The Rhetoric of Football

Texts

• The Blind Side: Evolution of a Game by Michael Lewis
• Friday Night Lights

Syllabus

Break down into “units”

Football as rhetoric

• No Such Thing as Platonic Ideal Football by Chris Brown
• Football by Chuck Klosterman

Technical Football

• Deconstructing: The roots of Brian Kelly’s ‘genius’ Cincinnati revival by Chris Brown
• Rich Rodriguez Breaks Down The Zone Read
• Football 101: Option Football by Bob Davie
• Constraint Theory of Offense by Chris Brown

Statistics & Football

• It’s Fourth Down and What Does the Bellman Equation Say? A Dynamic-Programming Analysis of Football Strategy by David Romer
• The Most Tepid Defense of Scouting You’ll Ever Read by Chris Brown

The A-11 Offense

• ‘Futuristic Football’ Is Hottest Topic in High School Game by Mark Viera
• The A-11: Top Ten Plays
• The A-11 Offense: A Pragmatic Approach by Chris Brown
• Why oh Why Can’t We Get a Better Press Corps: A-11 Edition by Chris Brown
• Creative A-11 offense is alive and well, and not just at Piedmont by Carl Steward

Bill Belichick Goes On 4th & 2

• Colts make Pats pay for Bill’s unusually dumb decision
• Recap of the Play + Reactions
• NFL Network Breakdown
• Defending Belichick’s Fourth Down Decision by Brian Burke
• Thinking about thoughts, fourth downs, and the nature of evidence by Chris Brown

Economics & Football

• Readings from The Blindside by Michael Lewis
• Readings from Bowled Over: Big-Time College Football from the Sixties to the BCS Era by Michael Oread

The Legend of Mike Leach

• Coach Leach Goes Deep, Very Deep by Michael Lewis
• Leach and Tech High Flying by Bob Davie
• Quarterbacks’ Reading Is Done On the Field at Texas Tech by Eric Prisbell
• Mike Leach on Friday Night Lights
• Dating Advice From Mike Leach
• Texas Tech’s Mad Genius
• A Few Minutes w/ Mike Leach

Concussions

• Messing With Our Heads by Michael Oriad
• Offensive Play by Malcolm Gladwell
• ‘I don’t want anyone to end up like me’ by Jackie MacMullen