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The Magnificent Seven.    College Basketball’s Blue Bloods.    Mark Mehler and Jeff Tiber II.    It seems fitting to have finished reading about seven different prominent college basketball programs on the eve of another march madness (March of 2026).     The Magnificent Seven , authored by Mark Mehler and Jeff Tiber II, argues their list of blue blood basketball programs and provides a rich history and culture of each school along with how they ascended to be considered among the elite programs. The opening section of the book discusses several criterions supporting their choices.    Readers will note that all schools chronicled here won at least four NCAA basketball championships.     Of course, some were more recent successes than others such as Kansas and Connecticut while others have not won a championship for several decades like Indiana or UCLA.    In any case, beyond the wins the total package in...

  The 1976 National Champion Pitt Panthers.     David Finoli. Miracle on Cardiac Hill.      It is not often that fans get to see their favorite college football team win a championship.    It is even more extraordinary when that happens during the first year of ever attending games for your favorite college football team.     Well, that was exactly my experience in the fall of 1976, as a 9-year-old, when I was afforded the great luxury and opportunity with my family to attend University of Pittsburgh football games that season for the first time.      It was a historical season for many reasons but also an exciting time for sports in western Pennsylvania as the Pittsburgh Steelers were winning super bowls and the Pittsburgh Pirates were regular contenders for the National League pennant.     Author David Finoli explains how the local University captured some of that Esprit De corps in hi...

Walking Miracle.    Ryan Shazier with Larry Platt. How faith, positive thinking, and passion for football brought me back from paralysis….and helped me find purpose.      Athletes love and play the game of football for a variety of reasons including the action, passion for the game, physicality, camaraderie with teammates and coaches as well as the accolades that go with winning along with performance at high levels among their peers.     Of course, with all of this comes risk of injury.     All the aforementioned is what happened to former Pittsburgh Steeler linebacker Ryan Shazier including the life changing injury, unfortunately, which brought his life to a crashing halt.      However, through struggles, the support of many, including a home team fan base, helped turn a very tumultuous time in his life into a positive.     Through all of the toiling, uncertainty and turmoil in the nascent ...

  Big Dumb Eyes.    Nate Bargatze. Stories from a Simpler Mind.      Occasionally the Camp Fire podcast teaks a break from reading the non-fiction sports-related books and takes on another type of non-fictional book.     This time around we are reviewing comedian Nate Bargatze’s first book, Big Dumb Eyes.      Bargatze has risen from fairly humble beginnings to become one of the most popular comedians in the country today.    He has branched out from stand-up performance to acting along with founding an amusement park and now adding author to his list of occupations and professional accomplishments.    Bargatze is a Tennessee native.    He grew up in a small suburban town outside of Nashville.   The book discusses his time growing up there with his family.     It gets into some of his adult life including a short stint as a college student and his time in Chicago and New Yo...

  American Coach.     Ivan Maisel. The Triumph and Tragedy of Notre Dame Legend Frank Leahy.     Ivan Maisel, a well-known ESPN college football personality and writer, has put together an in-depth and sagacious biography that addresses one of the most successful coaches in college football history in his latest book, American Coach .    Now it just happens to be a former coach of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish, one of the most storied and renowned schools around the country.     The American coach in question is Frank Leahy who had served as a winning head coach at Notre Dame in the 1940’s and 1950’s.     Further supporting his rise in life and coaching was his good fortune to have been a member of the Irish football team in the late 1920’s under legendary coach and mentor, Knute Rockne.    In his time as the head coach for the fighting Irish, Leahy, much like his mentor, was successful at winning games,...

    Forward Progress.   Bill Connelly. The Definitive Guide to The Future of College Football.  There is no question that college football has changed dramatically over the years especially just in this decade alone.    One may wonder how the current state of college football has arrived in its current plight.   If so, author and ESPN writer, Bill Connelly, tries to set the record straight in his latest book, Forward Progress .  Connelly does in fact also provide his attempt at how he would fix or steer the direction of college football in the near and perhaps distant future as well.    The major and influential topics of this book include a brief history of college football dating back beyond a century of football’s early days.   In addition, Connelly discusses how conferences came about in the formative years, how they have changed and emerged to where they are now but also how the power among the conferen...