1.
Benton Harbor, Michigan
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Benton Harbor is a city in Berrien County in the U. S. state of Michigan which is located west of Kalamazoo, and northwest of South Bend, Indiana. In 2010, the population was 10,038 according to the census and it is the smaller, by population, of the two principal cities in the Niles–Benton Harbor Metropolitan Statistical Area, an area with 156,813 people. Benton Harbor and the city of St. Joseph are separated by the St. Joseph River and are known locally as the Twin Cities, fairplain and Benton Heights are unincorporated areas adjacent to Benton Harbor. Benton Harbor was founded by Henry C, Morton, Sterne Brunson and Charles Hull, who all now have or have had schools named after them. Benton Harbor was mainly swampland bordered by the Paw Paw River, through which a canal was built, in 1860, the village was laid out by Brunson, Morton, Hull and others, and given the name of Brunson Harbor. Brunson, Morton, and Hull also donated land and solicited subscriptions for construction of the canal and it had long been recognized that a canal would be crucial to the towns development, both to drain the marsh and to provide a berthing area for ships. The canal, originally 25 feet in width but expanded to 50 feet in 1868, in 1865, the name of the settlement was changed to Benton Harbor in honor of Thomas Hart Benton, a Missouri Senator who helped Michigan achieve statehood. In 1869, Benton Harbor was organized as a village and in 1891 was incorporated as a city, two major riots occurred in 1966 and 2003. Several other riots have occurred in the intervening period. According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has an area of 4.68 square miles. Benton Harbor has a continental climate that has very warm summers for the type. Due to lake-effect snow there is very high relative to precipitation in winter. Summer high temperatures range from 77 to 83 °F from June to August, the demographics of Benton Harbor contrast sharply with those across the river in St. Joseph. As of the census of 2010, there were 10,038 people,3,548 households, the population density was 2,265.9 inhabitants per square mile. There were 4,329 housing units at a density of 977.2 per square mile. The racial makeup of the city was 7. 0% White,89. 2% African American,0. 3% Native American,0. 1% Asian,0. 8% from other races, hispanic or Latino of any race were 2. 2% of the population. 28. 6% of all households were made up of individuals and 6. 9% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older, the average household size was 2.77 and the average family size was 3.41. The median age in the city was 28.3 years
2.
Clinton, North Carolina
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Clinton is a city and the county seat of Sampson County, North Carolina, United States. The population of Clinton is 8,639 according to the 2010 US Census, Clinton is named for Richard Clinton, a Brigadier General of the North Carolina militia in the American Revolution. The first European settlers came to the Clinton area around 1740, the community was originally Clinton Courthouse. The name Clinton originated from Henry Clinton, a farmer in the area who became infamous after his death in 1759 for having at least 11 illegitimate children with girls as young as thirteen. There was an incorporated town of Clinton in Matthews County, however, that town folded in 1822. In 1852, the General Assembly passed several acts to improve regulation of towns, the corporate limits of the town at that time extended a half mile each way from the courthouse. The first records of an election were in February 1852 and the first tax rate was $0.50 per $100 valuation of real property, in July 1953, the town officially changed its name to the City of Clinton. Clinton is the center of the county, and because Sampson County is primarily rural farmland. Clinton is also where future 13th Vice President William R. King, later of Alabama, under 14th President Franklin Pierce, of New Hampshire, was born and began his legal career. He died shortly after being separately sworn-in and inaugurated in March 1853 in Havana, Cuba, Clinton had a minor league baseball team in the Tobacco State League from 1946–50, which was the last stop in the colorful career of Brooklyn Dodgers All-star pitcher Van Lingle Mungo. The Bethune-Powell Buildings, Gen. Clinton is located at 35°0′9″N 78°19′44″W, according to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 7.75 square miles,0.04 square miles of it is water. As of the census of 2010, there were 8,639 people,3,392 households, the population density was 1,114.7 people per square mile. There were 3,711 housing units at a density of 478.8 per square mile. The racial makeup of the city was 48. 9% White,40. 5% African American,1. 2% Native American,1. 1% Asian,0. 03% Pacific Islander,6. 1% from other races, and 2. 2% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 9. 2% of the population, the average household size was 2.27 and the average family size was 2.95. The age distribution of the city was 23. 6% under the age of 20,23. 8% from 20 to 39,32. 1% from 40 to 64, the median age was 42.1 years. For every 100 females there were 90.4 males, for every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 86.1 males. According to the US Census 2013 Community Survey, the household income in the city is $32,927
3.
Canadian Football League
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The Canadian Football League is a professional sports league in Canada. The CFL is the highest level of competition in Canadian football and its nine teams, which are located in nine separate cities, are divided into two divisions, the East Division, with four teams, and the West Division with five teams. As of 2016, the features a 20-week regular season. The CFL was officially founded on January 19,1958, the league was formed from a merger between the Interprovincial Rugby Football Union founded in 1907 and the Western Interprovincial Football Union founded in 1936. Rugby football began to be played in Canada in the 1860s, the CRFU was reorganized as the Canadian Rugby Union in 1891, and served as an umbrella organization for several provincial and regional unions. The Grey Cup was donated by Governor General Earl Grey in 1909 to the winning the Senior Amateur Football Championship of Canada. By that time, the sport as played in Canada had diverged markedly from its rugby origins, in 1956, the IRFU and WIFU formed a new umbrella organization, the Canadian Football Council. In 1958, the CFC left the CRU and became the Canadian Football League, as part of an agreement between the CRU and CFL, the CFL took possession of the Grey Cup, even though amateurs had not competed for it since 1954. The CRU remained the governing body for amateur play in Canada, initially, the two unions remained autonomous, and there was no intersectional play between eastern and western teams except at the Grey Cup final. This situation was analogous to how the American baseball leagues operated for years. The IRFU was renamed the Eastern Football Conference in 1960, while the WIFU was renamed the Western Football Conference in 1961, also in 1961, limited intersectional play was introduced. It was not until 1981 that the two agreed to a full merger, becoming the East and West Divisions of the CFL. With the merger came a full interlocking schedule of 16 games per season, Other team names had traditional origins. With rowing a national craze in the late 19th century, the Argonaut Rowing Club of Toronto formed a team for its members off-season participation. The football team name Toronto Argonauts still remains though it. After World War II, the two teams in Hamilton—the Tigers and the Flying Wildcats—merged both their organizations into the Hamilton Tiger-Cats, after the 1981 season, the Alouettes folded and were replaced the next year by a new franchise named the Concordes. In 1986 the Concordes were renamed the Alouettes to attract more fan support, the demise of the Alouettes forced the League to move its easternmost Western team, Winnipeg, into the East Division. In 1993, the league admitted its first United States-based franchise, after modest success, the league then expanded further in the U. S. in 1994 with the Las Vegas Posse, Baltimore Stallions, and Shreveport Pirates
4.
American football positions
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In American football, each team has 11 players on the field at one time. The specific role that a player takes on the field is called his position, under the modern rules of American football, teams are allowed unlimited substitutions, that is, teams may change any number of players after any play. This has resulted in the development of three platoons of players, the offense, the defense, and the special teams, within those platoons, various specific positions exist depending on what each players main job is. In American football, the offense is the side in which the players have possession of the ball and it is their job to advance the ball towards the opponents end zone to score points. The backs and receivers are also known as skill position players or as eligible receivers. Offensive linemen are not usually eligible to advance the ball past the line of scrimmage during a play, the organization of the offense is strictly mandated by the rules, there must be at least seven players on the line of scrimmage and no more than four players behind it. The only players eligible to handle the ball during a play are the backs. The remaining players are considered ineligible, and may only block, within these strictures, however, creative coaches have developed a wide array of offensive formations to take advantage of different player skills and game situations. The following positions are standard in every game, though different teams will use different arrangements of them. The offensive line is responsible for blocking. The offensive line consists of, Center The center is the player who begins the play from scrimmage by snapping the ball to the quarterback. As the name suggests, the center usually plays in the middle of the offensive line, like all offensive linemen, the center has the responsibility to block defensive players. The center often also has the responsibility to call out blocking assignments, offensive guard Two guards line up directly on either side of the center. Like all interior linemen, their function is to block on both running and passing plays, in such cases, the guard is referred to as a pulling guard. Guards are typically shorter builds than tackles but taller than centers, offensive tackle Two tackles play outside of the guards. Their role is primarily to block on both running and passing plays, the area from one tackle to the other is an area of close line play in which blocks from behind, which are prohibited elsewhere on the field, are allowed. For a right-handed quarterback, the tackle is charged with protecting the quarterback from being hit from behind. Like a guard, the tackle may have to pull, on a running play, the six backs and receivers are those that line up outside or behind the offensive line
5.
College football
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It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. No minor league farm organizations exist in American football and it is in college football where a players performance directly impacts his chances of playing professional football. The best collegiate players will declare for the professional draft after 3 to 4 years of collegiate competition. Those not selected can still attempt to land an NFL roster spot as a free agent. Even after the emergence of the professional National Football League, college football remained extremely popular throughout the U. S, in many cases, college stadiums employ bench-style seating, as opposed to individual seats with backs and arm rests. This allows them to more fans in a given amount of space than the typical professional stadium. College athletes, unlike players in the NFL, are not permitted by the NCAA to be paid salaries, colleges are only allowed to provide non-monetary compensation such as athletic scholarships that provide for tuition, housing, and books. Modern North American football has its origins in various games, all known as football, by the 1840s, students at Rugby School were playing a game in which players were able to pick up the ball and run with it, a sport later known as Rugby football. The game was taken to Canada by British soldiers stationed there and was soon being played at Canadian colleges, the first documented gridiron football match was a game played at University College, a college of the University of Toronto, November 9,1861. One of the participants in the game involving University of Toronto students was William Mulock, a football club was formed at the university soon afterward, although its rules of play at this stage are unclear. In 1864, at Trinity College, also a college of the University of Toronto, F. Barlow Cumberland, modern Canadian football is widely regarded as having originated with a game played in Montreal, in 1865, when British Army officers played local civilians. The game gradually gained a following, and the Montreal Football Club was formed in 1868, early games appear to have had much in common with the traditional mob football played in England. The games remained largely unorganized until the 19th century, when games of football began to be played on college campuses. Each school played its own variety of football, Princeton University students played a game called ballown as early as 1820. A Harvard tradition known as Bloody Monday began in 1827, which consisted of a mass ballgame between the freshman and sophomore classes, in 1860, both the town police and the college authorities agreed the Bloody Monday had to go. The Harvard students responded by going into mourning for a figure called Football Fightum. The authorities held firm and it was a dozen years before football was again played at Harvard. Dartmouth played its own version called Old division football, the rules of which were first published in 1871, all of these games, and others, shared certain commonalities
6.
Michigan State University
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Michigan State University is a public research university in East Lansing, Michigan, United States. MSU was founded in 1855 and served as a model for land-grant universities later created under the Morrill Act of 1862, the university was founded as the Agricultural College of the State of Michigan, one of the countrys first institutions of higher education to teach scientific agriculture. After the introduction of the Morrill Act, the college became coeducational, today, MSU is one of the largest universities in the United States and has approximately 540,000 living alumni worldwide. MSU pioneered the studies of packaging, hospitality business, supply chain management, Michigan State frequently ranks among the top 30 public universities in the United States and the top 100 research universities in the world. U. S. MSU is a member of the Association of American Universities, the universitys campus houses the National Superconducting Cyclotron Laboratory, the W. J. The Michigan State Spartans compete in the NCAA Division I Big Ten Conference, Michigan State Spartans football won the Rose Bowl Game in 1954,1956,1988 and 2014, and a total of six national championships. Spartans mens basketball won the NCAA National Championship in 1979 and 2000, Spartans ice hockey won NCAA national titles in 1966,1986 and 2007. Classes began on May 13,1857, with three buildings, five faculty members, and 63 male students, the first president, Joseph R. Williams, designed a curriculum that required more scientific study than practically any undergraduate institution of the era. It balanced science, liberal arts, and practical training, the curriculum excluded Latin and Greek studies, since most applicants did not study any classical languages in their rural high schools. However, it did three hours of daily manual labor, which kept costs down for both the students and the College. Despite Williams innovations and his defense of education for the masses and they forced him to resign in 1859 and reduced the curriculum to a two-year vocational program. In 1860, Williams became acting lieutenant governor and helped pass the Reorganization Act of 1861 and this gave the college a four-year curriculum and the power to grant masters degrees. Under the act, a newly created body, known as the State Board of Agriculture, the college changed its name to State Agricultural College, and its first class graduated in the same year. As the Civil War had begun, there was no time for a graduation ceremony. The first alumni enlisted to the Union Army, Williams died, and the following year, Abraham Lincoln signed the First Morrill Act of 1862 to support similar colleges, making the Michigan school a national model. Shortly thereafter, on March 18,1863, the designated the college its land-grant institution making Michigan State University one of the nations first land-grant college. The college first admitted women in 1870, although at that time there were no female residence halls, the few women who enrolled boarded with faculty families or made the arduous stagecoach trek from Lansing. From the early days, female students took the same scientific agriculture courses as male students
7.
National Football League Draft
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The National Football League Draft, also called the player selection meeting, is an annual event in which the National Football League teams select eligible college football players. It serves as the leagues most common source of player recruitment, from this position, the team can either select a player or trade their position to another team for other draft positions, a player or players, or any combination thereof. The round is complete when each team has selected a player or traded its draft position. Currently the draft consists of seven rounds, the original rationale in creating the draft was to increase the competitive parity between the teams as the worst team would, ideally, have chosen the best player available. In the early years of the draft, players were based on hearsay, print media. In the 1940s, some franchises began employing full-time scouts, the ensuing success of their corresponding teams eventually forced the other franchises to also hire scouts. Colloquially, the name of the each year takes on the form of the NFL season in which players picked could begin playing. For example, the 2010 NFL draft was for the 2010 NFL season, however, the NFL-defined name of the process has changed since its inception. The location of the draft has continually changed over the years to more fans. The drafts popularity now garners prime-time television coverage, in recent years, the NFL draft has occurred in late April or early May. The 2015 and 2016 NFL drafts were held in Chicago, in late 1934, Art Rooney, owner of the Pittsburgh Steelers, gave the right of usage of two players to the New York Giants because Rooneys team had no chance to participate in the post-season. After the owner of the Boston Redskins, George Preston Marshall, protested the transaction, at a league meeting in December 1934, the NFL introduced a waiver rule to prevent such transactions. Any player released by a team during the season would be able to be claimed by other teams, the selection order to claim the player would be in inverse order to the teams standings at the time. Throughout this time, Bert Bell, co-owner of the Philadelphia Eagles, felt his teams lack of competitiveness on the field made it difficult for the Eagles to sell tickets and to be profitable. As a result, the NFL was dominated by the Chicago Bears, Green Bay Packers, Giants, and Redskins. At a league meeting on May 18,1935, Bell proposed a draft be instituted to enhance the possibility of competitive parity on the field in order to ensure the viability of all franchises. His proposal was adopted unanimously that day, although the first draft would not occur until the next off-season. The rules for the selection of the players in the first draft were, first, from this pool, each franchise would select, in inverse order to their teams record in the previous year, a player
