Many of us will be watching NFL games today. But some of us remember this day in history from long, long ago in a galaxy far, far away: Fans fill the stands as a horse-drawn carriage arrives at the annual UChicago-Michigan Thanksgiving Day game in 1895. Chicago founded its football team in 1892 and played its first big rivalry game against the Wolverines on Nov. 13 that year. From then until 1905, the two teams traditionally ended the season with a Thanksgiving Day matchup.
For my Columbus Cousin: JV football at its very finest!
For my wife: Not PSU, but it was Big 10, so it’ll have to do.
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A UChicago Maroon spread from earlier this year, titled “Brains Over Brawn,” is here. After the 1939 season, UChicago quit playing big time D-1 football. But even in my day (the late 1970’s) there was stiff student resistance to the reinstatement of an inter-collegiate football program, even at a D-3 level.
Ah well, I guess you can’t please all of the people all of the time. Somebody famous said that. I think it was maybe either Abe Lincoln or Amos Alonzo Stagg? You make the call.
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Happy Football and Turkey Day, y’all!
Dan:
According to Wikipedia, there was no game with a final score of 72-0. In their last meeting in 1939, Michigan beat the University of Chicago 85-0.
Right you are, Rod. It wasn’t 72-0. It was 2-0: “The 1905 Chicago Maroons team beat their arch rival, the University of Michigan Wolverines, in the Game of the Century. The final score was 2-0. (lol) That win clinched a National Championship in a season where they outscored opponents 271-5. (!)”