Archive for the ‘patriots’ Tag
It’s unusual for me to post about sports but occasionally I do so anyway. My favorite sport by far is baseball but over the years football has wormed its way into my life. It all started back in the seventies with the “Steel Curtain” and the “Immaculate Reception” and my one and only hometown team the Steelers. Football has slowly become Americas pastime by not so gently nudging baseball aside. Today I would like to do a short history lesson about football, it’s origins, during the years 1861 – 1946 (my birth year). Read on, you may learn a few interesting things beacuse I certainly did.
- 1861: The first documented football game that was essentially rugby and was played at the University of Toronto..
- 1874: McGill University and Harvard play a hybrid version of rugby. The rule changes affect the game in the United States.
- 1875: The official game ball becomes an egg-shaped rugby ball. The field is now 100 yards long by 53.5 yards wide and teams are cut to 15 players per side referees are also added to the game.
- 1876: With the addition of the crossbar official goalposts now look like the letter “H”.
- 1880 – 1885: Game fundamentals are introduced such as the down system (going 5 yards in three downs equals a first down), along with a scrimmage line and yard lines. Teams are now eleven to a side. A field goal is worth five points, a touchdown and conversion, four points each, and a safety is two points. The first play calling signals and planned plays are introduced.
- 1894: The officiating crew is increased to three; a referee and two bodyguards, also known as the umpire and linesman.
- 1896: Only one backfield man may now be in motion before the snap, any can be moving forward.
- 1897: A touchdown now counts as five points.
- 1909: Now a field goal is worth three points.
- 1910: Seven players must now be on the line of scrimmage when the ball is snapped, establishing the basic offensive formation concept. The forward pass becomes commonplace in college football.
- 1912: A rules committee determines that a touchdown is now worth six points and adds a fourth down. It is now practical to punt.
- 1922: The American Professional Football Association becomes the National Football League.
- 1932: The NFL begins keeping statistics.
- 1933: There is a major NFL rule change: the passer can throw from anywhere behind the line of scrimmage.
- 1934: The modern football takes its current shape after a gradual evolution from the oddly shaped egg like rugby ball.
- 1939: Helmets became mandatory in college football, and the pros followed within a decade.
- 1941: It’s the end of the dropkick era. Ray McClean boots a conversion off the turf in the NFL championship game. In 2005, Doug Flutie created a sensation by doing it once again.
- 1946: The NFL’s first major rival league, the All-American Football Conference begins play. It lasts just four seasons with the Cleveland Browns winning all four titles.
It took another eight years before I realized from my father that I had been born a Pittsburgh Steeler fan. I first became a rabid baseball fan of the Pittsburgh Pirates for the next 20 years. Slowly but surely football reached out and grabbed me and when the 1970’s hit I was hooked. Unfortunately, I haven’t had much to cheer about with the Steelers in recent years. I was fortunate enough to move to New England and got to enjoy all of the years of Tom Brady and the Patriots. My allegiance wavered when Brady moved to Tampa Bay, but everything must come to an end at some point. Now I’m what would be called a fair-weather fan.
HAPPY THANKSGIVING
and
GO VIKINGS!
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Before I get any further into this post I thought I’d give those of you interested in history my Lewis & Clark expedition update. The journal of their travels begins on May 14, 1804, the day they left the Mississippi River, a day or two after they arrived back in St. Louis. They left from a river camp near Dubois and proceeded up the Missouri River under full sail. The party consisted of one ship and two perogues (their spelling for canoes). Those first few weeks were rainy with the river running higher than normal. They suffered difficulties with sand bars and a broken mast when it struck an overhanging tree but they found game plentiful and plenty of fresh water.
Their group harvested dozens deer and three bears along the way and any meat not eaten was dried and made into a jerky for later use. They’ve met a few French traders roaming along the river and have only seen fresh Indian sign but no actual Indians as yet
On June 6 commander Clark reports himself as suffering from a high fever and severe headaches and here’s his actual quote on the general health of the expedition:
”The party is much aflicted with Boils and Several have the Decissentary, which I contribute to the water.” (This is his spelling not mine.)
On June 13 they made camp near the Carlton River near a beautiful open prairie and that’s where I left them last night. Using modern day maps it’s still difficult for me to determine their exact location due to the confusion in names and descriptions. An educated guess would be that they’ve traveled between thirty and forty miles up river from St. Louis.
One last quote can better explain how discipline was carried out back in the good old days. Any current and former sailors will cringe when they read this:
[Clark, June 29, 1804] Camp mouth of the Kanseis June 29th 1804. Ordered a Court martial will Set this day at 11 oClock, to Consist of five members, for the trial of John Collins and Hugh Hall, Confined on Charges exhibited against them by Sergeant Floyd, agreeable to the articles of War. Detail for the Court Sergt Nat. Pryor presd. mbs: 2 John Colter 3 John Newmon 4 Pat. Gass 1 J. B. Thompson John Potts to act as judge advocate. The Court Convened agreeable to order and proceeded to the trial of the Prisoners Viz John Collins Charged "with getting drunk on his post this morning out of whiskey put under his Charge as a Sentinal and for Suffering Hugh Hall to draw whiskey out of the Said Barrel intended for the party" To this Charge the prisoner plead not guilty. The Court after mature deliveration on the evidence abduced &c. are of oppinion that the prisoner is Guilty of the Charge exibited against him, and do therefore Sentence him to recive one hundred Lashes on his bear Back.
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Back to the present and this lovely Maine winter we’re enjoying. The temperature continues to hover in the single digits and I’m still freezing my ass off. I’m hoping for a little relief sometime soon but who knows maybe I’m just kidding myself.
‘Go Steelers Go Pat’s’
Yesterday was football day in this house and as the games were being played my better-half and I decorated our new Super Bowl tree (formerly our X-mas tree). If you remember we decided to keep the tree up for the entire year and to celebrate as many holidays as possible. As you can see by the photo the tree contains a lot of Steeler paraphernalia even though they were soundly defeated last week. After the Pat’s victory last night over the Ravens they’ll soon be properly honored on our tree as well.
Our next tree will be celebrating Valentine’s Day.
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With the Memorial Day weekend approaching it seems that every blogger is obligated to acknowledge our military in some fashion with patriot slogans and photographs. I’ve done that myself in the past but always felt a little odd doing it. Being a former enlistee in the Army automatically makes me a fanatical supporter of our servicemen and servicewomen. When I was actively serving I never really wished for a lot of hoopla about it, just a plain old "thank you for your service" would have sufficed. Of course being of the Vietnam generation we received very little in the way of attention that wasn’t biased by the ever present anti-war movement and media. Years later in a politically correct move the country finally decided we should be acknowledged by building us a freaking wall.
The following list is an approximation of the countries where our troops are assigned and the number of troops in each country as of 2010. This is an official Thank You from me to each of them. I thank them not only for their service but their sacrifices as well. It’s not an easy thing to leave your family and friends and be shipped off to God knows where to possibly fight and die. I pray they all stay safe and return home as soon as possible.
United States – 1,123,219
Afghanistan – 68,000
Alaska – 21,280
Australia – 183
Bahrain – 2,902
Belgium – 1,165
Canada – 146
Qatar – 800
Diego Garcia – 516
Djibouti – 139
Egypt – 292
Germany – 45,596
Guam – 5,646
Guantanamo Bay, Cuba – 988
Greece – 361
Greenland – 138
Hawaii – 49,242
Honduras – 388
Italy – 10,916
Japan – 52,692
Jordan – 200
Kuwait – 15,000
Netherlands – 374
Norway – 90
Philippines – 131
Portugal – 713
Puerto Rico – 162
Saudi Arabia – 278
Singapore – 180
South Korea – 28,500
Spain – 1,600
Thailand – 114
Turkey – 1,491
United Arab Emirates – 193
United Kingdom – 9,310
This posting also remembers those soldiers who’ve paid the ultimate price in protecting this country as stated so eloquently by Thomas Jefferson:
“The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants”. — Thomas Jefferson
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