1.
Danny Gabbidon
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Daniel Leon Danny Gabbidon is a Welsh professional footballer who plays for Welsh club Panteg as a defender. He has previously played for West Bromwich Albion, Cardiff City, West Ham United, Queens Park Rangers and he also plays for the Wales national team. Born in Cwmbran, Wales, Gabbidon began his career at West Bromwich Albion, joining as an apprentice in November 1996 before turning professional in July 1998. He made his Albion début in a 1–0 home defeat against Ipswich Town on 20 March 1999 and, utilised as a right-back, following the appointment of Gary Megson as manager towards the end of the 1999–2000 season, Gabbidon failed to keep his place in the team. Megson switched to a 5-3-2 formation, signing Des Lyttle to fill the right-wingback position, Gabbidon joined Cardiff City on a one-month loan at the start of the 2000–01 season. Gabbidon signed a permanent four-year deal with Cardiff City in September 2000, for a fee of up to £500,000 depending on appearances and future honours. He signed an extension to his contract in April 2002, saying that it was the prospect of exciting times ahead that had persuaded him to do so and he returned to the first-team in time to help Cardiff win promotion to Division 1 through the play-offs in May 2003. Gabbidon went on to earn a place in the First Division team of the year in April 2004, despite speculation during 2004 that Gabbidon might leave Cardiff City, Gabbidon signed an extension to his contract in September 2004, tying him to the club until 2008. Cardiff were prepared to offer him, the 2004–05 season saw Cardiff embroiled in a relegation battle in the first half of the season, something to which Gabbidon was unaccustomed. An unbeaten run in January 2005 however saw Cardiff lift themselves five points clear of the Championship relegation zone and Gabbidon named the Championships player of the month. A financial crisis at Cardiff at the end of the led to Gabbidon being unsure of his future at the club. On 4 July 2009 he played in the first ever game at the Cardiff City Stadium, Gabbidon moved to West Ham in July 2005, as part of a deal that also took fellow defender James Collins to Upton Park. His performances for his country during the year won him the Welsh Footballer of the Year award in October 2005, after his performances in the 2005–06 season, he was voted Hammer of the Year with Marlon Harewood named as runner-up. Gabbidon had been ever-present as West Ham struggled against relegation in the 2006–07 season, when he suffered a hamstring in November 2006. Groin injuries required surgery in January 2007 and again in April, West Ham started the 2007–08 season with Anton Ferdinand and Matthew Upson in the centre of defence with Gabbidon as substitute. He signed an extension to his contract in August 2007, saying, I am disappointed not to be in the side. We will both now work hard and fight to prove we are worthy of a place in the side, injuries meant Gabbidon played no football for West Ham from December 2007 until August 2009 when he made his return in the League Cup game against Millwall. Gabbidon is one of a number of Premier League players that use Twitter to communicate with fans, in May 2011 he was fined £6,000 by the Football Association for comments he made on Twitter in April 2011 after West Hams 2–1 home defeat by Aston Villa
2.
Crystal Palace F.C.
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Crystal Palace Football Club is a professional football club based in South Norwood, London, that plays in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The club was founded in 1905 at the famous Crystal Palace Exhibition building by the owners of the FA Cup Final stadium which was situated inside the historic Palace grounds. The club played their games at the Cup Final venue until 1915, but then the First World War forced them to move out and play at Herne Hill Velodrome. In 1924, the moved to their current home at Selhurst Park. Palace have been FA Cup finalists twice, in 1990 and 2016, the club were denied a place in Europe at the end of that season due to the partial UEFA ban on English clubs caused by the Heysel Stadium disaster. Palace were one of the founding members of the Premier League. The club were winners of the Full Members Cup in 1991 when they beat Everton in the Wembley final, Palace have been second tier champions twice and hold the record for the most play-off wins for promotion to the top flight, winning the final four times. In 1973, the changed its original nickname from The Glaziers to The Eagles. The club had played in claret and blue colours. Palace have rivalries with Brighton & Hove Albion, with whom they contest the M23 derby, in 1895, the Football Association had found a new permanent home for the FA Cup Final at the site of the famous Crystal Palace Exhibition building. There had been an amateur Crystal Palace team as early as 1861, the owners of the venue wanted a professional club to play there and tap into the vast crowd potential of the area. Crystal Palace Football Club, originally nicknamed The Glaziers, was formed on 10 September 1905 under the guidance of Aston Villa assistant secretary Edmund Goodman, the club applied to enter the Football League alongside Chelsea and Southampton, but was the only unsuccessful team of the three. The club instead found itself in the Southern League Second Division for the 1905–06 season, the club was successful in its inaugural season and was promoted to the First Division, crowned as champions. Palace remained in the Southern League up until 1914, their one highlight the 1907 shock First Round victory over Newcastle United in the FA Cup. The outbreak of the First World War led to the Admiralty requisitioning the Crystal Palace, Three years later the club moved again to the Nest due to the folding of Croydon Common F. C. The club joined the Football League Third Division in the 1920–21 season, finishing as champions, during this period, Palace also won the London Challenge Cup three times in 1913,1914, and 1921. Palace moved to the purpose-built stadium Selhurst Park in 1924, the ground the club plays at today, the opening fixture at Selhurst Park was against Sheffield Wednesday, Palace losing 0–1 in front of a crowd of 25,000. Finishing in twenty-first position, the club was relegated to the Third Division South, before the Second World War Palace made good efforts at promotion, never finishing outside the top half of the table and finishing second on three occasions
3.
Team sport
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A team sport includes any sport which involves two or more players working together towards a shared objective. A team sport is an activity in individuals are organized into opposing teams which compete to win. Examples are basketball, volleyball, water polo, handball, lacrosse, cricket, baseball, Team sports are practiced between opposing teams, where the players interact directly and simultaneously between them to achieve an objective. The objective generally involves teammates facilitating the movement of a ball or similar object in accordance with a set of rules, in order to score points. However, other types of team sports do not involve teammates facilitating the movement of a ball or similar item in accordance with a set of rules, for example, swimming, rowing, sailing, dragon boat racing, and track and field among others are also team sports. In other types of team sports there may not be a team or point scoring, for example. Instead of points scored against a team, the relative difficulty of the climb or walk is the measure of the achievement. In some sports where participants are entered by a team, they do not only compete against members of other teams, for example, motorsport, particularly Formula One. This process is known as team orders and although previously accepted was banned in Formula One between 2002 and 2010, after a controversy involving team orders at the 2010 German Grand Prix however, the regulation was removed as of the 2011 season. Organized sports in athletics, started in Greece in 796 BC, is recorded up to 393 BC and these games, which are Olympic games, were a form to test the skills of warriors, consisted of running, jumping or leaping, wrestling, and javelin throw. In the Bayankhongor Province of Mongolia cave paintings dating back to Neolithic age of 7000 BC depict a wrestling match surrounded by crowds, cave paintings of the Prehistoric times in Japan show a sport similar to sumo wrestling. In Wadi Sura, near Gilf Kebir in Libya, Neolithic in the cave of swimmers shows evidence of swimming in a rock painting, the name athletes is derived from Aethelius, the King of Elis in Olympia, Greece. Before the start of the gods were invoked by offering of mostly fruits. The winner of the race was crowned with a wreath of olive or laurel, in subsequent years monetary attractions were introduced as prize money. However, the practice of offering celery sticks is still in vogue in the 100 m sprint in the Olympics, the present pattern of Olympic Games is akin to the practice followed in the ancient days. The 200 m sprint is known in Greek as short foot race, the 400 m race is equivalent to two stades and called Diaulos in Greek. With the advent of computer gaming and the Internet, Esports which is in vogue for quite a few years was recorded in October 1972 as a video game. A Space war tournament was organized by Stanford University which was titled Intergalactic Spacewar Olympics with an offering of one-year subscription to Rolling Stone
4.
Road (sports)
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A road game or away game is a sports game where the specified team is not the host and must travel to another venue. Most professional teams represent cities or towns and amateur sports teams often represent academic institutions, each team has a location where it practices during the season and where it hosts games. When a team is not the host, it must travel to games. Thus, when a team is not hosting a game, the team is described as the team, the visiting team, or the away team. The venue in which the game is played is described as the stadium or the road. The host team is said to be the home team, major sporting events, if not held at a neutral venue, are often over several legs at each teams home ground, so that neither team has an advantage over the other. Occasionally, the team may not have to travel very far at all to a road game. These matches often become local derbies, a few times a year, a road team may even be lucky enough to have the road game played at their own home stadium or arena. This is prevalent in college athletics where many schools will play in regional leagues or groundshare. The related term true road game has seen increasing use in U. S. college sports in the 21st century, while regular-season tournaments and other special events have been part of college sports from their creation, the 21st century has seen a proliferation of such events. These are typically held at sites, with some of them taking place outside the contiguous U. S. or even outside the country entirely. In turn, this has led to the use of true road game to refer to contests played at one home venue. In some association football leagues, particularly in Europe, the teams fans sit in their own section. Depending on the stadium, they will either sit in a designated section or be separated from the home fans by a cordon of police officers. However, in the leagues in England, supporters may be free to mix. When games are played at a site, for instance the FA Cup final in England which is always played at Wembley Stadium. This results in each team occupying one half of the stadium and this is different from other sports, particularly in North America, where very few fans travel to games played away from their home stadium. Home and away fans are not separated at these games
5.
Rugby union
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Rugby union, known in some parts of the world simply as rugby, is a contact team sport which originated in England in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its most common form, a game is between two teams of 15 players using a ball on a rectangular field with H-shaped goalposts on each try line. Historically an amateur sport, in 1995 restrictions on payments to players were removed, World Rugby, originally the International Rugby Football Board and from 1998 to 2014 the International Rugby Board, has been the governing body for rugby union since 1886. Rugby union spread from the Home Nations of Great Britain and Ireland, early exponents of the sport included Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and France. Countries that have adopted rugby union as their de facto national sport include Fiji, Georgia, Madagascar, New Zealand, Samoa, Tonga, Rugby union is played in over 100 countries across six continents, there are 101 full members and 18 associate members of World Rugby. The Rugby World Cup, first held in 1987, takes place four years with the winner of the tournament receiving the Webb Ellis Cup. The Six Nations Championship in Europe and The Rugby Championship in the Southern Hemisphere are major annual competitions. The origin of football is reputed to be an incident during a game of English school football at Rugby School in 1823. Although the evidence for the story is doubtful, it was immortalised at the school with a plaque unveiled in 1895, despite the doubtful evidence, the Rugby World Cup trophy is named after Webb Ellis. Rugby football stems from the form of game played at Rugby School, Old Rugbeian Albert Pell, a student at Cambridge, is credited with having formed the first football team. During this early period different schools used different rules, with pupils from Rugby. Other important events include the Blackheath Clubs decision to leave the Football Association in 1863, despite the sports full name of rugby union, it is known simply as rugby throughout most of the world. The first rugby football international was played on 27 March 1871 between Scotland and England, by 1881 both Ireland and Wales had representative teams, and in 1883 the first international competition, the Home Nations Championship had begun. 1883 is also the year of the first rugby tournament, the Melrose Sevens. During the early history of union, a time before commercial air travel. The first two notable tours both took place in 1888—the British Isles team touring New Zealand and Australia, followed by the New Zealand team touring Europe, All three teams brought new styles of play, fitness levels and tactics, and were far more successful than critics had expected. After Morgan began singing, the crowd joined in, the first time a national anthem was sung at the start of a sporting event, in 1905 France played England in its first international match
6.
Association football
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Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of eleven players with a spherical ball. It is played by 250 million players in over 200 countries and dependencies making it the worlds most popular sport, the game is played on a rectangular field with a goal at each end. The object of the game is to score by getting the ball into the opposing goal, players are not allowed to touch the ball with their hands or arms while it is in play, unless they are goalkeepers. Other players mainly use their feet to strike or pass the ball, the team that scores the most goals by the end of the match wins. If the score is level at the end of the game, the Laws of the Game were originally codified in England by The Football Association in 1863. Association football is governed internationally by the International Federation of Association Football, the first written reference to the inflated ball used in the game was in the mid-14th century, Þe heued fro þe body went, Als it were a foteballe. The Online Etymology Dictionary states that the word soccer was split off in 1863, according to Partha Mazumdar, the term soccer originated in England, first appearing in the 1880s as an Oxford -er abbreviation of the word association. Within the English-speaking world, association football is now usually called football in the United Kingdom and mainly soccer in Canada and the United States. People in Australia, Ireland, South Africa and New Zealand use either or both terms, although national associations in Australia and New Zealand now primarily use football for the formal name. According to FIFA, the Chinese competitive game cuju is the earliest form of football for which there is scientific evidence, cuju players could use any part of the body apart from hands and the intent was kicking a ball through an opening into a net. It was remarkably similar to football, though similarities to rugby occurred. During the Han Dynasty, cuju games were standardised and rules were established, phaininda and episkyros were Greek ball games. An image of an episkyros player depicted in low relief on a vase at the National Archaeological Museum of Athens appears on the UEFA European Championship Cup, athenaeus, writing in 228 AD, referenced the Roman ball game harpastum. Phaininda, episkyros and harpastum were played involving hands and violence and they all appear to have resembled rugby football, wrestling and volleyball more than what is recognizable as modern football. As with pre-codified mob football, the antecedent of all football codes. Non-competitive games included kemari in Japan, chuk-guk in Korea and woggabaliri in Australia, Association football in itself does not have a classical history. Notwithstanding any similarities to other games played around the world FIFA have recognised that no historical connection exists with any game played in antiquity outside Europe. The modern rules of football are based on the mid-19th century efforts to standardise the widely varying forms of football played in the public schools of England
7.
Third jersey
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Alternate jerseys are also a means for professional sports organizations to generate revenue, by sales to fans. Of North American sports leagues, the NFL generates $1.2 billion annually in jersey sales, another use of the alternate uniform is for identifying with causes, like the Central Coast Mariners wear an alternate pink kit on pink ribbon day. Extra alternate uniforms or fourth/fifth kits are not commonly used, but are required when teams other uniforms cause color clashes. In cases where teams have more than three kits in the same season, the extra kits were usually recycled from previous seasons. Third-choice jerseys or uniforms are used in all four North American major professional sports leagues, Third kits are commonplace in professional European association football and in some professional European rugby union clubs. Alternate guernseys or jerseys are common in Australias two biggest domestic leagues, the Australian Football League and National Rugby League, for home and away jerseys in North America, historical convention has often dictated the colors used by teams in a given league. Teams generally have one jersey which is primarily in a team color, white at home is the convention in baseball, basketball, minor league professional hockey, and college hockey. White while away is the convention in football, major professional hockey. Association football does not have a white at home or a white while away convention, the NBA and NHL both enforce the color/white rule strictly, any NHL team seeking to wear white at home must get express permission from the league office to do so. In American sports, throwback jerseys are generally used for special team games. In American football a third jersey may be a uniform based on designs the team used in the past. In association football, meanwhile, it is commonly a radically different design. Initially, the NFL rule stated that a team may wear their third only once a year. There are currently no rules on wearing alternate pants, teams are also permitted to wear alternate jerseys as often as desired in playoff games, the only team to do so was the 2008 San Diego Chargers. Some teams will use one of their third jersey allotments against a particular division opponent each year. The New York Giants were known to wear their red jerseys at home against the Dallas Cowboys until the red jerseys were retired in 2009. The Washington Redskins wear their uniform on home games to commemorate their annual homecoming game once a year since 2012. When wearing their jerseys, especially if the team is wearing a throwback uniform
8.
Throwback uniform
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Throwback uniforms, throwback jerseys or retro kits or heritage guernseys are sports uniforms styled to resemble the uniforms that a team wore in the past. One-time or limited-time retro uniforms are produced to be worn by teams in games. Throwback uniforms have proven popular in all major pro and college sports in North America, not only with fans, because the authentic uniforms and less-authentic replicas had been so popular at retail, the professional leagues institutionalized throwbacks as third jerseys. Often, the games where teams will wear throwbacks are promoted as Turn Back The Clock Nights, Throwbacks also make frequent appearances every season in college football games, National Hockey League games, and in National Basketball Association games. The first companies to produce throwback uniforms were Tiedman & Company Sportswear, Mitchell & Ness, all three companies are still in business, Tiedman & Company relaunched in 2009 under the brand name Tiedman & Formby Vintage Athletic Co. In some instances, teams will wear fauxbacks, retro designed uniforms harkening back to an era which pre-dates the team itself, Throwbacks were introduced in the NFL in 1991 at retail through the NFL Throwbacks Collection. The rights to produce the vintage apparel was limited to six apparel licensees, including Tiedman & Company Sportswear, Riddell, Starter, Nutmeg Mills, in 1994, to honor the NFLs 75th Anniversary, teams were allowed to wear modern versions of their old uniform styles. A rule imposed by the AFL–NFL merger in 1970 adopted the AFLs policy of all jerseys displaying the players last name on the back side. This practice was not part of the NFL officially until after the merger, but in order to keep consistency with current rules, in most instances the fonts and typestyles used were only approximate matches at best. The Dallas Cowboys and Buffalo Bills received some criticism for their portrayal of their throwbacks, later that season, the Cowboys used the double-star uniform, which could be considered an updated version of the 1960s jerseys. The Bills adopted 1975-era throwbacks, with helmets, as their main uniform in 2011. The Bills and Cowboys did the same when they adopted their retro unis, all the teams were informed that they would be wearing the Throwbacks during Week Three of the season. Some teams continued to wear throughout the season. The San Francisco 49ers wore replicas of their 1955 uniforms in their Super Bowl XXIX victory, the uniforms were well-liked enough that the 49ers brought them back, in slightly modified form, for 1996–1997. In 1998, the pants from before were returned, in more modern form. In 2009, the team debuted a design of the 1980s uniforms that won them four of their five Super Bowls. Both teams have modernized the 1960s decals for their current primary corporate logos, as a result of the NFL modifying its rules to allow teams to wear alternate jerseys in 2002, throwbacks still make occasional appearances. The Thanksgiving Day games hosted by the Detroit Lions and Dallas Cowboys have been a showcase of throwbacks in recent years, the Bills, San Diego Chargers and Cowboys traditionally wear their early 1960s throwbacks twice each season
9.
Uniform
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A uniform is a type of clothing worn by members of an organization while participating in that organizations activity. Modern uniforms are most often worn by armed forces and paramilitary organizations such as police, emergency services, security guards, in workplaces and schools. In some countries, some other officials also wear uniforms in their duties, for some public groups, such as police, it is illegal for non members to wear the uniform. Workers sometimes wear uniforms or corporate clothing of one nature or another, the use of uniforms by these organizations is often an effort in branding and developing a standard corporate image but also has important effects on the employees required to wear the uniform. Academic work on organizational dress by Rafaeli & Pratt referred to uniformity of dress as one dimension, and conspicuousness as a second. Employees all wearing black, for example, may appear conspicuous and thus represent the organization even though their attire is uniform only in the color of their appearance, not in its features. Pratt & Rafaeli, described struggles between employees and management about organizational dress as struggles about deeper meanings and identities that dress represents, and Pratt & Rafaeli described dress as one of the larger set of symbols and artifacts in organizations which coalesce into a communication grammar. Uniforms are required in many schools, school uniforms vary from a standard issue T-shirt to rigorous requirements for many items of formal wear at private schools. School uniforms are in place in public schools as well. The ties will usually be in a set pattern for the school, and jackets will usually carry a patch on the breast pocket with the name, coat of arms. Jackets are being replaced in many schools by sweatshirts bearing the school badge, children in many United Kingdom state primary schools will have a uniform jumper and/or polo shirt with the school name and logo. From about 1800 to after the Second World War, diplomats from most countries wore official uniforms at public occasions, such uniforms are now retained by only a few diplomatic services, and are seldom worn. A prison uniform is any uniform worn by individuals incarcerated in a prison, most, if not all, sports teams also wear uniforms, made in the teams distinctive colors. In individual sports like tennis and golf, players may choose any clothing design allowed by the competition rules, customarily, National Football League and National Hockey League teams wear their color uniforms for home games. By contrast, Major League Baseball and National Basketball Association teams wear their uniforms for home games. These rules are not strictly enforced, however, for any of the four professional sports leagues in North America. Some NFL teams, most notably the Dallas Cowboys, prefer to wear their white jerseys for home games, when Joe Gibbs was the head coach of the Washington Redskins — first from 1981-1992, and again from 2004-2007 — the Redskins exclusively wore white jerseys at home games. In the United Kingdom, especially in football, the kit or strip are more common
10.
Black and white
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Black and white, often abbreviated B/W or B&W, and hyphenated black-and-white when used as an adjective, is any of several monochrome forms in visual arts. Black-and-white images are not usually starkly contrasted black and white and they combine black and white in a continuum producing a range of shades of gray. Even when most studios had the capability to make color films they were not heavily utilized as using the Technicolor process was expensive, for the years 1940–1966, a separate Academy Award for Best Art Direction was given for black-and-white movies along with one for color. Television, Television program was first transmitted in black-and-white, scottish inventor John Logie Baird demonstrated the worlds first color television transmission on July 3,1928 using a mechanical process. Some color broadcasts in the US began in the 1950s, with color becoming common in industrialized nations during the late 1960s. In the United States, the Federal Communications Commission settled on a color NTSC standard in 1953, color television became more widespread in the U. S. between 1963 and 1967, when the CBS and ABC networks joined NBC in broadcasting full color schedules. Canada began airing color television in 1966 while the United Kingdom began to use a different color system from July 1967 known as PAL. The Republic Of Ireland followed in 1970, in China, black and white television sets were the norm until as late as the 1990s, color TVs not outselling them until about 1989. While seldom used now, many consumer camcorders have the ability to record in black-and-white. Photography, Photographs were either black-and-white or shades of sepia, color photography was originally rare and expensive and again often containing inaccurate hues. Color photography became more common from the mid-20th century, Today, black-and-white is a niche market for photographers who use the medium for artistic purposes. This can take the form of film or digital conversion to grayscale. For amateur use certain companies such as Kodak manufactured black-and-white disposable cameras until 2009, also, certain films are produced today which give black-and-white images using the ubiquitous C41 color process. Printing press, Most American newspapers were black-and-white until the early 1980s, The New York Times, some claim that USA Today was the major impetus for the change to color. In the UK, color was only introduced from the mid-1980s. Even today, many newspapers restrict color photographs to the front, similarly, daily comic strips in newspapers were traditionally black-and-white with color reserved for Sunday strips. Sometimes color is reserved for the cover, magazines such as Jet magazine were either all or mostly black-and-white until the end of the 2000s when it became all-color. Manga are typically published in black-and-white although now it is part of its image, many school yearbooks are still entirely or mostly in black-and-white
11.
Television
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Television or TV is a telecommunication medium used for transmitting moving images in monochrome, or in color, and in two or three dimensions and sound. The term can refer to a set, a television program. Television is a medium for entertainment, education, news, politics, gossip. Television became available in experimental forms in the late 1920s. After World War II, a form of black-and-white TV broadcasting became popular in the United States and Britain, and television sets became commonplace in homes, businesses. During the 1950s, television was the medium for influencing public opinion. In the mid-1960s, color broadcasting was introduced in the US, for many reasons, the storage of television and video programming now occurs on the cloud. At the end of the first decade of the 2000s, digital television transmissions greatly increased in popularity, another development was the move from standard-definition television to high-definition television, which provides a resolution that is substantially higher. HDTV may be transmitted in various formats, 1080p, 1080i, in 2013, 79% of the worlds households owned a television set. Most TV sets sold in the 2000s were flat-panel, mainly LEDs, major manufacturers announced the discontinuation of CRT, DLP, plasma, and even fluorescent-backlit LCDs by the mid-2010s. In the near future, LEDs are gradually expected to be replaced by OLEDs, also, major manufacturers have announced that they will increasingly produce smart TVs in the mid-2010s. Smart TVs with integrated Internet and Web 2.0 functions became the dominant form of television by the late 2010s, Television signals were initially distributed only as terrestrial television using high-powered radio-frequency transmitters to broadcast the signal to individual television receivers. Alternatively television signals are distributed by cable or optical fiber, satellite systems and. Until the early 2000s, these were transmitted as analog signals, a standard television set is composed of multiple internal electronic circuits, including a tuner for receiving and decoding broadcast signals. A visual display device which lacks a tuner is correctly called a video monitor rather than a television, the word television comes from Ancient Greek τῆλε, meaning far, and Latin visio, meaning sight. The Anglicised version of the term is first attested in 1907 and it was. formed in English or borrowed from French télévision. In the 19th century and early 20th century, other. proposals for the name of a technology for sending pictures over distance were telephote. The abbreviation TV is from 1948, the use of the term to mean a television set dates from 1941
12.
Gridiron football
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Gridiron football, or North American football, is a form of football primarily played in the United States and Canada. The predominant forms of football are American football and Canadian football. The grid system was abandoned in favor of the system of lines and hash marks used today. Gridiron football developed in the late 19th century out of the games now known as rugby football. Walter Camp is credited with creating many of the rules that differentiate gridiron football from its older counterparts, because the two sets of lines had the same spacing and were perpendicular, they divided the field into squares, resembling a checkerboard or gridiron pattern. The word gridiron, in use since the 14th century, refers to a grid for cooking food over a fire. As described in Outdoor Sports and Games, by Claude H. Miller, at each end are goal posts set 18 feet 6 inches apart, with a crossbar 10 feet above the ground. The field is marked off in chalk lines similar to a tennis court, the centre of the field where the play starts is 55 yards from either end. The lines on a football field make an effect and have given to the field the name of gridiron. As a result, the name of the field, gridiron, was applied to the game itself, the ball would be snapped in the grid in which it was downed on the previous play. The grid system was abandoned in favor of the system of lines and hash marks used today. Especially outside of the U. S. and Canada, the gridiron and gridiron football are often used to distinguish the North American sport from other codes of football. Gridiron is the word for the sport in Australia and New Zealand. In the United States and Canada, the game is known unambiguously as football, association football is known in these countries as soccer and rugby football, seldom encountered in the U. S. is known as rugby or, especially in Canada, English rugby. American football is the most common and widely known of the football codes. It is played with players to a side, four downs. The premier professional league in the United States, the National Football League, has its own distinct code, colleges in the United States generally play under the code defined in NCAA Football Rules and Interpretations. Youth games generally follow NFHS code with modifications, adult semi-pro, alternative and minor professional, amateur, touch, flag, etc. may follow any one of these codes or use their own rules
13.
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
14.
National Football League
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The National Football League is a professional American football league consisting of 32 teams, divided equally between the National Football Conference and the American Football Conference. The NFL is one of the four professional sports leagues in North America. The NFLs 17-week regular season runs from the week after Labor Day to the week after Christmas, with each team playing 16 games, the NFL was formed in 1920 as the American Professional Football Association before renaming itself the National Football League for the 1922 season. The NFL agreed to merge with the American Football League 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 of any sports league in the world and is the most popular sports league in the United States. S. The NFLs executive officer is the commissioner, who has authority in governing the league. The team with the most NFL championships is the Green Bay Packers with thirteen, the current NFL champions are the New England Patriots, who defeated the Atlanta Falcons 34–28 in Super Bowl LI. Another meeting held on September 17,1920 resulted in the renaming of the league to the American Professional Football Association, the league hired Jim Thorpe as its first president, and consisted of 14 teams. Only two of these teams, the Decatur Staleys and the Chicago Cardinals, remain, the first event occurred on September 26,1920 when the Rock Island Independents defeated the non-league St. Paul Ideals 48–0 at Douglas Park. On October 3,1920, the first full week of league play occurred, the following season resulted in the Chicago Staleys controversially winning the title over the Buffalo All-Americans. In 1922, the APFA changed its name to the National Football League, in 1932, the season ended with the Chicago Bears and the Portsmouth Spartans tied for first in the league standings. This method had used since the leagues creation in 1920. The league quickly determined that a game between Chicago and Portsmouth was needed to decide the leagues champion. Playing with altered rules to accommodate the playing field, the Bears won the game 9–0. Fan interest in the de facto championship game led the NFL, beginning in 1933, the 1934 season also marked the first of 12 seasons in which African Americans were absent from the league. The de facto ban was rescinded in 1946, following public pressure, the NFL was always the foremost professional football league in the United States, it nevertheless faced a large number of rival professional leagues through the 1930s and 1940s. Rival leagues included at least three separate American Football Leagues and the All-America Football Conference, on top of regional leagues of varying caliber. Three NFL teams trace their histories to these leagues, including the Los Angeles Rams
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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
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National Hockey League
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Headquartered in New York City, the NHL is considered to be the premier professional ice hockey league in the world, and one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Canada. The Stanley Cup, the oldest professional sports trophy in North America, is awarded annually to the playoff champion at the end of each season. At its inception, the NHL had four teams—all in Canada, the league expanded to the United States in 1924, when the Boston Bruins joined, and has since consisted of American and Canadian teams. After a labour-management dispute that led to the cancellation of the entire 2004–05 season, in 2009, the NHL enjoyed record highs in terms of sponsorships, attendance, and television audiences. The league draws many highly skilled players from all over the world, canadians have historically constituted the majority of the players in the league, with an increasing percentage of American and European players in recent seasons. The National Hockey League was established in 1917 as the successor to the National Hockey Association, founded in 1909, the NHA began play one year later with seven teams in Ontario and Quebec, and was one of the first major leagues in professional ice hockey. Realizing the NHA constitution left them unable to force Livingstone out, the four teams voted instead to suspend the NHA, frank Calder was chosen as its first president, serving until his death in 1943. The Bulldogs were unable to play, and the remaining owners created a new team in Toronto, the first games were played on December 19,1917. The Montreal Arena burned down in January 1918, causing the Wanderers to cease operations, the NHL replaced the NHA as one of the leagues that competed for the Stanley Cup, which was an interleague competition back then. Toronto won the first NHL title, and then defeated the Vancouver Millionaires of the Pacific Coast Hockey Association for the 1918 Stanley Cup. The Canadiens won the title in 1919, however their Stanley Cup Final against the PCHAs Seattle Metropolitans was abandoned as a result of the Spanish Flu epidemic. Montreal in 1924 won their first Stanley Cup as a member of the NHL, the Hamilton Tigers, won the regular season title in 1924–25 but refused to play in the championship series unless they were given a C$200 bonus. The league refused and declared the Canadiens the league champion after defeated the Toronto St. Patricks in the semi-final. Montreal was then defeated by the Victoria Cougars of the Western Canada Hockey League for the 1925 Stanley Cup and it was the last time a non-NHL team won the trophy, as the Stanley Cup became the de facto NHL championship in 1926 after the WCHL ceased operation. The National Hockey League embarked on rapid expansion in the 1920s, adding the Montreal Maroons, the Bruins were the first American team in the league. The New York Americans began play in 1925 after purchasing the assets of the Hamilton Tigers, the New York Rangers were added in 1926. The Chicago Black Hawks and Detroit Cougars were also added after the league purchased the assets of the defunct WCHL, a group purchased the Toronto St. Patricks in 1927 and immediately renamed them the Maple Leafs. The first NHL All-Star Game was held in 1934 to benefit Ace Bailey, the second was held in 1937 in support of Howie Morenzs family when he died of a coronary embolism after breaking his leg during a game
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Major League Baseball
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Major League Baseball is a professional baseball organization, the oldest of the four major professional sports leagues in the United States and Canada. A total of 30 teams now play in the National League and American League, the NL and AL operated as separate legal entities from 1876 and 1901 respectively. After cooperating but remaining legally separate entities since 1903, the merged into a single organization led by the Commissioner of Baseball in 2000. The organization also oversees Minor League Baseball, which comprises about 240 teams affiliated with the Major League clubs, with the World Baseball Softball Confederation, MLB manages the international World Baseball Classic tournament. Baseballs first professional team was founded in Cincinnati in 1869,30 years after Abner Doubleday supposedly invented the game of baseball, the first few decades of professional baseball were characterized by rivalries between leagues and by players who often jumped from one team or league to another. The period before 1920 in baseball was known as the dead-ball era, Baseball survived a conspiracy to fix the 1919 World Series, which came to be known as the Black Sox Scandal. The sport rose in popularity in the 1920s, and survived potential downturns during the Great Depression, shortly after the war, baseballs color barrier was broken by Jackie Robinson. The 1950s and 1960s were a time of expansion for the AL and NL, then new stadiums, Home runs dominated the game during the 1990s, and media reports began to discuss the use of anabolic steroids among Major League players in the mid-2000s. In 2006, an investigation produced the Mitchell Report, which implicated many players in the use of performance-enhancing substances, today, MLB is composed of thirty teams, twenty-nine in the United States and one in Canada. Baseball broadcasts are aired on television, radio, and the Internet throughout North America, MLB has the highest season attendance of any sports league in the world with more than 73 million spectators in 2015. MLB is governed by the Major League Baseball Constitution and this document has undergone several incarnations since 1875, with the most recent revisions being made in 2012. Under the direction of the Commissioner of Baseball, MLB hires and maintains the sports umpiring crews, and negotiates marketing, labor, MLB maintains a unique, controlling relationship over the sport, including most aspects of Minor League Baseball. This ruling has been weakened only slightly in subsequent years, the weakened ruling granted more stability to the owners of teams and has resulted in values increasing at double-digit rates. There were several challenges to MLBs primacy in the sport between the 1870s and the Federal League in 1916, the last attempt at a new league was the aborted Continental League in 1960. The chief executive of MLB is the commissioner, Rob Manfred, the chief operating officer is Tony Petitti. There are five other executives, president, chief officer, chief legal officer, chief financial officer. The multimedia branch of MLB, which is based in Manhattan, is MLB Advanced Media and this branch oversees MLB. com and each of the 30 teams websites. Its charter states that MLB Advanced Media holds editorial independence from the league, MLB Productions is a similarly structured wing of the league, focusing on video and traditional broadcast media
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National Basketball Association
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The National Basketball Association is the major mens professional basketball league in North America, and is widely considered to be the premier mens professional basketball league in the world. It has 30 teams, and is a member of USA Basketball. The NBA is one of the four professional sports leagues in the United States. NBA players are the worlds best paid athletes by average annual salary per player, the league was founded in New York City on June 6,1946, as the Basketball Association of America. The league adopted the name National Basketball Association on August 3,1949, the leagues several international as well as individual team offices are directed out of its head offices located in the Olympic Tower at 645 Fifth Avenue in New York City. NBA Entertainment and NBA TV studios are directed out of offices located in Secaucus, the Basketball Association of America was founded in 1946 by owners of the major ice hockey arenas in the Northeastern and Midwestern United States and Canada. On November 1,1946, in Toronto, Canada, the Toronto Huskies hosted the New York Knickerbockers at Maple Leaf Gardens, the first basket was made by Ossie Schectman of the Knickerbockers. During its early years, the quality of play in the BAA was not significantly better than in competing leagues or among leading independent clubs such as the Harlem Globetrotters. For instance, the 1948 ABL finalist Baltimore Bullets moved to the BAA and won that leagues 1948 title, Following the 1948–49 season, the BAA took in the remainder of the NBL, Syracuse, Anderson, Tri-Cities, Sheboygan, Denver, and Waterloo. The new league had seventeen franchises located in a mix of large and small cities, as well as arenas and smaller gymnasiums. The process of contraction saw the leagues smaller-city franchises move to larger cities, the Hawks shifted from the Tri-Cities to Milwaukee in 1951, and then to St. Louis in 1955. The Rochester Royals moved from Rochester, New York, to Cincinnati in 1957, japanese-American Wataru Misaka broke the NBA color barrier in the 1947–48 season when he played for the New York Knicks. He remained the only player in league history prior to the first African-American, Harold Hunter. During this period, the Minneapolis Lakers, led by center George Mikan, won five NBA Championships, to encourage shooting and discourage stalling, the league introduced the 24-second shot clock in 1954. If a team does not attempt to score a goal within 24 seconds of obtaining the ball, play is stopped. In 1957, rookie center Bill Russell joined the Boston Celtics, who already featured guard Bob Cousy and coach Red Auerbach, and went on to lead the club to eleven NBA titles in thirteen seasons. Center Wilt Chamberlain entered the league with the Warriors in 1959 and became a dominant individual star of the 1960s, russells rivalry with Chamberlain became one of the greatest rivalries in the history of American team sports. The 1960s were dominated by the Celtics, led by Russell, Bob Cousy and coach Red Auerbach, Boston won eight straight championships in the NBA from 1959 to 1966
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College basketball
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The history of basketball is traced back to a YMCA International Training School, known today as Springfield College, located in Springfield, Massachusetts. The date of the first formal basketball game played at the Springfield YMCA Training School under Naismiths rules is generally given as December 21,1891, Basketball began to spread to college campuses by 1893. Governing bodies in Canada include U Sports and the Canadian Collegiate Athletic Association, each of these various organizations are subdivided into from one to three divisions based on the number and level of scholarships that may be provided to the athletes. The first basketball games in the United States were played at YMCAs in 1891 and 1892, by 1893, the game was being played on college campuses. The original rules for basketball were very different from todays modern rules of the sport, in the beginning James Naismith established 13 original rules, The ball may be thrown in any direction with one or both hands. The ball may be batted in any direction with one or both hands, but never with the fist, a player cannot run with the ball. The player must throw it from the spot on which he catches it, the ball must be held by the hands. The arms or body must not be used for holding it, no shouldering, holding, pushing, striking, or tripping in any way of an opponent is allowed. A foul will be called when a player is seen striking at the ball with the fist, or when violations of rules 3 and 4, if either side makes three consecutive fouls it shall count as a goal for the opponents. A goal shall be made when the ball is thrown or batted from the grounds into the basket and stays there, if the ball rests on the edges, and the opponent moves the basket, it shall count as a goal. When the ball out of bounds, it shall be thrown into the field. In case of dispute the umpire shall throw it straight into the field, the thrower-in is allowed five seconds. If he holds it longer, it shall go to the opponent, if any side persists in delaying the game, the umpire shall call a foul on them. The umpire shall be the judge of the men and shall note the fouls and he shall have power to disqualify men according to rule 5. The referee shall be judge of the ball and shall decide when the ball is in play, in bounds, to side it belongs. He shall decide when a goal has been made and keep account of the goals, the time shall be two fifteen-minute halves, with five minutes rest between. The side making the most goals in that time shall be declared the winner, the following is a list of some of the major NCAA Basketball rule changes with the year they went into effect. The first known college to field a team against an outside opponent was Vanderbilt University
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History of the NFL Commissioner
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The Commissioner of the NFL is the chief executive of the National Football League. This article details the history of the chief NFL executive. In 1920, the Canton Bulldogs were one of 14 teams to form the American Professional Football Association, Bulldogs owner Ralph Hay was named the first head of the league until a permanent president could be chosen. Hay did make one notable contribution in his tenure as Temporary Secretary. Vernon Maginnis, who operated one of Akrons professional teams in 1919, griffiths and Cupid Black either balked at or ignored overtures to run the Tigers in 1920. The Tigers, while listed as a charter member of the league, never played in it. Hay chose his own running back, Jim Thorpe, as the leagues inaugural President, Hay believed Thorpes status, Thorpe was nominally the APFAs first president, however, he spent most of the year playing for Canton. League teams regularly played those outside the league, and Thorpe allowed those games to be counted in the standings, as a result, there is some dispute whether a handful of teams, including the Chicago Tigers and Buffalo All-Americans, ever actually joined the league at all. Thorpe was missing from that meeting, never to return to his post, as was vice-president Stan Cofall, at the same meeting where this dispute was resolved in favor of Ranneys own Akron Pros, Joseph Carr was named as the leagues new president. The Associations membership increased to 22 teams, Carr first set a deadline for the season to be completed and a minimum number of league games to be played in order to win the league championship. This led to standardized schedules and prevented teams from scheduling non-league teams to pad their win columns, after taking office as President of the NFL, Carr began cleaning up the problems surrounding professional football. By 1925, he introduced a standard contract, fashioned after the ones being used in pro baseball. In the early days of football, the game was shunned upon by many in the college area. Fearing that the pro game tainted the game, many college administrators barred players from having anything to do with the pros. Carr would try to attack this problem and bring a peace between the pros and amateur ranks, the first major challenge to Carrs authority came at the end of the 1921 season. The Green Bay Packers admitted to having used college players under assumed names, Carr proclaimed the act not only a violation of association rules but a breach of the publics trust. The Packers were forced to withdraw from the league, however, a few months later, a group headed by future Hall of Famer Curly Lambeau applied for and was granted the Green Bay franchise. Ernie Nevers, another All-American player, did the thing a few days later
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Seattle Seahawks
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The Seattle Seahawks are a professional American football franchise based in Seattle, Washington. The Seahawks compete in the National Football League as a club of the leagues National Football Conference West division. The Seahawks joined the NFL in 1976 as an expansion team, the Seahawks are owned by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen and are currently coached by Pete Carroll. Since 2002, the Seahawks have played their games at CenturyLink Field. The Seahawks previously played games in the Kingdome and Husky Stadium. Seahawks fans have referred to collectively as the 12th Man, 12th Fan. Largent, Kennedy, Jones, and Easley have been voted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame primarily or wholly for their accomplishments as Seahawks. Brown, Easley, Green, Jones, Kennedy, Krieg, Largent, Warner, the Seahawks have won ten division titles and three conference championships. They are the team to have played in both the AFC and NFC Championship Games. They are also the first, and to date only, post-merger expansion team in NFL history to play in consecutive Super Bowls, as per one of the agreed parts of the 1970 AFL–NFL merger, the NFL began planning to expand from 26 to 28 teams. In June 1972, Seattle Professional Football Inc. a group of Seattle business and community leaders, in June 1974, the NFL gave the city an expansion franchise. That December, NFL Commissioner Pete Rozelle announced the signing of the franchise agreement by Lloyd W. Nordstrom. In March 1975, John Thompson, former Executive Director of the NFL Management Council, the name Seattle Seahawks was selected on June 17,1975 after a public naming contest which drew more than 20,000 entries and over 1,700 different names. Thompson recruited and hired Jack Patera, a Minnesota Vikings assistant coach, to be the first head coach of the Seahawks, the hiring was announced on January 3,1976. The expansion draft was held March 30–31,1976, with Seattle, the Seahawks were awarded the 2nd overall pick in the 1976 draft, a pick they used on defensive tackle Steve Niehaus. The team took the field for the first time on August 1,1976 in a game against the San Francisco 49ers in the then newly constructed Kingdome. The Seahawks are, to date, the only NFL team to switch conferences twice in the post-merger era, the franchise began play in 1976 in the aforementioned NFC West but switched conferences with the Buccaneers after one season and joined the AFC West. The Seahawks won both matchups against the Buccaneers in their first two seasons, the former of which was the Seahawks first regular season victory, in 1983, the Seahawks hired Chuck Knox as head coach
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Dallas Cowboys
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The Dallas Cowboys are a professional American football team based in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. The Cowboys compete in the National Football League as a club of the leagues National Football Conference East division. The team is headquartered in Frisco, Texas, and plays its games at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. The stadium took its current name prior to the 2013 season, the Cowboys joined the NFL as an expansion team in 1960. The teams national following might best be represented by its NFL record of consecutive sell-outs, the Cowboys streak of 190 consecutive sold-out regular and post-season games began in 2002. This has also corresponded to eight NFC championships, most in the NFC, the Cowboys are the only NFL team to record 20 straight winning seasons, in which they only missed the playoffs twice, an NFL record that remains unchallenged. In 2015, the Dallas Cowboys became the first sports team to be valued at $4 billion, making it the most valuable team in the world. The Cowboys also generated $620 million in revenue in 2014, a record for a U. S. sports team. Prior to the formation of the Dallas Cowboys, there had not been an NFL team south of Washington, D. C. since the Dallas Texans folded in 1952. Oilman Clint Murchison Jr. had been trying to get an NFL expansion team in Dallas, Murchison had tried to purchase the Washington Redskins from Marshall in 1958. An agreement was struck, but as the deal was about to be finalized and this infuriated Murchison and he called off the deal. Marshall then opposed any franchise for Murchison in Dallas, since NFL expansion needed unanimous approval from team owners at that time, Marshalls position would prevent Murchison from joining the league. Marshall had an out with the Redskins band leader Barnee Breeskin. Breeskin had written the music to the Redskins fight song Hail to the Redskins, Breeskin owned the rights to the song and was aware of Murchisons plight to get an NFL franchise. Angry with Marshall, Breeskin approached Murchisons attorney to him the rights to the song before the expansion vote in 1959. Murchison purchased Hail to the Redskins for $2,500, before the vote to award franchises in 1959, Murchison revealed to Marshall that he owned the song and Marshall could not play it during games. After a few Marshall expletives, Murchison gave the rights to Hail to the Redskins to Marshall for his vote, the one against Murchison getting a franchise at that time. From 1970 through 1979, the Cowboys won 105 regular season games, in addition, they appeared in 5 and won two Super Bowls, at the end of the 1971 and 1977 regular seasons
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Tex Schramm
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Texas Earnest Tex Schramm, Jr. was the original president and general manager of the National Football Leagues Dallas Cowboys franchise. Schramm became the head of the Cowboys when the expansion team started operations in 1960. Despite his name, Schramm was not born in Texas, but in San Gabriel, Texas was his fathers name and where his parents met. Schramm attended Alhambra High School and went to the University of Texas, at UT he was a member of Phi Kappa Psi Fraternity, as was his father. Schramm interrupted his education to serve as an officer in the United States Army Air Forces during World War II, before joining the Cowboys, Schramm was part of the Los Angeles Rams from 1947 to 1956. During his tenure, he hired Pete Rozelle as the Rams public relations director and they remained close friends after Rozelle became NFL commissioner and Schramm became general manager of the Cowboys. In late 1959, when it became apparent that the NFL was intent on expanding to Dallas, chicago Bears owner George Halas introduced Schramm to Clint Murchison, Jr. who had tried to bring the NFL to Dallas several times in the past. Murchison hired Schramm as the manager for a potential Dallas team. In 1960, Schramm hired head coach Tom Landry and chief scout Gil Brandt, by the mid-1960s, the three men had built the Cowboys into an elite team. They appeared in five Super Bowls that decade, winning Super Bowls VI and XII, and losing Super Bowls V, X, the Cowboys became a marquee NFL franchise, their popularity inspiring the nickname Americas Team. Schramm was known as the most powerful general manager in the NFL, the Cowboys owners during his tenure, Murchison and H. R. Bum Bright, largely left day-to-day operations in his hands. Schramm held the Cowboys voting right at league meetings, a right reserved for team owners. In 1966, Schramm met secretly with American Football League founder Lamar Hunt to begin the negotiations led to the 1970 merger of the NFL and AFL. Schramm was also known for innovations that helped redefine the modern NFL, schramms desire for a more comprehensive scouting combine led to the annual offseason NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis. Don Shula said of Schramm, I truly believe he had as much, or more, Schramm stayed on only briefly with the Cowboys after Jerry Jones purchased the team and fired Tom Landry. He left to become the president of the World League of American Football, Schramm was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1991. Schramms entry into the Cowboys Ring of Honor took much longer due to strained relations with Jones, Schramm had created the Ring of Honor, and had been a one-man committee on inductions. Jones became that committee when he took over, finally in 2003, Jones announced that Schramm would be inducted into the ring during the next football season
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Washington Redskins
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The Washington Redskins are a professional American football team based in the Washington metropolitan area. The Redskins compete in the National Football League as a member of the National Football Conference East division. The Redskins have played more than 1,000 games since 1932, the Redskins have won five NFL Championships. The franchise has captured 14 NFL divisional titles and six NFL conference championships, the Redskins were the first team in the NFL with an official marching band, and also the first team to have a fight song, Hail to the Redskins. The team began play as the Boston Braves in 1932, based in Boston, before relocating to Washington, the Redskins won the 1937 and 1942 Championship games, as well as Super Bowls XVII, XXII, and XXVI. They also played in, and lost, the 1936,1940,1943 and they have made 24 postseason appearances, and have an overall postseason record of 23–18. All of the Redskins league titles were attained during two 10-year spans, from 1936 to 1945, the Redskins went to the NFL Championship six times, winning two of them. The second period lasted between 1982 and 1991 where the Redskins appeared in the seven times, captured four Conference titles. The Redskins have also experienced failure in their history, the most notable period of general failure was from 1946 to 1970, during which the Redskins posted only four winning seasons and did not have a single postseason appearance. During this period, the Redskins went without a winning season during the years 1956–1968. In 1961, the franchise posted their worst regular season record with a 1–12–1 showing, since 1992, the Redskins have only won the NFC East three times, made five postseason appearances, and had nine seasons with a winning record.85 billion. They also set the NFL record for attendance in 2007. The team name and logo have been the subject of controversy, with lawsuits being filed by Native American groups who consider the team name, polls conducted in the 2010s have shown a lack of major support among fans for a name change. The team originated as the Boston Braves, based in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1932, at the time the team played in Braves Field, home of the Boston Braves baseball team. The following year the club moved to Fenway Park, home of the Boston Red Sox, to round out the change, Marshall hired William Lone Star Dietz, who was part Sioux, as the teams head coach. However, Boston wasnt much of a town at the time. The Redskins relocated to Washington, D. C. in 1937, in their early years in Washington, the Redskins shared Griffith Stadium with the Washington Senators baseball team. The Redskins played and won their first game in Washington, D. C. on September 16,1937, on December 5,1937, they earned their first division title in Washington against the Giants, 49–14, for the Eastern Championship
25.
New York Giants
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The New York Giants are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Giants compete in the National Football League as a club of the leagues National Football Conference East division. The team plays its games at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey. The Giants hold their training camp at the Quest Diagnostics Training Center at the Meadowlands Sports Complex. The Giants were one of five teams that joined the NFL in 1925 and their championship tally is surpassed only by the Green Bay Packers and Chicago Bears. Throughout their history, the Giants have featured 28 Hall of Fame players, including NFL Most Valuable Player award winners Mel Hein, Frank Gifford, Y. A. Tittle, and Lawrence Taylor. The teams heated rivalry with the Philadelphia Eagles is the oldest of the NFC East rivalries, dating all the way back to 1933, the Giants played their first game as an away game against All New Britain in New Britain, Connecticut, on October 4,1925. They defeated New Britain 26–0 in front of a crowd of 10,000, the Giants were successful in their first season, finishing with an 8–4 record. In its third season, the finished with the best record in the league at 11–1–1 and was awarded the NFL title. In 1930, there were many who questioned the quality of the professional game. In December 1930, the Giants played a team of Notre Dame All Stars at the Polo Grounds to raise money for the unemployed of New York City and it was also an opportunity to establish the skill and prestige of the pro game. Knute Rockne reassembled his Four Horsemen along with the stars of his 1924 Championship squad and told them to score early, Rockne, like much of the public, thought little of pro football and expected an easy win. But from the beginning it was a one-way contest, with Friedman running for two Giant touchdowns and Hap Moran passing for another, when it was all over, Coach Rockne told his team, That was the greatest football machine I ever saw. I am glad none of you got hurt, the game raised $100,000 for the homeless, and is often credited with establishing the legitimacy of the professional game for those who were critical. It also was the last game the legendary Rockne ever coached, in a 14-year span from 1933 to 1947, the Giants qualified to play in the NFL championship game 8 times, winning twice. During this period the Giants were led by Hall of Fame coach Steve Owen, the period also featured the 1944 Giants, which are ranked as the #1 defensive team in NFL history. a truly awesome unit. They gave up only 7.5 points per game and shut out five of their 10 opponents, though they lost 14-7 to the Green Bay Packers in the 1944 NFL Championship Game. The famous Sneakers Game was played in this era where the Giants defeated the Chicago Bears on an icy field in the 1934 NFL Championship Game, the Giants played the Detroit Lions to a scoreless tie on November 7,1943
26.
Miami Dolphins
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The Miami Dolphins are a professional American football franchise based in the Miami metropolitan area. The Dolphins compete in the National Football League as a club of the leagues American Football Conference East division. The Dolphins play their games at Hard Rock Stadium in the northern suburb of Miami Gardens, Florida. The Dolphins and the Atlanta Falcons are the oldest NFL franchises in the Deep South, however, of the four AFC East teams, they are the only team in the division that was not a charter member of the American Football League. The Dolphins team was founded by attorney-politician Joe Robbie and actor-comedian Danny Thomas and they began play in the AFL in 1966. For the first few years the Dolphins full-time training camp and practice facilities were at Saint Andrews School, in 1970 the Dolphins joined the NFL when the AFL–NFL merger occurred. The team made its first Super Bowl appearance in Super Bowl VI, Miami also appeared in Super Bowl XVII and Super Bowl XIX, losing both games. For most of their history, the Dolphins were coached by Don Shula. Under Shula, the Dolphins posted losing records in two of his 26 seasons as the head coach. During the period spanning 1983 to the end of 1999, quarterback Dan Marino became one of the most prolific passers in NFL history, Marino led the Dolphins to five division titles,10 playoff appearances, and Super Bowl XIX before retiring following the 1999 season. During the summer of 1966, the Dolphins training camp was in St. Pete Beach with practices in August at Boca Ciega High School in Gulfport. The Dolphins had a combined 15–39–2 record in their first four seasons under head coach George Wilson, before Don Shula was hired as head coach. Shula was a Paul Brown disciple who had been lured from the Baltimore Colts after losing Super Bowl III two seasons earlier to the AFLs New York Jets and finishing 8–5–1 the following season. Interestingly, Shula got his first NFL coaching job from then-Detroit Head Coach George Wilson, when Shula replaced Wilson at Miami the Colts charged the Dolphins with tampering in their hiring of Shula, costing the Dolphins their first round draft pick in 1971. Shula introduced himself to the Miami press by saying that he didnt have any magic formulas, Shulas early training camps with the Dolphins, with four workouts a day, would soon be the stuff of sweltering, painful legend. But Shulas hard work paid dividends, as Miami improved to a 10–4 record and their first-ever playoff appearance. The Dolphins were successful in the early 1970s, becoming the first team to advance to the AFC Championship for three consecutive seasons and they captured the AFC championship in 1971 behind quarterback Bob Griese, running backs Larry Csonka and Jim Kiick, and wide receiver Paul Warfield. The AFC Divisional Playoff Game, in which the Dolphins defeated the Kansas City Chiefs, was the longest contest in NFL history, in Super Bowl VI, however, Miami lost to the Dallas Cowboys 24–3
27.
Philadelphia Eagles
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The Philadelphia Eagles are a professional American football franchise based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The Eagles compete in the National Football League as a club of the leagues National Football Conference East division. The franchise was established in 1933 as a replacement for the bankrupt Frankford Yellow Jackets, when a group led by Bert Bell secured the rights to an NFL franchise in Philadelphia. Bell, Chuck Bednarik, Bob Brown, Reggie White, Steve Van Buren, Tommy McDonald, Greasy Neale, Pete Pihos, Sonny Jurgensen, the team has an intense rivalry with the New York Giants. This rivalry is the oldest in the NFC East and is among the oldest in the NFL and they also have a historic rivalry with the Washington Redskins, as well as their bitter rivalry with the Dallas Cowboys, which has become more high-profile in the last three decades. The team consistently ranks in the top three in attendance and has sold out every game since the 1999 season, in a Sports Illustrated poll of 321 NFL players, Eagles fans were selected the most intimidating fans in the NFL. Midway through the 1931 season, the Frankford Yellow Jackets went bankrupt, the Bell-Wray group had to pay an entry fee of $3,500 and assumed a total debt of $11,000 that was owed to three other NFL franchises. Neither the Eagles nor the NFL officially regard the two franchises as the same, citing the period of dormancy. Furthermore, almost no Yellow Jackets players were on the Eagles first roster, the Eagles, along with the Pittsburgh Steelers and the now-defunct Cincinnati Reds, joined the NFL as expansion teams. To accommodate football at Shibe Park during the winter, management set up stands in right field, some 20 feet high, these east stands had 22 rows of seats. The goalposts stood along the first base line and in left field, the uncovered east stands enlarged capacity of Shibe Park to over 39,000, but the Eagles rarely drew more than 25 to 30,000. The Eagles struggled over the course of their first decade, enduring repeated losing seasons, soon after, Bell and Rooney traded the Eagles franchise to Thompson and moved it to Pittsburgh, while Thompson moved the Steelers franchise to Philadelphia. By the late 1940s, head coach Earle Greasy Neale and running back Steve Van Buren led the team to three consecutive NFL Championship Games, winning two of them in 1948 and 1949. After the 1957 season, the Eagles moved from Connie Mack Stadium to Franklin Field at the University of Pennsylvania, Franklin Field would seat over 60,000 for the Eagles, whereas Connie Mack had a capacity of 39,000. The stadium switched from grass to AstroTurf in 1969 and it was the first NFL stadium to use artificial turf. In 1960, the Eagles won their third NFL championship, under the leadership of future Pro Football Hall of Famers Norm Van Brocklin and Chuck Bednarik, the head coach was Buck Shaw. The 1960 Eagles, by a score of 17–13, became the team to defeat Vince Lombardi. The Eagles had a good 1961 season and then fell on hard times in 1962
28.
Super Bowl V
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The Colts defeated the Cowboys by the score of 16–13. The game was played on January 17,1971, at the Orange Bowl in Miami, Florida and this was the first Super Bowl played after the completion of the AFL–NFL merger. As per the agreement, all 26 AFL and NFL teams were divided into two conferences with 13 teams in each of them. Along with the Colts, the Cleveland Browns and the Pittsburgh Steelers agreed to join the 10 AFL teams to form the AFC, the remaining 13 NFL teams formed the NFC. This explains why the Colts represented the NFL in Super Bowl III, meanwhile, the Cowboys were making their first Super Bowl appearance after posting a 10–4 regular season record. The game is called the Blunder Bowl or the Stupor Bowl because it was filled with poor play, a missed PAT, penalties, turnovers. The two teams committed a Super Bowl record 11 combined turnovers in the game, and the Colts seven turnovers are currently the most ever committed by a team in a Super Bowl. Dallas also set a Super Bowl record with 10 penalties, costing them 133 yards and it was finally settled with nine seconds left when Colts rookie kicker Jim OBrien kicked a 32-yard field goal with 5 seconds left in the game. In order to win the game, Baltimore had to overcome a 13–6 deficit after three quarters, and losing their starting quarterback Johnny Unitas in the second quarter. It is the only Super Bowl in which the Most Valuable Player Award was given to a member of the team, Cowboys linebacker Chuck Howley. Howley was the first non-quarterback to win the MVP award, along this theme, Colts defensive end Bubba Smith would later refuse to wear his Super Bowl V ring because of the sloppy play. The NFL awarded hosting rights for Super Bowl V to the city of Miami on March 17,1970, the Colts were an unspectacular but well-balanced veteran team, led by 37-year-old quarterback Johnny Unitas. Unitas had regained his spot on the team in 1969 upon recovering from an injury that led him to miss the majority of the 1968 season. Unitas played inconsistently during the 1970 regular season, he threw for 2,213 yards, Unitas also had injury problems, causing him to miss two regular season games and thus giving Earl Morrall more significant playing time. Morrall put up better statistics than Unitas, but head coach Don McCafferty decided to start Unitas for the playoffs, in the backfield, running back Norm Bulaich was the teams top rusher with 426 yards and 3 touchdowns, while also catching 11 passes for another 123 yards. The Colts main strength was their defense, Pro Bowl defensive tackle Bubba Smith anchored the line. Behind him, the Colts had two outstanding linebackers, Pro Bowler Mike Curtis, who recorded 5 interceptions, and Ted Hendricks. In the secondary, Pro Bowl safety Jerry Logan recorded 6 interceptions for 92 return yards and 2 touchdowns, Don Klosterman, formerly with San Diego, Kansas City and Houston in the AFL, became the Colts General Manager in 1970
29.
Don Meredith
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Joseph Don Dandy Don Meredith was an American football quarterback, sports commentator and actor. He spent all nine seasons of his playing career with the Dallas Cowboys of the National Football League. He was an NFL MVP and named to the Pro Bowl in each of his last three years as a player and he subsequently became a color analyst for NFL telecasts from 1970–1984. As an original member of the Monday Night Football broadcast team on the American Broadcasting Company, Meredith was born on April 10,1938 in Mount Vernon, Texas, located approximately 100 miles east of Dallas. He attended Mount Vernon High School in his hometown, where he starred in football and basketball, performed in school plays, even though he was heavily recruited by then-Texas A&M head coach Bear Bryant, Meredith decided to play college football at Southern Methodist University. He led the Southwest Conference in passing completion percentage in each of his three years as the quarterback, and was an All-America selection in 1958 and 1959. His fellow students jokingly referred to the school as Southern Meredith University due to his popularity on campus and he completed 8 of 20 passes for 156 yards in the College All-Stars 32–7 loss to the Baltimore Colts in the Chicago College All-Star Game on August 12,1960. He would be honored twice by SMU in later decades and he was the recipient of the universitys Distinguished Alumni Award in 1983. His jersey number 17 was retired during ceremonies at the SMU–Houston football match on October 18,2008. He was also inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1982 and this contract meant he would play for the Cowboys if and when they received an NFL franchise. He was also selected by the Chicago Bears in the round of the 1960 NFL Draft. The league honored the contract, but made the Cowboys compensate the Bears with a pick in the 1962 NFL Draft. Their crosstown rivals in the American Football League, the Texans, also chose him as a selection in their 1960 draft. Meredith spent two years as a backup to Eddie LeBaron, eventually splitting time in 1962 before he was given the starting job by head coach Tom Landry in 1963. In 1966, Meredith led the Cowboys to the NFL postseason and his two most heartbreaking defeats came in NFL Championship play against the Green Bay Packers, 34–27 in Dallas, and the famous Ice Bowl game, 21–17 in Green Bay. During his career, he had a 50.7 percent completion rate and he was named the NFL Player of the Year in 1966 and was named to the Pro Bowl 3 times. According to the NFL, the longest pass with no yards after catch was his 83-yard pass to Bob Hayes, however, the NFL does not keep statistics on the distance of actual passes. Meredith, along with Harvey Martin, is among the few players to play his high school, college, following his football career, Meredith became a color commentator for ABCs Monday Night Football beginning in 1970
30.
Super Bowl
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The Super Bowl is the annual championship game of the National Football League. The game is the culmination to a season that begins in the late summer of the previous calendar year. Normally, Roman numerals are used to each game, rather than the year in which it is held. For example, Super Bowl I was played on January 15,1967, the single exception to this rule is Super Bowl 50, which was played on February 7,2016, following the 2015 regular season. The next game, Super Bowl LII, scheduled for February 4,2018, the game was created as part of a merger agreement between the NFL and its then-rival league, the American Football League. It was agreed that the two champion teams would play in the AFL–NFL World Championship Game until the merger was to officially begin in 1970. After the merger, each league was redesignated as a conference, currently, the National Football Conference leads the league with 26 wins to 25 wins for the American Football Conference. The Pittsburgh Steelers have the most Super Bowl championship titles, with six, the New England Patriots have the most Super Bowl appearances, with nine. The day on which the Super Bowl is played, now considered by some as an unofficial American national holiday, is called Super Bowl Sunday and it is the second-largest day for U. S. food consumption, after Thanksgiving Day. In addition, the Super Bowl has frequently been the most-watched American television broadcast of the year, in 2015, Super Bowl XLIX became the most-watched American television program in history with an average audience of 114. The NFL restricts the use of its Super Bowl trademark, it is called the Big Game or other generic terms by non-sponsoring corporations. As a result, watching and discussing the broadcasts commercials has become a significant aspect of the event, for four decades after its 1920 inception, the NFL successfully fended off several rival leagues. However, in 1960, it encountered its most serious competitor when the American Football League was formed. The AFL vied heavily with the NFL for both players and fans, but by the middle of the decade the strain of competition led to merger talks between the two leagues. Prior to the 1966 season, the NFL and AFL reached an agreement that was to take effect for the 1970 season. As part of the merger, the champions of the two agreed to meet in a world championship game for professional American football until the merger was effected. A bowl game is a college football game. Exploiting the Rose Bowl Games popularity, post-season college football contests were created for Miami, New Orleans, and El Paso, Texas in 1935, by the time the first Super Bowl was played, the term bowl for any major American football game was well established
31.
Super Bowl XIII
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The Steelers defeated the Cowboys by the score of 35–31. The game was played on January 21,1979, at the Orange Bowl in Miami and this was the first Super Bowl that featured a rematch of a previous one, and both teams were attempting to be the first club to ever win a third Super Bowl. Dallas was also the defending Super Bowl XII champion, and finished the 1978 regular season with a 12–4 record, and posted victories over the Atlanta Falcons. Pittsburgh entered the game after posting a 14–2 regular season record and playoff wins over the Denver Broncos, Steelers quarterback Terry Bradshaw, who was named Super Bowl MVP, completed 17 out of 30 passes for Super Bowl records of 318 passing yards and 4 touchdown passes. Bradshaw eclipsed Bart Starrs Super Bowl record for passing yards in the first half with 253 yards in the air as the Steelers led 21–14 at intermission. His 75-yard touchdown pass in the quarter also tied Johnny Unitas in Super Bowl V for the longest pass in a Super Bowl. The Cowboys were able to close, only trailing 21–17 at the end of the third quarter. Dallas also could not overcome turnovers, drops, and a penalty during the second half. The game came to be known as Black Sunday in Las Vegas, the point spread opened at Pittsburgh -3.5 points. As the Steelers backers placed bets on them the sportsbooks adjusted the line and it eventually hit Pittsburgh -4.5 and then the Dallas money poured in on the Cowboys. It eventually settled at Pittsburgh at -4, the Steelers four-point margin of victory meant the Las Vegas sportsbooks lost the vast majority of wagers on the game. The NFL awarded Super Bowl XIII to Miami on June 14,1977 at the meetings held in New York. For the 1978–79 season, the NFL extended its schedule from 14 regular season games to 16 and he ranked as the second highest rated passer in the league, his 28 touchdown passes led the league, and he won the NFL Most Valuable Player Award. Wide receivers Lynn Swann and John Stallworth provided the team with a deep threat. Swann recorded 61 receptions for 880 yards and 11 touchdowns, while Stallworth had 41 receptions for 798 yards and 9 touchdowns. Tight end Randy Grossman, who replaced injured starter Bennie Cunningham for most of the season, also was a big factor, recording 37 receptions for 448 yards, halfback Rocky Bleier had 633 rushing yards and 5 touchdowns, while also catching 17 passes for 168 yards. The Steelers success on offense was due in large measure to their offensive line. Once again, defensive tackles Joe Greene and L. C. Greenwood anchored the line, while Pro Bowl linebackers Jack Ham and Jack Lambert combined for 7 interceptions
32.
Super Bowl XXVII
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The Cowboys defeated the Bills by the score of 52–17, winning their third Super Bowl in team history, and their first one in fifteen years. The Bills became the first team to three consecutive Super Bowls, and just the second team to play in three straight. The game was played on January 31,1993 at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California, the Bills advanced to their third consecutive Super Bowl after posting an 11–5 regular season record, but entered the playoffs as a wild card after losing tiebreakers. The Cowboys were making their sixth Super Bowl appearance after posting a 13–3 regular season record and it was the first time that the two franchises had played each other since 1984. Dallas forced a Super Bowl record nine turnovers—four interceptions and five lost fumbles—en route to their win over Buffalo, thirty-five of the Cowboys points came off those turnovers, including three first half touchdowns. Cowboys quarterback Troy Aikman was named Super Bowl MVP, completing 22 of 30 passes for 273 yards and four touchdowns for a rating of 140.6. Michael Jackson performed during the halftime show. Jacksons performance started the NFLs trend of signing top acts to appear during the Super Bowl to attract more viewers, Super Bowl XXVII was originally scheduled to be played at Sun Devil Stadium in Tempe, Arizona, the home of the Phoenix Cardinals. In 1983, U. S. President Ronald Reagan signed a bill creating Martin Luther King Jr. Day, a national holiday honoring African-American civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. In 1986, the first year that the holiday was observed, Arizona Governor Bruce Babbitt, a Democrat, had issued an executive order creating the holiday after the state legislature voted against it. Babbitts successor, Republican Evan Mecham, rescinded the order on the grounds that Babbitt did not have the authority to such an order. Mecham also made his displeasure for the widely known, saying that King did not deserve a holiday. In response, Dr. Kings widow Coretta Scott King and musician Stevie Wonder spearheaded a complete entertainment, blacks across the nation supported the boycott. On March 13,1990, the NFL had its meeting in Orlando, Florida. One initiative called for replacing Presidents Day with MLK Day while the called for a new holiday on MLKs birthday. Both initiatives required a vote, and voters were confused if they could vote yes on both. Arizona voters approved the MLK Day holiday in the 1992 elections when voters were asked to vote Yes or No on whether or not Arizona should recognize an MLK Day. The NFL responded by awarding Tempe Super Bowl XXX at their 1993 meeting, the Bills entered Super Bowl XXVII trying to avoid becoming the first team to lose three consecutive Super Bowls
33.
Super Bowl XVII
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The Redskins defeated the Dolphins by the score of 27–17 to win their first Super Bowl championship. The game was played on January 30,1983 at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena and this Super Bowl came at the end of a season that was significantly shortened by a players strike. Teams ended up only playing nine regular games, and the league conducted a special 16-team. The Redskins had an NFC-best 8–1 regular season record, while the Dolphins finished at 7–2, both teams advanced through the first three postseason rounds to Super Bowl XVII. This was also the second Super Bowl to rematch teams, the first being Super Bowl XIII, nevertheless, Miami built a 17–10 halftime lead with Jimmy Cefalos 76-yard touchdown catch and Fulton Walkers 98-yard kickoff return. Wide receiver Charlie Brown then added a touchdown with his 6-yard scoring reception. Riggins was named Super Bowl MVP, finishing the game with 2 Super Bowl records, the most rushing yards in a Super Bowl game, and he was the first player from an NFC team to rush for 100 yards in a Super Bowl. Riggins also recorded a reception for 15 yards, giving him more total yards than the entire Miami team, the NFL awarded Super Bowl XVII to Pasadena on March 13,1979 at the owners meetings in Honolulu. A 57-day-long players strike reduced the 1982 regular season from a 16-game schedule to 9, because of the shortened season, the NFL adopted a special 16-team playoff tournament. Eight teams from each conference were seeded 1–8 based on their season records. The modified schedule forced the league to extend the season into January for the first time. After the 57-day strike, the NFL extended the season one weekend, moving back the start of the playoffs. The strike-shortened season impacted 4 teams that made the playoffs during the 1981 regular season, the San Francisco 49ers, winners of Super Bowl XVI, suffered a 3–6 record. The Buffalo Bills, the New York Giants, and the Philadelphia Eagles did not qualify for the playoffs either, the Cleveland Browns and Detroit Lions qualified for the playoffs despite 4–5 records, the only sub-. The Dolphins finished the regular season with a 7–2 record. The clubs main strength was their defense, nicknamed the Killer Bees because 6 of their 11 starters had last names began with the letter B. The Killer Bees, anchored by Pro Bowl defensive tackle Bob Baumhower, led the league in fewest total yards allowed, linebacker A. J. Duhe was extremely effective at blitzing and in pass coverage. And the Dolphins secondary, consisting of defensive backs Don McNeal, Gerald Small and brothers Lyle and Glenn Blackwood, combined for 11 interceptions
34.
Pittsburgh Steelers
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The Pittsburgh Steelers are a professional American football team based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The Steelers compete in the National Football League, as a club of the leagues American Football Conference North division. Founded in 1933, the Steelers are the oldest franchise in the AFC, Pittsburgh has won more Super Bowl titles and hosted more conference championship games than any other NFL team. The Steelers have won 8 AFC championships, tied with the Denver Broncos and they share the record for most conference championship games played in with the San Francisco 49ers. The Steelers share the record for second most Super Bowl appearances with the Broncos, and Dallas Cowboys, the Steelers lost their most recent championship appearance, Super Bowl XLV, on February 6,2011. The Steelers were founded as the Pittsburgh Pirates on July 8,1933, by Art Rooney, taking its name from the baseball team of the same name. The ownership of the Steelers has remained within the Rooney family since its founding, the current owner is Arts son, Dan Rooney, who has given much control of the franchise to his son Art Rooney II. The Steelers enjoy a large, widespread fanbase nicknamed Steeler Nation, the Steelers currently play their home games at Heinz Field on Pittsburghs North Side in the North Shore neighborhood, which also hosts the University of Pittsburgh Panthers. Built in 2001, the stadium replaced Three Rivers Stadium which hosted the Steelers for 31 seasons, prior to Three Rivers, the Steelers had played their games in Pitt Stadium and Forbes Field. The Pittsburgh Steelers of the NFL first took to the field as the Pittsburgh Pirates on September 20,1933, through the 1930s, the Pirates never finished higher than second place in their division, or with a record better than.500. Prior to the 1940 season, the Pirates renamed themselves the Steelers, during World War II, the Steelers experienced player shortages. They twice merged with other NFL franchises to field a team, during the 1943 season, they merged with the Philadelphia Eagles forming the Phil-Pitt Eagles and were known as the Steagles. In 1944, they merged with the Chicago Cardinals and were known as Card-Pitt and this team finished 0–10, marking the only winless team in franchise history. The Steelers made the playoffs for the first time in 1947 and this forced a tie-breaking playoff game at Forbes Field, which the Steelers lost 21–0. The Steelers also received a $3 million relocation fee, which was a windfall for them, the Steelers history of bad luck changed with the hiring of coach Chuck Noll for the 1969 season. The Pittsburgh Steelers 1974 draft was their best ever, no team has ever drafted four future Hall of Famers in one year. They also enjoyed a regular season streak of 49 consecutive wins against teams that would finish with a record that year. The Steelers suffered a rash of injuries in the 1980 season, the 1981 season was no better, with an 8–8 showing
35.
Super Bowl XL
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The Steelers defeated the Seahawks by the score of 21–10. The game was played on February 5,2006, at Ford Field in Detroit, with the win, the Steelers joined the San Francisco 49ers and the Dallas Cowboys as the only franchises to have won five Super Bowls. The Steelers victory was their first Super Bowl victory since Super Bowl XIV, the Seahawks, on the other hand, in their 30th season, were making their first ever Super Bowl appearance after posting an NFC-best 13–3 regular season record. Pittsburgh capitalized on two big plays that were converted into touchdowns, the Steelers jumped to a 14–3 lead early in the third quarter with running back Willie Parkers Super Bowl record 75-yard touchdown run. Seahawks defensive back Kelly Herndons Super Bowl record 76-yard interception return set up a Seattle touchdown to cut the lead 14–10. But Pittsburgh responded with Antwaan Randle Els 43-yard touchdown pass to Hines Ward, Ward, who caught 5 passes for 123 yards and a touchdown, while also rushing for 18 yards, was named Super Bowl MVP. The officiating in Super Bowl XL however was met criticism from members of the media soon after the game. As of 2017, it remains the last Super Bowl game broadcast on ABC. And although the Super Bowl had largely been presented in high definition since Super Bowl XXXIV, the NFL promoted this Super Bowl under the slogan The Road to Forty. The slogan not only honored the 40-year history of the game, in a related note, Roger Penske, owner of a car dealership, racing team, and other related companies, headed the Super Bowl XL host committee. This was the first Super Bowl to be played on the FieldTurf surface, the Seahawks became the first team to have their full team name painted in their end zone for a Super Bowl, as their geographic location name was painted above the team nickname. In Super Bowl XLIII, the Arizona Cardinals became the team to have their full team name painted in their end zone. For all other Super Bowl teams, end zones have featured only the team nickname, the Seahawks entered Super Bowl XL after finishing the regular season with an NFC-best 13–3 record. After a rocky 2–2 start, they won 11 consecutive games losing to the Green Bay Packers to finish the season. The 13–3 record and 11-game winning streak set new team records and this was Seattles first Super Bowl appearance in the teams 30-year history. The Seahawks had been mediocre for much of the 1990s, recording eight consecutive non-winning seasons from 1991 through 1998, the team hit a low point in 1996, when then-owner Ken Behring announced his intention to move the team to the Los Angeles area. The teams fortunes began to turn in 1997, when Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen bought the team and brokered a deal to build a new stadium, Qwest Field. Mike Holmgren, who had led the Green Bay Packers to Super Bowls XXXI and XXXII and he became the fifth coach to take two different franchises to the Super Bowl
36.
Denver Broncos
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The Denver Broncos are an American football team based in Denver, Colorado. The Broncos compete in the National Football League as a club of the leagues American Football Conference West division. The team began play in 1960 as a member of the American Football League. The Broncos are owned by the Pat Bowlen trust, the Broncos have played at Sports Authority Field at Mile High since 2001, after previously playing at Mile High Stadium from 1960 to 2000. The Broncos were barely competitive during their 10-year run in the AFL and they did not complete a winning season until 1973. In 1977, four years later, they qualified for the playoffs for the first time in franchise history, since 1975, the Broncos have become one of the NFLs more successful teams, having suffered only six losing seasons. However, the Broncos have the NFL record for most Super Bowl losses and they have five players in the Pro Football Hall of Fame, John Elway, Floyd Little, Gary Zimmerman, Shannon Sharpe, and the most recently elected member, Terrell Davis. The Denver Broncos were founded on August 14,1959, when Minor League Baseball owner Bob Howsam was awarded an American Football League charter franchise, the Broncos won the first-ever AFL game over the Boston Patriots 13–10, on September 9,1960. On August 5,1967, they became the first-ever AFL team to defeat an NFL team, however, the Broncos were not successful in the 1960s, compiling a record of 39–97–4 in the league. Denver came close to losing its franchise in 1965, until an ownership group took control. The teams first superstar, Franchise Floyd Little, was instrumental in keeping the team in Denver, due to his signing in 1967 as well as his Pro Bowl efforts on, in 1972, the Broncos hired former Stanford University coach John Ralston as their head coach. In 1973, he was the UPIs AFC Coach of the Year, in five seasons with the Broncos, Ralston guided the team to winning seasons three times. Though Ralston finished the 1976 season with a 9–5 record, the team, as was the case in Ralstons previous winning seasons, following the season, several prominent players publicly voiced their discontent with Ralston, which soon led to his resignation. Dan Reeves became the youngest head coach in the NFL when he joined the Broncos in 1981 as vice president, quarterback John Elway, who played college football at Stanford, arrived in 1983 via a trade. Prior to Elway, the Broncos had over 24 different starting quarterbacks in its 23 seasons to that point, Reeves and Elway guided the Broncos to six post-season appearances, five AFC West divisional titles, three AFC championships and three Super Bowl appearances during their 12-year span together. Reeves was fired after the 1992 season and replaced by his protégé and friend Wade Phillips, Phillips was fired after a mediocre 1994 season, in which management felt he lost control of the team. In 1995, Mike Shanahan, who had served under Reeves as the Broncos offensive coordinator. Shanahan drafted rookie running back Terrell Davis, in 1996, the Broncos were the top seed in the AFC with a 13–3 record, dominating most of the teams that year
37.
Super Bowl 50
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Super Bowl 50 was an American football game to determine the champion of the National Football League for the 2015 season. The American Football Conference champion Denver Broncos won against National Football Conference champion Carolina Panthers 24–10 to win their 3rd Super Bowl championship, the game was played on February 7,2016, at Levis Stadium in Santa Clara, California. The Panthers finished the season with a 15–1 record, racking up the leagues top offense. They defeated the Arizona Cardinals 49–15 in the NFC Championship Game, the Broncos finished the regular season with a 12–4 record, bolstered by having the leagues top defense and the veteran presence of starting quarterback and Super Bowl XLI winner Peyton Manning. This record would later be broken the next season, in 2017, in one of the most defensive Super Bowl matchups in NFL history, the Broncos took an early lead in Super Bowl 50 and never trailed. Denver recorded seven sacks and forced four turnovers, Carolina likewise kept pace by recording five sacks and forcing two turnovers. Denver linebacker Von Miller was named Super Bowl MVP and this game was also the final game of Peyton Mannings career, he announced his retirement on March 7,2016. CBS broadcast of the game was the third most-watched program in American television history with an average of 111.9 million viewers, the network charged an average of $5 million for a 30-second commercial during the game. It remains the highest-rated program in the history of CBS, the Super Bowl 50 halftime show was headlined by Coldplay, with special guest performers Beyoncé and Bruno Mars. In early 2012, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell stated that the league planned to make the 50th Super Bowl spectacular and that it would be an important game for us as a league. The Los Angeles bid was dependent on a team relocating to the area by the time the site was selected, No team requested to relocate by the time the site was selected, and Los Angeles was pulled from consideration. Los Angeles was then put into consideration for Super Bowl LIV, the league eventually narrowed the bids to three sites, New Orleans Mercedes-Benz Superdome, Miamis Sun Life Stadium, and the San Francisco Bay Areas Levis Stadium. The league announced on October 16,2012, that the two finalists were Sun Life Stadium and Levis Stadium, the South Florida/Miami area has previously hosted the event 10 times, with the most recent one being Super Bowl XLIV in 2010. The San Francisco Bay Area last hosted in 1985, held at Stanford Stadium in Stanford, California, the Miami bid depended on whether the stadium underwent renovations. However, on May 3,2013, the Florida legislature refused to approve the plan to pay for the renovations. On May 21,2013, NFL owners at their meetings in Boston voted and awarded the game to Levis Stadium. The $1.2 billion stadium opened in 2014 and it is the first Super Bowl held in the San Francisco Bay Area since Super Bowl XIX in 1985, and the first in California since Super Bowl XXXVII took place in San Diego in 2003. For the third season, the number one seeds in the NFC and AFC
38.
New England Patriots
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The New England Patriots are a professional American football team based in the Greater Boston region. The Patriots compete in the National Football League as a club of the leagues American Football Conference East division. The Patriots are also headquartered at Gillette Stadium, an original member of the American Football League, the Patriots joined the NFL in the 1970 merger of the two leagues. The team changed its name from the original Boston Patriots after relocating to Foxborough in 1971, the Patriots played their home games at Foxboro Stadium from 1971 to 2001, then moved to Gillette Stadium at the start of the 2002 season. The Patriots rivalry with the New York Jets is considered one of the most bitter rivalries in the NFL. The Patriots have appeared in the Super Bowl nine times in franchise history, the Patriots have since become one of the most successful teams in NFL history, winning 14 AFC East titles in 16 seasons since 2001, without a losing season in that period. The team owns the record for most Super Bowls reached and won by a head coach–quarterback tandem, the Patriots are tied with the 49ers and Cowboys for the second most Super Bowl wins with five. The Steelers are in front with six, however, the Patriots are the only team to win five Super Bowls with the same coach and quarterback. On November 16,1959, Boston business executive Billy Sullivan was awarded the eighth, the following winter, locals were allowed to submit ideas for the Boston football teams official name. The most popular choice – and the one that Sullivan selected – was the Boston Patriots, immediately thereafter, artist Phil Bissell of The Boston Globe developed the Pat Patriot logo. The Patriots struggled for most of their years in the AFL, nickerson Field, Harvard Stadium, Fenway Park, and Alumni Stadium all served as home fields during their time in the American Football League. They played in only one AFL championship game, following the 1963 season and they did not appear again in an AFL or NFL post-season game for another 13 years. When the NFL and AFL merged in 1970, the Patriots were placed in the American Football Conference East division, the following year, the Patriots moved to a new stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts, which would serve as their home for the next 30 years. As a result of the move, they announced they would change their name from the Boston Patriots to the Bay State Patriots, the name was rejected by the NFL and on March 22,1971, the team officially announced they would change its geographic name to New England. During the 1970s, the Patriots had some success, earning a berth to the playoffs in 1976—as a wild card team—and in 1978—as AFC East champions and they lost in the first round both times. In 1985, they returned to the playoffs, and made it all the way to Super Bowl XX, following their Super Bowl loss, they returned to the playoffs in 1986, but lost in the first round. The team would not make the playoffs again for eight more years, during the 1990 season, the Patriots went 1–15. They changed ownership three times in the ensuing 14 years, being purchased from the Sullivan family first by Victor Kiam in 1988, who sold the team to James Orthwein in 1992
39.
Super Bowl LII
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Super Bowl LII, the 52nd Super Bowl and the 48th modern-era National Football League championship game, will decide the league champion for the 2017 NFL season. The game is scheduled to be held on February 4,2018, bank Stadium in Minneapolis, Minnesota, the second Super Bowl in Minneapolis, which previously hosted Super Bowl XXVI in 1992. The game will be televised in the United States by NBC, on October 8,2013, the league announced the following three host finalists, U. S. Minneapolis last hosted the Super Bowl in 1992 at the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome, the Metrodome was torn down after the 2013 season, bank Stadium was being built on the same site. Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, Indiana, previously hosted Super Bowl XLVI in 2012. Mercedes-Benz Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana, the Superdome has previously hosted the Super Bowl on seven occasions, most recently Super Bowl XLVII in 2013. New Orleans will celebrate its Tricentennial in 2018, Minneapolis was selected at the league owners meeting in Atlanta on May 20,2014. The 2018 Saint Paul Winter Carnival will conclude on Super Bowl Sunday, the carnival organizers will build a large ice palace to coincide with the Super Bowl festivities, as with the 1992 Minneapolis Super Bowl. The ice palace is an event that occurs about once a decade
40.
Super Bowl XXXIII
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The Broncos defeated the Falcons by the score of 34–19, winning their second consecutive Super Bowl. The game was played on January 31,1999, at Pro Player Stadium in Miami, the defending Super Bowl champion Broncos entered the game with an AFC-best 14–2 regular season record. The Falcons, under former Denver head coach Dan Reeves, were making their first Super Bowl appearance after posting a 14–2 regular season record. Aided by quarterback John Elways 80-yard touchdown pass to receiver Rod Smith, at 38 years old, Elway became the oldest player, at the time, to be named Super Bowl MVP. In the final game of his career, he completed 18 of 29 passes for 336 yards with one touchdown and one interception, Elway retired on May 2,1999 before the following season. NFL owners then awarded Super Bowl XXXIII to the Miami area during their October 31,1996 meeting in New Orleans, other cities under consideration were Atlanta, Tampa, and Los Angeles. Owners initially planned on selecting only two hosts, but decided to name three after strong showings by the respective delegations, Miami, Atlanta, and Tampa were selected to host XXXIII, XXXIV, and XXXV, respectively. This was the time that the South Florida area hosted the game. This started a streak of 11 straight Super Bowls in which every game with the NFC as the team was played outdoors. Following the Broncos victory during Super Bowl XXXII the previous season, but Elway decided to stay with Denver and see if he could lead them to a second consecutive championship. But Davis rushing numbers did not reduce Elways passing production, the 38-year-old quarterback made the Pro Bowl for the 3rd year in a row and the 9th time in his career, throwing for 2,806 yards and 22 touchdowns, with only 10 interceptions. A big reason for Elways passing success was that he had two Pro Bowl wide receivers and a Pro Bowl tight end to throw to. Wide receivers Ed McCaffrey and Rod Smith provided the team with outstanding deep threats, the Broncos also had three Pro Bowlers anchoring their offensive line, center Tom Nalen, guard Mark Schlereth, and tackle Tony Jones. On special teams, running back Vaughn Hebron returned 46 kickoffs for 1,216 yards, the Broncos defense typically did not get as much attention as their offense, but it was still effective, giving up 308 points. Up front, the line was anchored by defensive tackles Maa Tanuvasa and Trevor Pryce, behind them, Pro Bowl linebacker Bill Romanowski recorded 55 tackles,7.5 sacks,3 fumble recoveries, and 2 interceptions. The secondary was led by Pro Bowler Steve Atwater and Darrien Gordon, who led the team with 4 interceptions, which he returned for 125 yards, Gordon was also a great punt returner, returning 34 punts for 379 yards. The Falcons advanced to their first Super Bowl in franchise history, like the Broncos, they finished the 1998 regular season with a 14–2 record, including wins in each of their last nine games. But unlike the Broncos, Atlantas success in 1998 was very surprising to many because they had a 7–9 record in the previous season, in fact, the team recorded just four winning seasons in the last 20 years prior to 1998, and only two in the 1990s
41.
History of the St. Louis Cardinals (NFL)
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The professional American football team now known as the Arizona Cardinals previously played in St. Louis, Missouri from 1960 to 1987. This article chronicles the history during their time as the St. Louis Cardinals. Chicago Cardinals owner Violet Bidwill had married St. Louis businessman Walter Wolfner in 1949, when it became obvious that the Cardinals could no longer hope to compete with the Chicago Bears, a move to St. Louis seemed to make sense. The NFL conducted a survey of St. Louis, and concluded that it was capable of supporting a team, the leagues 12 owners unanimously approved the move, ending their 62-year stay in Chicago. During the Cardinals tenure in St. Louis, they were called the Big Red or the Football Cardinals in order to avoid confusion with the baseball team They shared Sportsmans Park with the baseball team. However, St. Louis had not had a football team since the early days of the NFL. The Cardinals initially held practices in the city park and their first home game was a loss to the Giants on October 2,1960, and they finished the year at 6–5–1. In 1961, they even at 7–7–0 and fell to 4–9–1 in 1962. Improving to 9–5–0 in 1963, the Cardinals almost reached the playoffs, during the Cardinals 28-year stay in St. Louis, they advanced to the playoffs just three times, never hosting or winning in any appearance. The new St. Louis football Cardinals were competitive for much of the 1960s, New stars emerged in Larry Wilson, Charley Johnson, Jim Bakken, Sonny Randle, and Jim Hart. Violet Bidwill Wolfner died in 1962, and her sons, Bill and Charles, although the Cardinals were competitive again in the 60s, they failed to achieve a playoff appearance during the decade. Only four teams qualified during this period, in 1964, the Bidwills, unsatisfied with St. Louis, considered moving the team to Atlanta. They wanted a new stadium, and that city was planning the construction of one, however, St. Louis persuaded them to stay with the promise of a stadium—what would become Busch Memorial Stadium. The Cardinals got off to a start, and tied the Cleveland Browns 33–33 on the road. They finished 9–4–1 and second in the Eastern Conference, but a victory by the Browns over the New York Giants denied them a playoff berth, the team finished the year with a meaningless win over the Packers. A 4–1–0 start to the 1965 season evaporated into a 5–9–0 finish, another middling season followed in 1967, with six wins, seven losses, and one tie. In 1970, the Cardinals were placed in the new NFC East division following the merger with the AFL. They posted three shutouts in November, blanking the Houston Oilers, Boston Patriots, and the Cowboys
42.
Carolina Panthers
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The Carolina Panthers are a professional American football team based in Charlotte, North Carolina. The Panthers compete in the National Football League, as a club of the leagues National Football Conference South division. The team president is Danny Morrison, and the coach is Ron Rivera. The Panthers were announced as the leagues 29th franchise in 1993 and they did not have another winning season until 2003, when they won the NFC Championship Game and reached Super Bowl XXXVIII, losing 32–29 to the New England Patriots. After recording playoff appearances in 2005 and 2008, the failed to record another playoff appearance until 2013. After losing in the round to the San Francisco 49ers in 2013 and the Seattle Seahawks in 2014, the Panthers finally returned to the Super Bowl in 2016. The Panthers have reached the playoffs seven times, advancing to four NFC Championship Games and they have won six division titles, one in the NFC West and five in the NFC South. The Carolina Panthers are legally registered as Panther Football, LLC, the team is headquartered in Bank of America Stadium in uptown Charlotte, also the teams home field. They are one of the few NFL teams to own the stadium they play in, the team hosts its annual training camp at Wofford College in Spartanburg, South Carolina. On December 15,1987, entrepreneur Jerry Richardson announced his bid for an NFL expansion franchise in the Carolinas. Richardson drew his inspiration to pursue an NFL franchise from George Shinn, who had made a bid for an expansion National Basketball Association team in Charlotte. Richardson founded Richardson Sports, a partnership consisting of himself, his family, Richardson looked at four potential locations for a stadium, ultimately choosing uptown Charlotte. In choosing the name, the Richardsons did not run focus groups with potential fans. Their intention had always been the Panthers, Jerry Richardson began driving a car with the license plate PNTHRS near the end of 1989, to highlight the demand for professional football in the Carolinas, Richardson Sports held preseason games around the area from 1989 to 1991. The matchups were between existing NFL teams, in 1991, the group formally filed an application for the open expansion spot, and on October 26,1993, the 28 NFL owners unanimously named the Carolina Panthers as the 29th member of the NFL. The Panthers first competed in the 1995 NFL season, they were one of two teams to begin play that year, the other being the Jacksonville Jaguars. Former Pittsburgh Steelers defensive coordinator Dom Capers was named the first head coach, the team finished its inaugural season 7–9, the best performance ever from a first-year expansion team. They performed even better in their season, finishing with a 12–4 record and winning the NFC West division
43.
Houston Texans
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The Houston Texans are a professional American football team based in Houston, Texas. The team competes in the National Football League as a club of the American Football Conference South division. The Texans first played in 2002 as a team, making them the youngest franchise in the NFL currently. The Texans replaced Houstons previous franchise, the Houston Oilers, which moved to Nashville, the teams majority owner is Bob McNair. While the team struggled in the 2000s, they clinched its first playoff berth during the 2011 season as AFC South division champions. The Texans have gone on to win more AFC South championships in 2012,2015, to date, the Texans are the only NFL franchise to have never played in a conference championship game. In 1996, an earlier, the Cleveland Browns had controversially relocated to become the Baltimore Ravens. As part of the settlement between the NFL, the city of Cleveland, Ohio, and the owned by Art Modell. In order to out the franchisees at 32, the league also contemplated adding another expansion franchise. In association with Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo, they would push for a domed stadium as part of the bid to lure the NFL back to Houston, on October 6,1999 the NFL awarded the 32nd team to Houston, at the cost of $700 million. The Houston Texans joined the league at the 2002 NFL season, while the team struggled in early seasons, results began to improve once native Houstonian Gary Kubiak became the head coach in 2006. The Texans finished with a.500 season in both 2007 and 2008, and nearly qualified for the 2009–10 NFL playoffs with a 9–7 result in 2009. In 2010, the team started the season on a 4–2 record going into a Week 7 bye week, the Texans then beat wild card Cincinnati Bengals 31–10 in the first round of the 2011–12 NFL playoffs, before a 20–13 defeat by the Ravens in the semifinals. The Texans surged as the team to beat in the AFC South in 2012, however, they lost three of their last four games to finish 12–4, beating the rival Indianapolis Colts in that four-game stretch allowed them to clinch their 2nd AFC South title. The Texans beat the Bengals again in the round. The Texans started 2–0 in 2013 but went into a tailspin, Kubiak was fired as head coach after being swept by the rival Jacksonville Jaguars, who themselves started 0–8. Wade Phillips filled in as coach, but the Texans poor form did not change. The 14-game losing streak is also the worst in franchise history, the Texans entered the 2014 season with a 14-game losing streak
