Big Blue Huddle

The game of football was on the verge of being banned back in the early 20th century. Players weren't only getting crippled for life, and getting severe brain damage, but there were double-digit deaths as well, culminating in 1904 with 16 deaths in one season

Teddy Roosevelt's son, Teddy Roosevelt Jr., was a football player at college during the hard fought debates. Ted Jr. was an interesting character, who at 56 years old was a retired soldier who insisted on being able to join the D-Day invasion. He was promoted to Brigadier General and insisted against all push back as it was a suicide mission to lead the first wave hitting Utah Beach. George Patton and Omar Bradley called Ted Jr., "the bravest soldier I ever saw". He died of a heart attack a week or so after the invasion at Normandy (great story for military buffs if interested https://www.cmohs.org/news-events/medal-of-honor-recipient-profile/theodore-roosevelt-jr/

Meanwhile, President Teddy Roosevelt took up the sword to save American Football: https://www.history.com/news/how-teddy-roosevelt-saved-football

They just don't make men like that anymore

How the forward pass (previously against the rules of football) saved the game

https://www.history.com/news/forward-pass-football-invented-origins

Quote from: Jolly Blue Giant on July 14, 2024, 07:10:08 PMHow the forward pass (previously against the rules of football) saved the game

https://www.history.com/news/forward-pass-football-invented-origins

I read your links.  While Teddie R. clearly championed the game, and made an effort to save it, it was actually this that saved the game:


An intercollegiate conference, which would become the forerunner of the NCAA, approved radical rule changes for the 1906 season. They legalized the forward pass, abolished the dangerous mass formations, created a neutral zone between offense and defense and doubled the first-down distance to 10 yards, to be gained in three downs. The rule changes didn't eliminate football's dangers, but fatalities declined—to 11 per year in both 1906 and 1907—while injuries fell sharply. A spike in fatalities in 1909 led to another round of reforms that further eased restrictions on the forward pass and formed the foundation of the modern sport.


When you consider this, I could see why people wanted to eliminate the game:


The Chicago Tribune reported that in 1904 alone, there were 18 football deaths and 159 serious injuries, mostly among prep school players. Obituaries of young pigskin players ran on a nearly weekly basis during the football season.

That was the most serious of injuries.  How many players suffered permanent disability from lesser injuries?  In my risk/cost versus reward view of the world, I can't imagine a game providing the sort of reward to justify that cost.