College football is many things to our society; an institution riddled with overgrown children allowed to express behavior way outside the law, a Saturday afternoon ritual for many couch potatoes, a symbolic lightening rod for many of all ages to become part of the team experience. College football is also a cultural group of highly trained athletes, of all ethnicities, races and religions, and to these players, college football represents one of the ultimate rite of passages, signifying to each and others, manhood. At the heart of "Gutcheck!" is the story of an anthropology professor, Sands, who at the age of 37, for two seasons, decided to go out for the Santa Barbara City College football team. Robert Sands has thought extensively and deeply about a sport he dearly comes to love. The double identity: athlete and scholar, both in the game and outside of it, gives him a unique double perspective, both passionate and ironic. It is the inside view that is riveting and the inside view of the men/boys behind the masks and helmets which many will cherish. Sands does not care to hit or be hit, although he experiences both, but he is not lacking in respect for men who do, even though it is a distortion of values for him to do that. In the end, Sands captivates the reader with an ongoing inner dialogue between his two sides.

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