{"product_id":"the-opening-kickoff-the-tumultuous-birth-of-a-football-nation-9780762791774","title":"The Opening Kickoff: The Tumultuous Birth of a Football Nation","description":"\u003cp\u003eA New York Times Bestseller and Boston Globe Bestseller!  Its Americas most popular sport  played by thousands  watched by millions  and generating billions in revenues every year. Its also Americas 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 footballs tales of corruption and greed to its current popularity and revenue potential  and we have vague notions of a halcyon timebefore the new College Football Playoff  power conferences  and huge TV contracts. Perhaps we conjure images of young Ivy Leaguers playing a gentlemans game  exemplifying the collegial in collegiate. What we dont imagine is a game described in 1905 as a social obsessionthis 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 games meteoric rise  fueled by overflow crowds  breathless newspaper coverage  and newfound superstarsincluding 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 footballs very existence. A vivid storyteller  Revsine brings it all to life in this captivating narrative.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"My Store","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":45965828161589,"sku":"ByrdShop_0762791772","price":20.66,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0627\/8139\/0901\/files\/9780762791774.jpg?v=1788369888","url":"https:\/\/atxbooks.com\/products\/the-opening-kickoff-the-tumultuous-birth-of-a-football-nation-9780762791774","provider":"ATX Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}