Portal:American football
The American Football Portal
American football evolved in the United States, originating from the sports of soccer and rugby. The first American football match was played on November 6, 1869, between two college teams, Rutgers and Princeton, using rules based on the rules of soccer at the time. A set of rule changes drawn up from 1880 onward by Walter Camp, the "Father of American Football", established the snap, the line of scrimmage, eleven-player teams, and the concept of downs. Later rule changes legalized the forward pass, created the neutral zone, and specified the size and shape of the football. The sport is closely related to Canadian football, which evolved in parallel with and at the same time as the American game, although its rules were developed independently from those of Camp. Most of the features that distinguish American football from rugby and soccer are also present in Canadian football. The two sports are considered the primary variants of gridiron football.
American football is the most popular sport in the United States in terms of broadcast viewership audience. The most popular forms of the game are professional and college football, with the other major levels being high-school and youth football. , nearly 1.04 million high-school athletes play the sport in the U.S., with another 81,000 college athletes in the NCAA and the NAIA. The National Football League (NFL) has the highest average attendance of any professional sports league in the world. Its championship game, the Super Bowl, ranks among the most-watched club sporting events globally. In 2022, the league had an annual revenue of around $18.6 billion, making it the most valuable sports league in the world. Other professional and amateur leagues exist worldwide, but the sport does not have the international popularity of other American sports like baseball or basketball; the sport maintains a growing following in the rest of North America, Europe, Brazil, and Japan. (Full article...)Super Bowl XLI was an American football game played between the American Football Conference (AFC) champion Indianapolis Colts and the National Football Conference (NFC) champion Chicago Bears to decide the National Football League (NFL) champion for the 2006 season. The Colts defeated the Bears by the score of 29–17. The game was played on February 4, 2007, at Dolphin Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida. This was the first and to date, only Super Bowl win for an AFC South team.
This was the first Super Bowl since Super Bowl XXX in which neither team was seeking its first title. It featured two teams ending long Super Bowl appearance droughts. The Colts, who finished with a 12–4 regular season record, were making their first Super Bowl appearance since winning Super Bowl V in the 1970 season during the team's tenure in Baltimore; they had moved to Indianapolis in 1984. Meanwhile, the Bears, who posted an NFC-best 13–3 regular season record, were making their first appearance since winning Super Bowl XX in the 1985 season. The Bears' Lovie Smith and the Colts' Tony Dungy became the first African-American head coaches to coach in the Super Bowl, with Dungy the first to win. It was also only the second championship game or series in any of the four North American major professional sports leagues to feature two African-American head coaches or managers, the other being the 1975 NBA Finals. (Full article...)General images
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Yelberton Abraham Tittle Jr. (October 24, 1926 – October 8, 2017) was an American professional football player who was a quarterback. He played in the National Football League (NFL) for the San Francisco 49ers, New York Giants, and Baltimore Colts, after spending two seasons with the Colts in the All-America Football Conference (AAFC). Known for his competitiveness, leadership, and striking profile, Tittle was the centerpiece of several prolific offenses throughout his 17-year professional career from 1948 to 1964.
Tittle played college football for Louisiana State University, where he was a two-time All-Southeastern Conference (SEC) quarterback for the LSU Tigers football team. As a junior, he was named the most valuable player (MVP) of the infamous 1947 Cotton Bowl Classic—also known as the "Ice Bowl"—a scoreless tie between the Tigers and Arkansas Razorbacks in a snowstorm. After college, he was drafted in the 1947 NFL draft by the Detroit Lions, but he instead chose to play in the AAFC for the Colts. (Full article...)Calendar
Jan 8 | College Football National Championship: #1 Michigan vs #2 Washington | |
Jan 13-15 | NFL: Wild Cards | |
Jan 20-21 | NFL: Divisional games | |
Jan 28 | NFL: Conference games | |
Feb 4 | NFL: Pro Bowl Games | |
Feb 11 | NFL: Super Bowl LVIII | |
2023 season: NFL • NCAA FBS (Bowl games) |
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“ | Playing football is obviously very strenuous. It's exhausting. You have to try very hard in football. But there's no heroic risk involved. | ” |
— Gregg Easterbrook American writer, on the consideration of professional football players as heroes |
Did you know...
- ...that running back Garrison Hearst is the only player in league history to have twice won the Comeback Player of the Year Award?
- ...that the Sutherland version of the single-wing offensive formation, named for coach Jock Sutherland, pictured, had fallen into nearly-complete disuse on the collegiate and professional levels by 1970?
- ...that only one player since 1998, University of Miami Hurricanes linebacker Dan Morgan in 2000, has claimed the Bronko Nagurski Trophy and the Chuck Bednarik Award in the same year?
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