Quote of the Day (Robert Benchley, on the Futility of Learning Football Rules)

“A very serious mistake to which prospective members of a football crowd are prone is trying to learn the rules. One cannot be too emphatic in condemning this happily diminishing practice. It is likely to spoil the entire afternoon for a loyal alumnus, because of its tendency to undermine his belief that all penalties called against the dear old varsity are unjust.  Then where is the sweet consolation of knowing that we would have won if the referee had not been on parole from the penal institution to which he was committed for mutilating little children?”—Robert Benchley (1889-1945), “How to Watch Football,” in Pluck and Luck (1925)

(The accompanying image of Benchley was taken by an unknown photographer around 1935.)