Portal:American football

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The American Football Portal

American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with possession of the oval-shaped football, attempts to advance down the field by running with the ball or passing it, while the defense, the team without possession of the ball, aims to stop the offense's advance and to take control of the ball for themselves. The offense must advance at least ten yards in four downs or plays; if they fail, they turn over the football to the defense, but if they succeed, they are given a new set of four downs to continue the drive. Points are scored primarily by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone for a touchdown or kicking the ball through the opponent's goalposts for a field goal. The team with the most points at the end of a game wins.

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 1.1 million high-school athletes and 70,000 college athletes play the sport in the United States annually. The National Football League, the most popular American professional football league, 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 in the world. The league has an annual revenue of around US$15 billion, making it the most valuable sports league in the world. Other professional leagues exist worldwide, but the sport does not have the international popularity of other American sports like baseball or basketball. (Full article...)

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The Johns Hopkins–Navy football rivalry was an American intercollegiate football rivalry between the Johns Hopkins Blue Jays football team of Johns Hopkins University and the Navy Midshipmen football team of the United States Naval Academy. The two institutions, located within the span of a few miles in the state of Maryland, first met for a football game in 1882. Following the initial contest, both teams played each other annually for eight years, before it was called off for unknown reasons. The teams competed again in 1911 and 1912, again disbanding the contest until a final match took place in 1919.

The rivalry was controlled by Navy for its entirety, with the Midshipmen winning nine out of twelve contests played. While Johns Hopkins' largest win was a 25–12 defeat of the Naval Academy in 1888, Navy shutout Hopkins five times, including a 66–0 blowout in the 1919 contest. The rivalry was an essential contest for the beginning of both schools' football programs. Prior to the first game, Navy had competed in only a single contest. Johns Hopkins began their football program with the rivalry, originally having to play under a fake title in order to compete. The teams also have a historic rivalry in college lacrosse (see Johns Hopkins–Navy lacrosse rivalry). (Full article...)

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General images

The following are images from various American football-related articles on Wikipedia.

Image 1Diagram of a Canadian football field (from Canadian football)
Image 2Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium with the Hall of Fame in lower right (from Pro Football Hall of Fame)
Image 3An early American football team, from the turn of the twentieth century (from History of American football)
Image 4Original entrance to the Pro Football Hall of Fame (from Pro Football Hall of Fame)
Image 5Tom Davies of Pittsburgh runs against undefeated and unscored upon Georgia Tech in the 1918 game at Forbes Field (from History of American football)
Image 6Touchdown monument outside the Canadian Football Hall of Fame in Hamilton, Ontario (from Canadian football)
Image 7An arena football goalpost structure featuring the rebound nets on either side of the uprights. (from Indoor American football)
Image 8Montreal Alouettes quarterback Anthony Calvillo looks down field with the ball during the 93rd Grey Cup game at BC Place. (from Canadian football)
Image 91902 football game between the University of Minnesota and the University of Michigan (from History of American football)
Image 10Lehigh Valley Steelhawks (gold jerseys with black accents) vs. Triangle Torch (black jerseys with red and yellow accents) play an Indoor Football League at Dorton Arena in Raleigh, North Carolina, March 25, 2016 (from Indoor American football)
Image 11Walter 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 12The Hall is made up of several sections, with display of inductees at its heart (from Pro Football Hall of Fame)
Image 13A game between the Hamilton Tigers and the Ottawa Rough Riders, 1910 (from Canadian football)
Image 14Morgan Athletic Club (pictured c. 1900), predecessor of the Arizona Cardinals (from History of American football)
Image 15Colorado's first football team in 1890 (from History of American football)
Image 16Edmonton's Commonwealth Stadium, originally built for the 1978 Commonwealth Games, pictured in 2005. (from Canadian football)
Image 17Don Hutson in 1940. (from History of American football)
Image 18Footballs and a helmet at a Calgary Stampeders (CFL) team practice (from Canadian football)
Image 19A moment of the second game between Tufts and Harvard at College Hill, October 1875 (from History of American football)
Image 201897 Latrobe Athletic Association football team: The first entirely professional team to play an entire season. (from History of American football)
Image 21A 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 221906 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 23Jim Thorpe was the first president of the NFL. (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 25Sewanee's 1899 "Iron Men" (from History of American football)
Image 26A college football game between Colorado State University and the Air Force Academy (from History of American football)
Image 27High school football stadium in Manhattan, Kansas (from History of American football)
Image 28Inside the original structure in 2008 (from Pro Football Hall of Fame)
Image 29One of the two Harvard vs. McGill games played in 1874 (from History of American football)
Image 30The Big Game between Stanford and California was played as rugby union from 1906 to 1914 (from History of American football)
Image 31Sign at the old entrance to the PFHOF (from Pro Football Hall of Fame)
Image 32A 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 33A Native American college football team (from History of American football)

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Cleveland Browns Stadium

Credit: Chris Brown

Cleveland Browns Stadium is a football stadium located in Cleveland, Ohio. Home of the Cleveland Browns National Football League franchise, it sits on 31 acres (13 ha) of land on the shores of Lake Erie and has a capacity of at least 73,200.

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Tuineau A. Alipate (/tuːˈnaʊ ˌælɪˈpɑːteɪ/; August 21, 1967 – October 15, 2021) was a gridiron football linebacker who played in the National Football League (NFL) and Canadian Football League (CFL). After playing college football at Washington State University, Alipate played for the Saskatchewan Roughriders and Hamilton Tiger-Cats of the CFL from 1989 to 1992. In 1989, he was part of the Roughriders team that won the 77th Grey Cup. After being cut by the Roughriders, Alipate tried out for multiple NFL teams and received a practice squad position with the New York Jets. He went on to play for both the Jets and the Minnesota Vikings from 1994 to 1996, primarily on special teams. He also had a short stint with the Green Bay Packers in 1995. (Full article...)

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Calendar

2022 season: NFL • NCAA FBS (Bowl games)
Dec 25	NFL on Christmas	Green Bay vs Miami Denver vs Los Angeles Rams Tampa Bay vs Arizona
Dec 29	Holiday Bowl	#15 Oregon vs North Carolina
Dec 29	Alamo Bowl	#12 Washington vs #20 Texas
Dec 30	Orange Bowl	#6 Tennessee vs #7 Clemson
Dec 31	Sugar Bowl	#5 Alabama vs #9 Kansas State
Dec 31	Peach Bowl	#1 Georgia vs #4 Ohio State
Dec 31	Fiesta Bowl	#2 Michigan vs #3 TCU
Jan 2	Cotton Bowl Classic	#10 USC vs #16 Tulane
Jan 2	Rose Bowl	#8 Utah vs #11 Penn State
Jan 2	Citrus Bowl	#17 LSU vs Purdue