Football

From Turtledove

Football is a wildly popular sport throughout both the United States and the Confederate States. In the first half of the 20th century, it was far more popular than baseball. Most major cities in both countries were home to at least one professional football team, organized into regional leagues with the teams of neighboring cities.

Professional teams include the Philadelphia Barrels, the Los Angeles Dons, and the Seattle Sharks. Great professional players include Lou Gehrig, Hank Greenberg, and Jimmie Foxx.

Amateur football games were a wildly popular pastime throughout both countries. Many high schools had football teams; Armstrong Grimes was a star of his school's. In Toledo, Ohio, steelworkers and police officers played a game against each other in 1923 as a way of burying the hatchet after a number of brawls erupted between the two during a period of labor tensions which had disrupted the city for several years. Most famously, on Christmas Day 1914, US and CS soldiers played football games in an impromptu truce which broke out on every front of the Great War.

A version of the game was also played in Quebec with an extra player and a significantly bigger playing field.

After the Second Great War, a US commandant attempted to ease tensions in occupied Alabama by a game of football, officially called the Peace Bowl. The game, played by a team of US soldiers against a team of CS civilians, was actually quite hostile as the players made no secret of hating each other. Confederate rebels attacked the game, killing more CS civilians than US soldiers in the process.