Today's Tidbit... The Days of Baggy, Bulbous Pants

With the 1906 rules allowing the forward pass and liberalizing the onside kick from scrimmage, football was supposed to shift toward an open game leveraging speed rather than power. Not everyone bought into the idea, but more and more did over the next few years.

The desire for more speed led players and teams to shed as much equipment and pads as they could to reduce the weight they carried in games. The canvas pants padded with felt added pounds to the gear through sweat absorption, and things ...