Today's Tidbit... The 1935 Version Of Instant Replay

We see and understand football based on how we consume it. Before stadiums had video scoreboards, watching a game in person meant there were no opportunities for instant replay or slow motion. Instead, you had to pay attention and have a reasonable understanding of football to analyze the events on the field. In contrast, today's fan watching games on television benefits from replays and circles or lines superimposed on the screen and the commentary from the folks in the booth.

Before television, of course, the only games you could see were those you attended in person, so fans who did not attend a particular game had to rely on newspaper reporters to tell them what happened and why. But, of course, newspapers, magazines, and other print publications had their version of instant replay: a sequence of photographs. 

I was reminded of these sequences when I read an article in the October 13, 1935 edition of the Des Moines Register and noticed they had ten pages covering sports. The Register devoted a good portion of those ten pages to college football. One page had an eight-photograph sequence showing Colgate's lone touchdown pass during Iowa's upset of the Raiders the previous day.

Yes, Virginia. There was a time when Iowa beating Colgate was considered an upset. ('Iowa Upsets Colgate, 12 to 6,' Des Moines Register, October 13, 1935.)

So, here's the sequence that allowed the good folks of Des Moines the opportunity to analyze one play from the previous day's action.

'Extra Football Picture Section,' Des Moines Register, October 13, 1935.

Here are the four pairs of images.

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