12 February: American football

Today is the Superbowl in 2023. 10 things you might not know about American football:

1. American football is also known as gridiron, after the White lines painted on the pitch.
2. American football evolved in the United States in the 19^th century, from the British sports of rugby and Soccer. Early games were so violent that it was often called ‘mob football’, characterised by few rules and no limits on the number of players. Injuries were common.
3. The first recognised American football match was played on November 6, 1869, between two college teams, Rutgers and Princeton. Players at this time weren’t allowed to pick up the ball. Instead, they advanced towards the scoring zone by kicking or swiping it with their hands.
4. Walter Camp was a player and coach in the 1870s/80s, who began to establish some rules and hence became known as the "Father of American Football". It was he who decreed that a team should have eleven players and standardised the size and shape of the ball. Incidentally, the technical term for a football shape is a “prolate spheroid.” He’s also famous for an exercise programme called Camp’s ‘Daily Dozen’, a set of 12 exercises designed to keep soldiers fit, which became popular with civilians as well.
5. Despite Walter Camp’s efforts, American football was still a violent and dangerous game. In 1904 the Chicago Tribune reported 18 football deaths and 159 serious injuries, and a further 19 deaths in the 1905 season. This prompted President Theodore Roosevelt to do something about it. He threatened to ban the sport unless college representatives reformed it to make it safer. As a result, matches were shortened from 70 minutes to 60 and the forward pass was made legal.
6. The first known professional player was called William ‘Pudge’ Heffelfinger. He was paid $500 to play a match for the Allegheny Athletic Association in 1892. The expense sheet which documents his payment is often referred to today as ‘pro football's birth certificate’. In 1897, the Latrobe Athletic Association paid all of its players for the whole season, becoming the first fully professional football team.
7. According to the rules, a home team must supply the footballs for the game. One isn’t enough – they must provide 24 if the game is being played indoors and 36 if the game is outdoors. The balls must be ready for inspection by the referee two hours before the game. It takes 3,000 Cows to supply the NFL with enough leather for a year's supply of footballs.
8. The huddle was first used in the 1890s by quarterback Paul Hubbard, who was deaf.
9. The Pro Football Hall of Fame is based in Canton, Ohio. Which may seem a bit of an obscure place to put it. Why not somewhere like Miami, Florida? Because, between the years 1921-1923, there was a team called the Canton Bulldogs which was undefeated for 25 straight games, still the longest unbeaten streak in NFL history at time of writing.
10. Helmets didn’t become mandatory for college football players until 1939, and in the NFL until 1943.

See also: Superbowl

Character birthday

Captain Crimson, aka Jonathan ‘Jonno’ Warner. He is one of the Warner Superhero family, the eldest son of Superwil and Electric Blue. He is super strong and able to fly and manipulate electricity. As the oldest brother, has styled himself as the leader and makes a great show of bossing the others around, in reality it is his older sister the others listen to and who makes the decisions. He appears in Tale of Two Sisters.

A Tale of Two Sisters

During a battle with supervillains, a horrific accident leaves the Warner family with no option but to believe their youngest daughter, Jessica, is dead. It doesn't occur to them that the bad guys could, or would, save her.

Jessica wakes up with no memory of who she is or how she came to be on a space station with two bionic legs, a bionic arm and a bionic eye. She is told her family abandoned her and is sent back to Earth with a mission - to kill them. While Jessica wants to kill her family, along with the twin boys who once rejected her, she knows what the Alliance of Supervillains are asking her to do is a suicide mission. She decides to get her revenge in her own way.

As Jessica puts the first part of her revenge plan in motion, she finds herself with an agonising decision to make. Before she can decide, the Alliance come for her, determined to make her do their bidding. This time, it's the Alliance who leave her, crippled and at the mercy of the Warner family, who have no idea who the Alliance's Black Rose really is.

Jessica finds herself having to re-think her decisions in light of what she now learns about her family, the Alliance, the twins, and herself. It would appear the Alliance have left her with an unwanted and permanent reminder of her time with them. Or have they?

Jessica's older sister, Jill, knows her destiny is to be a doctor and specialise in bionics and genetic variant medicine. She is also hopelessly in love with Christopher, Crown Prince of Galorvia. Can their romance survive the lies Christopher told her when they were both at school, an unplanned pregnancy and Sophie, the wannabe princess who comes between them?

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