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Bowls, Polls, and Tattered Souls: Tackling the Chaos and Controversy that Reign Over College Football
Sports Illustrated columnist Stewart Mandel tackles the ten issues that confound college football fans If your heart beats faster on Saturday afternoons as your team takes the field, this book will give you new insight into the fanaticism and chaos that characterize college football today. Stewart Mandel takes a provocative, hard-hitting look at the hot-button issues: the controversial BCS; the polls and their largely arbitrary rankings; the ego-inflating recruiting craze; cheating and recent scandals; the huge pressures and salaries heaped on coaches; the Heisman hype-fest; the NFL draft; the clunky conference expansions; privileged Notre Dame, college football's greatest juggernaut; and the proliferation of bowl games. You'll getbehind-the-scenes insights on how the issues evolved and why some are almost impossible to resolve. You'll see how tradition, politics, and money influence college football today. You'll discover that, while the rules of the game are hard and fast, the rules governing college football are blurred and pliable. And you'll find a book that's as entertaining, passionate, and thought-provoking as the game itself. "Stewart Mandel writes about college football's major controversies with a wit and depth of knowledge that will impress even the most obsessed fans. And because he's both fair and objective, there is something in this book to infuriate nearly everyone."
—Warren St. John, author of the bestselling Rammer Jammer Yellow Hammer: A Road Trip into the Heart of Fan Mania "In a book dripping with sarcasm, Stewart Mandel plays tour guide on an interesting ride through the college football nuthouse."
—Bruce Feldman, author of Meat Market and senior writer for ESPN the Magazine
—Warren St. John, author of the bestselling Rammer Jammer Yellow Hammer: A Road Trip into the Heart of Fan Mania "In a book dripping with sarcasm, Stewart Mandel plays tour guide on an interesting ride through the college football nuthouse."
—Bruce Feldman, author of Meat Market and senior writer for ESPN the Magazine
- GenresSportsFootballNonfiction
272 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2007
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Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews
October 10, 2023
This is a fun read, albeit a bit dated (originally published in 2006). However, it is funny to read now because, though some 17 years have passed, the same old topics still dominate the college football landscape! This is a good read to experience a time-capsule of college football in the BCS era. Mandel provides good insights into all the chaos that makes college football so special.
January 12, 2020
Though it's now four years old, this survey of the controversies that make NCAA football what it is, by SI.com's Stewart Mandel, is still relevant. Even if I don't believe his early prediction that the BCS will give way to, or accomodate, a playoff (though to be fair, by the time he wrote an extra chapter for the paperback edition, he seems to have changed his mind).
It's breezy (sometimes including jokes that you'd better be ready to recognize) but informative (you can also tell he's done some research outside his normal beat reporting). A worthwhile read for any college football fan who wants a deeper understanding of the history behind perennial complaints about the BCS's haplessness, Notre Dame's specialness, the bowl season's mindlessness and conference realignment's aimlessness.
Out of it comes the general argument, neither to be praised nor condemned, that the guiding force in almost everything that happens (especially in the six BCS conferences) is the pursuit of greater and greater riches—by the schools, the conferences, the bowl executives, sponsors and television networks. If you can follow the money, you have at least a fighting chance of figuring it out.
It's breezy (sometimes including jokes that you'd better be ready to recognize) but informative (you can also tell he's done some research outside his normal beat reporting). A worthwhile read for any college football fan who wants a deeper understanding of the history behind perennial complaints about the BCS's haplessness, Notre Dame's specialness, the bowl season's mindlessness and conference realignment's aimlessness.
Out of it comes the general argument, neither to be praised nor condemned, that the guiding force in almost everything that happens (especially in the six BCS conferences) is the pursuit of greater and greater riches—by the schools, the conferences, the bowl executives, sponsors and television networks. If you can follow the money, you have at least a fighting chance of figuring it out.
December 24, 2010
I decided to read this just in time for the DunderMifflinConsolidatedNortheastRegionalRecycledPaperDivisionLLC .com Stargazer Lilly Bowl and it’s other 35 counterparts. It did not disappoint. Mandel, a Sports Illustrated columnist, was clearly exacerbated by innumerable fan/reader email inquiries/obscenities regarding the oddities of the BCS system and decided to cover it all. He attacks, chapter-by-chapter, such topics as Heisman debacles, idiot NFL recruiting criteria, conference realignments, and just WTF is up with the Notre Dame thing.
The biggest issues clearly revolve around the ranking system and, despite my oft-furled eyebrows when these come out on fall Sundays, I must say that I can agree with Mandel’s contention that the current system at least really makes every game count (unless your team is Syracuse, of course). In contrast, with a full-fledged playoff system the vast majority of late October games wouldn’t mean squat and you might as well watch the other staple ESPN “sports” offerings Texas Hold‘em or Spelling Bees. One great point with which to kind-of defend the current system is the fact that at least those teams benighted #1 and #2 at the regular season conclusion actually play each other. This is unlike many pre-1998 seasons where the top dog might face off against the #5 ranking and #2 vs. #11 would be the completely illogical Sugar Bowl matchup (I apologize, I meant the “Don’t Squeeze the Quilted Charmin Sugar Bowl”). Thus you’d end up with two or six bonafide “National Champions” in any given year. The “Plus-One” playoff concept does seem logical to at least straighten out those last minute non AQ issues such as the indubitable Boise State bid (whoops, I meant to say TCU).
This is an enjoyable read and I offer Kudos to Mandel for stating almost exactly why I could care less about the NFL. It bears quoting:
If your idea of excitement is watching a game in a sterile, spaceship-looking stadium with silicone-enhanced cheerleaders and fight songs that are piped in over the loudspeakers, more power to you. If you like watching thirty-two teams run variations of the same exact offense in games where a “big play” might be a running back bursting free for 7 yards and the turning point is invariably some referee’s ill-timed “illegal use of the hands” call, by all means, don’t let me stop you. If you’re the type of person who finds a late-December game between two 8-7 teams fighting for the last wild-card spot as exciting as an Alabama-Auburn game with the SEC championship on the line … well, to be perfectly honest, you and I could never be friends.”
From now on, the only “Chargers” I acknowledge are those that plug into stuff and, apparently as I learned not five minutes ago, the name of “decorative under-plates” at Christmas time. I don’t mind the “spaceship” stadiums so much and I probably have a couple NFL fan friends. We just don’t talk about it. This is a good, informative-though-sarcastic book. Just the way I like ‘em.
The biggest issues clearly revolve around the ranking system and, despite my oft-furled eyebrows when these come out on fall Sundays, I must say that I can agree with Mandel’s contention that the current system at least really makes every game count (unless your team is Syracuse, of course). In contrast, with a full-fledged playoff system the vast majority of late October games wouldn’t mean squat and you might as well watch the other staple ESPN “sports” offerings Texas Hold‘em or Spelling Bees. One great point with which to kind-of defend the current system is the fact that at least those teams benighted #1 and #2 at the regular season conclusion actually play each other. This is unlike many pre-1998 seasons where the top dog might face off against the #5 ranking and #2 vs. #11 would be the completely illogical Sugar Bowl matchup (I apologize, I meant the “Don’t Squeeze the Quilted Charmin Sugar Bowl”). Thus you’d end up with two or six bonafide “National Champions” in any given year. The “Plus-One” playoff concept does seem logical to at least straighten out those last minute non AQ issues such as the indubitable Boise State bid (whoops, I meant to say TCU).
This is an enjoyable read and I offer Kudos to Mandel for stating almost exactly why I could care less about the NFL. It bears quoting:
If your idea of excitement is watching a game in a sterile, spaceship-looking stadium with silicone-enhanced cheerleaders and fight songs that are piped in over the loudspeakers, more power to you. If you like watching thirty-two teams run variations of the same exact offense in games where a “big play” might be a running back bursting free for 7 yards and the turning point is invariably some referee’s ill-timed “illegal use of the hands” call, by all means, don’t let me stop you. If you’re the type of person who finds a late-December game between two 8-7 teams fighting for the last wild-card spot as exciting as an Alabama-Auburn game with the SEC championship on the line … well, to be perfectly honest, you and I could never be friends.”
From now on, the only “Chargers” I acknowledge are those that plug into stuff and, apparently as I learned not five minutes ago, the name of “decorative under-plates” at Christmas time. I don’t mind the “spaceship” stadiums so much and I probably have a couple NFL fan friends. We just don’t talk about it. This is a good, informative-though-sarcastic book. Just the way I like ‘em.
October 8, 2008
I LOVE college football, and I also love Stewart Mandel's columns and the SI Mailbag. He's hilarious and knowledgeable, though I of course am prone to putting him on my "shit list" and refusing to read him for a certain amount of time after he's said something I consider egregious about Cal. Mostly these periods of silence last about a week, after which I am again groveling at SI.com for the new Mailbag. I admit, I am just as bad as every college football fan out there!
That said, this book was even better than I'd hoped it would be. I waited a long time for it to come out in paperback, so expectations were high. :P
Even though I know a lot about college football, I am only 26 years old, and there are a lot of things that happened "before my time" that I never understood the stories behind, and tons of rules/bureaucracy/etc, as well as football lore from around the country, that I just didn't know. And now, because of this book, I know those things--and I will thus be able to participate in conversations with others at tailgates while name-dropping things like "Weed Eater Bowl" and "Free Shoes University." Ah, football.
Thanks, Stewart!
That said, this book was even better than I'd hoped it would be. I waited a long time for it to come out in paperback, so expectations were high. :P
Even though I know a lot about college football, I am only 26 years old, and there are a lot of things that happened "before my time" that I never understood the stories behind, and tons of rules/bureaucracy/etc, as well as football lore from around the country, that I just didn't know. And now, because of this book, I know those things--and I will thus be able to participate in conversations with others at tailgates while name-dropping things like "Weed Eater Bowl" and "Free Shoes University." Ah, football.
Thanks, Stewart!
June 30, 2011
If you love college football, but hate the university presidents, sanctioning bodies, bowl committees, booster, alumni, and the goddamn BCS, read this. It does a great job explaining why everything is wrong with college football, and why the powers that be will never give the fans a fair playoff system that we all want. It does a great job explaining that not only is the system broken and corrupt, but it also has no intention of ever being fair as long as the legacy programs and conferences have all the power. The Rose Bowl being the biggest offender of them all. It will tell you things you already know, and some things you didn't. But you'll come away with few more talking points against the system.
January 6, 2008
This was a very informative and entertaining explanation of why college football is the way it is. I now understand the convoluted sport a lot better. I would like the sport to institute a "plus one" championship game, to make the Cotton Bowl one of the BCS bowls and to eliminate about 10 bowl games, but aside from that I kind of like the chaos! (Do I think any of that will happen? No.) The one really annoying thing about the book was the author's tendency to make a joke at the end of every paragraph. Some of these were blatant falsehoods for the sake of humor that I thought detracted from his arguments, which otherwise were presented in a fact-based, journalistic fashion.
August 30, 2008
An excellent book for the serious college football fan. Stewart Mandel, college football analyst for Sports Illustrated, dedicates each chapter to explaining some of the confusion that reins in college football. Why is college football the only NCAA sport without a playoff? Why does Notre Dame merit its own TV contract? What's up with the BSC mess? Just exactly who votes for the Heisman and why to Heisman winners usually bust in the NFL? Oh, and tell me again why does college football not have a playoff? Ladies, this is a great birthday gift or stocking stuffer for the college football fan in your life. Other than me; I already have a copy.
August 30, 2014
Bowls, Polls, and Tattered Souls: Tackling the Chaos and Controversy that Reign Over College Football by Stewart Mandel (Wiley 2007)(796.332). The author discusses the current state of affairs in big-time college football and takes issue with the way the NCAA is leading. Very interesting section as to why Alabama hates Tennessee. If the author's sources are correct, former Tennessee Coach Phillip Fulmer turned the Tide into the NCAA in exchange for immunity for the Vols program! (That was in the Chapter “Everybody cheats but my team” in the 2008 edition.) My rating: 6/10, finished 2/2010.
November 20, 2007
Stewart Mandel is one of the best sportswriters focusing on college football today. I regularly read his work at SI.com and this book reads like an extended column: in depth and interesting, full of humor, with a healthy dose of skepticism. He doesn't delve deeply into the emotional and narrative aspects of the college game that are so compelling to me but the book is informative and entertaining.
February 7, 2008
i have been reading Stewart Mandel online at SportsIllustrated.com for several years now, and he is my favorite writer who covers college football. This book is well written and clearly explains the difficulties and challenges of college football in a number of different areas. For serious college football fans, I would rate this a five-star book. Less serious fans might get overloaded on details, so that is why I gave it 4 stars.
February 16, 2008
My buddy Stewart wrote this book, for disclosure's sake.
While many of you know him from SI.com, I know him from my softball team.
If you have any inclination to read a book about football, to have a better understanding of what in the hell is up with the bowl system, Heisman voting or anything else going on in the crazy world of NCAA football, check out Stewart's book.
While many of you know him from SI.com, I know him from my softball team.
If you have any inclination to read a book about football, to have a better understanding of what in the hell is up with the bowl system, Heisman voting or anything else going on in the crazy world of NCAA football, check out Stewart's book.
March 14, 2009
A discussion of college football from the BCS to the Heisman and everything in between.
Absolutely fascinating. I've enjoyed Mandel's Mailbag column for quite some time, and this is a natural extension of it. He really explains the intricacies and absurdities of college football in a way that both informs and entertains.
Absolutely fascinating. I've enjoyed Mandel's Mailbag column for quite some time, and this is a natural extension of it. He really explains the intricacies and absurdities of college football in a way that both informs and entertains.
November 3, 2010
Nothing that I didn't already know about college football, but Stewart Mandel is a fun writer who not only knows college football but loves it. He always offers an intelligent perspective over the emotionally charged, irrationality that often dominates in sports. A nice easy read to cruise through on a Saturday.
February 12, 2013
took me a while to finish reading this book. A good book nevertheless. Lots of details and observations. Since the book is based on the 2006 season (and later 2007) it's sort of back dated. It would be interesting to see what the author would write about for the seasons after 2007 (especially in regards to the Heisman).
if you're a college football fan then this is a must read.
if you're a college football fan then this is a must read.
September 16, 2008
Somehow, the book isn't as much fun as the articles. Perhaps it's the distance from the present. Perhaps I expect more formality in a book than in a column. I still read Mandel every week during the fall, but this one didn't grab me, and I doubt I'll pick up the paperback with the 2007 update.
January 5, 2009
I think Mandel is one of the best college football writers out there -he's logical, he understands the big picture and he can add a touch of humor to the ridiculous without being bombastic. This is a fun and quick read, if you love college football.
October 3, 2007
A fun read and an intelligent explanation of the crazy college football bowl system.
October 12, 2007
pretty ok, as entertaining as his internet columns - everyone knows that Rockne and Dorais perfected the forward pass at Cedar Point on the shores of Lake Erie, not Lake Michigan - sheesh
April 18, 2008
Ridiculous title. Interesting read.
June 22, 2008
This is a rarity: informed, thoughtful, well-written discussion of college football's highs and lows...
It's a must-read for any college football fan.
It's a must-read for any college football fan.
January 3, 2009
Although the author didn't eliminate any of the chaos and controversy found in college football, he did explain it well. I enjoyed this read while watching some of the bowl games.
April 14, 2009
Excellent fun read about the game we love the most!
June 29, 2009
Good breakdown on college football for both knowledgable and not so knowledgable fans of the game.
April 25, 2010
The guy and book is hilarious and appropriately addresses the hot ticket issues in college football
April 25, 2011
A funny, lighthearted and clear view of the NCAA as a business. A fantastic pool-side read if you're a fan of college football.
April 2, 2013
Have always enjoyed Mandel's columns on SI.com. Good job explaining some of the underlying reasons why CFB has so many issues that drive fans crazy (postseason, conferences, student athletes, etc.)
Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews