The Story of the Knock Down Men!

By de anne

Once upon a time, many, many moons ago, there was man. Man wanted to knock things down, like trees( ouch), like horses ( got kicked frequently), and finally, other men( not too painful). He continued to knock his fellow man over but now he evolved to carrying something to a destination, and tried NOT to get knocked down as he ran. He carried a bucket of water( too sloppy), he carried a pig( too sqiggly), he then carried a leather sewn item he designed to look like his foot, hence, he named it a foot ball. As time moved on, man continued to carry his foot ball thru many other men who attempted to knock him down and now, grab the ball.

This became a little more involved, as now the men organized groups; one group tried to get the foot ball from the other by knocking each member of the group down. The ultimate goal was to grab the foot ball and run to a tree. Soon the men used a big field and marked it so the game became more confusing, but one thing for sure stayed the same; men liked the knocking down part and grabbing the ball from each other, so they continued on.

Before long, man devised a whole system of running with the foot ball and started wearing things to protect him from injury, like a hat and shoes. These items got stronger so man could knock each other down harder, and stronger and hardly get hurt( well, they did get hurt but it was so much fun, they didn’t care).

Now other men started betting on the knock down men and lots of chickens exchanged hands. The knock down men had a new name, foot ball players, as they were playing with a foot shaped ball. Some very smart men began to buy these foot ball players so they got tons of chickens, as long as the men kept knocking others down, running with their foot ball and reaching their marked area of ground.

These owners got very tired of chickens and started the exchange of a thing called money and started paying the knock down men to play this game and the game was a big success. Everybody got rich and the game of running with a foot shaped ball to a specific destination and knocking men over to get there, had become a true American sport.

And so, today, the men continue to run with their football and continue to knock each other over and continue to reach their destination as hoards of people, men and women, fill stadiums to watch them play this very old game. Many are very rich from this game. Many people watch this game on television and many people play this running with a football game in their own little communities and now, even the little communities earn money from these knock down men and boys ( sometimes girls) and the game goes on.

And so, the moral of this story is this: If you like to knock men over and run with a ball shaped like a foot, and you don’t mind pain and sometimes a few broken bones here and there and you want to earn lots of money for your owners and for yourself, then this game is for you!

****Footnote( no pun intended)---- I happen to love this sport and always have and so does my talented son who also loves to knock down men. I just thought since football season is now upon us, you’d like a little history on this true American sport. Long live the knock down men!

Namaste!