Lack of History in Sports
Mark Bowden writes in The Atlantic about watching game film of the 1958 NFL Championship with Andy Reid:
It seemed odd at first for a pro coach to have never seen film of this historic game—a little like finding a doctor of English literature who had never read Macbeth. But success in pro football, as in any intensely competitive, constantly evolving arena, depends primarily on current intelligence: What did my opponent last do against me? What did he do last week? A pro coach is not inclined to search for what he needs in old black-and-white film. History is … well, history.
But no craftsman or professional can be completely uninterested in seeing how he measures up against past standards of excellence. How good was the game then? How capable were the players? How clever were the coaches and schemes?
A fascinating read of a modern genius at breaking down game-film sharing insight and discovering himself just how much the game has changed over the decades in really simple but fundamental ways:
I told Reid that I had listened to the NBC radio broadcast, and had been struck by how much more quickly the game moved then than it does today. Breaks between plays and possessions are longer and more frequent now, to allow for more commercials, and the use of video replay to reexamine contested calls by the referees causes still more delays. Modern coaches use these gaps in the action for analysis, for sideline conferences and hand signals, or, in the case of the quarterback, for giving instructions over a direct radio link to his helmet. In 1958, the game, once started, was primarily in the hands of the players. Unitas called his own plays. Defensive field captains like the Giants’ Sam Huff were on-field tacticians. The game was faster and simpler.
It also lacked many of the refined mechanical and tactical innovations that are commonplace in modern football. For instance, Reid was surprised to note that wide receivers assumed a three-point stance before the snap of the ball—today they stand upright, which allows them a broader view of the defensive backfield. The pass defenders, meanwhile, stood upright on the old film, with one foot forward, one back, and then just backpedaled to stay with the receivers. In the modern NFL, backfield defenders poise in a forward crouch with their weight evenly balanced on both legs, and retreat by taking short stutter-steps backward, ready to bolt in either direction and avoiding the crossover step, a potentially costly mistake that can offer a receiver the split-second advantage he needs to break away.
I`ve also read Bowden`s work in Sports Illustrated about the 1958 Championship and how the Colts` Raymond Berry crafted himself into perhaps the first modern receiver. He captures Reid`s shift from knowing football insider into plain old football fan as the game film heads into overtime:
At this point, Reid had become a rapt spectator.
“This is just simple football right now, man,” he said.
…
It ended five plays later, when Ameche plunged over the goal line for the winning touchdown—with Moore, still playing hurt, throwing a perfect block to clear the way. Reid said, simply, “Awesome.”
Unlike baseball and other sports, football can be clearly divided into historical eras defined by technological and equipment innovation, subtle rule changes causing huge changes in coaching tactics (and vice versa). It`s a game based on constant change and newness—even within a game. Which is why the all-time greatness of players cannot be measured purely in statistics, and why football fans lack historical knowledge. Instead of history, the sport earned a mythology through NFL Films filmstrips and newer shows like America`s Game.
3 years ago