, exemplifying the collegial in collegiate. What we don t
imagine is a game described in 1905 as a social obsession this
boy-killing, man-mutilating, education-prostituting, gladiatorial sport.
In The Opening Kickoff, Dave Revsine tells the riveting story of the
formative period of American football between 1890 and 1915. In just a
quarter century football spread across the nation, captivating people
from coast to coast. It was a time that saw the game s meteoric rise,
fueled by overflow crowds, breathless newspaper coverage, and newfound
superstars including one of the most thrilling and mysterious the sport
has ever seen. But it was also a period racked by controversy in
academics, recruiting, and physical brutality that, in combination,
threatened football s very existence. A vivid storyteller, Revsine
brings it all to life in this captivating narrative."
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