[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…
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Rescuing the Undeniably Ugly Paul Bunyan
From deep in John U. Bacon’s Three and Out, check out a few great lines delivered by Rich Rod before last year’s rematch with the Spartans. Here’s RR talking to the team after displaying a picture of the Paul Bunyan Trophy: “The ugliness of that trophy is well documented. It’s undeniable. But Paul’s ugliness is only acceptable when we have it. “They’ve had Paul for two years now. Who knows what they’re making Paul do? Probably taking him around to every damn frat house on campus and doing God knows what to him.” They laughed. “Poor Paul! He needs to be rescued!” Rich Rod’s speech was great but he didn’t rescue poor Paul and sadly he’s been in East Lansing longer than Gilligan was on the Island. Go Blue! Rescue Paul! Get Three and Out here – it drops October 25th.
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The Clans React to John U. Bacon’s Three and Out
I just finished John U. Bacon’s Three and Out and I need to talk to somebody. For a while. Same thing will happen to you. If you landed on this page, I don’t need to suggest you buy this book—you probably already bought it or certainly plan to. You really don’t have a choice now, do you? (It drops October 25 – get it now on Amazon). This isn’t a full review. I was lucky enough to receive a beta version of the book and its content is subject to be tweaked, added or removed. But I can offer a few thoughts. For starters, I’ll note that it’s painful enough to relive the past three seasons just from memory. Now try it in 3D and HD, complete with unreleased scenes, quotes and outtakes. And did I mention cockroaches? I give credit to Bacon for writing this—no one held a gun to his head to do it—and he surely knew he’d be ruffling a feather or two twenty by putting this out there. As Brian mentioned, everyone seems to be upset about the book. Most people will be talking about Lloyd Carr, who is charged with conduct unbecoming a Michigan Man yet, it is strongly noted, didn’t speak to Bacon for this book so in several cases we rely on the perspective…
