The League

"When major college powers such as Alabama, Auburn, Stanford, Harvard, Michigan State, and many others elected to not field squads during the war, the NFL became one of the few places fans could watch football. Even though many of the best players were overseas and its product was diluted, the NFL was thriving during the war. In fact, it was thriving because of the war." John Eisenberg The League: How Five Rivals Created the NFL and Launched a Sports Empire.

One of the founders of the league - George Halas even enlisted and received a Bronze Star from the Navy. This was in fact Halas' second war. The idea that baseball was pastural while football was martial was beginning to become very clear.

The League

"It was clear that he [George Preston Marshall] needed to try a different approach in his second season, though, and, always unafraid of making big changes, he moved his home field to Fenway Park. That ended his association with the [Boston] Braves, so he also needed to change the team name. Keeping with the native American theme, he selected Redskins....

July 6, 1933, Marshall said, 'The fact that we have in our head coach Lone Star Dietz, an Indian, together with several Indian players, has not, as many suspected, not inspired me to choose the name Redskins.' He just wanted to avoid any confusion with baseball's Braves, he said. He may also have selected Redskins to achieve a connection with the Red Sox, who also played at Fenway Park." John Eisenberg's The League: How Five Rivals Created the NFL and Launched a Sports Empire.

Had a sneaking suspicion that the Washington based Marshall was creating the origin of the Washington Redskins. In comparison Marshall's views on race and segregation make later Red Sox owner Tom Yawkey look positively progressive.

The League

"In a widely lauded speech in New York in January 1922, Fielding Yost, head coach at the University of Michigan, said that paying men to play football 'robs the great American game of its greatest character-building qualities. The ideals of generous service, loyalty, sacrifice, and whole hearted devotion to a cause all are taken away. The game is robbed of the exhilarating inspiration of achievement merely for achievement's sake.'"

This quote seems quaint given the spectacle of Lane Kiffin abandoning Ole Miss in the midst of the school's greatest achievement to sign a $13 million per year contract with LSU. And Kiffin lacks the achievement of either SEC or national championships.

"At his [George Halas] suggestion, the APFA [American Professional Football Association] changed its name at an owners' meeting in Cleveland  on June 24, 1922. 'I lacked enthusiasm for our name,' Halas wrote, because the word 'association' connoted minor league status in baseball. He suggested National Football League, explaining that baseball's National League was the sports most established, respected circuit. The other owners approved unanimously."

Some history I did not know. From John Eisenberg's The League: How Five Rivals Created the NFL and Launched a Sports Empire.

Top 5 - Sports Books on My Bookshelves

Not sure why I thought about this but here are the Top 5 books about sports on my bookshelves (in no particular order).

The Education of a Coach by David Halberstam

A Flame of Pure Fire: Jack Dempsey and the Roaring 20's by Roger Kahn

Loose Balls: The Short, Wild Life of the American Basketball Association by Terry Pluto

The League: Inside the NFL by David Harris

Bottom of the Ninth by Michael Shapiro

Just missing the list were Sandy Koufax by Jane Leavy (because I liked the unheralded Bottom of the Ninth better), Gridiron Genius by Michael Lombardi and The Professor, the Banker, and the Suicide King by Michael Craig (because poker isn't a sport).

Also on my bookshelves but not making the list are Open by Andre Agassi and The Breaks of the Game by David Halberstam. I haven't had the chance to read either book yet.

You may infer from the list that I'm fond of both sports and history. You'd be correct.

Linky Links

Stuff I found interesting or amusing and thought I'd share.

- The X-37B is really cool but I would hesitate calling it secret if video of it exists on the Internet

- Cool - Santa's superpowers vs those of "traditional" superheroes

- Heh heh

- An oral history of The League

- Funny that this could even be considered plausible