Live Ball on the Sidelines

Timothy P. Brown of Football Archaeology shares his research and discovery of what it was like in football, when balls that went beyond the sideline were still live! 

Timothy P Brown

Tim Brown, one of the foremost experts on early college football, is the host and founder of FootballArchaeology.com. Tim's love of the gridiron's past goes beyond just the website. Mr Brown, to date, is the author of three books on football history, appears on various football history podcasts, and has been quoted in articles by The Athletic, The Chicago Tribune, and other publications. He guest authors articles on UniWatch, and his research on the 1920s West Point Cavalry Detachment teams contributed to All American: The Power of Sports, currently on display at the National Archives Museum in Washington, D.C.

His books include: Fields of Friendly Strife; How Football Became Football: 150 Years of the Game's Evolution; and Hut! Hut! Hike! A History of Football Terminology, which explores the history of football’s words and expressions and how they became connected to the game.

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Tim explains the rules of the era of the late 19th century as the rugby rules of "in-touch" were morphing with the new concepts introduced by Walter Camp and other gridiron innovators/rules makers. It makes for some untersting dynamics to the game back then when balls were fumbled out of bounds and were still live. Tim shares images as examples for the subject matter and tells it best in his post and in the podcast above. Here is the link to the full Tidbit When Balls Fumbled Out Of Bounds Remained Live

Timothy Brown's FootballArchaeology.com shares a daily football factoid that is interesting in a short read. They uniquely preserve football history, and we are quite happy that Tim has agreed to join us each week to review some of his Today's Tidbits. Click that link, and you can subscribe for free to receive them.

Football Archaeology

Timothy Brown's FootballArchaeology.com is a website dedicated to preserving pigskin history. digs into gridiron history to examine how football’s evolution shapes today's game. The site has a variety of articles, history of football word origins, and Daily Tidbits, which have a daily football factoid that shares some quite interesting items and aspects of the gridiron in a short read. They preserve football history in a very unique way Visit the site at Today's Tidbits.

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A Very Special thanks to information obtained from the following brilliant internet sites: Timothy Brown and his FootballArchaeology.com website.

Banner photo is courtesy of Wikimedia Commons of UW vs Oregon Agricultural football game at Denny field, Seattle, November 24, 1910.