Review: “Book masterfully lays out The Big Shootout”

He interviewed vast numbers of players from both teams, as well as fans. He researched the social and political attitudes of the times. McDonald doesn’t short-change the era when it comes to race and American culture. What McDonald ended up with was the ultimate book on a football game that changed lives.

Hogs & Steers — All Business, All the Time

By Mark S. McDonald, author When Texas played Arkansas in The Big Shootout for the 1969 national championship, America was in chaos … our young men coming back from Vietnam in body bags, race riots over integration, peace rallies, assassinations, The Pill, street drugs … In this cauldron of stress, how did players and coaches […]

Gasp! – Coach Declares His Faith, Before All

dabo swinney clemson football

Oh, dear, what now? Moments after his Clemson Tigers won the college football national championship Monday night, Coach Dabo Swinney stood on his hind legs and proclaimed “all the glory goes to the good Lord.” Not to some bull-necked linebacker or a pass receiver who seems to carry his own mini-trampoline. With once-invincible Alabama leaving […]

Army-Navy Game: Cleansing the Palate

If the Army-Navy game is one of your favorites each year, sign here. For color, pageantry, hard-won respect and zero B.S., I’m pleased this game gets center stage each year. Compare this contest with the pro wrestling we too often see disguised as football. Army-Navy is like brushing your teeth after a camping trip – […]