Why is a football called a pigskin?

Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports
1

http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a4_121.html
All that clever info, and Cecil didn’t reveal what a modern football is made of.
So, what is it?
There’s (or was) kind of a joke among (some in) the gay community that Deuteronomy 14:8 prohibits playing football.
This one:
“And the swine, because it divideth the hoof, yet cheweth not the cud, it is unclean unto you: ye shall not eat of their flesh, nor touch their dead carcase.”

The reference is meant as a response to this, and others:
“You shall not lie with a male as with a woman: it is an abomination” (Lev 18:22).

Anyway, my question is about the football and not about a debate.
Good point, though. :stuck_out_tongue:
Peace,
mangeorge

2

The official NFL ball is made by Wilson, and it’s leather, and so is the NCAA’s ball. The CFL also uses Wilson balls, so probably also leather, but I don’t have a cite.
The Arena Leauge ball, made by Spalding, is “composite leather.”
Many less expensive balls are simply textured rubber.