For this week the reading I chose was The Strenuous Life: Theodore Roosevelt and the Making of the American Athlete. The main idea from this reading that stuck out to me revolves around the relationship it draws between football and the Military. It opens by talking about the origins of college football and how before it grew into the professional money making giant of today, it was actually entirely based in colleges. This presence in college was due to what many felt like was a softening culture as many of the newer generations had never experienced war. This desire to replicate war on the sports field is what drove many of the rules of football as it evolved as well as why the Army- Navy rivalry remains to this day. At one point in the first chapter the author uses a George Carlin quote to illustrate the militaristic soul of the sport. In this quote he references the use of air attacks (passes) ground attacks (run) all in an attempt to march down the field into enemy territory. Another thing I thought was interesting in this reading was specifically when it referenced the style of play before football had many of the rules it does today. I thought specifically the part when he talked about how punting played a much bigger role than it does today was crazy. Essentially back in the late 1800s to early 1900s punting was by far the most effective way of moving the ball down the field. He even talked about one occasion where in an army navy game they both elected to punt on first down just to gain more favorable field position for the next drive. This dependence on punting was mainly due to the fact that no one without the ball could block much like rugby so the gains were much shorter but you only had 4 downs to do it still. This was probably my favorite reading so far this year and I found it very interesting.
