Title/Author:
“Season of
Saturdays: A History of College Football in 14 Games” by Micheal Weinreb
Tags:
Football
(American), college, history, ethics
Published:
August 19,
2014
Length:
272 pages
Rating:
4 ½ of 5
stars (excellent) – rounded to 5 for Goodreads and Amazon
Review:
College football
is a uniquely American institution that can bring out the best and worst of
everyone involved – players, coaches, schools, students and fans, just to name
a few. The moral and ethical questions
that can be raised by this passion are examined in this excellent book on the
sport by Michael Weinreb. He covers the
history of the sport from its beginnings as an Ivy League activity to today’s
system with a 4 team playoff in 14 chapters, each representing a Saturday, and
each one titled with a game that symbolized the state of the game for that era.
Weinreb
writes each chapter with a good balance of factual research, thoughts for the
reader to contemplate and wonderful stories on some of the greatest moments of
the game. He writes each chapter in a
manner that hard-core fans will enjoy because of some of the memories and
strategic coaching mentioned, but at the same time, casual fans will also enjoy
it because there isn’t a lot of complicated talk about plays and formations so
they will be able to follow along as well.
As a fan in between these two extremes, I enjoyed the book for the
history lessons of the early game as well as the references to the games that I
still remember today and how they have impacted the sport as a whole.
The book
is also written in a manner that when Weinreb expresses an opinion or emotion,
it is not judgmental, but will make the reader stop and think. He does this many times during the book. To
illustrate this, in the chapter titled “Texas 41, USC 38” (the 2006 National
Championship game) he ends each section with a thought provoking statement and
will express his thoughts by saying that the statement will either “bother
certain people more than it bothers me” (Reggie Bush considered a bust) or “this
bothers me more than it bothers certain people” (that college football is a
prelude to the “real thing” [NFL football] on Sunday afternoons).
This type
of writing, prevalent throughout the book, made it an enjoyable read and one
that I would certainly recommend to any college football fan.
I wish to
thank NetGalley for providing an advance reading copy of the book in exchange
for an honest review.
Did I skim?
No.
Pace of the book:
The book
is a fast-paced read as each of the 14 chapters representing one week of the
season is broken into segments that make reading each chapter easier.
Do I recommend?
All
college football fans, from casual to hard-core will enjoy this book. Also, readers who are looking to read about
why the sport is so popular with all age groups and how much a team can become
part of a town’s or campus’s psyche will find this book one that will address
many of those questions.
Book Format Read:
E-book
(Kindle)
Buying Links:
(Note:
links are for pre-orders before publication date of August 19, 2014)
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