[snowsislander]

A controversial NCAA decision restricting Florida State University's use of an American Indian mascot was based on incomplete information and will be reconsidered, a top NCAA official said Thursday.

Also considering that the Apalachee Indians living in Tallahassee themselves played a football-like game (buckskin, though, not pigskin) long before British or American versions, this is really one of the silliest performances by the NCAA conceivable. From the Florida Center for Instructional Technology:

The Apalachees played a ball game that was a religious exercise as well as a sport. One village would challenge another to a match, and the two teams would have up to 100 players each. They used a hard clay ball (about the size of a golf ball) covered with buckskin. Players propelled the ball with their feet toward the goal post which was a pole topped with a stuffed eagle in a nest. They played the ball game in the spring and summer, and dedicated it to the gods of rain and thunder to ensure rain for their crops.

[SoCal Pubbie]

The ancestors of the British and Americans played a game like football (tackle style, not soccer) long ago as well.

"The Romans followed the Greeks’ example and called their game hapastum. This was played on a rectangular field, between two teams who defended the lines which marked the ends of the field. The object of the game was to throw the ball from player to player, moving forward all the time, and eventually to throw it beyond the opponents’ ’goal-line’. The defending side was allowed to tackle and kick. "


http://www.nenyl.org.uk/history_of_football.htm