Brutal and vicious are two words I'd use to describe football during the 2012 season. I've been a player and fan of football all my life. The game has changed, and not in a good way. Let me take you back to 1957 to illustrate my point.
The defensive tackle hit me in the nose on my first play as an offensive tackle in college. He did the same on the next play. Wiping the blood on my jersey, I thought, "This is going to be a long afternoon unless I do something about this guy hitting my nose." On the next play I dropped back to pass block. Dropping my right shoulder as an invitation for my opponent to rush past me, I unloaded my elbow into his face. He collapsed to his knees. Looking me in the eye we both nodded, and from then on, we played a clean game.
I mention this because at that time we didn't have the protection of full face masks on our helmets. We learned to block and tackle with our shoulders; keeping our faces out of the way.
Playing in high school in the early 50s, we didn't have any face masks at all. My senior year our coach bought one face mask for our star back, Roger Mahnke. He used it for one game. At the end of that game, Roger's face was scratched up by the defensive players reaching in to pull him down with the mask. It had proven to be a convenient handle for them in trying to tackle this big, fast running back.
The next year, my first season in college, the no grasping the face mask rule was instituted, and we all had a single bar on our helmets. Later a second bar was added.
Early in the 1960s, Life Magazine published a photo of the Norte Dame football line showing every player with front teeth missing. This was followed by a public outcry that football players needed better protection for their faces. The reaction was the advent of the full face mask.
The defensive tackle hit me in the nose on my first play as an offensive tackle in college. He did the same on the next play. Wiping the blood on my jersey, I thought, "This is going to be a long afternoon unless I do something about this guy hitting my nose." On the next play I dropped back to pass block. Dropping my right shoulder as an invitation for my opponent to rush past me, I unloaded my elbow into his face. He collapsed to his knees. Looking me in the eye we both nodded, and from then on, we played a clean game.
I mention this because at that time we didn't have the protection of full face masks on our helmets. We learned to block and tackle with our shoulders; keeping our faces out of the way.
Playing in high school in the early 50s, we didn't have any face masks at all. My senior year our coach bought one face mask for our star back, Roger Mahnke. He used it for one game. At the end of that game, Roger's face was scratched up by the defensive players reaching in to pull him down with the mask. It had proven to be a convenient handle for them in trying to tackle this big, fast running back.
The next year, my first season in college, the no grasping the face mask rule was instituted, and we all had a single bar on our helmets. Later a second bar was added.
Early in the 1960s, Life Magazine published a photo of the Norte Dame football line showing every player with front teeth missing. This was followed by a public outcry that football players needed better protection for their faces. The reaction was the advent of the full face mask.