Play On!

My first month in the Navy in WWII was spent on the campus of Notre Dame University, where football was still a big item on the menu. I got to know several of the top Notre Dame players, great guys.

After the atmosphere of Ivy League football, Notre Dame’s version was “all business.”

Playing football builds character in men, they say.

Football is meant to be a very tough sport, and contact is the name of the game.

It is my opinion that those who have not played football cannot accurately appreciate its violent nature.

Our high school coach, who had been a good college player himself, gave us footballers such advice as, “When two guys collide on the field in performing a block or a tackle, the one who hits harder is the one less likely to be injured — so hit hard!”

There are plenty of no-nos meant to protect football players — “clipping” for example, which means blocking from behind, can cause dangerous leg injuries.

When I played high school football, we played both offense and defense, our helmets were made of soft leather and we wore no facemasks. Your chances of getting your nose broken or your front teeth knocked out were highly probable. I guess we were able to protect our faces somewhat with our forearms and elbows — anyway, few of us lost front teeth.

As to football’s teaching young males valuable rules about life: within established regulations, get there before your opponent and hit him with your full force; it’s kind of like war without killing; and it’s kind of like adult business competition when the going gets tough.

Would I play high school football again? Probably not, knowing now that my career was to be that of an opera singer, who had great need of his front teeth and his original nose construction.

Playing football with the idea of protecting yourself instead of knocking the other guy to smithereens is the best way to find yourself lying on the ground injured. Such a timid approach is very much like a tenor who is scared of a high C before he gets up the nerve to sing it.

New football rules are aimed at taming the game down to reduce player injuries. The new rules open up a whole ream of judgment calls about butting with a helmet. A helmet is a protective device or a weapon — depending on its use.

Football’s rules comprised a handbook that a lot of us thought was thick enough, one that has now grown even fatter.

The linesmen and referee assume the importance of Supreme Court justices.

Of course, there is always “touch football”, in which there is no violent contacts and the gentlest of guys (or even gals) can play without trepidation.

I never see the conglomerate players and officials in a professional football game without my mind’s flashing back to memories of us Winter Park boys tossing and kicking a football around on steamy Harper-Shepherd Field.