Life — November 28, 1930 — page 6: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

# "A Forfeited Game" - Explanation This is a humorous sports story about a football game between two schools: the "Stamp Lickers" (Universal Correspondence School) and the "Barbers" (Master Barbers College). The narrative describes confusion during the match that results in a forfeit. The accompanying comic strip shows the apparent cause: the Stamp Lickers' quarterback attempts to deliver a signal by mailing it, following the strip's literal interpretation of "airmail." The final panel depicts the signal arriving via mail carrier mid-game—too late to be useful. The satire mocks correspondence schools (then legitimate but widely ridiculed) by suggesting they conduct activities, even football, through mail delivery. The joke plays on "stamp lickers" (a derogatory term for mail workers) and the absurdity of time-delayed communication in real-time sports competition.