''A Season on the Brink'' is a 1986 book by

John Feinstein John Feinstein (born July 28, 1956) is an American sportswriter, author and sports commentator. Early life Feinstein was born to a Jewish family in New York City on July 28, 1956. His father was heavily involved in the arts having been the Ge ...

which detailed the 1985-86 season of

Indiana University Indiana University (IU) is a system of public universities in the U.S. state of Indiana. Campuses Indiana University has two core campuses, five regional campuses, and two regional centers under the administration of IUPUI. *Indiana Universi ...

's men's basketball

team A team is a group of individuals (human or non-human) working together to achieve their goal. As defined by Professor Leigh Thompson of the Kellogg School of Management, " team is a group of people who are interdependent with respect to inf ...

, led by the controversial coach Bob Knight. Granted almost unprecedented access to the Indiana University basketball program, as well as insights into Knight's private life, the book spawned a new genre, as a legion of imitators wrote works covering a single year of a sports franchise.

Writing the book

Feinstein was paid a $17,500 advance to write the book, and had to take a leave of absence from ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...

''. Feinstein expected to lose money doing the book, but proceeded with the project anyway in the hopes that it would be good and convince someone to have him write a second book. Feinstein spent six months with the 1985-86 team. He had previously covered Bob Knight in his role as the National College Basketball Writer for ''The Washington Post''. Remarking on his relationship with Bob Knight, Feinstein said the following: The book is noted for showing many facets of Knight's personality, leadership, and character. Feinstein depicts a smart coach who is often quick with sarcasm and a sometimes violent temper, but also a honest coach who never cheats and strictly follows all of the NCAA's rules.

Reception and impact

"A Season on the Brink" was extremely well received when first published, and is often referred to as "the bestselling sports book of all time." Although it has sold more than two million copies worldwide, it is not in fact the bestselling of all time. The initial book tour for "Season on the Brink" was two days in the state of Indiana, but because of its popularity the promotional tour ended up being much larger. As a result of the book, the NCAA passed a rule banning members of the media from being in the locker room of a team before or during a game. Moreover, if one member of the media was allowed, then the locker room was then opened to all members of the media.

Film version

A film version of ''A Season on the Brink'' was made in 2002, becoming the first ''

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). Th ...

television movie A television film, alternatively known as a television movie, made-for-TV film/movie or TV film/movie, is a feature-length film that is produced and originally distributed by or to a television network, in contrast to theatrical films made for ...

. The movie was filmed in

Winnipeg, Manitoba Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the province of Manitoba in Canada. It is centred on the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine rivers, near the longitudinal centre of North America. , Winnipeg had a city population of 749,6 ...

, Canada, and is notable for its prevalent use of

profanity Profanity, also known as cursing, cussing, swearing, bad language, foul language, obscenities, expletives or vulgarism, is a socially offensive use of language. Accordingly, profanity is language use that is sometimes deemed impolite, rud ...

, intended to accurately represent Knight's tirades.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Season on the Brink, A Indiana Hoosiers men's basketball Basketball books 1985–86 NCAA Division I men's basketball season 1986 non-fiction books