Thursday, September 23, 2004
Jumbo power and history: I’m biased, but I think Rocky has a good case that the first recorded college football game in U.S. history was Harvard-Tufts in 1875. The first game in North America, if you buy the argument, was Harvard-McGill. ... The problem with the famous Rutgers-Princeton game is, while some sort of sport was clearly played between the two teams, it hadn’t developed yet into North American football. What’s with ‘goaltenders’? Sounds like it was three-quarters soccer, one-quarter rugby. ...
But what’s with ‘Boston rules’? Never heard of them. Still, don't they indicate that the modern game of football (as we roughly know it) was invented somewhere near here? An argument against the Harvard-Tufts game: The local sportswriter who wrote about the ‘75 game writes as if he already had an understanding of the rules. Indicating it was played sometime beforehand. Not Rutgers-Princeton. Something in between. Probably in Boston. Probably involving Harvard. Probably involving ‘Boston rules.’ ...
But what’s with ‘Boston rules’? Never heard of them. Still, don't they indicate that the modern game of football (as we roughly know it) was invented somewhere near here? An argument against the Harvard-Tufts game: The local sportswriter who wrote about the ‘75 game writes as if he already had an understanding of the rules. Indicating it was played sometime beforehand. Not Rutgers-Princeton. Something in between. Probably in Boston. Probably involving Harvard. Probably involving ‘Boston rules.’ ...
