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| Walter Camp Public Domain (link) |
On this day in 1873, representatives from Columbia, Princeton, Rutgers, and Yale drafted the first code of football rules, including 20 players on each team to play on a field of 400 by 250 feet.
The rules continued to evolve among the college powerhouses.
In 1880, Yale player Walter Camp coordinated the changes which reduced the teams to 11 players and implemented the snap. Camp is considered the Father of American Football.
One hundred and forty two years later, American football is a part of our nation's culture. From Steve Deace at USA Today (link),
I believe we're so passionate about football because it embodies everything we love about American exceptionalism. Merit is rewarded, not punished. Masculinity is celebrated, not feminized. People of various beliefs and backgrounds — a melting pot, if you will — must unify for a common goal for the team to be successful.
In football, fortune favors the bold, just as it once did in the American frontier. But football also sprinkles in the right amount of fairness by letting the bad teams draft first in the NFL, so there's at least a chance that one day the glass slipper fits Cinderella.
In football, fortune favors the bold, just as it once did in the American frontier. But football also sprinkles in the right amount of fairness by letting the bad teams draft first in the NFL, so there's at least a chance that one day the glass slipper fits Cinderella.
Who is your favorite football team - high school, college, or professional league? One randomly selected commenter wins a book choice from my convention stash. Comments are open through Saturday, October 24, 10 pm in Baltimore. I'll post the winner on Sunday, October 25, at SOS Aloha.
Mahalo,
Kim in Baltimore
Aloha Spirit in Charm City
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| William "Pudge" Heffelfinger, widely regarded as the first professional football player Public Domain (link) |
I have gone to see the Hamilton Tiger Cats a football team from Hamilton, Ontario.
ReplyDeleteGo Cats, go. A really good team.
Great old pictures.
I root for the NY Giants.
ReplyDeleteI take note of a few teams - Jets (cause they are local - I drive by their practice facility quite often), Ravens (cause my niece lives in Baltimore), UVA (cause my nephew went there & still lives there).
ReplyDeleteSf niners
ReplyDeleteKimh
don't have a fav
ReplyDeleteMy husband is a fan, sadly, of the Detroit Lions. I try to support him.
ReplyDeletePro: Broncos, Giants, & Saints. College:
ReplyDelete