Always chivvying, rarely chuntering

A sport, three novels, and a devastatingly brief movie review

For Pete’s sake, how about those sports? A whole unceasing month of men chasing a ball around for glory — but alas, the ball was so hard to see! So it’s great to learn that Moses G. Crane solved this problem back in the 1890s. The Massachusetts inventor was befuddled by the game of American football, and not just because it’s played with hands (not feet) and is the shape of an egg (not a ball). No, Crane’s beef(uddlement) was that the football was too damn small! His idea:

“If the ball were only made large, yes, large enough so that a player on one side could not see who was on the other, you would then have a chance to interest spectators in watching the whole game and in introducing much merriment, as well as skill.”