Portal:American football
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The American Football Portal
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American football evolved in the United States, originating from the sports of soccer and rugby. The first American football game 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...)
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![A greyscale image of a man in a football uniform resting his arm on someone's knee](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/49/William_Wurtenburg.png/220px-William_Wurtenburg.png)
From 1895 to 1899, William Wurtenburg served as the head coach of the Dartmouth Big Green football program, which represented Dartmouth College in collegiate football competitions. Dartmouth had adopted football as a school sport in 1881 when the team went 1–0–1. Prior to Wurtenburg's hiring, the team had won two consecutive Triangular Football League championships under coach Wallace Moyle. Wurtenburg had been a highly successful player at Yale, where he had played at quarterback on teams that went 46–1–1 in a four-year span. He had graduated from the school in 1893 and coached the Navy Midshipmen football program for a year before his hiring by Dartmouth.
During Wurtenburg's five year coaching tenure, Dartmouth went 8–2 in conference contests and won four consecutive Triangular Football League championships. The 1895 season was made up of thirteen games, a record-setting amount for a Dartmouth team. It included the closest loss to rival Harvard up to that point. The 1896 was the most successful season of Wurtenburg's, in terms of winning percentage; the squad went 5–2–1, the tenth-best record among major teams, for a .688 win percentage. The fewest games played in a season under Wurtenburg were seven in 1897. That team managed a 4–3 record, which included a three-game scoreless streak. The 1898 squad finished the season with a losing record, 5–6, but managed to outscore its opponents 205–137. Wurtenburg's final season as Dartmouth's head coach was his worst. The team had a 2–7 overall record and went 0–2 in conference play. The season was also marked by several of the largest blowouts of Dartmouth in years. (Full article...)General images
- Image 1Edmonton's Commonwealth Stadium, originally built for the 1978 Commonwealth Games, pictured in 2005. (from Canadian football)
- Image 2An early American football team, from the turn of the twentieth century (from History of American football)
- Image 3Diagram of a Canadian football field (from Canadian football)
- Image 4A game between the Hamilton Tigers and the Ottawa Rough Riders, 1910 (from Canadian football)
- Image 5Walter Camp, the "Father of American Football", pictured here in 1878 as the captain of the Yale University football team (from History of American football)
- Image 7Inside the original structure in 2008 (from Pro Football Hall of Fame)
- Image 91902 football game between the University of Minnesota and the University of Michigan (from History of American football)
- Image 101897 Latrobe Athletic Association football team: The first entirely professional team to play an entire season. (from History of American football)
- Image 12A game between the 4th Canadian Armoured Division Atoms and First Canadian Army Red and Blue Bombers, in Utrecht, Netherlands, October 1945 (from Canadian football)
- Image 13Montreal Alouettes quarterback Anthony Calvillo looks down field with the ball during the 93rd Grey Cup game at BC Place. (from Canadian football)
- Image 14A moment of the second game between Tufts and Harvard at College Hill, October 1875 (from History of American football)
- Image 151906 St. Louis Post-Dispatch photograph of Brad Robinson, who threw the first legal forward pass and was the sport's first triple threat (from History of American football)
- Image 16Colorado's first football team in 1890 (from History of American football)
- Image 17A modern down indicator box is mounted on a pole and is used to mark the current line of scrimmage. The number on the marker is changed using a dial. (from Canadian football)
- Image 19An arena football goalpost structure featuring the rebound nets on either side of the uprights. (from Arena football)
- Image 20Morgan Athletic Club (pictured c. 1900), predecessor of the Arizona Cardinals (from History of American football)
- Image 21Touchdown monument outside the Canadian Football Hall of Fame in Hamilton, Ontario (from Canadian football)
- Image 22Tom Davies of Pittsburgh runs against undefeated and unscored upon Georgia Tech in the 1918 game at Forbes Field (from History of American football)
- Image 24A football signed by the 1974 Pro Football Hall of Fame enshrinement class (from Pro Football Hall of Fame)
- Image 25Sign at the old entrance to the Pro Football Hall of Fame (from Pro Football Hall of Fame)
- Image 26Lehigh Valley Steelhawks (gold jerseys with black accents) vs. Triangle Torch (black jerseys with red and yellow accents) play an American Indoor Football game at Dorton Arena in Raleigh, North Carolina, March 25, 2016 (from Arena football)
- Image 27A Native American college football team (from History of American football)
- Image 28Original entrance to the Pro Football Hall of Fame (from Pro Football Hall of Fame)
- Image 29The Hall is made up of several sections with display of the inductees at its heart (from Pro Football Hall of Fame)
- Image 30A college football game between Colorado State University and the Air Force Academy (from History of American football)
- Image 31The Big Game between Stanford and California was played as rugby union from 1906 to 1914 (from History of American football)
- Image 33Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium with the Hall of Fame in lower right (from Pro Football Hall of Fame)
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Calvin Johnson Jr. (born September 29, 1985) is an American former football wide receiver who played in the National Football League (NFL) for nine seasons with the Detroit Lions. Nicknamed "Megatron" after the Transformers character of the same name, he is regarded as one of the greatest wide receivers of all time. He played college football for the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets, winning the Fred Biletnikoff Award as a junior, and was selected by the Lions second overall in the 2007 NFL draft.
Johnson was noted for having a rare combination of size (6 ft 5 in and 239 lbs), catching ability, speed (40-yard dash in 4.35 seconds), strength, leaping ability, and body control. In 2012, he set the NFL season record for receiving yards. Johnson is also tied with Michael Irvin for 100-yard games in a season, tied with Adam Thielen for consecutive 100-yard games, and holds the record for consecutive games with 10 or more receptions. He appeared in six consecutive Pro Bowls from 2010 to 2015 and received three consecutive first-team All-Pro selections from 2011 to 2013. (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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“ | Football is a game played with arms, legs, and shoulders but mostly from the neck up. | ” |
— Knute Rockne University of Notre Dame Fighting Irish head coach, on the import of intellect and passion to a player's or team's succeeding |
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Did you know...
- ...that the Ottawa Rough Riders adopted the Rough Riders name in 1898 in recognition of the Rough Riders regiment commanded by Theodore Roosevelt, pictured, in the Spanish–American War?
- ...that Brian Mitchell ranks second–just 216 yards behind wide receiver Jerry Rice–in the enumeration of NFLers by career all-purpose yards gained despite having just once earned Pro Bowl honors?
- ...that two quarterbacks to have played for the Louisiana Tech University Bulldogs—Tim Rattay and Luke McCown—rank as amongst the ten players in National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I history by total career passing yardage?
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