Imponderables: Fun and Games
Page 13
The football got its shape before it was a football. The first intercollegiate game between Rutgers and Princeton in 1869 was no more football than roller derby is a steeplechase. They played soccer—and used a round soccer ball. When the college boys got to writing some rules in 1873, they specified that a “No. 6 ball” should be used.
However, there were two No. 6 balls—a round one for soccer and one a bit more oblong for rugby. The reason these two different balls had evolved in England was that soccer, which depended upon kicking and “puddling” the ball along the ground, could only be played with a round (or “puddle-able”) ball. In Rugby, though, a player could run with the ball before he kicked it. Well, it don’t take a whole lot of smarts to figure out you can hold onto a fat, prolate spheroid easier than a fat sphere. Think of the fumbles if we played football with a basketball!
In 1874, the boys from McGill University in Canada taught the soccer players from Harvard how to play Rugby. Then Harvard taught Princeton, Yale and Columbia. In the early 1880s, Walter Camp pushed through rules that changed American rugby to American football. By 1883, touchdowns counted more than kicked goals, which meant the ball was soon tapered even more to make it even easier to run with.
The forward pass was legalized in 1906 and by 1913 became a fairly common occurrence [the emergence of the forward pass can be traced to a 1913 Notre Dame game against Army when Gus Dorais and the legendary Knute Rockne combined to pass for a dramatic victory]. That led, over a period of time, to more thinning of the ball so it could be passed and make those pretty spirals we all know and love. The more passing—the skinnier the football. If they keep changing rules to help the passers, by 2025, football will be played with a javelin.
Submitted by William Marschall of Edenton,
North Carolina. Thanks also to Mike Pintek,
KDKA, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Jena Mori of
Los Angeles, California; Fred White of
Mission Viejo, California; and
Patrick M. Premo of Allegany, New York.
HELP!!!
* * *
We need more Imponderables—about sports and every other subject. Your mysteries are the lifeblood of these books, and we won’t rest until we’ve done our best to vanquish the scourge of unanswered mysteries of everyday life.
If you’re the first person to send in an Imponderable we use in a book, you’ll receive an acknowledgment and a free autographed copy for your contribution.
Although we accept “snail mail,” we strongly encourage you to e-mail us if possible. Because of the volume of mail, we can’t always provide a personal response to every letter, but we’ll try—a self-addressed stamped envelope doesn’t hurt. We’re much better about answering e-mail, although we fall behind when we’re in heavy work mode.
Come visit us online at the Imponderables Web site, where you can pose Imponderables, read our blog, and find out what’s happening at Imponderables Central. Send your correspondence, along with your name, address, and (optional) phone to:
* * *
Feldman@imponderables.com
http://www.imponderables.com
or
Imponderables
P.O. Box 116
Planetarium Station
New York, NY 10024-0116
* * *
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
DAVID FELDMAN is the author of ten previous volumes of Imponderables®. He has a master’s degree in popular culture from Bowling Green State University in Ohio and consults and lectures on the media. He lives in New York City.
WWW.IMPONDERABLES.COM
Visit www.AuthorTracker.com for exclusive information on your favorite HarperCollins author.
COPYRIGHT
This material has previously appeared in David Feldman’s Imponderables® series.
IMPONDERABLES: FUN AND GAMES®. Copyright © 2006 by David Feldman. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
Mobipocket Reader September 2006 ISBN 0-06-120810-8
ISBN-10: 0-06-089885-2
ISBN-13: 978-0-06089885-4
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
About the Publisher
Australia
HarperCollins Publishers (Australia) Pty. Ltd.
25 Ryde Road (PO Box 321)
Pymble, NSW 2073, Australia
http://www.harpercollinsebooks.com.au
Canada
HarperCollins Publishers Ltd.
55 Avenue Road, Suite 2900
Toronto, ON, M5R, 3L2, Canada
http://www.harpercollinsebooks.ca
New Zealand
HarperCollinsPublishers (New Zealand) Limited
P.O. Box 1
Auckland, New Zealand
http://www.harpercollinsebooks.co.nz
United Kingdom
HarperCollins Publishers Ltd.
77-85 Fulham Palace Road
London, W6 8JB, UK
http://www.uk.harpercollinsebooks.com
United States
HarperCollins Publishers Inc.
10 East 53rd Street
New York, NY 10022
http://www.harpercollinsebooks.com