Customer Reviews

Varsity Green: A Behind the Scenes Look at Culture and Corruption in College Athletics

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

We're all accustomed to hearing too many stories about badly behaving college athletes, many of whom might flunk a basic literacy test, and lavish college sports facilities. Even as many of us roll our eyes at these shenanigans and examples of misplaced priorities, we still tune in religiously to follow our favorite college teams -- a paradox that is at the heart of this intriguing book about the business of college sports.

I can easily see that nobody engaged in this world will be happy with what Mark Yost finds after he turns his keen eye on it. Those boosters who claim that the current system is a win-win, giving colleges great teams and youngsters a chance at an education, will be infuriated by Yost's damning indictment of an educational system that encourages young people to believe that they have a real shot at going pro via a college team (in fact, in a too-often repeated statistic, he notes that 3% of high school athletes will get a college scholarship; only 2% of those will have any kind of pro career) and then after coddling them and sheltering them from reality, abandons them to sink or swim when they tear a ligament and can't generate any revenue for the institution. On the other hand, those on the academic side will likely not enjoy Yost's even-handed analysis: he points out that a lot of the revenue from successful and profitable athletic teams actually helps subsidize academic programs and that so far, there is little proof that athletic donations are cannibalizing those to academic chairs and other programs.

This is an intriguing look behind the scenes at some of the top coaches, the top donors, the administrators and the boosters. Throughout it all, Yost makes clear his sympathy for those he sees as the biggest victims of what may be a gigantic hoax perpetrated by colleges in their own interest, at the expense of the 'student-athletes': that the latter are playing for the love of the game and the institution, even as the college profits from their labor.

I read this toward the beginning of the March Madness of 2010; I'll find it hard to look at that or any other collegiate sports program the same way again. Well-balanced, and well-researched, this is a great book to read for any sports fan, or even for someone curious about the extent to which elite athletes have become celebrities and what that means for our society. Yes, it's published by an academic press, but this is immensely readable, and highly recommended.

For anyone who has a love for college sports, this book is a must read. It confirms what we fans have suspected for years, that college football, basketball, and a few other sports (hockey, baseball) have been tainted by professionalism. In fact, it is really hard to call the players in these big revenue-producing sports "amateurs" and to think of them as "students."

I would have given the book 5 stars but for a few problems. On the positive side, Yost's writing style is engaging and well-paced. And the insight that he provides gives one the feel of being an insider in the business of college sports. Still, there are a few problems with the book. First, he relies quite a bit on other books, leaving me wishing that he had gotten more direct quotes from people in college athletics and related businesses. Perhaps they were reluctant to talk to him. Second, at times he repeats himself. The worst case of this is in the Epilogue, where he repeats a lot of material, for example, the discussion of the critic Nathan Tublitz and APR and GSR rates.

But my complaints aside, I found this book to be an easy, engaging read and I would recommend it to anyone who is interested in college athletics, higher education, and the uneasy relationship between the two.

I heard about this on NPR. Though I am not a sports fan, I found the discussion of economics to be quite interesting.

Right from the beginning, this book is an easy read. Yost's writing style is fun, informative, and really eye-opening. He discusses some of the biggest corruption problems in collegiate athletics. I chose to write an ethical dilemma paper for my Sport Ethics class in college based on this book. The examples Yost uses are ones any fan or person interested in learning more than just the surface of college sports can relate to. Five out of five, EXCELLENT READ.