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| How the Forward Pass Saved Football With football now dominated by rocket-armed quarterbacks and fleet-footed receivers, it's hard to imagine the sport without the forward pass. The play, however, was illegal for nearly four decades after the sport's inception. In football's early years, yardage was tough to acquire; points were even scarcer. Wearing little padding and protective equipment, players used their bodies as battering rams. But football wasn't just extremely violent. It was deadly. The Chicago Tribune reported 18 football-related fatalities in 1904, mostly among prep school players. After another 19 died the following year, universities such as Stanford, Northwestern and Duke dropped football. Others threatened to do the same unless changes were made. Prodded by President Theodore Roosevelt, an avid football fan who worried that the game could be outlawed if not made safer, more than 60 schools met after the 1905 season and approved rulebook revisions. Among them were the abolition of dangerous mass formations, the creation of a neutral zone between offenses and defenses, the doubling of the first-down distance to 10 yards and legalization of the forward pass. Learn more and check out these titles |
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| Books on the Air An overview of talked-about books and authors. This weekly update, published every Friday, provides descriptions of recent TV and radio appearances by authors and their recently released books. See the hot titles from the media this week. |
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| Happy Birthday Stephenie Meyer Stephenie Meyer, born on December 24, 1973, was raised in Phoenix, Arizona, the second of six siblings. She married at 21 and graduated from Brigham Young University with a degree in English in 1997. Meyer was a stay-at-home mother of three boys in 2003 when the idea for "Twilight"-the story of teenager Bella Swann and her handsome vampire boyfriend Edward Cullen-came to her in a dream. Three months later, Meyer, who had never written seriously before, finished the manuscript for "Twilight." After a string of rejections from literary agencies, she landed an agent and a $750,000, three-book deal. "Twilight," released in 2005, went on to become a huge best-seller. Three more books in the series, which developed a massive following among young girls as well as grown women, followed. The books have sold more than 100 million copies worldwide and been translated into dozens of languages. Meyer's Mormon faith has influenced her writing: While her "Twilight" characters aren't Mormons, they don't drink or smoke and there are no graphic sex scenes in her books. Check out her books here. |
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| Best Mystery & Suspense of 2021 We're calling it now: The mystery and suspense genre is on the cusp of a golden age. From psychological thrillers to procedurals to cozies, these books reached new heights and brought new perspectives to the forefront in 2021. Check them out here |
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| Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn't before! What if Christmas, he thought, doesn't come from a store. What if Christmas...perhaps...means a little bit more!-Dr. Seuss, How the Grinch Stole Christmas!
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