When I heard Julie Des Jardins was writing a book about Walter Camp, I knew I wanted to read it. Not because I’m a big football fan (#GoTigers) but because I knew Julie would write something interesting, something I didn’t know or hadn’t thought of.
And, that’s exactly what she did.
I’ve never really thought a whole lot about the history of football — why it is what is is today, what it was in the beginning. I mean I knew all about the weird formations and pulling/pushing the ball carrier and the controversy around the throwing game but Walter Camp’s ideas about MEN and what being a MAN should be… that’s not really something I’d thought much about. And, it makes total sense.
Looking at football today (or listening to it, as I am now — to the Clemson/Alabama game, go Tigers) it all makes so much sense. And thinking about injuries — from the 1800s and 1900s and today. It all makes so much sense, in a senseless insane sort of way.
Really fascinating read. I highly recommend you read Walter Camp: Football and the Modern Man.