This has been probably the best literary week of my life, at least since I left college: I've read two software books and one pure pleasure book, a light football-theme paperback called The Way We Played the Game.
The book describes football in a small Michigan town in 1903, when it really was a deadly game: No pads, no face guards, no hard helmets, no neutral zone, no forward pass. It was a pure running sport, with a few lateral passes thrown-in. People died all the time from internal injuries, concussions, and the game itself was probably the most violent 'sport' since the ancient Greek pankration.
Still, little seems to have changed in the intervening years: High school boys straining to be men, communities that value bloodsport over education or even health, graft, gambling, cheating--all were and still are part of football. The game is simple too violent, intense, and visceral to not have all those parts.
It was a quick, breezy read, based on true events, with dramatic license on characters and dialog. Definitely appropriate for the start of the madness and intensity of the football season. Heck, being a Kentucky fan, it was nice to just read about a well-coached, talented, winning team. All things UK is not.
* * *
Okay, the obligatory UK jokes:
Q: How is UK not like the Taliban?
A: The Taliban has a running game.
Q: How many UK players does it take to win an SEC championship?
A: Nobody knows...
Q: How's the UK football team different from a dollar bill?
A: You can get four good quarters out of a dollar bill.
Q: What do you call 48 guys sitting watching the SEC championship game?
A: The UK football team.
Q: How do you know which UK player will be getting the ball on the next play?
A: He's the one crying when he comes out of the huddle.
The book describes football in a small Michigan town in 1903, when it really was a deadly game: No pads, no face guards, no hard helmets, no neutral zone, no forward pass. It was a pure running sport, with a few lateral passes thrown-in. People died all the time from internal injuries, concussions, and the game itself was probably the most violent 'sport' since the ancient Greek pankration.
Still, little seems to have changed in the intervening years: High school boys straining to be men, communities that value bloodsport over education or even health, graft, gambling, cheating--all were and still are part of football. The game is simple too violent, intense, and visceral to not have all those parts.
It was a quick, breezy read, based on true events, with dramatic license on characters and dialog. Definitely appropriate for the start of the madness and intensity of the football season. Heck, being a Kentucky fan, it was nice to just read about a well-coached, talented, winning team. All things UK is not.
* * *
Okay, the obligatory UK jokes:
Q: How is UK not like the Taliban?
A: The Taliban has a running game.
Q: How many UK players does it take to win an SEC championship?
A: Nobody knows...
Q: How's the UK football team different from a dollar bill?
A: You can get four good quarters out of a dollar bill.
Q: What do you call 48 guys sitting watching the SEC championship game?
A: The UK football team.
Q: How do you know which UK player will be getting the ball on the next play?
A: He's the one crying when he comes out of the huddle.
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