Football: The Ivy League Origins of an American Obsession

This could well have been not only the definitive history of the Ivy League, but also one of the seminal works on the subject of football. The history of football by necessity goes through the Ivy League and the intrigues among Princeton, Harvard and Yale were to affect the college game for years and decades to come. The Ivies have always been an enigma, an asterisk on the history of college football. Once boasting the most dominant teams in the country, the Ivies haven't boasted a national champion since Cornell in 1939. Finally, they were demoted by the NCAA to its Division I-AA in the late 70s. There would be no more national glory, and football became just another thing to do in the autumn, instead of being an obsession, which it is at Division 1-A colleges. Bernstein does an excellent job of narrating the history of the Ivies. Every school is included, and there are loads of anecdotal sidelights that will delight the reader. The book is also thoroughly researched and is marked by a lively style not often found in university press publications. Then why do I say that this could have been the definitive history of the Ivy League? One word: editing. One would naturally take for granted that a book from a university press would be well-edited, and a book from a press of the University of Pennsylvania being such should be a no-brainer. But the book is spoiled by numerous errors, errors that could have been caught by an editor's sharp eye. Other reviewers have pointed out some of the more outrageous errors as pertains to football, but I give you the most egregious of all: "In many ways, the teens were a decade of Ivy prominence. Both presidential elections were all-Ivy affairs: Theodore Roosevelt defeated Woodrow Wilson and William Howard Taft in 1912, and Wilson beat Charles Evans Hughes in 1916." (p. 95) HOW'S THAT AGAIN? ROOSEVELT DEFEATED WILSON IN 1912?? This will come as some news to American Historians. Obviously, history is not a core curriculum course of the University of Pennsylvania these days. I don't blame the author (though he should know better, being a graduate of Princeton), I blame the editors. They're the ones who are supposed to catch these mistakes. I admit that a mistake concerning football history can slip by, but this is a basic fact of American history that slipped right past. Shame on the editors. Nonetheless, I do recommend the book for its strengths and its well-written narrative and lively style. Perhaps the mistakes can be corrected for the paperback edition.

Even though I have not yet finished reading this excellent book on football and the Ivy League, I already have enough tidbits to keep up a lively conversation at holiday cocktail parties. Before the end of the first chapter, I found out that there really is no Ivy League. And who could resist dropping on their friends from Cornell the fact that one of their college presidents refused to let "thirty men travel 400 miles to agitate a bag of wind". The tales are intriguing, and Bernstein's writing is engaging. If you have an Ivy League graduate or any other football fan on your gift list, this would be a great choice.

Mark Bernstein's terrific new book shows that the Ivy League invented and struggled with the same problems, and the same glories that permeate college football today.His is a story of the game: the players, coaches, fans, institutions, that shaped everything about football from its rules to the way it is televised.He shows how football's founding fathers had the same arguments, debates, and trash-talking disputes that coaches have today.Anyone who thinks cheating or hooliganism or sportsmanship or glory are any different now than they ever have been, should read this wonderful and entertaining account.From a Princeton football star who died a Fitzgerald-esque figure and mercenary soldier of fortune, to a princeton football star who then attended 450-some straight Princeton games, the people who skirmished are here. From the rules changes that ended almost a decade of 0-0 ties (in some years, teams would win a few games, tie the rest and win the title) to the rules changes that allowed the forward pass, to the rules changes that knocked the Ivies out of major college football, it is all here.Beautifully worded, with glistening anecdotes and a sweeping overview, football's pageant it is all here.And it is wonderful.