The King of Sports

July 8, 2013
Easterbrook, the “Tuesday Morning Quarterback” columnist for ESPN.com, recognizes that football’s benefits “must be weighed against many negatives.” Colleges spend entirely too much on football, costs included in everyone else’s tuition. Meanwhile, these players are so focused on the gridiron that they are unprepared for the working world, which is why Easterbrook recommends six-year scholarships. On the professional side, Easterbrook is appalled by the lax standards for helmets and the rampant greed of rich NFL team owners, who happily fund their arenas with taxpayer money. Easterbrook excels at exposing and describing the shaky behavior that gets lost in the games’ hoopla. It’s a shame that these observations come wrapped in a smug, academic arrogance—he compares football to Ellison’s Invisible Man for no real reason; two lengthy, distracting chapters on Virginia Tech’s football team serve as a tribute to head coach Frank Beamer, whom Easterbrook canonizes—while some of his claims (e.g., football is a big contributor to child obesity) overlook other societal factors. There’s much to like, but Easterbrook’s tone and alarmist proclamations make it hard to embrace his agenda. Photos not seen by PW.

September 1, 2013
Head-slaps and high-fives for the sport that dominates America's popular imagination by Atlantic Monthly contributor and ESPN.com "Tuesday Morning Quarterback" writer Easterbrook (The Leading Indicators, 2012, etc.). The author crafts a football sandwich, the spicy meat of his complaints lying between two soft-bread sections celebrating Virginia Tech, whose successful program and coach (Frank Beamer) he presents as exemplars. In the beginning, Easterbrook describes Beamer's background, temperament and approach; in the end, he chronicles Tech's 2012 Sugar Bowl overtime loss to Michigan. His patent intent is to show that success need not lie upon a foul foundation of cheating and other sorts of corruption, financial and otherwise. The "meat" chapters are the most engaging and include some details, examples and statistics that will alarm even cynics about the sport. Easterbrook probes such issues as the NFL's tax-free status (a not-for-profit!), the failures of many major college programs to help their players graduate (especially black players), the recent research about concussions (at all levels of the game), the role of football on the college campus, the sham of "showcases" for high school athletes, the infinitesimal chance a boy will make it to the NFL, the "cult" of football in school and culture, and the effects of the game on those players who don't make it (the vast majority). Some individual case studies are alarming and profoundly depressing, but--make no mistake--Easterbrook loves the game, and most of the recommendations he discusses (and lists at the end) are quixotic. Financial disclosures? Six-year scholarships for college players? Rankings to include academic records of players? Financial bonuses for coaches whose players do well academically? Not gonna happen. Moreover, the author does not aggressively examine, though he does mention, the proposition that the game's popularity is principally based on violence--would anyone watch the NFL if it were flag football? Trenchant analysis, wrenching case studies, Utopian recommendations.

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June 15, 2013

A contributing editor at several noteworthy magazines (e.g., Atlantic Monthly) and author of the ESPN.com blog "Tuesday Morning Quarterback" (2.4 million unique page hits per month), Easterbrook used access to the Virginia Tech football program to detail not just the sport itself but its impact--arguing, for instance, that it has helped strengthen both American cities and colleges.

Copyright 2013 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from August 1, 2013

Journalist Easterbrook (The Leading Indicators; The Progress Paradox) may be best known for his "Tuesday Morning Quarterback" column at ESPN.com, where he mixes in many nonfootball-related opinions with distinctive football analysis. Here he addresses the overall impact of football on the nation and concludes that the sport he loves needs to reform, not just at the NFL and NCAA levels but also at the high school and peewee levels. Easterbrook's main objections are how football corrupts education and government, how it exploits and then jettisons young athletes, and how debilitating is the physical cost it exacts from its players. His prescribed remedies include banning organized tackle football until eighth grade, lessening the year-round schedule for school football players, vacating public subsidies and tax breaks for big-time football, factoring graduation rates into college football rankings, and mandating the use of the safest helmets. VERDICT Easterbrook presents much to consider and discuss in his diagnosis and treatment plan, which should be of interest to a broad audience. [See Prepub Alert, 5/20/13.]

Copyright 2013 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

August 1, 2013

Journalist Easterbrook (The Leading Indicators; The Progress Paradox) may be best known for his "Tuesday Morning Quarterback" column at ESPN.com, where he mixes in many nonfootball-related opinions with distinctive football analysis. Here he addresses the overall impact of football on the nation and concludes that the sport he loves needs to reform, not just at the NFL and NCAA levels but also at the high school and peewee levels. Easterbrook's main objections are how football corrupts education and government, how it exploits and then jettisons young athletes, and how debilitating is the physical cost it exacts from its players. His prescribed remedies include banning organized tackle football until eighth grade, lessening the year-round schedule for school football players, vacating public subsidies and tax breaks for big-time football, factoring graduation rates into college football rankings, and mandating the use of the safest helmets. VERDICT Easterbrook presents much to consider and discuss in his diagnosis and treatment plan, which should be of interest to a broad audience. [See Prepub Alert, 5/20/13.]

Copyright 2013 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.