The Wiz of Odds

How Teddy Roosevelt Saved Football From Oblivion

It's probably best if politicians stay out of football, but when have they ever listened? Congress held hearings in 2009 on the Bowl Championship Series and Barack Obama, shortly after he was elected president, expressed dissatisfaction over how the college game determines a national champion.

But some good has come out of political football. John J. Miller details one case in his new book, "The Big Scrum: How Teddy Roosevelt Saved Football."

Football was facing a crossroads in 1905. The violent nature of the sport led to 18 deaths on the field that year. Calls were increasing to sack the sport.

Harvard, Columbia, Northwestern, Stanford and California had quit playing the game. The Georgia state legislature voted to ban football in 1897 after the death of a fullback at the University of Georgia. The governor vetoed the bill only after hearing from the player's mother, who urged him not to outlaw a sport her son had loved.

'Frontline' Tackles the New Face of Prep Football

Watch the full episode. See more FRONTLINE.

High school football has never been bigger, but is enough being done to ensure players' safety as the sport's intensity grows? "Frontline" on PBS took a look at the amped-up culture of high school football on Tuesday night in a documentary titled "Football High", which followed the 2010 Shiloh Christian High team from Springdale, Ark., as well as two prep players who collapsed from heatstroke and were hospitalized.

If you missed the airing, don't worry. The full episode can be watched at the Frontline website, or in the five videos with this post. The Frontline discussion board is also worth checking out.

Louisiana Monroe Is Living Beyond Its Means

Update: Students voted against the proposal.

There are 120 teams in Division I-A college football, but some are on the list by name only. They truly don't belong on the same field as the big boys.

Louisiana Monroe is one such team. The Warhawks have yet to play in a bowl game since the program was elevated to I-A in 1994 and the program remains woefully underfunded. According to the Monroe News-Star, Louisiana Monroe has the lowest annual athletic budget — $8.5 million — in I-A. Of that total, $2.98 million went to football in 2009, according to the Equity in Athletics Database.

Now the school holding out a tin cup in hopes the 6,007-member student body can help.

This week, students will vote on a referendum to dramatically increase aid to the athletic department. Students currently pay $22 a semester toward athletics, but the fee will increase to $10 a semester hour up to 12 credit hours, meaning the majority of students will pay $120 a semester.

Coach Todd Berry has been lobbying students to approve the measure.

Is the Coverup Worse Than the Crime?

The story keeps changing at Ohio State.

Dennis Dodd of CBS Sports.com reports that Buckeye officials were aware during a March 8 news conference that Jim Tressel had forwarded sensitive emails to quarterback Terrelle Pryor's mentor in Jeanette, Pa., detailing that Pryor and at least one other player had sold memorabilia to a local tattoo-parlor owner who was under federal investigation for drug trafficking.

However, Tressel said that day he had kept the information to himself to protect the confidentiality of a federal investigation into Eddie Rife.

The coach was asked during the news conference if he had forwarded the emails, but before he could answer, athletic director Gene Smith interrupted, saying the information was part of the investigation.

On March 25, the Columbus Dispatch reported that Tressel had indeed forwarded the emails to Ted Sarniak, 67, a Jeanette businessman who had been Pryor's mentor. However, it was unclear when Tressel had clicked the send button.