[Ed. 9/3 An important note: I received an advance/uncorrected copy of the book this summer and wrote a review (now posted here) in early July, and shortly after sent the below questions to Bacon. He replied this afternoon so here you go. Fourth And Long hit stores today.] ————————————————————————————– MVictors: One surprise for Michigan fans is that one of the heroes of the book is Buckeye Zach Boren. Given the events with his brother Justin and Justin’s portrayal in 3&O, was there a process involved getting him to talk to you about for this book? Did you address the Justin portrayal with him? Did their old man (Mike, a Bo man of course) get involved and/or clear the way? Bacon: Interviewing Zach Boren was actually very simple, and straightforward. He was clearly a central part of the Buckeyes’ surprising story, so OSU’s PR man, Jerry Emig – who was consistently helpful — set up an interview with him and several other Buckeye players, staffers and lettermen, not to mention lots of time with Urban Meyer. Zach and I had a very good talk – I was upfront about my books – but on the walk back to Coach Meyer’s office, he turned and said, “Wait, you’re the guy who wrote about my brother in the last book!” He told me…
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Reviewing Fourth And Long
[Ed. 9/3 An important note: I received an advance/uncorrected copy of the book this summer and wrote this review in early July and held onto it, waiting for clearance to pull the trigger. In the time since there have been several excerpts, interviews and reviews out there. I left my early July thoughts basically unchanged. Fourth And Long hits stores today. And P.S. I have questions from July (and now answers) into Bacon on the book – they are now posted here.] If you read this site you probably won’t need to be nudged to pick up pretty much any book John U. Bacon writes on sports. You won’t be disappointed with his latest. In 4&L Bacon walks you through 2012 Big Ten football season looking primarily though the travails of four teams: Penn State, Ohio State, Michigan and Northwestern. This passage from early on kind of sets the stage Bacon’s work and why he chose the Big Ten as his canvas: Given the Big Ten’s unique place in the pantheon of college football–the exemplar that has combined academic power, athletic prowess, and commercial popularity, with a minimum of miscues before 2010–the conference, its twelve-hundred-plus football players, and 17.5 million fans aren’t merely canaries in the coal mine. They’re the coal miners. Bacon defines the soul of college football from…