Having Fun in the 1930s
Although the 1930s was a time of great hardship, people still found ways to have fun. For many during these years, having fun didn't have to cost much. Everything was homemade – the food, the games, the music – there were even homemade portable dance floors. But traditional organized activities – like rodeo and football – were popular as well.
During the 1930s, football was almost as popular with Nebraskans as it is today. High school teams were sources of pride for entire communities and the University of Nebraska team was becoming a national force. D.X. Bible had been hired as the University of Nebraska football coach a few months before the October, 1929, Stock Market crash. Under coach Bible, the team won the Big-6 conference championship six years in a row. Many Nebraska players were tough young men who had grown up on dirt-poor farms and small towns.
In the late 30s, the Federal Writers Project captured the spirit of Nebraska football.
"Football in Nebraska is more than a diversion for college students. A State university game is an event talked about and eagerly followed by rural and urban fans. If the day of a football game is not too cold or rainy, the streets of Lincoln are sure to be jammed with people and cars, brightened with pennants and chrysanthemums. The highways are crowded for miles around. Broadcasts of games are picked up in almost every store and gas station from Omaha to the western border; farmers sometimes neglect their cornhusking in the afternoon to hear the game over the radio." -- Federal Writers Project (FWP) Guide
http://www.livinghistoryfarm.org/farminginthe30s/life_18.html
***Football for Tom and Al is beyond illusion. Ma and Pa could never afford to send their kids for popular education, let alone playing football. In Joads' family, a pair of extra hands means more earning power. For sure Tom and Al can listen to a football game too if only they can buy a more reilable truck.