HOT CORNER

A consumer’s guide to the best and worst of sports media and merchandise. Ground rules: If it can be read, played, heard, observed, worn, viewed, dialed or downloaded, it’s in play here. One exception: No products will be endorsed.

What: “Every Week a Season: A Journey Inside Big-Time College Football.”

Author: Brian Curtis.

Publisher: Ballantine Books.

Price: $24.95.

Contrary to popular belief, the best seat at a football game may not be halfway up on the 50-yard line.

True football fanatics would enjoy one at the top of the stadium, next to the guys wearing golf shirts and headphones.

Listening to a team’s assistant coaches relay observations from the press box to the coaches on the field, who then make on-the-fly adjustments during the game, reveals the intricacies of football and its chess-match mentality.

Brian Curtis, a former Fox Sports Net reporter and analyst, gives fans that prized seat and a lot more in this book.

After spending a week each with nine premier college football programs during the 2003 season, Curtis pieces together a cohesive account of what takes place when the cameras turn off. The book also examines how much the game has changed over the decades, including the bountiful revenue it now generates.

The schools included are Florida State, Tennessee, Louisiana State, Boston College, Arizona State, Wisconsin, Georgia, Colorado State and Maryland.