I never realized how many immoral things were being done in the early 20th century in sports. It seems that if there were sports there was immoral behavior. Either the Victorian Culture didn't agree with the lifestyle Babe Ruth was leading or there were "tramp" athletes in college football "playing around" with different teams.
I was really surprised to find out that so many athletes could play on multiple teams, and get paid for it; and they rarely got caught! I can't believe that there were no rosters, or that things were so unorganized that no one kept track of the players and who they were playing for.
I asked my grandpa who was born in 1924 if he remembered Red Grange, I was hoping to hear a story about him firsthand, but he said he wasn't old enough when Red was playing.
In the one video clip we watched during class someone mentioned that football wasn't about speed, agility, or smarts but pure strength. I find this ironic since the men in the old clips don't look nearly as big as football players we see in college and the NFL today. I would love to see a game with a team like OSU and Red Grange's team to see how they would pair up.
I was very surprised to read that President Roosevelt was called upon to take care of the brutality in football. Could you imagine President Bush or President Obama being calledupon to handle a college sporting issue! The president has much more important things going on than the amount of testosterone being thrown around a football field!
Finally I just want to comment on Knute Rockne; what a great coach! Not only was he funny to watch but he was extremely motivating even to me and I'm not even one of his players. I think his fabricated stories were funny; and they worked. I would be curious to find out how his players felt towards him when they found out his stories were all fake.
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I agree with you! I never realized how unorganized everything was. Honestly I never even thought about sports not having rosters and organized teams. As for football, I posted on another blog that it would be cool to see a game played with our teams today, but the way it was in the beginning where there was no passing and it truely was brute strength. I also didn't know about Teddy Roosevelt's interest in sports and his impact on them. I do know that Barack Obama has an interest in sports and wants to change the playoff system for college football. That relates to Presidents and sports.
ReplyDeleteThese are some great comments on the chapter about college football. I would have loved to see Red Grange play in that opening game against the University of Michigan, largely to see Illinois win by so much. I saw UM destroy Illinois in a game when I was in Grad School at U of I. It was not a pretty sight. As for the President intervening in the state of college football, it may not be that far-fetched even today, as I heard that Congress is currently contemplating the status of the BCS. In this case, I am not sure that there is anything they can do to change things, but I certainly would like to see college football come up with a play-off. Good entry on Chapter 11.
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of Congress and the BCS, here is a link that someone posted on my facebook: http://www.facebook.com/ext/share.php?sid=88528727213&h=xT3zx&u=CXf_y&ref=mf
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