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, not today, as "a social obsession--this boy-killing, man-mutillating, education-prostituting, gladiatorial sport."
In The Opening Kickoff, Dave Revsine tells the riveting story of the formative period of American football (1890-1915). 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 a captivating narrative.

• We started tracking this book on August 31, 2014.
• This book was $13.99 when we started tracking it.
• The price of this book has changed 65 times in the past 4,021 days.
• The current price of this book is $15.61 last checked 4 hours ago.
• This lowest price this book has been offered at in the past year is $10.94.
• The lowest price to date was $8.84 last reached on July 19, 2018.
• This book has been $8.84 one time since we started tracking it.
• The highest price to date was $20.99 last reached on March 16, 2025.
• This book has been $20.99 one time since we started tracking it.

• HistoryAmericasUnited States
• Sports & OutdoorsMiscellaneousHistory of Sports
• Sports & OutdoorsFootball (American)
• HistoryUnited States

• Publication Date: July 29, 2014
• Text-to-Speech: Disabled
• Lending: Disabled
• Print Length: 333 Pages
• File Size: 57 KB