The Times they aren't a changing

Fatball

One needn't be able to touch one's toes to score a touchdown. Nevertheless, football players have long been wrestling with their weight -- both how to put on the pounds and how to take them off -- ever since the sport's earliest days.

In today's Times Jere Longman tells of an unsettling new trend that high school athletes feel they must gorge themselves in order to make the team.

Putting on Weight for Football Glory

By JERÉ LONGMAN

BATON ROUGE, La., Nov. 29 — When the Desire Street Academy football team plays in a Louisiana state semifinal playoff game Friday night, the Lions will feature three starting linemen who weigh at least 300 pounds and two others who weigh 270 and 280 pounds, reflecting a trend in which high school players are increasingly reaching a size once seen almost exclusively among linemen in college and the N.F.L.

For more than a century coaches have fought with players over their weights, although there has been some disagreement as to whether or not more is more.

March 20, 1905
NO FAT MEN FOR FOOTBALL
 
Heavyweights for Harvard’s Team Put to Work in Gymnasium
 
CAMBRIDGE, Mass., March 19.—Whatever else may be said of Harvard’s football team next year, “Dill” Reid, the new head coach has determined that it shall not be call a “team of fat men.” Reid has put all the heavyweight candidates to work in the Hemenway gymnasium, pulling on weight machines and lifting heavy dumbbells to reduce their girths. The move is without precedent in Harvard’s history, for although football demands more of its men than any other game, little or no preliminary training has been considered necessary.

The more extreme view is that football is a game designed for the overweight. An article published on February 10, 1910 under the headline “A game for fat boys,” quoted Yale athletic adviser Walter Camp expressing the benefits of fatness in football:

Perhaps one point has not received its full emphasis. The game has furnished an opportunity not offered in any other sport for the big, overgrown fat boy, who before the introduction of the game had no field in which he could shine, and hence too little incentive to exercise.

Incensed that Camp would call for the elimination of the forward pass in order to help obese players, the writer lashed back:

Mr. Camp seems to have much solicitude for fat boys and perhaps he has an underlying concern for the principle of crude selection.

Brolly Dodgers

When it rains, it pokes.

That has long been the complaint of speedy streetwise New York pedestrians who must zig, zag, and duck to escape the rapid jabs of umbrellas.

The latest salvo of umbrella umbrage appeared in today's Times:

The Collapsible Colossus
By MICAH COHEN

CORRY L. FLADER, an owner of the Umbrella Shop in Vancouver, British Columbia, offered a rule when walking in the rain: “Don’t poke or hit other people with your umbrella,” she said, “unless provoked.”

That advice may seem obvious, but urbanites who venture out in the rain are now weaving and ducking to avoid being stabbed in the eye.

During a recent downpour in New York, Josephine Noah, 25, a business analyst from Jersey City, complained: “Every single time it rains I get hit. And it is always the larger ones.”

The culprit is the golf umbrella, which was once seen only on the fairways but is now increasingly popular for everyday use, especially among men.

However, New Yorkers have been whining in the rain for more than 75 years. In 1929 the culprits were not men trying to overcompensate for something, but women putting fashion over safety:

April 28, 1929
UMBRELLA DODGING IS ADDED TO HAZARDS OF THE STREETS

The mere male who scorns carrying one finds himself facing formidable new models

The latest style in women's umbrellas have brought new perils into one of New York’s sports of the Springtime. In former years the pedestrian who scorned to carry one along the city’s crowded thoroughfares found it fairly easy to dodge the old-fashioned black umbrella, whose points extend downward. But with the coming of the new flat Japanese parasol in green, purple or crimson, with its wicked looking points standing straight out horizontally, umbrella dodging can be listed among the city’s hazardous occupations, and this Spring it has demanded special activity.

The protected underground life of most New York business men has bred in some a scorn of what is considered a necessity by most women, clad in easily injured hats and frocks. From home to the subway, elevated or suburban train station is usually a short walk for a man, and from his exit in the city to his office also generally means little exposure. He is out in the open but a short time. Hence the umbrella, if any, is neglected, and the old felt hat and last year’s overcoat can easily stand a little rain. But in refusing to bear the overhead shield he finds himself considerably handicapped when trying to hurry through the pedestrian army and yet retain his eyesight.

Jokes about getting stabbed in the eye aside, this turns out to be no laughing matter. After the jump, read an account that proves umbrellas are in fact a deadly weapon:

Barry White, meet Lauren Bacall

Reading through newspapers old and new it becomes obvious that one should be skeptical whenever he sees the phrase "a new study has shown."

Well according to a new study described in today's Times, women are more likely to get it on with men with deep voices:

Study Finds Reproductive Edge for Men With Deep Voices

By NICHOLAS BAKALAR

A man with a deep voice may have a survival advantage, a better chance of passing on his genes.

Researchers have found that men with deeper voices have more children — at least among the Hadza, a group of hunter-gatherers in Tanzania.

I should confess that in this instance part of my skepticism may derive from my own high tenor. But oddly, 70 years ago researchers came to a similar conclusion -- that men are attracted to deep-voiced women. At least that's how one speech professor interpreted the studies:

October 31, 1937
GIRLS ADVISED TO ADOPT LOW-PITCHED VOICE; IT ATTRACTS MEN, SAYS SPEECH SPECIALIST

NEW ROCHELLE, N.Y., Oct. 30.--"Men are attracted to women with deep voices," declared Mrs. Allys Dwyer Vergara, Associate Professor of Speech at the College of New Rochelle, outlining a nation-wide broadcast on speech culture, which she will give on Nov. 8.

Defining the deep voice as "a low-pitched voice," Mrs. Vergara pointed out that experiments in acoustics conducted by C.C. Bunch and T.S. Raiford showed that "men hear low tones better than high tones."

If that's the case how can our rapidly rising population be explained given that, as the Washington Post reported in 1930, more and more of us sound like Mickey Mouse. Under the headline, "Men and women found acquiring higher voices," the Post reported "that human voices are becoming higher-pitched and squakier (sic.), with deep bases and contraltos growing scarcer every year, is the belief of George Dodds, a music teacher of Newcastle, England, expressed recently to the Incorporated Society of Musicians."

Lebanon-voting

When it comes to electing presidents, the Lebanese prefer to procrastinate.

From today's Times:

Vote Is Postponed as Lebanese President Leaves

By THANASSIS CAMBANIS and NADA BAKRI

BEIRUT, Lebanon, Saturday, Nov. 24 — The departing Lebanese president, Emile Lahoud, asked the military to take charge of the nation’s security on Friday, a few hours after the speaker of Parliament prolonged the country’s political crisis by postponing for a week a vote to choose a new president.

This habit appears to date back to the 1950s:

July 23, 1958

Lebanese Chamber Defers Election of New President

Speaker declares vote is indefinitely postponed--Murphy interviews leaders of the opposition

BEIRUT, Lebanon, July 22--The Lebanese Presidential election due Thursday was postponed indefinitely tonight. This was decided despite efforts by Robert Murphy, special United States envoy, to promote a compromise between the feuding Government and Opposition chiefs.

Two more examples after the jump:

Whole lotta Big Love

Polygamous cult leader Warren Jeffs was sentenced yesterday, but it turns out this was only the latest chapter in the nation's 120-year-old war on plural marriage.

From today's Times:

Polygamist Sentenced to 10 Years in Prison 

By JOHN DOUGHERTY

ST. GEORGE, Utah, Nov. 20 — The polygamous leader of a fundamentalist Mormon sect was sentenced Tuesday to 10 years to life in prison for forcing a 14-year-old girl to “spiritually” marry her 19-year-old cousin and commanding the naïve bride to submit to sexual relations against her will.

The defendant, Warren S. Jeffs, 51, was convicted by a jury in September of two counts of acting as an accomplice to a rape. Judge James L. Shumate of the Fifth District Court imposed two consecutive sentences of five years to life in prison. The Utah Board of Pardons and Parole has the authority to parole Mr. Jeffs at any time, but a spokesman, Jack Ford, said it would be unlikely to do so before his first hearing in three to four years.

The archives contain a rogues gallery of Jeffs' brethren. Meet Edward Brain, who was sentenced in 1885 -- five years before the Mormon church banned polygamy as part of a deal to gain statehood for Utah. Notice that there has been substantial judicial inflation in 122 years. Alas, gone are the days when judges spoke of hypocrisy let alone blasphemy.

October 3, 1885
A POLYGAMIST SENTENCED

Salt Lake City, Utah, Oct. 2.--Edward Brain was convicted of unlawful cohabitation to-day. His latest wife, a Danish girl, testified freely as to their marital relations. Brain made a long statement to the court, maintaining the truth of his belief, of which he said he was assured by a direct revelation of God to himself. His covenants, he said, were made for all eternity, and he would stand by them at all hazards. Judge Zane reminded Brain that two of his wives in this "eternal covenant" of which he spoke were already divorced from him. His first wife was dishonored in her old age. To task of this being an "eternal covenant" under Divine command was blasphemy, and he was tried of hearing such hypocritical cant. The court sentenced Brain to six months in jail and to pay a fine of $300.

And more from 50 years later. Wife two has the perfect name for being outed in an embarrassing news story.

December 14, 1935
POLYGAMISTS SENTENCED

Kingman, Ariz, Dec. 13 (AP)-- I.C. Spencer and Price Johnson were sentenced today to serve eighteen months to two years in the Arizona Penitentiary for polygamy.

They were members of a strange cult at remote Short Creek, Ariz. Spencer admitted having a wife and nine children in Utah and a wife and four children at Short Creek. The latter is Sylvia Allred.

Johnson admitted having one wife with seven children and another with three.

Both men pleaded religious beliefs as their defense, contending that they were followers of the "real Mormons" the Latter Day Saints Church having rejected polygamy long ago.

Save the Smithsonian

According to today's Times, the Smithsonian Institution is embarking on its first private fundraising drive:

Smithsonian Is Planning a Big Fund-Raising Push

By ROBIN POGREBIN

WASHINGTON, Nov. 19 — The Smithsonian Institution’s Board of Regents voted Monday to undertake a major capital campaign to help raise the $2.5 billion needed to improve and repair its buildings. It is the first large-scale private fund-raising effort in the organization’s history.

Because the Smithsonian gets 70 percent of its $1 billion operating budget from the federal government, raising money from private sources will be a significant departure for the institution.

However, a similar story appeared 80 years prior:

March 6, 1927

SUPPORT ASKED FOR SMITHSONIAN

Famous Washington Institution Needs Funds to Carry Out International Science Labors -- Founded Nearly a Century Ago

An appeal for public support for the Smithsonian Institution was made the other day at a meeting in Washington attended by President Coolidge, Vice President Dawes, Chief Justice Taft and members of the Cabinet. As Chancellor of the Smithsonian Institution, Chief Justice Taft stressed the fact that, contrary to popular belief, his famous scientific museum is a private institution, under guardianship of the United States Government, but is not an official bureau. Funds are needed to carry on its work.

Second Avenue's Second Coming

To New Yorkers, it's easier to believe in Santa than the Second Avenue Subway.

But there may be some reason to have faith that the first new line in more than 50 years will finally be constructed:

WASHINGTON--The Federal Government has agreed to finance New York City's Second Avenue subway, according to officials here.

The decision on the East-Side line, which has been a goal of transit planners since the 1930's, is expected to insure completion of the system within a decade.

That story was written June 11th, 1972 under the headline: U.S. AGREES TO AID 2D AVENUE SUBWAY. An official who wisely asked not to be identified assured readers then: "It should be obvious that participation in a project like this one is done with the anticipation that it will be seen through to completion."

Compare that to William Neuman's story in today's Times:

U.S. APPROVES $1.3 BILLION FOR 2ND AVENUE SUBWAY

The long-dreamed-of Second Avenue subway will take another important step toward becoming a real thing of concrete and steel today, as the federal government plans to announce that it has formally approved $1.3 billion in financing for the project’s first phase.

The 12 months of Christmas

Second only to the dreaded Black Friday story, in which one gets sent out to interview frantic shoppers on a day when the last thing they want to do is explain to reporters why they have lost their minds, is the "earlier and earlier start to the holiday shopping season" story, which is being written in newspapers across America this week.

Michael Barbaro drew the short straw and got stuck with the assignment for The Times. Under the headline, "Shopping Bargains Before the First Bite of Turkey," he reports:

Disregarding the last known boundaries between tradition and capitalism, retailers are trying to persuade Americans to start their Black Friday shopping before the first bite of Thanksgiving dinner.

This is one of those topics that supplants discussions about the weather this time of year -- we all love to complain that the start of the shopping season is being moved back to June.

It's nothing new, of course. The trend seems to have begun at the height of the Great Depression.

October 21, 1934, p. N15

PREPARING FOR THE HOLIDAYS
Stores here will make early bid for Christmas Business

While attention at the moment centres largely on immediate and November promotions, retail executives indicated during the week that an early start will be made on plans for the forthcoming Christmas holiday season. Toy departments will be opened in many cases a week to ten days before Thanksgiving, although the early openings in past years have not been productive of much additional volume as most customers do not begin Christmas shopping until after Thanksgiving Day.

I tried to trace the very start of this conspiracy, and the best answer I could find was not in The Times, but in the Washington Post:

Striking out with the tax man

Tax officials are gunning for Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter, who despite spending much of the year in his posh Manhattan apartment claims Florida residency in order to avoid paying higher New York city and state taxes:

State Tax Officials Dispute Claim of Florida Residency by Jeter

By NICHOLAS CONFESSORE

ALBANY, Nov. 15 — New York State tax officials say that the Yankee star Derek Jeter claimed he lived in Florida to avoid paying city and state income taxes for several years, when he was actually living in New York, according to documents filed last week with an administrative law judge.

Mr. Jeter, one of the highest-paid players in baseball, filed nonresident income tax returns to New York State between 2001 and 2003, claiming that he lived primarily at his off-season home in Florida, which, unlike New York, has no state income tax.

But officials at the State Division of Taxation and Finance argued that Mr. Jeter’s primary residence during those years was in New York, where he owns an apartment in the Trump World Tower, near the United Nations, and has rented or owned other living space as well.

But the tax man clearly is not a baseball fan. Even back when players were making only four- or five-figure salaries, the city and state wanted a piece of the action, and would not make exceptions for those who claimed to be out of town residents.

September 6, 1919
BASEBALL INCOME TAXABLE

Players and Umpires Earning $1,000 in New York Must Pay

It was ruled by State Controller Travis yesterday that professional baseball  players and umpires employed during the past season, although residents of other States, are liable to the new State Income Tax Law. His decision was made in answer t numbers of inquiries received by the Controller's office both in the city and in Albany from those interested. Baseball officials were advised that the statute requires them, acting as withholding agents, to deduct and withhold a tax based upon the amount earned by their employees within the State.

Fighting Tenure for ten decades

Mayors and school officials have been trying to expel "unfit" teachers for the better part of a century. But since public school teachers have tenure, they are virtually impervious to such efforts.

Mayor Bloomberg and Schools Chancellor Joel Klein have aggressively taken on the union in the fight to make teachers more accountable. From today's Times:

November 15, 2007

A New Effort to Remove Bad Teachers

By ELISSA GOOTMAN

The Bloomberg administration is beginning a drive to remove unsatisfactory teachers, hiring new teams of lawyers and consultants who will help principals build cases against tenured teachers who they believe are not up to the job. It is also urging principals to get rid of sub-par novices before they earn tenure.

But a Times story written 90 years ago could have easily run in its place:

December 23, 1917

ASKS FOR REMOVAL OF UNFIT TEACHERS

President of Education Board Says they Hide Behind 'Permanent Tenure.'

Charging that the school system is "burdened and clogged with many teachers who are unfit and unsatisfactory," and whom it is practically impossible to remove because of their "permanent tenure," William G. Willcox, President of the Board of Education, issued a statement yesterday in which he made a plea that teachers' places be subject to periodical approval by some competent and independent body.

In occupations other than teaching, said Mr. Willcox, the employee must establish his claim to continued employment by efficient and satisfactory service, while under the provisions of the civil service law teachers claim the right to hold their positions unless some definite offense "can be proved against them with all the technical and legal exactness required to convict them of a crime."