Skip to: Content Skip to: Site Navigation Skip to: Search
Better mousetraps: How inventors plan to change football
Working in garages or big labs, hundreds have tried to ‘improve’
the game. Few have succeeded.  By Jesse EmspakCorrespondent for
The Christian Science Monitor / January 29, 2009  Collision:
Carolina Panthers’ Dan Morgan, left, brings down New England
Patriots’ Sammy Morris.  Chuck Burton/AP   Football is mostly a
game of throwing, running, and tackling – all human feats.
Players use strength and strategy to propel the ball across the
goal line. What could make it better?  Skip to next paragraph
According to some inventors, plenty. Technology, they say, can
make the game faster, more fair, and less dangerous for players.
The National Football League (NFL) is slow to adopt certain
changes, but these plucky tinkerers push on, driven by a desire
to solve problems, a love of the game, and hopes that their
designs gain a few more yards each year.  Take the chains that
have been used for decades to m