Isaiah 22:18 says of the judgment of the evil servant Shebna, "He [The Lord] will surely violently turn and toss thee like a ball into a large country." Commentaries agree that Shebna was in the hands of the Lord like a ball in the hands of a strong man, and would be hurled out of his place--thrown at a great distance by a strong arm. Park H. Davis wrote what is known as the first history of football in 1911--"Football: The American Intercollegiate Game"--where he wrote: "This allusion, slight as it may be, is sufficient unto the antiquary to indicate that some form of a game with a ball existed as early as 750 years before the Christian era, the epoch customarily assigned to the Book of Isaiah."
Davis chronicles the development of a football-like game played by the Greeks and the Romans through 28 BC. Davis writes: "...among the first acts of Augustus after settling his right to succeed his great uncle, Julius Caesar, was to demand a revision of the football rules." Davis quoted Julius Pollux circa 100 AD in describing the game played in Rome: "The players divide themselves into two bands. The ball is thrown upon the line in the middle. At the two ends of the field, behind the line where the players are stationed, are two other lines, beyond which these two bands endeavor to carry the ball, a feat that can not be accomplished without the pushing of one another backward and forward." Davis says this game, eventually called Calico, was played throughout Italy after the fall of Rome through the Middle Ages and into 1898.
Football teaches life lessons, galvanizes communities, and promotes diversity where men are defined not by the color of their skin, but the content of their ability and teamwork. It is the game of leaders as characterized by President Dwight Eisenhower: "Morale--the will to win, the fighting heart--are the honored hallmarks of the football coach and player. Likewise, they are the characteristic of the enterprising executive, the successful troop leader, the established artist and the dedicated teacher and scientist." Presidents who played football include Eisenhower, Kennedy, Nixon, Ford, and Reagan--in contrast to the current "president" who says he wouldn't allow his son, if he had one, to play football.
NFL Executive Vice President of Football Operations Troy Vincent says, "The lessons of football--character, leadership, tenacity, and perseverance--are qualities that every one believes to be important to achieving excellence. The value of football inspires the very things that we want to see in ourselves as we experience life and pursue happiness and success. In a day when some are clamoring that the risk with football is too great, we believe that the risk is far greater to an America without football." Those of us who use football to teach character and leadership see the value not only to young men in their overall development, but to a society in remaining strong and vibrant.
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