Judge — September 26, 1931 — page 9: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

# "Little Known Occupations: Making New Football Rules" This satirical cartoon mocks the absurdity of football rule-making by depicting it as chaotic pandemonium rather than serious governance. The scene shows various figures in a surreal laboratory-like space engaged in absurd activities: men suspended from impossible contraptions, others consulting a blackboard of equations, figures in jars, people tugging at each other, and scattered sporting equipment. The joke appears to be that football rule committees operate with no logic or order—more like a madhouse than a rational deliberative body. The elaborate, nonsensical machines and confused figures suggest that creating football rules is less about legitimate decision-making and more about arbitrary, incomprehensible bureaucratic chaos. This likely reflects early 20th-century frustrations with the complexity and frequent changes in American football regulations during its formative years.