“A very serious mistake to which prospective members
of a football crowd are prone is trying to learn the rules. One cannot be too
emphatic in condemning this happily diminishing practice. It is likely to spoil
the entire afternoon for a loyal alumnus, because of its tendency to undermine
his belief that all penalties called against the dear old varsity are
unjust. Then where is the sweet
consolation of knowing that we would have won if the referee had not been on
parole from the penal institution to which he was committed for mutilating
little children?”—Robert Benchley (1889-1945), “How to Watch Football,” in Pluck and Luck (1925)
(The
accompanying image of Benchley was taken by an unknown photographer around 1935.)
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