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Bestseller
BestsellerE-book
Author Figone, Al, author.

Title Cheating the spread : gamblers, point shavers, and game fixers in college football and basketball / Albert J. Figone.

Publication Info. Urbana : University of Illinois Press, [2012]
©2012

Item Status

Description 1 online resource.
text file
Series Sport and society
Sport and society.
Bibliography Includes bibliographical references (pages 171-185) and index.
Summary "Delving into the history of gambling and corruption in intercollegiate sports, Cheating the Spread recounts all of the major gambling scandals in college football and basketball. Digging through court records, newspapers, government documents, and university archives and conducting private interviews, Albert J. Figone finds that game rigging has been pervasive and nationwide throughout most of the sports' history. The insidious practice has spread to implicate not only bookies and unscrupulous gamblers but also college administrators, athletic organizers, coaches, fellow students, and the athletes themselves. Naming the players, coaches, gamblers, and go-betweens involved, Figone discusses numerous college basketball and football games reported to have been fixed and describes the various methods used to gain unfair advantage, inside information, or undue profit. His survey of college football includes early years of gambling on games between established schools such as Yale, Princeton, and Harvard; Notre Dame's All-American halfback and skilled gambler George Gipp; and the 1962 allegations of insider information between Alabama coach Paul "Bear" Bryant and former Georgia coach James Wallace "Wally" Butts; and many other recent incidents. Notable events in basketball include the 1951 scandal involving City College of New York and six other schools throughout the East Coast and the Midwest; the 1961 point-shaving incident that put a permanent end to the Dixie Classic tournament; the 1978 scheme in which underworld figures recruited and bribed several Boston College players to ensure a favorable point spread; the 1994-95 Northwestern scandal in which players bet against their own team; and other recent examples of compromised gameplay and gambling"-- Provided by publisher.
"Delving into the history of gambling and corruption in intercollegiate sports, Cheating the Spread recounts all of the major gambling scandals in college football and basketball. Digging through court records, newspapers, government documents, and university archives and conducting private interviews, Albert J. Figone finds that game rigging has been pervasive and nationwide throughout most of the sports' history. Naming the players, coaches, gamblers, and go-betweens involved, Figone discusses numerous college basketball and football games reported to have been fixed and describes the various methods used to gain unfair advantage, inside information, or undue profit. His survey of college football includes early years of gambling on games between established schools such as Yale, Princeton, and Harvard; Notre Dame's All-American halfback and skilled gambler George Gipp; and the 1962 allegations of insider information between Alabama coach Paul "Bear" Bryant and former Georgia coach James Wallace "Wally" Butts; and many other recent incidents. Notable events in basketball include the 1951 scandal involving City College of New York and six other schools throughout the East Coast and the Midwest; the 1961 point-shaving incident that put a permanent end to the Dixie Classic tournament; the 1994-95 Northwestern scandal in which players bet against their own team; and other recent examples of compromised game play and gambling"-- Provided by publisher.
Contents Cover -- Title Page -- Copyright -- Contents -- Acknowledgments -- Introduction -- 1. Creating a Game for Gamblers: The Rise of College Basketball -- 2. The Golden Age of Gambling: College Basketball in the Postwar Years -- 3. Stinking It Up: The 1951 College Basketball Gambling Scandal -- 4. Do No Evil, See No Evil, and Hear No Evil: Coaching and Presiding over College Basketball -- 5. “Do You Have Anything for Me?�: Gambling Scandals in College Football from the Big Three to Bear Bryant
6. College Basketball�s Incurable Disease: The 1961 Basketball Scandal7. Winning in Smaller Ways: The 1978 Boston College Scandal -- 8. Student-Athletes and Campus Bookies: Basketball Scandals of the 1980s and 1990s -- 9. A Continuing Nightmare: Gambling and Fixing in College Football, 1990�2010 -- Afterword: When the Cost of Winning at All Costs Is Too High -- Notes -- Bibliography -- Index
Local Note eBooks on EBSCOhost EBSCO eBook Subscription Academic Collection - North America
Language English.
Subject Sports betting -- United States.
Sports betting.
United States.
Football -- Betting -- United States.
Football -- Betting.
Basketball -- Betting -- United States.
Basketball -- Betting.
College sports -- Economic aspects -- United States.
College sports -- Economic aspects.
Genre/Form Electronic book.
Electronic books.
Other Form: Print version: Figone, Al. Cheating the spread Urbana : University of Illinois Press, [2012] 9780252037283 (hardback) (DLC) 2012037767
ISBN 9780252094453 ebook
025209445X
9780252037283 hardback
9780252078750 paperback
9781283868310 (MyiLibrary)
1283868318 (MyiLibrary)
0252037286
0252078756