In this groundbreaking book, the author of "The Coach" presents a painstakingly researched history of the relationship between television and college football.

In The Fifty-Year Seduction, Keith Dunnavant shows how television helped shape the modern sport--on and off the field. For more than a half century, television has played a primary role in securing college football's place as one of America's most popular spectator sports. But it has also been the common denominator in the sport's rise as a big business. Television, which multiplied the number of people who cared about the game, simultaneously increased the stakes. The colleges, who once feared television's ability to create free tickets, gradually became addicted to its charms. Through the years, the medium manufactured money, greed, dependence, and envy; altered the recruiting process, eventually forcing the colleges to compete with the irresistible force of National Football League riches; aided the National Collegiate Athletic Association's explosion from impotent union to massive bureaucracy; manipulated the rise and fall of the College Football Association; fomented the realignment of conferences; and seized control of the post-season bowl games, including the formation of the lucrative and controversial Bowl Championship Series. In painstaking detail, the author chronicles five decades of tension and conflict, from the 1951 television dispute that empowered the modern NCAA to the inevitable backlash, culminating with the landmark Supreme Court decision that set the stage for the conference-swapping machinations of the 1990s and beyond.

Which sort of seducer could you be? Siren? Rake? Cold Coquette? Star? Comedian? Charismatic? Or Saint? This book will show you which. Charm, persuasion, the ability to create illusions: these are some of the many dazzling gifts of the Seducer, the compelling figure who is able to manipulate, mislead and give pleasure all at once. When raised to the level of art, seduction, an indirect and subtle form of power, has toppled empires, won elections and enslaved great minds. In this beautiful, sensually designed book, Greene unearths the two sides of seduction: the characters and the process. Discover who you, or your pursuer, most resembles. Learn, too, the pitfalls of the anti-Seducer. Immerse yourself in the twenty-four manoeuvres and strategies of the seductive process, the ritual by which a seducer gains mastery over their target. Understand how to 'Choose the Right Victim', 'Appear to Be an Object of Desire' and 'Confuse Desire and Reality'. In addition, Greene provides instruction on how to identify victims by type. Each fascinating character and each cunning tactic demonstrates a fundamental truth about who we are, and the targets we've become - or hope to win over. The Art of Seduction is an indispensable primer on the essence of one of history's greatest weapons and the ultimate power trip. From the internationally bestselling author of The 48 Laws of Power, Mastery, and The 33 Strategies Of War.

Award-winning sports columnist Michael Rosenberg chronicles the extraordinary days of campus unrest and civil turmoil during the Vietnam War years as seen through the prism of two legendary (and highly conservative) college football coaches, Ohio State's Woody Hayes and Michigan's Bo Schembechler. The Vietnam War . . . Nixon . . . Kent State . . . The late 1960s and early 1970s were a time of total turmoil in America-the country was being torn apart by a war most people didn't support, young men were being taken away by the draft, and racial tensions were high. Nowhere was this turmoil more evident than on college campuses, the epicenters of the protest movement. The uncertain times presented a challenge to two of the greatest football coaches of all time. Woody Hayes, the legendary archconservative coach of Ohio State, feared for the future of America. His protégé and rival, Bo Schembechler of the University of Michigan, didn't want to be bothered by these "distractions." Hayes worshipped General George S. Patton and was friends with President Richard Nixon. Schembechler befriended President Gerald Ford, a former captain and team MVP for the Wolverines. In this enthralling book, Michael Rosenberg dramatically weaves the campus unrest and political upheaval into the story of Hayes and Schembechler. Their rivalry began with Schembechler arriving in protest-heavy Ann Arbor, Michigan, at the height of the Vietnam War. It ended with Hayes wondering what had happened to his country. War As They Knew It is a sobering and fascinating look at two iconic coaches and a different generation.

This research collection explores the ongoing interaction between sports, media, and society throughout important periods in history, from the nineteenth century to the present day. It examines both historical moments and broader trends in sports, with an emphasis on the media’s role. Encompassing a variety of research approaches and perspectives, the book looks at the individuals, mass media outlets and communication technologies that have affected societies on a global scale, including print, photography, broadcast (radio and television), Internet-based media, and public relations/marketing. It presents fascinating new case studies covering topics as diverse as sports journalism and the Third Reich, Argentina at the Mexico World Cup, post-9/11 sports reporting, Martina Navratilova and women’s tennis, the growth of fantasy sport, and the significance of Joe Louis and Jackie Robinson in the history of US sports reporting. This is essential reading for any researcher, student or media professional with an interest in the relationships between sports, culture, and society or in the history of media, culture, or technology.

The Business of Sports, Second Edition is a comprehensive collection of readings that focus on the multibillion-dollar sports industry and the dilemmas faced by todays sports business leaders. It contains a dynamic set of readings to provide a complete overview of major sports business issues. The Second Edition covers professional, Olympic, and collegiate sports, and highlights the major issues that impact each of these broad categories. The Second Edition continue to provide insight from a variety of stakeholders in the industry and cover the major business disciplines of management, marketing, finance, information technology, accounting, ethics and law. In addition, it features concise introductions, targeted discussion questions, and graphs and tables to convey relevant financial data and other statistics discussed. This book is designed for current and future sports business leaders as well as those interested in the inner-workings of the industry.

Whether espoused by sports leagues, teams, or individual athletes, social issues are part of the sporting world fabric. The sports media often plays the gatekeeper, deciding how messages are presented and to what extent they’re covered—if at all. Sports, Media, and Society investigates the impact of societal issues in sports and how the media reports those stories. Why does the sports media operate in the manner that it does, and what’s the impact of its decisions on the audience? With Sports, Media, and Society, there is now a resource that combines mainstay class discussion points, current case studies, and theoretical and historical foundations in one comprehensive text. The book’s 34 chapters are each short and concise—a format preferred by instructors—covering a wide range of topics and easily digestible for students. Part I covers sports media history and the media’s role as gatekeeper. Chapters explore the history and evolution of various media—newspapers, magazines, radio, television, and social media—and the business of and competition between sports media entities. Case studies examine NBC’s Olympics coverage and the nimbleness of Sports Illustrated in the digital space. Part II showcases television’s impact on how fans follow sports. Discussions include ABC’s Wide World of Sports, which exposed viewers to events around the globe; ESPN’s foray into 24/7 sports coverage; and Fox Sports’ shocking NFL deal, which marked a new era in media rights negotiations and sports broadcasting technologies. The intersection of sports and social issues is the focus of part III. Numerous issues are addressed, punctuated by case studies involving key players and events related to each topic. Cases concerning Colin Kaepernick, USWNT (and coverage of women’s sports generally), LGBTQ+ issues, and obstacles faced by women working in sports media are highlights, while examinations of social identity theory and framing provide context on how people identify with specific groups and how the media influences opinions. Athletes and sport entities are constantly in the news—not always in a positive light. Part IV addresses crisis management and communication, featuring case studies about Tiger Woods, Lance Armstrong, LeBron James (The Decision), Kobe Bryant (his death and the misreporting of facts surrounding it), and the Houston Astros sign-stealing scandal. The text concludes with part V, which explores emerging trends in sports media and society. Through social media, virtually anyone can become a thought leader (wresting control from traditional outlets), and teams and athletes can dialogue directly with fans, effectively sidelining sports journalists. Chapters on the formerly taboo subjects of athlete mental health and sports wagering, as well as the exploding popularity of esports, round out the text. Sports shape our culture in numerous ways, and the sports media plays a transformative role in how it occurs. Sports, Media, and Society prepares tomorrow’s sports journalists and communicators to venture beyond the how-tos of developing content to understanding the whys behind it.