Football and the American Character

IMPRIMUS - Hillsdale College ^ | September 2013 | John J. Miller Director, Herbert H. Dow II Program in American Journalism Hillsdale College

[untenured]

I don't know why American football is so popular in the US, but it looks like the English had great skill developing games that were more interesting than soccer -- which most of the rest of the world adopted as their favorite sport.

The English also invented most of the racquet sports (there is a bit of dispute about tennis, but not squash or badminton), and the Scots invented golf. The peoples of the island of Britain have been the greatest inventors of sports in history.

[knarf]

If you read the article ... it was the other way around ... he defended the sport against a Yale guy (who wanted it banned ... or at least pansified)

[discostu]

They invent them, then they stink at them.

[untenured]

Thanks for scolding me to read the article, I appear to have been telling my students in one of my classes something false for several years. Here is a link to an WSJ review of a book that tells the whole story.

[knarf]

I wasn't scolding ... but that is a good point.

An American with traditional American values has a sense of right and wrong that we accept and have no problem with identifying ... even publically.

It's one of those things I always try to explain, but I can never find the words, nor draw a scene.

Thanx, untenured.

[driftless2]

True to some extent, but the Brits still like sports that are less collision-oriented than American football and ice hockey. Rugby is similar to American football, but you still don’t have the kind of injuries associated with American football. Maybe someone can correct me, but I’ve never heard of the kind of brain injuries from rugby that American football produces. I’m sure rugby players have their share of injuries, and it would be interesting to compare their types of injuries with American football players.

[IbJensen]

There is something strange about the author’s information.

In my copy of Imprimis the luncheon speech delivered at Hillsdale College on 9/9/2013 was given by John J. Miller, Director, Herbert H. Dow II Program in American Journalism.