This is article #2 in a series covering the origins of football’s terminology. All are available under the Terminology tab above. My book, Hut! Hut! Hike! describes the emergence of more than 400 football terms. Across the world and back to ancient times, men competed in games that involved kicking, batting, or throwing a ball into their opponent's goals. Our gridiron game descends most directly from English folk contests where young men from nearby villages kicked an inflated pig's bladder from their village into the neighbor's. The annual pig slaughter, which supplied the kickable bladders, came after harvest, so they scheduled the games as the weather turned chilly.