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Selected article 1

Portal:American football/Selected article/1

A college football game between Colorado State University and the Air Force Academy
A college football game between Colorado State University and the Air Force Academy
The history of American football can be traced to early versions of rugby football. Among the major changes instituted by Walter Camp, considered the "Father of American Football", in the 19th century were the introduction of the line of scrimmage and of down-and-distance rules. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, gameplay developments helped take advantage of the newly introduced forward pass. The popularity of collegiate football grew as it became the dominant version of the sport for the first half of the twentieth century. Bowl games, a college football tradition, attracted a national audience for collegiate teams. Bolstered by fierce rivalries, college football still holds widespread appeal in the US. Meanwhile, the origin of professional football can be traced back to 1892. In 1920, the National Football League (NFL) was formed, and eventually became the major league of American football. Football's increasing popularity is usually traced to the 1958 NFL Championship Game, a contest that has been dubbed the "Greatest Game Ever Played". A rival league to the NFL, the American Football League, began play in 1960; the pressure it put on the senior league led to a merger between the two leagues and the creation of the Super Bowl, which has become the most watched television event in the United States on an annual basis. (Full article...)
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Selected article 2

Portal:American football/Selected article/2

CenturyLink Field with Seattle in the background
CenturyLink Field with Seattle in the background
CenturyLink Field is a multi-purpose stadium in Seattle, Washington, United States. The stadium was designed for both American football and soccer. It serves as the home field for the Seattle Seahawks of the National Football League (NFL) and Seattle Sounders FC of Major League Soccer (MLS). CenturyLink Field hosted the U.S. Open Cup championship matches in 2010 and 2011, with both occasions setting an attendance record for the tournament final and seeing a Sounders FC victory. The venue also hosts concerts, trade shows, and consumer shows along with sporting events. Located within a mile (1.6 km) of Seattle's central business district, it is accessible by multiple freeways and forms of mass transit. It was built between 2000 and 2002 after voters approved funding for the construction in a statewide election. This vote created the Washington State Public Stadium Authority to oversee public ownership of the venue. CenturyLink Field is a modern facility with views of the skyline of Downtown Seattle and can seat 67,000 people. (Full article...)
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Selected article 3

Portal:American football/Selected article/3 The Birmingham Americans were a professional American football team located in Birmingham, Alabama. They were members of the four-team Central Division of the World Football League (WFL).

The Americans, founded in late December 1973, played in the upstart league's inaugural season in 1974. The team was owned by William "Bill" Putnam, doing business as Alabama Football, Inc. The club played all of their home games at Legion Field. The most successful of the World Football League franchises, the Americans led the league in attendance and won all 13 of their home games. Winning their first ten games in a row, they developed a reputation for come-from-behind victories and winning by narrow margins. The Americans finished the 1974 regular season at 15–5 and won the 1974 World Bowl by one point over the Florida Blazers.

Financially unstable due to investor reluctance and lavish signing bonuses paid to lure National Football League (NFL) players to the new league, the team folded after only one season. Most of the team's assets were seized to pay back taxes; failed lawsuits to recover the signing bonus money kept the team in the headlines long after the WFL was itself defunct. The Americans were replaced as the Birmingham WFL franchise for the 1975 season by a new team called the Birmingham Vulcans. (Full article...)

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Selected article 4

Portal:American football/Selected article/4

Program cover from the Heidi Game.
Program cover from the Heidi Game.
The Heidi Game was an American football game played on November 17, 1968. The home team, the Oakland Raiders, defeated the New York Jets, 43–32. The game is remembered for its exciting finish, as Oakland scored two touchdowns in the final minute to overcome a 32–29 New York lead. The Heidi Game obtained its name because the National Broadcasting Company (NBC) controversially broke away from the game with the Jets still winning to air the television film Heidi at 7 p.m. in the Eastern Time Zone.

In the late 1960s, few professional football games took longer than two and a half hours to play, and the Jets–Raiders three-hour television time slot was thought to be adequate. A high-scoring contest, together with a number of injuries and penalties for the two bitter American Football League rivals, caused the game to run long.

The Heidi Game led to a change in the way professional football is shown on network television; games are shown to their conclusion before evening programming begins. To ensure that network personnel could communicate under similar circumstances, special telephones (dubbed "Heidi phones") were installed, with a connection to a different telephone exchange from other network phones. In 1997, the Heidi Game was voted the most memorable regular season game in pro football history. (Full article...)

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Selected article 5

Portal:American football/Selected article/5

The Virginia Tech Hokies football team takes the field before the start of the game.
The Virginia Tech Hokies football team takes the field before the start of the game.
The 2009 Orange Bowl game was the 75th edition of the annual college football bowl game known as the Orange Bowl. It pitted the 2008 Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) champion Virginia Tech Hokies against the Big East Conference champion Cincinnati Bearcats on January 1, 2009 at Dolphin Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida. Cincinnati scored first, converting the game's opening possession into a touchdown and a 7–0 lead in the first quarter. Virginia Tech responded in the second quarter, tying the game at seven before taking a 10–7 lead with a field goal as time expired in the first half. In the third quarter, the two teams battled defensively, with only the Hokies able to score any points as Tech extended its lead to 13–7. During the final quarter, Virginia Tech scored its second touchdown of the game, giving the Hokies a 20–7 lead that lasted until time expired. In recognition of his performance during the game, Virginia Tech running back Darren Evans was named the game's most valuable player. Three months after the game, players from each team entered the National Football League (NFL) via the 2009 NFL Draft. Cincinnati had six players selected in the draft, while Virginia Tech had one. (Full article...)
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Selected article 6

Portal:American football/Selected article/6

Joe Namath
Joe Namath
The history of the New York Jets American football team began in 1959 with the founding of the Titans of New York, of the American Football League (AFL). The team had little success in its early years. In January 1965, New York signed University of Alabama quarterback Joe Namath (pictured), and showed gradual improvement in the late 1960s, posting its first winning record in 1967 and winning its only American Football League championship in 1968. By winning the title, the team earned the right to play in Super Bowl III against the champions of the National Football League, the Baltimore Colts. The Jets defeated the Colts in the game, improving public perception of the AFL as the two leagues prepared to merge.

In the following years, New York had limited success, enduring a string of disastrous seasons. In 1997, the Jets hired two-time Super Bowl winning coach Bill Parcells. The new coach guided the team to its most successful season since the merger: in 1998, the Jets finished with twelve wins and four losses, reaching the AFC Championship Game. The team made five playoff appearances in the 2000s, their most of any decade. In 2009 and 2010, under coach Rex Ryan, the Jets achieved back-to-back appearances in the AFC Championship Game, losing to the Indianapolis Colts and Pittsburgh Steelers. (Full article...)

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Selected article 7

Portal:American football/Selected article/7

Paul Harvey, the deliverer of the "So God Made a Farmer" speech
Paul Harvey, the deliverer of the "So God Made a Farmer" speech
"So God Made a Farmer" was the name given to a speech given by the radio broadcaster Paul Harvey at a 1978 Future Farmers of America convention. The speech was a derivative of a 1975 article written by Harvey in the Gadsden Times, which was itself similar to a 1940 definition of a dirt farmer published in The Farmer-Stockman. The 1940 article was copied verbatim in a letter to the editor in the Ellensburg Daily Record. The speech was given as an extension of the Genesis creation narrative referring to God's actions on the 8th day of creation. Harvey described the characteristics of a farmer in each phrase, ending them with the recurring "So God Made a Farmer".

In a collaboration with the FFA, Dodge agreed to donate $100,000 for every 1,000,000 views that the YouTube video of the ad received up to $1,000,000. This goal was reached in less than five days. The ad was mostly well-received, but attracted criticism for its similarity to the earlier video and for poorly representing Hispanic farmers. A nonprofit group, Cuéntame, later did a remake featuring Latino farmers. (Full article...)

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Selected article 8

Portal:American football/Selected article/8 The National Football League Players Association (NFLPA) is the labor organization representing professional American football players in the National Football League (NFL). Founded in 1956, it was established to provide players with formal representation to negotiate compensation and the terms of a collective bargaining agreement. In the early years of the NFL, contractual negotiations took place between players and management; team owners were reluctant to engage in collective bargaining.

A series of strikes and lockouts have occurred throughout the union's existence largely due to monetary and benefit disputes between the players and the owners. League rules that punished players for playing in rival football leagues resulted in litigation; the success of such lawsuits impelled the NFL to negotiate some work rules and minimum payments with the NFLPA. It was recognized by the NFL as the official bargaining agent for players in 1968.

In addition to conducting labor negotiations, the NFLPA represents and protects the rights of players, ensures that the terms of the collective bargaining agreement are adhered to by the league and the teams, and negotiates and monitors retirement and insurance benefits. (Full article...)

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Selected article 9

Portal:American football/Selected article/9

The Texas offense shown lined up in the I formation
The Texas offense shown lined up in the I formation
The 2005 Texas Longhorns football team represented The University of Texas at Austin during the college football season of 2005–2006, winning the Big 12 Conference Championship and the national championship. The team was coached by Mack Brown, led on offense by quarterback Vince Young, and played its home games at Darrell K Royal – Texas Memorial Stadium. The team's penultimate game, the 2005 Big 12 Championship Game, was won by the largest margin of victory in Big 12 Championship Game history. Texas finished the season by winning the 2006 Rose Bowl against the University of Southern California Trojans for the national championship. Numerous publications have cited this victory and this team's season as standing among the greatest performances in college football history. The Longhorns finished as the only unbeaten team in NCAA Division I-A football that year, with thirteen wins and zero losses. (Full article...)
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Selected article 10

Portal:American football/Selected article/10 The National Football League (NFL) playoffs are a single-elimination tournament held after the end of the regular season to determine the NFL champion. Six teams from each of the league's two conferences qualify for the playoffs based on regular season records, and a tie-breaking procedure exists in the case of equal records. The tournament ends with the Super Bowl, the league's championship game, which matches the two conference champions.

NFL post-season history can be traced to the first NFL Championship Game in 1933, though in the early years, qualification for the game was based solely on regular season records. The first true NFL playoff began in 1967, when four teams qualified for the tournament. When the league merged with the American Football League in 1970, the playoffs expanded to eight teams. The playoffs were expanded to ten teams in 1978 and twelve teams in 1990.

The NFL is the only one out of the four major professional sports leagues in the United States to use a single-elimination tournament in all four rounds of its playoffs; Major League Baseball (not including their Wild Card Showdown postseason round), the National Basketball Association and the National Hockey League all use a "best-of" format instead. (Full article...)

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Selected article 11

Portal:American football/Selected article/11 The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league consisting of 32 teams, divided equally between the National Football Conference (NFC) and the American Football Conference (AFC). The NFL is one of the four major professional sports leagues in North America, and the highest professional level of American football in the world. The NFL's 17-week regular season runs from the week after Labor Day to the week after Christmas, with each team playing 16 games and having one bye week. Following the conclusion of the regular season, six teams from each conference (four division winners and two wild card teams) advance to the playoffs, a single-elimination tournament culminating in the Super Bowl, played between the champions of the NFC and AFC. The NFL was formed in 1920 as the American Professional Football Association (APFA) before renaming itself the National Football League for the 1922 season. The NFL agreed to merge with the American Football League (AFL) in 1966, and the first Super Bowl was held at the end of that season; the merger was completed in 1970. Today, the NFL has the highest average attendance (67,591) of any professional sports league in the world and is the most popular sports league in the United States. (Full article...)

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