NFL

The history of American Football dates back further then you might realize. As is the case of sports in general, football has evolved into the game we see today making it the number one sport in America in popularity and success. There are countless legends of this the game, Vince Lombardi (which the Super Bowl trophy is named after), Jim Thorpe, Walter Payton,  Joe Montana, Otto Graham, Red Grange, Jim Brown, Jerry Rice, Reggie White, George Halas,  and Johnny Unitas. They all help shape the history and paved the way for the football players of today to have the opportunities for fame and fortune. While careers might be cut short to do injuries, different players come and go, each player has the chance to leave their own mark on the game before their time is over and the next generation takes their place.

American Football is a very rough, physical, demanding sport and only the men who are truly committed to it will have the success they are looking for. For more then 85 years of tradition, these men have sacrificed for the game they love.

It is a very simple game, but also very complicated at the same time. The goal of football is trying to score on your opponents side of the field either with a touchdown, field goal, or safety as much as you can before time expires. While this sounds fairly easy, over time there have been many variations on how to execute such an easy objective.

Football wasn’t the success it was many years ago, in fact there have been numerous occasions where football was on the brink of failure, especially in the professional football leagues.

The game we see every Sunday developed from the game called rugby and soccer. How football began is popularity into the mainstream society  were through athletic clubs where teams started to form. Walter Camp is considered to be the father of the modern day American football and helped write the first rules of American football. There have been many rule changes of the course of footballs history. At a time a field goal was 4 points and a touchdown was 5 points.

At a time professional football was considered a joke by many and college football was the main attraction. During the 1910′s and 1920′s Jim Thorpe played for the Pine Village Pros in Indiana. Thorpe was a gold medalist track star from the 1912 Summer Olympics and brought more credibility to the professional game. A major turning point during this time occurred when the major football teams of the day met in a series of meetings and formed the American Professional Football Conference. In 1922, the American Professional Foot Conference changed its name to the NFL or National Football League as we know it today. In 1924 the league had 18 franchises despite many difficulties concerning players salaries and constantly using college players while still enrolled. The NFL grew to 22 teams in 1926 but was quickly downsized to 10 teams because of the lack of talent across the league.

Entering the depression ere of the 1930s professional football the were significant changes such as dividing the NFL into two separate leagues know as the Western and Eastern leagues, an annual draft for college players, and the Pro Bowl game between the NFL Champions and a team of all-stars. The NFL’s first playoff game between The Bears and Spartans was held in 1932 indoors at Chicago Stadium in front of 10,000 people. A third league was formed, the All-American Football Conference and was considered the NFL’s rival.

During World War II the NFL rosters were cut down and wearing helmets became mandatory. National attention continued to grow the Los Angeles Rams were formed and in 1950 they became the first team to have all their games televised. As players continued to get better ties were more and more common so more playoff games were needed to determine who would play in the championship games. In 1951, the NFL Championship game was televised nation wide for the first time.

The 1960′s was a pivotal time for the NFL and the AFC. With competition for tv, radio rights, and players, the two leagues merged in 1966. In 1967,  NFL’s Green Bay Packers and the AFL’s Kansas City Chiefs played, won by the Green Bay Packers , this was the very first Superbowl. The NFL was widely known as the better professional football league and the AFL was “inferior”. That all changed when the AFL’s Jets beat the NFL’s Colts 16-7. Before that game Joe Namath made his famous “guarantee”.

In 1970, Monday Night Football came into prominence on ABC which continues today but now is broadcasted on ESPN. The same year the Superbowl trophy was renamed the Vince Lombardi trophy.

A series of rule changes were put in place in 1974 such as the goal posts moved to the back of the end zone instead of the front, a sudden death overtime, and various rules to enhance the pace of the game for more offense. Popularity of the NFL continued to rise with television contracts and larger salaries for the players. In 1982 a player strike occurred do to the Collective Bargaining Agreement but later resumed for a 9 game season.

Commissioner Paul Tagliabue had a major impact in the NFL by adding wild card playoff games, numerous television agreements, not only college seniors but college juniors are available for the NFL draft.

The NFL has come along way from the athletic clubs it originated from and players making $100s of dollars for a game. Football has overcome owner corruption, leagues forming and disbanding which seemed to be overnight, and contract disputes. The NFL has reached the pinnacle of sports in America and it seems as if it will continue to grow more profitable and successful for years to come.

The players will retire and leave a legacy, records will be broken, more players will be inducted in the Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio. The rules and faces will change, but the game will remain the same.