- By the beginning of the 20th century, the sport of Football had captured the American imagination. And it all started on the 8 campuses of the Ivy League. THE LEAGUE: 8 Schools, 3 Centuries, 1 Sport, is the true story of the American identity. No other sport is so particular to our nation, to our self-image, and to our way of life than football. When a group of students from Princeton traveled to Rutgers on November 6th, 1869, they brought forth a revolutionary concept in the history of American higher education: the game of football. This is the story of those 8 schools.—Lee Reherman
- BREAKING NEWS: President Obama summons Head Football Coaches and Team Captains of Alabama, LSU, and Oklahoma State (top 3 teams in final 2012 BCS standings) to the White House in last-ditch effort to save College Football from death penalty. With pressure mounting from several top Universities, some members of Congress, and many state officials that recent scandals, violence, and corruption have become just too corrosive, the White House Press Secretary said the Presidents instructions to the coaches and players will be blunt: Hammer out solutions to these problems or the 2013 Season will be cancelled.
Sound like a crazy Hollywood script? Well in 1905, something very much like this happened!
President Teddy Roosevelt assembled the football leaders from Harvard, Yale and Princeton and gave them an order: Fix the sport or else!
By the beginning of the 20th century, the sport of football had captured the American imagination to the point, where competing forces tried to tear it apart.
And it all started on the campuses of the Ivy League.
The League: 8 Schools, 3 Centuries, 1 Sport is the true story of the American identity. No other sport is so particular to our nation, to our self-image, and to our way of life than football. When a group of students from Princeton traveled to Rutgers on November 6th, 1869, they brought forth a revolutionary concept in the history of American higher education: the game of football. Birthed on their pristine campuses just as the world was being remade by the Industrial Revolution, football provided a uniquely radical re-arrangement of sport, education, and industry. The three pillars of the adolescent America were lashed together then in a way in which they were never to part.
The League tells the story of this great revolution. Never before has the incestuous, tempestuous history of sport and education in America been documented. Told through the words of todays greatest living Ivy League players and through a treasure-trove of rare artifacts, photos and films, The League will captivate everyone from the ardent football fan to the casual weekend warrior.
Todays news of college football is filled with tales of exploited players, shady back-room deals, massive profits, life-threatening injuries, and illicit exploitation. Lying, cheating, and stealing are accepted and encouraged in pursuit of victory on the field.
And nothing has changed in college football in over 100 years except...then, the titans of the sport were not Ohio State, Alabama, or USC. No. They were Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Columbia, Cornell, Brown, Pennsylvania, and Dartmouth.
Those 8 schools pulled back from the edge, slew the beast they had created and engaged in the one great successful act of reform in the history of collegiate athletics.
This is the story of those 8 schools...
This is a story that needs to be told.
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