The Rise of American Football

     Between the 1880's and 1920's, the quality of jobs increased, and people were given better work hours with more time off. Increased time off made people more interested in public leisure, thus leading to the rise of spectator sports. Also, the better quality jobs provided people with more money to go and attend sporting events. Out of these sports came football. Football is a mixture between soccer and rugby. The rules were changed by Walter Camp, otherwise known as the “Father of American Football”, who made the game more like modern football today. Football quickly caught on in several colleges and became one of Americas most popular sports.

     One of the main reasons football became so popular in the United States is because it captured the true masculinity of a young American. Men attend their jobs during the day and it takes away some of their manly pride, but leaving work to go play football helped them to reinforce their manliness. The uniforms themselves helped to show off their broad shoulders and small waists, truly capturing their male physique. Another aspect that made the game so manly is the violence that was happening out on the field. This made them feel tough and powerful by having to fight their way to a victory.

     Even though some of the violence made the men feel more powerful and tough, it was extremely dangerous. In 1905, eighteen college players died and hundreds of others had football related injuries. Many colleges, one of the biggest supports being Wisconsin, fought to have the game removed from colleges everywhere, but the love of the game was too strong for many players and spectators. In reaction to this, President Theodore Roosevelt called a meeting at the White House with representatives from Yale, Harvard, and Princeton, which were the biggest college football teams at the time. After talking it over, Roosevelt created a seven member “Rules Comity”, which later became know as the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). This comity made rules to make the game safer for the players. They made rules like the line of scrimmage, which set the offense and the defense apart from each other by the length of the ball, and forward pass rule. Even though the game can be quite dangerous, the brutality and fight is part of what people enjoy so much about football.

     The brutality helps to add to the intensity and excitement of the game. The spectators love to watch a group of men giving all of their might to fight and preserver for a common goal of winning the game. This attitude of perseverance creates leaders and disciplines the teams to learn to work together. Each player has a certain position and purpose to help win the game. This gives each player a sense of belonging and purpose because without each position, winning the game would be nearly impossible. These aspects of football have shaped some of America's greatest leaders. For example, President Dwight Eisenhower played football at West Point in 1912. Without football, Eisenhower may not have gained a sense of leadership or continue on to be the President.

     Football was not only a fun game to watch, but it was considered a social event. It initially attracted an upper-class group of people because of its start in colleges and universities. Both men and women attended the games, and it was considered sophisticated or glamorous event. Ads for football often had images of women on them to add to its sense of sophistication. The game was not only popular for the men, but for most of the women too. Football then quickly became not only a game, but a part of American culture.

     Americans have such a fascination with football because it is a game all our own. It defines American cultures strive to be the best and to do things our way. The game of football helps to set us apart from other countries and create fine leaders. 

Football game in 1905.

One of the first Princeton Football posters.

Yale and Princeton Football game in 1900.

President Dwight Eisenhower (2nd from the left) on the West Point football team in 1912.

First College Football game between Princeton and the Rutgers on November 6, 1869.

Pro Football Hall of Fame

I used this website to learn facts about how American football was created and who created it.

Sports in American Life

I used this book to learn reasons why football became so popular and the danger of the game.

Into the Endzone for a Touchdown: A Psychoanalytic Consideration of American Football

I used this book to learn about the psychology behind football and how violent the game is.

A Brief History of the Game

I used this website to get a general background about the game and how the NCAA was created.

Embassy of the United States

I used this website to learn more about how it became so popular.

Shaping of College Football

I used this book to learn about how American football transformed from soccer and rugby to american football.

The Library of Congress

I used this website mainly to find pictures and primary sources from this time.

American History: The Age of the City

I used the history book to learn about how leisure impacted the rise of sports.

For The W!n

I used this website to learn about what American Leaders played football.

Migration

I learned today that the main places people are migrating to are North America and Europe. It is interesting to me that almost no one was migrating into East Asia, considering what a superpower China and Japan are. Also, I learned today how easily it is to assume people are a certain race just by their looks. They may look Asian, but could really be a Native American and we would just assume they are because of hoe they look. What was interesting to me, was that race has no genetic basis. There is nothing in our genes that sets us to a certain race. We are all our own individual species. I had never thought about race in this way before.

Migration

Philanthropy

Before this assignment, I had never really thought about philanthropy. Now that I have thought about it, I believe it is one of the most important things someone can do. Philanthropy is different from charity because it is working to fix a problem at the source, whereas charities just give people money or supplies to "mask" the problem. If I were a philanthropist, I would give my money to the spread of churches and Christianity around the world. Also through this, I would work to feed the hungry, and provide better medicine to people in need.

Philanthropy

Thinking About Success

1. Hard work
2. Opportunity
3. Skill
4. Luck

I ranked the words in this order because I believe to be successful, hard work is the most important aspect. If two people have the same dream, but only one of them works harder to gain that dream, then he will be more successful. Another way to think about it is about two volleyball players. If both of the girls want to play volleyball in college, and one of them trains everyday to get better, while the other girl sits on the couch eating potato chips, then obviously the girl who trained everyday will have the better chance of playing in college. The next important aspect is the amount of opportunity the person or business has. If a business is perfectly made and functional, but has no opportunity to be put to use, then it will not be successful. The more opportunity a business has, then the more inventory or other products it could sell. Another, but less important aspect, is skill. If a person has special skill at their job or hobby, then they will have a better advantage to do this job than other people. The least important aspect to being successful is luck. I personally do not believe in luck. I think everything happens for a reason, and that it is not just by chance. But, even if you were to be "lucky", the luck can only get you so far. With out hard work and dedication, then you will not be as successful as those who are competing against you.

Hard Work

Supply Chain Management Innovations

Today I learned about supply chain management and how stores, like H&M and Zara, are able to quickly bring in new inventory every week to keep the fashion cycling. H&M has two major clothing lines for the spring and fall season, but have smaller sub-collections that they release during each of these seasons. By making these sub-collections, these stores have to predict what the current trends will be during these seasons. This raised the question to me as to how these stores predict future trends. What I found was that several stores use websites like WGSN and to help them to predict the upcoming fashion trends. According to fibre2fashion, "fashion & trend forecasting is the prediction of mood, behavior and buying habits of the consumer at particular time of season". Stores like Target and Macy's even use these websites to predict the trends. These trend predictions are made years in advance, so stores are able to know the popular trends during that year, before the year even comes.

Fashion Forecasting

The Savage Indians

Our assignment is to read from this archive on how people referenced the Indians as savages. According to Google, the definition of savage is a member of a people regarded as primitive and uncivilized. The definition of savagery is the condition of being primitive or uncivilized.
If I were a student reading this archive as part of my school work, it would make me think of the Native Americans almost as animals. It would also influence me, and other readers, to think that I was better than the Indians. The text displays the Indians as uncivilized and uneducated. By referring to them as savages, they completely dehumanize them and make them seem like a foreign creature.

The Savage Indian

Journal Entry: Lewiston, North Idaho

Saturday, June 23, 1877
Today is a mournful day for all of Lewiston. Rumors have been flying around the town that the Indians had killed some of the setters just of the outskirts of town, and today those rumors were certified. My brother, Ben Norton, was shot and killed on the 16th by the Indians. He and his wife built their home in Camas Prairie. My brother got so frightened by the evil Indians in the prairie that they, and several others in that area, fled to Mt. Idaho and wrote for the troops to come to their rescue. They sent no troops to go rescue them! The Indians were supposedly blocking all of the roads, but some action should have been taken. If so, I might still have my brother. We must seek revenge from the Indians. They have killed our innocent people for no reason. Troops were finally sent out to stop the Indians from spreading into other places, but they were defeated. We must not give up. We must keep fighting until all the Indians are gone from this area. They are cruel and violent and do not deserve to be living in the same areas as us. Revenge must be sought fir my brother and the others who lost their lives because of the Indians.

Indians in Camas Prairie 1877

Indians in the News

In the The Teller. from Lewiston, North Idaho on Saturday, June 23, 1877, it tells about the fight between the white Idaho troops and the Indians who were in possession of the Camas Prairie. The Indians were showing aggression towards the settlers in that region, so the settlers called in the troops for back up. The Indians were very violent towards the settlers an the troops, which resulted in the defeat of the Idaho troops. The Indians in this news article fall into the stereotypes of  Indians being the bad guys, and running around with spears trying to kill the settlers. They were violent towards the innocent people, and seemed to be wanting to start this war with the Idaho troops. I find it easy to empathize with the Indians because they seem to be trying to get their land back that they owned long before the American settlers showed up. None the less, the Indians were eager to start a fight and were violent towards innocent settlers.

Deep Thinking Quote

"Our use of social media for news is selective and intentional so that we so that we may tend to remain interested only in things we are already interested in. On the other hand, professional news outlets, like newspapers, expose readers to information on a broad range of topics. This helps me to see what other people are interested in, or think is important."

Newspaper Analysis

3. According to Merriam-Webster, a newspaper is "a set of large sheets of paper that have news stories, information about local events, advertisements, etc., and that are folded together and sold every day or every week".
4. The first newspapers came into existence in Germany in 1609. 
5. Some of the oldest newspapers in the United States were The Boston News Letter, The New-England Courant, and The New Hampshire Gazette. 
6. The current leading stories of The Wall Street Journal are "Libya's Masked Men Hunt Human Smugglers" and "Dell to Buy EMC for $67 Billion". The news that is receiving attention is the technology and companies, and the Middle Eastern conflicts.
7. A newspaper of record is a major newspaper that has a large circulation and whose editorial and news-gathering functions are considered professional and typically authoritative. A newspaper of record may also be a publicly available newspaper that has been authorized or maintained by a government to publish public or legal notices, and therefore serves as a "newspaper of public record". The New York Times was the nations first designated newspaper of record in 1913. The Washington Post and the Los Angeles Times are also considered newspapers of record in the United States.
8.  A newspaper is different than the use of social media to stay connected because the information on social media is more current because it is constantly being updated and changed, whereas the newspaper is only as current as when the articles were written. Along with the use of social media, the news is reported by several different choices and point of views. When people read the newspaper, they are getting the information from just one source. Our generation often takes for granted the fact that we have information coming in constantly at our fingertips. Before technology became so advanced, the newspaper was the main way to stay connected to the world.

Social Media and the News

First Quarter Reflections

     This year in U.S. History, I have grown in my ability to empathize with events and people in history, to paraphrase other peoples writing, and to analyze information from movies. These skills also lead to better class discussions and thinking outside of my normal train of thought. I have definitely grown as a thinker because I think more now about other peoples views on the same subject.An area of strength for me was our in-class essay, and the blog posts about empathy, Glory, and 12 Years a Slave. I love to write, so using our discussion in history class and writing about them on our blogs made me very happy. I also enjoyed reading from the textbook and answering the questions. I learn best by writing things down, so this was very helpful for me to understand the information better.

       I used to not enjoy history as much because I didn't like strictly remembering facts and dates in time. However, this year, our conversations have been more interesting and less on just remembering dates. I think I enjoy it so much because we talk about lots of topics that I have never talked about in my previous history classes. Throughout the rest of the year, I hope to learn about more recent events in history.

Native American Mascot Controversies

Almost all sports fans have heard of the Washington Redskins or the Atlanta Braves. Recently, Native Americans have started speaking out and demanding for the Native American mascots to be changed. The Native American people have started protests claiming that the mascots are harmful stereotypes, they cause more stereotypes to be made about their people, and causes people to forget about the significance and the heritage of the Native American peoples. Along with the harmful and negative stereotypes of the Native Americans, there is a huge amount of hate crime towards them. The Department of Justice analysis says, "American Indians are more likely than people of other races to experience violence at the hands of someone of a different race." Also, teams that have an Indian mascot have to pay extra millions of dollars in revenue each year. Having a Native American mascot does not benefit the people or the team. According to Fox Sports, "The researchers concluded that schools that moved away from such mascots generally experienced a small, short-termed dip in revenue, but that overtime the revenue actually increased." The revenue dipped because the teams would have to make all new apparel for their new mascot. The revenue eventually went back up because the fans liked the non-offensive mascots better. Native American mascots each year have been losing their popularity with the fans, and of course, the Native American people. Overall, I believe that the mascots should be changed because it will help the teams revenue and will no longer be offensive towards the Native Americans.

Native American women protesting the Redskins mascot.

Fox Sports
National Congress of American Indians
Department of Justice analysis
Native American Mascot Controversy and Mass Media Involvement

Analytical Skills from Movies

When most students think of watching a movie in class, they think of it as an easy day or a “free day”, but this is not always the case. In history class this year, we have watched Glory and Twelve Years a Slave to learn about the effects of slavery in the United States. Instead of just watching the movie to kill time, I took some notes during it about the attitudes towards enslaved people, and did some follow up research on both movies afterward. It is possible to create analytical skills and explore real life events, circumstances, and attitudes from watching movies in a critical way because you are given the opportunity to decide what ideas the director is trying to portray in each scene, you get to see a different point of view that you might not have thought of before.

By watching movies, you can develop great analytical skills because you can decipher what ideas the director is trying to portray in each scene. For example, in Twelve Years a Slave, the director is trying to show just how brutal slavery was. Most everyone knows that slavery was harsh and a brutal concept, but are unaware of just how gruesome and cruel slavery really was. Another concept that the director was trying to show is that not all enslaved people were illiterate or weak. Solomon was a free, intelligent, and talented black man living in the north when he was captured into slavery. When he was sold to his master, he had to hide his intelligence and act weak to save his life. Each slave at Solomons plantation had a certain gift or intelligence that the masters refused to acknowledge. Instead of being recognized, they were treated like they were not even humans. In the movie Glory, the director is portraying the similar idea that the enslaved men are not as weak as they are thought to be, and that even in the north, where slavery is abolished, the black regiment is still treated like slaves. The white men in the Union Army do not believe that the black men are strong enough to fight. They mock the regiment by not providing them with proper equipment, and do not pay the black men as much as the white men. These enslaved men came to the north to fight and be free, but they are treated very similarly in the north as they were when they were slaves. Great analytical skills can be created from watching these movies because you not only learn about the history of the events, but you decipher the hidden details and point of view the director has placed all throughout the movie.

Form watching movies in class, you can also learn about the different mindsets that you might not have thought of before. In Twelve Years a Slave, I never knew quite how violent the slave owners were, and that they would rape some of the enslaved girls. The director vividly shows how violently they were treated. Even though it is somewhat difficult to watch, I believe it is necessary to learn the real truth about what was happening to these slaves. The director of Twelve Years a Slave had this same idea when making the movie. His main goal was to get the truth and let it be known, and to get the novel the movie was based off of into the curriculum at schools across the United States. Making a movie so vivid and true can be a difficult feat for a director, because this could make the audience not want to see the movie. Needless to say, the directors of both Glory and Twelve Years a Slave wonderfully portrayed the truths of the past and made two critically acclaimed movies. Most history movies are not 100% accurate to the real story, but it is usually to prove a point that might not have been as obvious before. For example, in the movie Twelve Years a Slave, Patsey begs Solomon to kill her, but in real life this did not happen. I believe the director chose to make it this way to show how miserable and desperate the slaves were on the plantations. Even though this detail is not historically accurate, it helps to influence the audience and change their perspective.

Overall, watching movies in history class will develop great analytical skills because you can decipher the ideas the director is trying to portray in each scene, and learn a new idea that you did not think of before.

Patsey and Solomon-Twelve Years a Slave

Filmmakers goals in Glory

Filmmakers goals in 12 years a slave

12 Years a Slave Rotten Tomatoes Critics Review

Glory Rotten Tomatoes Critics Review

Glory Awards

12 years historically accurate

Glory historically accurate

Glory cost/box office

12 years cost/box office

Practicing Incorporating a Quotation

While watching the movie Glory, the characters seemed authentic and real, not just like they were acting the part, but that they were the real people who lived in those events. This quote by James Berardinelli from Reelviews states, "The characters in Glory never seem less than three-dimensional." 

What I learned today about paraphrasing and quoting is that you cannot use two words in a row that are the same in the article. The article will show up on Google when you search your sentence. You must be very careful and particular in word word choice so that you can still get the main point across, without copying the other persons work. If you directly quote the article or use the ideas from the article, you must hyperlink the article to give them credit.

This is what Mrs. Lawson wanted me to learn today:

• Only use a quote when it adds power and style to my writing.
• Always make it clear, from context, that I understand the full meaning of the quote.
• Whether I quote or paraphrase, always be transparent about the source and how I'm using it. 
• If I use another author's exact words or phrases, to any extent, I have to use quotation marks and give credit.
• If I use another's author's presentation of facts or ideas, but put their ideas in my own words, I better have a good reason for doing that, and I MUST give credit.
• Hyperlinking is so easy, there is o excuse for not being transparent about my sources.

I really understand these things.

Paraphrase Practice

This passage is from the website called Reelviews on the movie Glory by James Berardinelli. This is the excerpt from the article in Reelviews. "The historical backdrop against which Glory transpires is mostly historically accurate. In fact, a great deal of effort went into getting the details correct. The main events shown in the film happened much as they are depicted, some of the key characters (Shaw, Frederick Douglas, etc.) existed, and the outcome was as Zwick presents it."

This is my paraphrase, In the movie Glory, a lot of work went into making sure that the history was correct. The main characters, Shaw and Frederick Douglass, actually existed in real life and the events and results in the movie happened almost exactly as they are shown by the director Zwick.

Empathy is History

During class, I learned that empathy is an intellectual identification or vicarious experience of the feelings, thoughts, attitude of another. On the other hand, sympathy is feelings of pity and sorrow for someone else's misfortune. Empathy is when you are able to put yourself into someone else's shoes and understand what they were doing, even if you don't agree it. Sympathy is opposite because it is feeling bad for the person in their situation. An example of empathy is a cat chasing a mouse. I understand that the cat chases the mouse because it wants to eat it, even though I think the cat should leave it alone and eat its own cat food. When studying history, understanding the meaning of empathy is important so you can understand the reasoning behind their actions.

Empathy