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...)Health issues in American football comprise a large number of health risks associated with participating in the sport. Injuries are relatively common in American football, due to its nature as a full-contact game. Injuries occur during both practice and games. Several factors can affect the frequency of injuries: epidemiological studies have shown older players can be at a greater risk, while equipment and experienced coaches can reduce the risk of injury. Common injuries include strains, sprains, fractures, dislocations, and concussions. Concussions have become a concern, as they increase the risk of mental illnesses like dementia and chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE). In individual leagues like the National Football League (NFL) and National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), a public injury report is published containing all injured players on a team, their injury and the game-day status of each player.
Catastrophic injuries—defined as serious injury to the spine, spinal cord, or brain—and fatalities are uncommon in football; both have become less common since the 1970s, although a small number of them still occur each year. Both concussions and catastrophic injuries can be caused by helmet-to-helmet collisions as well as impact against the ground or other players' knees; in other cases, they can be caused by players who have sustained a head injury returning to play, which can place the player at risk of sustaining a severe injury. Despite the decrease in catastrophic injuries, a greater number of NFL players have reported major injuries and shortened careers since the 1970s, in part due to the increasing size and speed of players and the use of artificial turf. (Full article...)General images
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Antoine "T. T." Toliver (born January 31, 1977) is a former arena football wide receiver. He played football and basketball at Mainland High School in Daytona Beach, Florida. In 1995, he was named the Class 5A Player of the Year in football and was also runner-up for Florida's Mr. Football Award. In basketball, Toliver helped Mainland win the Class 6A state championship in 1995 and 1996. He played college football and basketball at Hinds Community College, where he was named the 1997–98 Junior College Player of the Year as a quarterback. He later transferred to Bethune-Cookman University, where he played basketball but not football.
From 2000 to 2002, Toliver spent time on the practice squads of the St. Louis Rams, San Francisco 49ers and Tampa Bay Buccaneers of the National Football League. He was part of the Buccaneers team that won Super Bowl XXXVII in January 2003. He played for the Tampa Bay Storm of the AFL from 2002 to 2005. In 2003, he was part of the Storm team that won ArenaBowl XVII, becoming the first person to win an ArenaBowl and Super Bowl in the same year. Toliver later played for the AFL's Nashville Kats from 2005 to 2006, the Storm in 2007, the Orlando Predators from 2007 to 2013, the Storm from 2014 to 2016 and the Valor beginning in 2017. He was named First Team All-Arena in 2008 and Second Team All-Arena in 2016. He is the AFL's all-time leader in receptions, receiving yards and all-purpose yards. (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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“ | He couldn't spell 'cat' if you spotted him the 'c' and the 't'. | ” |
— Thomas "Hollywood" Henderson Comment made on former Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Terry Bradshaw. |
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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