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The National has been the only important professional football league in the U. S. since the collapse of C. C. Pyle's American League in 1927. The first thing that spectators accustomed to college football notice about professional games is an immense, swift precision which makes the game compare to college games as college games compare to the higgledy-piggledy contests of gangling schoolboys. Professionals are almost always huge (an exception is Boston Braves' 167-lb. Center Tony Siano) but they do not lumber awkwardly like most huge college players. They must be light-footed, quick as eels, dextrous as jugglers. Professional line-play is clever, titanic and almost always evenly matched. Backfields use complex maneuvers which require split-second timing and the accuracy of basketballers in passing. Lateral passes develop from forwards, forwards from laterals, spinners and reverses have complications impossible and unnecessary for amateur teams. There are few long end runs because professional ends are too fast to flank, almost no double wing back formations for the same reason. Serious injuries are rare, not because professionals lack zeal and dirty craft, but because, since substitutes are usually as able as the men they replace, there is nothing to be gained by disabling opponents.
The ablest professional players are less likely to be All-Americans than crack players from obscure teams, like Stapleton's Quarterback Bob Campiglio, from West Liberty Teachers, and the Giants' end, Ray Flaherty, from Gonzaga. Some professionals are discovered by scouts. Others, like the Giants' Fullback Mulleneaux, who arrived from Arizona as a hobo, ask for employment. Professional players who have been famed in college get salaries much higher than the average of $125 per game, during their first season. Minnesota's Bronko Nagurski, now fullback for the Chicago Bears, gets about $300. Cagle gets $500. Red Grange, who made a poor start in professional football six years ago, now gets more than any of his confreres, $550. As a professional, he is more useful as a blocking back than as a runner.
The most desirable quality in professional football players is durability. Teams are allowed to have rosters of only 22, to keep payrolls low. The Green Bay Packers, in addition to having the best team in the league, have the cheapest; salaries for this season averaged $110. The Packers' profits go to the Green Bay American Legion. A profitable new team in the league this year is the Boston Braves, owned by a laundryman of Washington, D. C., one George Marshall. While college football gate receipts this year declined 15%, professional receipts did not decrease at all. Standing of the teams after last week's games:
Won Lost Tied p.c.
Portsmouth. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 1 4 .857
Green Bay. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 2 1 .833
Chicago Bears. . . . . . . . . . . . 5 1 6 .833
Boston. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 4 2 .500
New York. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 6 2 .400
Brooklyn. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 9 0 .250
Chicago Cardinals. . . . . . . . . 2 6 2 .250
Stapleton. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 7 3 .222