Foul Trouble

John Feinstein is an American author, sportswriter, and sportscaster who is well-known for penning sports-themed novels and articles that explore the behind-the-scenes challenges that athletes face. As a sportswriter, Feinstein was a regular columnist with The Washington Post, Sporting News, and Golf Digest, where he honed his storytelling skills and research experience. He also brought these skills to his fiction by crafting stories whose characters must navigate a variety of realistic challenges that arise from their status as imminent college athletes. The inclusion of real-life coaches and other well-known sports figures lends the book a sense of verisimilitude, and as a household name in the industry himself, Feinstein uses his personal knowledge of Tom Konchalski and other prominent names to create realistic characters with credible behavior and motivations. The evidence of his expertise also extends to the darker personalities in his stories, such as the unscrupulous recruiters and brand representatives. For this reason, Foul Trouble is designed to be a very real depiction of the pitfalls of the sports world.

In addition to his young adult fiction, Feinstein is well-known for his nonfiction accounts of key figures and teams from many different categories of athletics. His most popular work, A Season on the Brink, follows the 1985-86 season of the men’s