It's hard to believe that football season has started. Our own New England Patriots have already started Summer Training Camp at Gillette Stadium in Foxboro, Mass. on July 25th. Pre-season practices and pre-season games are already scheduled for this August. A rematch with Super Bowl LX winners, the Seattle Seahawks, is scheduled for September 9th.

Allenstown fans, get ready!

But what is the connection with Theodore Roosevelt? Having recently subscribed to Free Expression, a daily newsletter on life, culture, and politics from Wall Street Journal Opinion, writer John Miller's article on that very subject caught my attention. This meshed well with one of my current readings called Theodore Rex by Desmond Morris, an engaging history of Roosevelt's presidency from 1901 to 1909.

He was an avid football fan while at Harvard University in the 1870s. The Presidency was suddenly thrust upon him on September 14, 1901 at 2:15 a.m. He was President William McKinley's Vice President. While vacationing at a camp in New York's Adirondack Mountains, Roosevelt received a telegram informing him that President McKinley had been assassinated at a public event in Buffalo, NY. A horse and wagon took him to the nearest train station, where an express train then transported him to Buffalo where he took the oath of office.

President Theodore Roosevelt (1904, U.S. National Archives)

Fast forward to 1905. American football (not soccer) was becoming extremely popular but 18 players died that year and 149 were injured. A move was afoot to ban the game for being too violent. The game had been banned during the Civil War but came back afterward.

President Roosevelt strongly supported athletic sports, so on October 9, 1905 he summoned college coaches to a huddle at the White House where he exhorted them to quickly solve football's problems before it was too late.

After two meetings of college leaders in December 1905, a football rules committee instituted new rules and reforms including: increasing first down from 5 yards to 10 yards, creating a neutral zone at the line of scrimmage, heavily penalizing personal fouls, and finally agreeing to Coach John Heisman's idea of the forward pass, which turned it into a passing and running game.

Smash ups and dogpiles were reduced because players were now spread out downfield. Deaths greatly diminished and also calls for the game's abolition.

What You Can Do

Get your Patriots jerseys and other gear out of storage.

Practice a few forward passes with the dog.

Stock up on your favorite game day snacks.

Pray that Coach Mike Vrabel can lead the team to another Super Bowl.

For further reading, check out The Big Scrum by John J. Miller.