Never one to shy away from a big topic, James Michener makes a prescient examination of the crisis in American sports that is still unfolding to this day. Allegedly these are games, yet it plays out as tragedy when pro basketball players are banned for narcotics use, a Major League pitcher is arrested for smuggling drugs across the Mexican border, and the NFL's "injury report" grows longer every Sunday. With his lifelong enthusiasm for sports in evidence, Michener analyzes why corruption and recruiting violations plague collegiate sports as the "winning is everything" mentality trickles down to the Little League level.

"A lovingly critical, prodigiously researched account of the passions and politics of America at organized play. Rich in anecdote, source material and his own shrewd commentary."—NYTBR