Sports: The All-American Addiction

By John R. Gerdy

John R. Gerdy knows sports inside-out. He has been an All-American Basketball Player whose college jersey was retired. He was briefly a professional player. Later he served as an associate... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 157806452X
• ISBN13: 9781578064526
• Release Date: March 2002
• Publisher: University Press of Mississippi
• Length: 265 Pages
• Weight: 1.32 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 6.2" x 9.3"

Customer Reviews

powerful

great, great book. powerful, well-researched expose of sports in america. highly reccomended to anyone inrerested in sports, especially people who are disenchanted with amrerica's overwhelmingly destructive past-times and who suspect rightly that there is so much more going on here than salaries and scores and champions. this book blows the lid off of the games and it is extremely well-balanced and intelligent. do yourself a favor and read this book. gerdy has done us all a great service and i have just ordered his new book. masterful........

served me well in research

It gives a good focus on the effects, causes, and statistics.

On a scale of 1-5, this book is a 10!

After reading his latest hard hitting, honest, revealing book about America's addiction to sports, one might think that John Gerdy hates sports. On the contrary, John has spent his entire life in and around sports. He is not a disgruntled parent or angry ex-coach with an ax to grind. John Gerdy is a thoughtful scholar who has written a book of enormous value to anyone who cares about the affect of sports on American culture, values, and education. John Gerdy dispels all of the myths surrounding organized sports in America and exposes them for what they are.Youth sports have been taken over by adults, and high schoo, collegiate and professional sports have been taken over by money. This book is a chilling indictment of what sports have become in this country, and it isn't good. John questions whether sports promote positive ideals and teach valuable life skills that will prepare us for competition in a global, information based economy.My hi-lighter went dry, and I couldn't put this book down. This is the most significant contribution to the national dialogue on the desperate state of sports in our society. If you have ever wondered what was wrong with how we conduct sports in this country, this book will explain it all. On a scale of 1-5, Sports: The All-American Addiction is a 10! Read this book and tell everyone you know about it. It is that good!Regis Tremblay, Executive Director of The Foundation For Kids FIRST in Sports.

Book Jacket Review

John Gerdy knows sports inside -out. He grew up the son of a high school football coach. He has been a been a college All-American whose jersey was retired. He was briefly a professional player. Later he served as a YMCA youth sports director, as an associate commissioner in the Southeastern Conference, and as a legislative assistant at the NCAA. Currently, he teaches courses in sports administration.Now, in Sports: The All-American Addiction, Gerdy brings his insights and observations together in a radical critique of the impact of sports on American life. Arguing that our society's huge investment in organized sports is unjustified, he refutes ardent boosters who say that sports embodies the "American Way" and develop winners by teaching sportsmanship, teamwork, and discipline. In fact, Gerdy charges that modern sports undermine traditional American values essential to the well-being of the nation and its people. Like a drug, this obsession allows Americans to escape problems and ignore issues. Gerdy asks tough questions. Have sports lost their relevance? Are they just mindless entertainment? Is our enormous investment in sports as educational tools appropriate for a nation that needs graduates to compete in the information-based, global economy of the twenty-first century? Do organized sports continue to promote positive ideals? Or do sports -- in the age of television, corporate sky boxes, and sneaker deals -- represent something far different? Boldly making his case, Gerdy detects five causes for alarm. Sports have fostered a violent, win-at-all-cost mentality. A greater number of spectators are idly watching the few elite athletes. An anti-intellectual athletic culture systematically creates "dumb jocks". While bridges, inner-cities, and schools crumble, tremendous sums of tax dollars vanish to wealthy owners, millionaire players and college athletic programs. Studies show that sports are no more effective in promoting equality than any other American institution. Can organized sports be restructured? The author concludes with a series of daring suggestions for change.

Book Jacket Comments

John Gerdy deals with all the critical issues facing athletics in a clear and challenging way. This is a must read for the real sports fan. -- Dick SchultzFormer Executive Director, NCAA and United States Olympic Committee