1.
Buffalo Bills
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The Buffalo Bills are a professional American football team based in the Buffalo–Niagara Falls metropolitan area. The Bills compete in the National Football League, as a club of the leagues American Football Conference East division. The team plays their games at New Era Field in Orchard Park. The Bills are the only NFL team that plays its games in the state of New York. The Bills conduct summer training camp at St. John Fisher College in Pittsford, New York, the Bills began play as an original franchise of the American Football League in 1960. The club joined the NFL as a result of the AFL–NFL merger for the 1970 season, the 1964 and 1965 Bills were the only teams representing Buffalo that won major league professional sports championships. The Bills are the team to win four consecutive conference championships and are the only NFL team to lose four consecutive Super Bowl games. The team was owned by Ralph Wilson from the founding in 1960. After his death, Wilsons estate reached an agreement to sell the team to Terry and Kim Pegula, which was approved by the other NFL team owners on October 8,2014. The Bills began competitive play in 1960 as a member of the American Football League led by head coach Buster Ramsey. The Bills won two consecutive American Football League titles in 1964 and 1965, but the club has yet to win a championship since. Once the AFL–NFL merger took effect, the Bills became the second NFL team to represent the city, they followed the Buffalo All-Americans, Buffalos team in the All-America Football Conference in 1946 was the Bisons. In 1947 a contest was held to rename the team, which was owned by James Breuil of the Frontier Oil Company, the winning entry suggested Bills, reflecting on the famous western frontiersman, Buffalo Bill Cody. Carrying the frontier theme further, the contestant offered the team was being supported by Frontier Oil and was opening a new frontier in sports in Western New York. When Buffalo joined the new American Football League in 1960, the name of the citys earlier pro football entry was adopted, on October 8,2014, Buffalo Sabres owners Terry and Kim Pegula received unanimous approval to acquire the Bills during the NFL owners meetings. The Bills uniforms in its first two seasons were based on those of the Detroit Lions at the time, the teams original colors were Honolulu blue, silver and white, and the helmets were silver with no striping. There was no logo on the helmet, which displayed the players numbers on each side, in 1962, the standing red bison was designated as the logo and took its place on a white helmet. In 1962, the colors also changed to red, white
2.
Ardmore, Oklahoma
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Ardmore is a business, cultural, and tourism city in and the county seat of Carter County, Oklahoma, United States. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 24,283, the Ardmore micropolitan statistical area had an estimated population of 48,491 in 2013. Ardmore is situated about 9 miles south of the Arbuckle Mountains and is located at the margin of the Healdton Basin. The name Ardmore is Irish for high grounds or hills and it is also a part of the Texoma region. Ardmore, Indian Territory, began with a ditch for a Main Street in the summer of 1887 in Pickens County. It owes much of its existence to the construction of the Santa Fe Railroad through the area during that time and it grew, as most frontier towns grew, over the years into a trading outpost for the region. In 1894, notorious outlaw William M. Dalton was gunned down by a posse as he tried to flee from his home in Ardmore, a large fire in 1895 destroyed much of the fledgling town, which forced residents to rebuild nearly the entire town. In the early 1900s, Ardmore became well known for its abundance of cotton-growing fields, after the fields were stripped of their fertility, however, the city found itself positioned next to one of the largest oil fields ever produced in Oklahoma, the Healdton Oil Field. After its discovery in 1913, entrepreneurs and wildcatters flooded the area, and Carter County quickly became the largest oil-producing county in Oklahoma, and has remained so ever since. Ardmore has remained a center for the region ever since, with the regions natural wealth giving birth to such energy giants as Halliburton. The disaster, which made news, gave residents the resolve to establish the citys first fire department to ensure that such events would not recur in the future. The city has not experienced any major setbacks since the 1915 fire, despite a shift at the plant working at the time, miraculously no one was killed as the tornado ripped through the area, due to the public being alerted by area news and tornado sirens. On April 22,1966, Ardmore was the site of the worst plane crash in Oklahoma history, redistricting of congressional seats is traditionally done following the decennial U. S. census, the 2003 plan, which had been engineered by U. S. Representative Tom DeLay, would have been an unprecedented second redistricting in the same decade, by leaving the state to stay in an Oklahoma hotel, Democrats temporarily delayed passage of the redistricting plan the Republican-controlled House. Ardmore is located in southeastern Carter County at 34°10′52″N 97°07′46″W and it is bordered to the west by the city of Lone Grove and to the east by the town of Dickson. By Interstate 35, which passes through the west side of Ardmore, Oklahoma City is 97 miles to the north, while Fort Worth, Texas, is 103 miles to the south. According to the United States Census Bureau, Ardmore has an area of 51.8 square miles, of which 49.9 square miles is land and 1.9 square miles. Ardmore is located about 10 miles south of the Arbuckle Mountains, the geology is highly variegated within the area, with uplifted and folded ridges visible within the shoreline of some of the lakes surrounding Ardmore
3.
Stevenson High School (Lincolnshire, Illinois)
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Adlai E. Stevenson High School, commonly called Stevenson High School, is located in Lincolnshire, Illinois, a northern suburb of Chicago. Stevenson was ranked as the best public school in America in 2017. Adlai E. Stevenson High School opened in September 1965 amid turmoil, prior to the opening of Stevenson, the students in the Stevenson area attended Ela-Vernon High School in Lake Zurich. Stevenson was planned to become a school for the growing district. This left Stevenson with a building, no board or administration. In the 2005-06 school year, Stevenson had its highest enrollment of 4,573 students, since then, each school year has progressively seen a declining enrollment in the student body. But in the 2014-15 school year, Stevenson had its first enrollment increase since the peak in the 2005-06 school year, Stevenson is expecting enrollment of over 4000 students once again in the 2017-18 school year, and enrollment is expected to surpass 4500 by 2020. Stevenson has grown since its opening to one of the largest high schools in the area. The school has various additions over the years, the first being in 1970 where the school gym, auto shop. To accommodate the student population, another round of remodeling occurred in the mid 1990s. With the addition of the tri-level east building in 1995, the size of SHS increased more than six times its original size of 113,000 square feet. The new east building included 60 new classrooms, a new Performing Arts Center, the Patriot Aquatic Center, Field House, also built was a new indoor walkway between the original west building and the new east building. In 2004, the entrance to the school was completely rebuilt. Other renovations that included more fine arts areas around the band, choir. Around 2008, many of the fields were expanded and the football field got new turf. In that same year, the original west auditorium was renovated as well, in 2011, the school library and student resource center in the old/west building were renovated for the first time in Stevensons history. Now known as the Information and Learning Center, students can check out books, relax and do schoolwork, or even chat with classmates in this state-of-the-art facility. There are private rooms that can be reserved in advance, laptops and iPads that can be checked out
4.
New Mexico Highlands University
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New Mexico Highlands University is a public university located in Las Vegas, New Mexico, United States. The university was first established as New Mexico Normal School in 1893, the institution became New Mexico Normal University in 1902, and then New Mexico Highlands University in 1941, as it expanded its role beyond teacher education. Today, NMHU offers graduate and undergraduate programs in arts and sciences, business, education, the majority of the schools approximately 3,765 students are from New Mexico and are Latino. Highlands programs focus on its student body, especially the Latino. NMHU is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools, the School of Education received full accreditation by the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education in 2012. The School of Business is accredited by the Association of Collegiate Business Schools, the School of Social Work is accredited by the Council on Social Work Education. The School of Social and Behavioral Sciences is accredited by the Masters in Psychology, college of Arts and Sciences School of Business School of Education School of Social Work There are over 50 student organizations at NMHU. Student government at New Mexico Highlands University is composed of three branches, executive, legislative, and judicial, student senate is represented by undergraduate students in addition to individual graduate student representatives from their respective colleges and schools of the university. Each undergraduate senator is responsible for representing 100 students, the dean of students serves as the advisor to student government. Elections for student government take place in the Spring of each academic year, executives and senators are elected by the entire student body. The president pro-tempore serves as the majority leader and is elected from within the ranks of the senate to the position each year. The parliamentarian is appointed by the president at the first student senate meeting of the academic year, nMHUs athletic teams are nicknamed the Cowboys / Cowgirls, and compete in the NCAAs Division IIs Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference. Ten varsity athletics programs are offered, including soccer, cross-country, track, volleyball, mens and womens basketball, wrestling, baseball. The center has continued with classes in areas, and has added studies in criminal justice, public affairs administration, computer science and general. There are also many other campuses, including in Santa Fe, Farmington, Taos, Raton, Rio Rancho. The campus can be seen in the movie Red Dawn as the town of Las Vegas substituted for a community of Calumet. It can also be seen in the John Carpenter film Vampires
5.
Morehead State University
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The university began as Morehead Normal School, which opened its doors in 1887. One student appeared on the first day of class in October 1887, in a little, the private school closed in the spring of 1922 when the Kentucky General Assembly established Morehead State Normal School. The state institution accepted its first students in the fall of 1923, thirteen men, starting with Frank C. Dr. Wayne D. Andrews assumed office as the 13th president on January 1,2005, Morehead State University is accredited by the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. 214 degree programs are available on the two-year, four-year and graduate levels through four colleges, the university offers a Doctoral degree in Education. More than half of the faculty hold doctoral degrees, the average class size is 18. The student body represents 109 Kentucky counties,42 states and 32 foreign countries, MSU supports its missions of teaching, applied research and public service through an annual budget of more than $157 million. Grants and contracts from external sources for research, service and academic/student support projects generate more than $17 million each year, annual private gifts to the university average $3 million annually. It was the first institution in Kentucky to offer a degree program online. MSU is 1 of 5 institutions in the U. S. with a degree in space science. The university has erected a space tracking system in partnership with NASA, the second component of the Space Science Center opened in 2009—a $16.6 million instruction and research support facility. MSU claims the states best computer-student ratio in its computer laboratories,64,000 persons have received degrees from MSU. The most recent rankings listed Morehead State at 24th place among the regional universities in the South. Morehead State has consistently been one of the public regional universities in Kentucky in the Regional Universities-South category. Morehead State University is located in the foothills of the Daniel Boone National Forest in Rowan County, the more than 700-acre main campus within the city limits of Morehead includes more than 50 major structures with a total replacement value of more than $650 million. The instructional plant includes 135 classrooms and 150 laboratories, housing facilities include space for approximately 2,900 students in a variety of living styles, including traditional residence halls, suites and apartments. The university has erected a space tracking system in partnership with NASA, the second component of the Space Science Center opened in 2009—a $16.6 million instruction and research support facility. The Morehead State University Arts and Humanities Council, established in 2003, encourages dialogue, part of a larger initiative within the Caudill College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences, the Council works to develop cultural opportunities both on and off campus
6.
Arizona Cardinals
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The Arizona Cardinals are a professional American football franchise based in the Phoenix metropolitan area. The Cardinals compete in the National Football League as a member of the leagues National Football Conference West division, the Cardinals were founded as the Morgan Athletic Club in 1898, and are the oldest continuously run professional football team in the United States. The Cardinals play their games at the University of Phoenix Stadium. The team was established in Chicago in 1898 and was a member of the NFL in 1920. Along with the Chicago Bears, the club is one of two NFL charter member franchises still in operation since the leagues founding, the club then moved to St. Louis in 1960 and played in that city through 1987. Before the 1988 season, the team moved west to Tempe, Arizona, a suburb east of Phoenix. In 2006, the club playing all home games at the newly constructed University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale. The franchise has won two NFL championships, both while it was based in Chicago, the first occurred in 1925, but is the subject of controversy, with supporters of the Pottsville Maroons believing that Pottsville should have won the title. Their second title, and the first to be won in a game, came in 1947. They returned to the game to defend in 1948. In 2012 the Cardinals became the first NFL franchise to lose 700 games since its inception, the franchises all-time win-loss record at the conclusion of the 2016 season is 549–741–40. They have been to the ten times and have won seven playoff games. During that season, they won their only NFC Championship Game since the 1970 AFL–NFL merger, the team has also won five division titles since their 1947–1948 NFL championship game appearances. From 1988 through 2012, the Cardinals conducted their summer training camp at Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff. The Cardinals moved their camp to University of Phoenix Stadium in 2013. The stadium was the site of the 2015 Pro Bowl, unlike in past years, the stadium also played host to Super Bowls XLII and XLIX. The franchises inception dates back to 1898, when a group gathered to play in the Chicago South Side. Chicago painting and building contractor Chris OBrien acquired the team, which he relocated to Normal Field on Racine Avenue, the team was known as Racine Normals until 1901, when OBrien bought used jerseys from the University of Chicago
7.
Cincinnati Bearcats football
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The Cincinnati Bearcats football program represents the University of Cincinnati in college football. They compete at the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision level as members of the American Athletic Conference and they have also earned a bowl berth every year, with only two exceptions since the 2006 season. The Bearcat football program is one of the nations oldest, having fielded a team as early as 1885, in 1888, Cincinnati played Miami in the first intercollegiate football game held within the state of Ohio. That began a rivalry which today ranks as the eighth-oldest and 11th-longest running in NCAA Division I college football, robert Burch served as Cincinnatis head coach from 1909-1911, compiling a record of 16–8–2. It was during his tenure that Cincinnati joined the Ohio Athletic Conference, in March 1927, George Babcock was hired as a professor of athletics and physical training at the University of Cincinnati. From 1927 to 1930, he was the football coach of the Bearcats football. Sid Gillman, a member of the College and National Football League hall of fame shrines, was the architect of one of the top eras of Cincinnati football history. He directed the Bearcats to three titles and a pair of bowl game appearances during his six seasons before leaving for the professional ranks. Cincinnati, with Gillman developing the passing offenses which would make him successful in the pro ranks, George Blackburn served as the Bearcats head coach from 1955-1960, compiling a 25–27–6 record. It was during Blackburns tenure, in 1957, that the Bearcats joined the Missouri Valley Conference, chuck Studley left UMass and became the Bearcats 25th head football coach. Under Studleys tutelage, the Bearcats won two championships in 1963 and 1964, However, Studleys teams struggled in his other four seasons. Oklahoma assistant coach Homer Rice was hired as Studleys replacement, after accepting the head coaching position at Cincinnati, Oklahomas coach Jim McKenzie died of a massive heart attack. Upon Jims death, Oklahomas athletic director and president called Homer Rice to request that he return to replace Jim as head coach at Oklahoma and he had already hired his staff at Cincinnati and turned down the Oklahoma job to stay committed to his staff at Cincinnati. Rice compiled an 8–10–1 record in his two seasons at Cincinnati, in 1968, the Bearcats were the nations top passing team. Quarterback Greg Cook was the NCAAs total offense leader with receiver/kicker Jim OBrien the national scoring champ, a year later, Cook earned Rookie of the Year honors as a Cincinnati Bengal. Two years later, OBrien kicked the field goal for the Baltimore Colts in the Super Bowl. Ray Callahan was promoted assistant coach to head coach after Rices departure. After a 4–6 campaign in his first season, Callahans Bearcats posted back to back 7–4 records in 1970 and 1971, However, a 2–9 season in 1972 ended his tenure at Cincinnati
8.
Oklahoma Sooners football
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The Oklahoma Sooners football program is a college football team that represents the University of Oklahoma. The team is currently a member of the Big 12 Conference, the program began in 1895 and is one of the most successful programs since World War II with the most wins and the highest winning percentage since 1945. The program has 7 national championships,45 conference championships,154 All-Americans, Oklahoma is also the only program that has had four coaches with 100+ wins, including current head coach Bob Stoops. They became the sixth NCAA FBS team to win 850 games when they defeated the Kansas Jayhawks on November 22,2014, the Sooners play their home games at Gaylord Family Oklahoma Memorial Stadium in Norman, Oklahoma. Football at Oklahoma made its start in September 1895,12 years before statehood, the team was organized by John A. Harts, a student from Winfield, Kansas who had played the game in his home state. That first team was composed of mostly non-students, including a local fireman and that first season saw the team go 0–1, being blanked 0–34 by a more experienced Oklahoma City Town Team. The first game was played on a field of low prairie grass just northwest of the current site of Holmberg Hall. Several members of the Oklahoma team were injured, including Coach Harts, and by the end of the game, after that year, Harts left Oklahoma to prospect for gold in the Arctic. The team got its first real coach in 1897 when the new modern language professor, Parrington played some football at Harvard and was more exposed to football coming from the East coast. In his four years as coach, Parringtons teams racked up nine wins, one loss. After the 1900 season, football began interfering with Parringtons teaching and he stepped down as head coach shortly thereafter and went on to win the Pulitzer Prize for History in 1928 at the University of Washington. The Sooners had three more coaches over the four seasons. Fred Roberts led the Sooners to a 3–2 season in 1901, the most notable event of those four years came in 1904 when Oklahoma had its first match against its instate rival, Oklahoma A&M. The game was played on November 6,1904 at Mineral Wells Park in Guthrie, the Oklahoma team soundly defeated the Oklahoma Aggies 75–0, but it was an unusual touchdown that is remembered most of that game. Bedlam football, the rivalry between the University of Oklahoma and Oklahoma State University, was born that day. After ten years of football, the program began to get serious and they found Bennie Owen, a former quarterback of the undefeated Kansas team of 1899 led by famous coach Fielding H. Yost. Owens previous team beat Oklahoma twice in 1903 and 1904, so the Sooners were familiar with his ability, Owens first two years at Oklahoma were spent between Norman and Arkansas City as Oklahoma did not have a big enough budget to keep him there all year. The early years of Owens tenure were tough because of budget issues, due to a low travel budget, his teams would regularly have to play as many as three games in one trek
9.
Kansas State Wildcats football
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The Kansas State Wildcats football program is the intercollegiate football program of the Kansas State University Wildcats. The program is classified in the NCAA Division I Bowl Subdivision, historically, the team has an all-time losing record, at 518–635–41 after the conclusion of the 2016 season. However, the program has had some stretches of winning in its history, most recently, since 1968, the team has played in Bill Snyder Family Football Stadium in Manhattan, Kansas. The Kansas State University Marching Band, also known as the Pride of Wildcat Land, performs at all home games, according to most sources, Kansas States football team began play on Thanksgiving Day 1893. A team from Kansas State defeated St. Marys College 18–10 on that date, other sources name Kansas States first game as a 24–0 victory over a team from Abilene, Kansas, on November 3,1894. However, the first official game recorded in the history is a 14–0 loss to Fort Riley on November 28,1896. In its earliest years, the program had a different coach every year—generally, often, the coaches also played with the team during the games. The pattern changed when Mike Ahearn became the first long-term coach in 1905, Ahearn coached for six seasons, leading the team to winning records each year, and concluding in the 1910 season with a 10–1 mark. Ahearn also won two championships in the Kansas Intercollegiate Athletic Association, in 1909 and 1910. Ahearn was followed by Guy Lowman, who led Kansas State to another championship in 1912. Kansas State was invited into the Missouri Valley Intercollegiate Athletic Association in 1913, after a few years adjusting to a higher level of competition, the school experienced sustained success in the 1920s and 1930s. These athletes were coupled with a series of Hall of Fame coaches, the first of these coaches was Z. G. Clevenger, who arrived in 1916 when Kansas State essentially swapped head coaches with Tennessee, clevenger is in the College Football Hall of Fame for his playing abilities, but he was also recognized as a brilliant coach and administrator. Clevenger was followed as football coach in 1920 by Charlie Bachman, Bachman was also responsible for permanently endowing Kansas States sports teams with the nickname of Wildcats. After McMillin left, Kansas State hired Lynn Pappy Waldorf, who was later enshrined in the College Football Hall of Fame as a coach. With this combination of coaches and players, Kansas State enjoyed what would be its last streak of sustained success on the field for 60 years. In 1931, the team was on track for a potential bid to the Rose Bowl. In 1934, Kansas State won its first major conference football championship and that same year, the New York Times referred to Kansas State as an established Middle Western leader
10.
Baltimore Ravens
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The Baltimore Ravens are a professional American football team based in Baltimore, Maryland. The Ravens compete in the National Football League as a club of the American Football Conference North division. The team plays its games at M&T Bank Stadium and is headquartered in Owings Mills. The Ravens were established in 1996, when Art Modell, who was then the owner of the Cleveland Browns, in return, he was allowed to take his own personnel and team to Baltimore, where such personnel would then form an expansion team. The Ravens organization has been led by general manager Ozzie Newsome since 1996, the team is owned by Steve Bisciotti and valued at $1.5 billion, making the Ravens the 24th-most valuable sports franchise in the world. The name Ravens was inspired by Edgar Allan Poes poem The Raven, chosen in a fan contest that drew 33,288 voters, the allusion honors Poe, who spent the early part of his career in Baltimore and is buried there. As the Baltimore Sun reported at the time, fans also liked the tie-in with the birds in town, the Orioles. After the controversial relocation of the Colts to Indianapolis, several attempts were made to bring an NFL team back to Baltimore. In 1993, ahead of the 1995 league expansion, the city was considered a favorite, behind only St. Louis and this led to public outrage and the Baltimore Sun describing Taglibue as having an Anybody But Baltimore policy. Maryland governor William Donald Schaefer said afterward that Taglibue had led him on, praising Baltimore, by May 1994, Baltimore Orioles owner Peter Angelos had gathered a new group of investors, including author Tom Clancy, to bid on teams whose owners had expressed interest in relocating. Angelos found a partner in Georgia Frontiere, who was open to moving the Los Angeles Rams to Baltimore. Jack Kent Cooke opposed the move, intending to build the Redskins new stadium in Laurel, Maryland and this led to heated arguments between Cooke and Angelos, who accused Cooke of being a carpetbagger. Following this, Angelos made an unsuccessful $200 million bid to bring the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to Baltimore, enticed by Baltimores available funds for a first-class stadium, Modell announced on November 6,1995 his intention to relocate the team from Cleveland to Baltimore the following year. The resulting controversy ended when representatives of Cleveland and the NFL reached a settlement on February 8,1996, tagliabue promised the city of Cleveland that an NFL team would be located in Cleveland, either through relocation or expansion, no later than 1999. Additionally, the agreement stipulated that the Browns name, colors, uniform design, the franchise history includes Browns club records and connections with Pro Football Hall of Fame players. Modells Baltimore team, while retaining all current player contracts, would, for purposes of history, appear as an expansion team. Not all players, staff or front office would make the move to Baltimore, after relocation, Modell hired Ted Marchibroda as the head coach for his new team in Baltimore. Marchibroda was already well known because of his work as coach of the Baltimore Colts during the 1970s
11.
New York Jets
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The New York Jets are a professional American football team located in the New York metropolitan area. The Jets compete in the National Football League as a club of the leagues American Football Conference East division. The team is headquartered in Florham Park, New Jersey, in a unique arrangement for the league, the Jets share MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey with the New York Giants. The franchise is legally and corporately registered as New York Jets, the team was founded in 1959 as the Titans of New York, an original member of the American Football League, later, the franchise joined the NFL in the AFL–NFL merger in 1970. The team began to play in 1960 at the Polo Grounds, under new ownership, the current name was adopted in 1963 and the franchise moved to Shea Stadium in 1964 and then to the Meadowlands Sports Complex in 1984. Since 1968, the Jets have appeared in the playoffs 13 times, however, the Jets have never returned to the Super Bowl, making them one of three NFL teams to win their lone Super Bowl appearance, along with the New Orleans Saints and Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The teams training facility, Atlantic Health Jets Training Center, which opened in 2008, is located in Florham Park, the first organizational meeting of the American Football League took place on August 14,1959. Wismer was granted the franchise later dubbed the Titans of New York as Wismer explained. He secured the Titans home field at the decrepit Polo Grounds, by 1962, the debt continued to mount for Wismer, forcing the AFL to assume the costs of the team until seasons end. A five-man syndicate, headed by Sonny Werblin, saved the team from certain bankruptcy, Werblin renamed the team the New York Jets since the team would play in Shea Stadium near LaGuardia Airport. The new name was intended to reflect the approach of his team. The Jets owners hired Weeb Ewbank as the manager and head coach. The early 1990s saw New York struggling, after firing coach Bruce Coslet, owner Leon Hess hired Pete Carroll who struggled to a 6–10 record and was promptly fired at the end of the season. Thereafter, Rich Kotite was selected to lead the team to victory, Kotite stepped down at the end of his second season forcing the Jets to search for a new head coach. Hess lured then-disgruntled New England Patriots head coach Bill Parcells to New York in 1997, Parcells led the team back to relevance and coached them to the AFC Championship Game in 1998. Hess died in 1999 while the team, plagued by injuries, produced an eight win record, the franchise obtained a new owner in Woody Johnson in 2000. Additionally, through the 2000s the Jets visited the five times. Rex Ryan was hired in January 2009, Ryan led the team to back-to-back AFC Championship appearances during his first two years but the team never made the playoffs again during his tenure
12.
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
13.
Super Bowl XXXV
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The Ravens defeated the Giants by the score of 34–7, tied for the seventh largest Super Bowl margin of victory with Super Bowl XXXVII. The game was played on January 28,2001 at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, the Ravens, who posted a 12–4 regular season record, became the third wild card team to win the Super Bowl and the second in four years. The Giants entered the game seeking to go 3–0 in Super Bowls after also finishing the season with a 12–4 record. The game was the first Super Bowl contested by teams representing cities that had contested a previous Super Bowl with two different franchises, Baltimore allowed only 152 yards of offense by New York, recorded 4 sacks, and forced 5 turnovers. All 16 of the Giants possessions ended with punts or interceptions, with the exception of the last one, New Yorks lone touchdown, a 97-yard kickoff return, was quickly answered by Baltimore on an 84-yard touchdown return on the ensuing kickoff. NFL owners awarded Super Bowl XXXV to Tampa during their October 31,1996 meeting in New Orleans, Tampa became the fourth metropolitan area to host the game at least three times, joining New Orleans, Miami, and Los Angeles. Other cities under consideration at the meeting were Miami, Atlanta, owners initially planned on selecting only two hosts, but decided to name three after strong showings by the respective delegations. Tampa was essentially promised a Super Bowl after committing to the construction of a new stadium, Miami, Atlanta, and Tampa were selected to host XXXIII, XXXIV, and XXXV, respectively. The Ravens entered the game with the second-best defense in allowing yards in the league, with the fewest points allowed and the fewest rushing yards allowed during the regular season. At the time, they were the team to hold the opposition to under 1,000 yards rushing in a season since the NFL adopted a 16-game schedule in 1978. Baltimores 165 points allowed broke the record set by the 1986 Chicago Bears, the Ravens defense had held their opponents to 10 or fewer points in 11 games, including four shutouts. The defense was led by a trio of outstanding linebackers, Peter Boulware, Jamie Sharper, during the regular season, Boulware recorded 7 sacks, while Sharper forced 5 fumbles and made one interception. Lewis was named the NFL Defensive Player of the Year by recording 3 sacks, making 138 tackles, Pro Bowl defensive tackle Sam Adams and veteran Tony Siragusa anchored the defensive line, along with defensive ends Rob Burnett and Pro Bowler Michael McCrary. Baltimore also had a corps of defensive backs led by Pro Bowl veteran safety Rod Woodson, who along with Kim Herring, Duane Starks. On offense, the Ravens main strength was rushing, led by rookie Jamal Lewis, also, tight end Shannon Sharpe recorded 67 receptions for 810 yards and 5 touchdowns. Receiver Qadry Ismail added 49 receptions for 655 yards and four touchdowns, the offensive line was anchored by tackle Jonathan Ogden, who was named to the Pro Bowl for the 4th consecutive season. On special teams, Jermaine Lewis ranked second in the NFL with 36 punt returns for 578 yards, kicker Matt Stover led the NFL in field goals made and attempted, while ranking 7th in field goal percentage and second in scoring. However, the Baltimore offense was mediocre, ranking only 13th in the league in scoring, 16th in total yards, the team had a lot of trouble scoring, and at one point they went through five games without scoring an offensive touchdown
14.
American football
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The offense must advance at least ten yards in four downs, or plays, or else they turn over the football to the opposing team, if they succeed, they are given a new set of four downs. Points are primarily scored by advancing the ball into the teams end zone for a touchdown or kicking the ball through the opponents goalposts for a field goal. The team with the most points at the end of a game wins, American football evolved in the United States, originating from the sports of association football and rugby football. The first game of American football was played on November 6,1869, during the latter half of the 1870s, colleges playing association football switched to the Rugby Union code, which allowed carrying the ball. American football as a whole is the most popular sport in the United States, Professional football and college football are the most popular forms of the game, with the other major levels being high school and youth football. As of 2012, nearly 1.1 million high school athletes and 70,000 college athletes play the sport in the United States annually, almost all of them men, in the United States, American football is referred to as football. The term football was established in the rulebook for the 1876 college football season. The terms gridiron or American football are favored in English-speaking countries where other codes of football are popular, such as the United Kingdom, Ireland, New Zealand, American football evolved from the sports of association football and rugby football. What is considered to be the first American football game was played on November 6,1869 between Rutgers and Princeton, two college teams, the game was played between two teams of 25 players each and used a round ball that could not be picked up or carried. It could, however, be kicked or batted with the feet, hands, head or sides, Rutgers won the game 6 goals to 4. Collegiate play continued for years in which matches were played using the rules of the host school. Representatives of Yale, Columbia, Princeton and Rutgers met on October 19,1873 to create a set of rules for all schools to adhere to. Teams were set at 20 players each, and fields of 400 by 250 feet were specified, Harvard abstained from the conference, as they favored a rugby-style game that allowed running with the ball. An 1875 Harvard-Yale game played under rugby-style rules was observed by two impressed Princeton athletes and these players introduced the sport to Princeton, a feat the Professional Football Researchers Association compared to selling refrigerators to Eskimos. Princeton, Harvard, Yale and Columbia then agreed to play using a form of rugby union rules with a modified scoring system. These schools formed the Intercollegiate Football Association, although Yale did not join until 1879, the introduction of the snap resulted in unexpected consequences. Prior to the snap, the strategy had been to punt if a scrum resulted in bad field position, however, a group of Princeton players realized that, as the snap was uncontested, they now could hold the ball indefinitely to prevent their opponent from scoring. In 1881, both teams in a game between Yale-Princeton used this strategy to maintain their undefeated records, each team held the ball, gaining no ground, for an entire half, resulting in a 0-0 tie
15.
ESPN
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ESPN is a U. S. -based global cable and satellite sports television channel owned by ESPN Inc. a joint venture between The Walt Disney Company and the Hearst Corporation. ESPN broadcasts primarily from studio facilities located in Bristol, Connecticut, the network also operates offices in Miami, New York City, Seattle, Charlotte, and Los Angeles. John Skipper currently serves as president of ESPN, a position he has held since January 1,2012, as of February 2015, ESPN is available to approximately 94,396,000 paid television households in the United States. In 2011, ESPNs history and rise was chronicled by These Guys Have All the Fun, Bill Rasmussen conceived the concept of ESPN in late May 1978, after he was fired from his job with the World Hockey Associations New England Whalers. One of the first steps in Bill and his son Scotts process was finding land to build the channels broadcasting facilities, the Rasmussens first rented office space in Plainville, Connecticut. However, the plan to base ESPN there was put on hold because a local ordinance prohibiting buildings from bearing rooftop satellite dishes and this helped the credibility of the fledgling company, however there were still many doubters to the viability of their sports channel concept. ESPN launched on September 7,1979, beginning with the first telecast of what would become the flagship program. Taped in front of a live audience inside the Bristol studios. ESPNs next big break came when the acquired the rights to broadcast coverage of the early rounds of the NCAA Mens Division I Basketball Tournament. It first aired the NCAA tournament in March 1980, creating the modern day television event known as March Madness. The channels tournament coverage also launched the career of Dick Vitale. In April of that year, ESPN created another made-for-TV spectacle, the next major stepping stone for ESPN came over the course of a couple of months in 1984. During this time period, the American Broadcasting Company purchased 100% of ESPN from the Rasmussens, for years, the NFL, NBA and Major League Baseball refused to consider cable as a means of broadcasting some of their games. However, with the backing of ABC, ESPNs ability to compete for major sports contracts greatly increased, later in 1984, the U. S. ESPNs Sunday Night Football games would become the highest-rated NFL telecasts for the next 17 years. In 1992, ESPN launched ESPN Radio, a sports talk radio network providing analysis. It became the fastest growing cable channel in the U. S. during the 1990s, ownership of ABC, and in effect control of ESPN, was acquired first by Capital Cities Communications in 1985, and then by The Walt Disney Company in 1996. In 2012, ESPN generated more revenue for Disney than any of its other properties combined, alongside its live sports broadcasts, ESPN also airs a variety of sports highlight, talk, and documentary-styled shows. 30 for 30 started airing in 2009 and continues airing to this day, each episode is through the eyes of a well known filmmaker and has featured some of the biggest directors in Hollywood
16.
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
17.
Buddy Ryan
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James David Buddy Ryan was an American football coach in the National Football League and American Football League. During his 35-season coaching career, Ryan served as the coach of the Philadelphia Eagles and Arizona Cardinals. Ryan began his coaching career as the defensive line coach for the New York Jets of the AFL for the teams Super Bowl III victory. He became the line coach for the Minnesota Vikings, overseeing the Purple People Eaters. He then became the coordinator of the Chicago Bears, who won Super Bowl XX. As defensive coordinator of the Bears, he created the 46 defense, Ryan then coached the Eagles, served as defensive coordinator of the Oilers, and coached the Cardinals. He was the father of NFL coaches Rex Ryan and Rob Ryan, Ryan was born on February 17,1931, and raised in a small, agricultural-based community outside of Frederick, Oklahoma. Ryan played college football for Oklahoma A&M University where he earned four letters as a guard between 1952 and 1955 and he served as a sergeant in the United States Army during the Korean War. Ryan began his career at Gainesville High School in Gainesville, Texas. When Wooten became head coach at Marshall High School in 1959, after one season at Gainesville, he spent one year as high-school athletic director in Marshall, Texas. In 1961, after completing service in the military, Ryan was determined to continue coaching football when he returned, however, with so many great coaches already in Texas, college jobs were hard to find. From 1962 through 1965, the Bulls defense ranked among the national leaders, posting 12 shutouts in that span as well as producing Gerry Philbin. In 1964, Lou Saban, the coach of the Buffalo Bills of the American Football League, reportedly offered Ryan a similar job with the Bills. In 1965, Ryan took a job at Pacific, before finishing his coaching career the following season with Vanderbilt. Ryan joined the New York Jets of the AFL in 1968 and his and Walt Michaels defensive game plan was instrumental in holding the NFLs Baltimore Colts to seven points in Super Bowl III and earning Ryan his first Super Bowl ring. In 1976 and 1977, Ryan served as line coach for the Minnesota Vikings. The Vikings defensive line, known as the Purple People Eaters, was heralded for ability to punish rivals, the 1976 Vikings won the NFC Championship and appeared in Super Bowl XI. In 1977, the Vikings won the NFC Central and reached the NFC Championship game, during his time with the Vikings, Ryan started working on a defensive nickel scheme designed to disrupt the passing game
18.
Rob Ryan
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Robert Allen Ryan is an American football coach in the National Football League. He is the son of former defensive coordinator and head coach Buddy Ryan, when his parents, Doris and Buddy Ryan, divorced in 1966, Rob and his fraternal twin, Rex, moved with Doris to Toronto. In 1974, they moved back to the United States to live with their father and he attended Stevenson High School in Lincolnshire, Illinois. Rob played defensive end opposite his brother Rex at Southwestern Oklahoma State University, Ryan was a graduate assistant at Western Kentucky in 1987. Then in 1988, he was an assistant coach at Ohio State and he then spent five seasons at Tennessee State, where he coached running backs, wide receivers and the defensive line. After being fired by the Arizona Cardinals, Ryan served as coordinator at Hutchinson Community College in 1996. Ryans defense led the nation in defense and in sacks. They also set a record by forcing 49 turnovers. In 1997, Ryan returned to coaching as defensive coordinator at Oklahoma State. While at Oklahoma State, the Cowboys defense continually ranked among the best in the nation, in 1999, they were ranked 10th in the nation in total defense. In 1998, they were second in the nation with 41 sacks, in his first season at Oklahoma State, the Cowboys defense finished among the nation top-20 in turnover margin, rushing defense, scoring defense, and total defense, allowing just 302.7 yards-per-game. It was an over 100-yard improvement per game from the year before and helped the Cowboys produce an 8–4 mark, Ryan first entered the NFL coaching ranks in 1994 as defensive backs coach on his fathers staff for the Arizona Cardinals. He also coached Cardinals cornerbacks and safeties in 1995, with Ryan as his position coach, cornerback Aeneas Williams earned two trips to the Pro Bowl in 1994 and 1995. In 1995, the Cardinals led the NFL with 32 interceptions and 42 total takeaways, the 1994 Cardinals ranked second in the NFL total defense, second in run defense and third in pass defense. Prior to the 2000 season, new Patriots coach Bill Belichick hired Ryan to serve as the coach for the New England Patriots. In 2003, the Patriots ranked first in the NFL in points allowed with 238, during his tenure the Patriots won Super Bowl XXXVI over the St. Louis Rams and Super Bowl XXXVIII over the Carolina Panthers. Ryan was hired as the coordinator for the Oakland Raiders prior to the 2004 season. In his first season, the Raiders defense ranked 31st in the league, the defense improved in his second season, averaging 23.9 points a game, and moving to 25th in the league
19.
United States
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Forty-eight of the fifty states and the federal district are contiguous and located in North America between Canada and Mexico. The state of Alaska is in the northwest corner of North America, bordered by Canada to the east, the state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific Ocean. The U. S. territories are scattered about the Pacific Ocean, the geography, climate and wildlife of the country are extremely diverse. At 3.8 million square miles and with over 324 million people, the United States is the worlds third- or fourth-largest country by area, third-largest by land area. It is one of the worlds most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, paleo-Indians migrated from Asia to the North American mainland at least 15,000 years ago. European colonization began in the 16th century, the United States emerged from 13 British colonies along the East Coast. Numerous disputes between Great Britain and the following the Seven Years War led to the American Revolution. On July 4,1776, during the course of the American Revolutionary War, the war ended in 1783 with recognition of the independence of the United States by Great Britain, representing the first successful war of independence against a European power. The current constitution was adopted in 1788, after the Articles of Confederation, the first ten amendments, collectively named the Bill of Rights, were ratified in 1791 and designed to guarantee many fundamental civil liberties. During the second half of the 19th century, the American Civil War led to the end of slavery in the country. By the end of century, the United States extended into the Pacific Ocean. The Spanish–American War and World War I confirmed the status as a global military power. The end of the Cold War and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 left the United States as the sole superpower. The U. S. is a member of the United Nations, World Bank, International Monetary Fund, Organization of American States. The United States is a developed country, with the worlds largest economy by nominal GDP. It ranks highly in several measures of performance, including average wage, human development, per capita GDP. While the U. S. economy is considered post-industrial, characterized by the dominance of services and knowledge economy, the United States is a prominent political and cultural force internationally, and a leader in scientific research and technological innovations. In 1507, the German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller produced a map on which he named the lands of the Western Hemisphere America after the Italian explorer and cartographer Amerigo Vespucci
20.
Southwestern Oklahoma State University
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Southwestern Oklahoma State University is a public university in Weatherford and Sayre, Oklahoma. It is one of six Regional University System of Oklahoma members, SWOSU is placed at Tier 1 in the category Regional Universities in the 2011 U. S. News & World Report. SWOSU has 14 nationally accredited academic programs—the most among Oklahomas senior regional universities, SWOSU was first established through an act of the Oklahoma Territorial Legislature in 1901 as Southwestern Normal School, although no classes were held until 1903. Several towns fought a battle to become the home of the new school. The normal school included both a degree program for teacher education and a preparatory school. In 1920, the part of the school closed and a four-year baccalaureate degree program replaced it. The first bachelors degrees by the renamed Southwestern State Teachers College were awarded in the spring of 1921, the Great Depression brought several attempts to close the school for financial reasons. It had to several presidents to survive politically. In 1939, the added a vocational training curriculum to its teacher-training mission. The school underwent significant expansion during World War II, adding programs in the arts. The first graduate degree, a Masters of Teaching, was added in 1953, in 1987, Sayre Junior College in Sayre, Oklahoma was merged with SWOSU, becoming Southwestern Oklahoma State University at Sayre. Since its beginning, there have been 17 presidents that have served at Southwestern Oklahoma State University, on Southwestern Oklahoma State University’s campus, there are several places to eat such as The University Grill, The Bulldog Beanery, The Yogurt Corner, and Duke’s Diner. The Weatherford campus has a span of over 100 acres, the campus is the grounds for several diverse buildings, some dating back to the school’s opening in 1903, and some as recent as 2014. The new Pioneer Cellular Event Center opened January 2014, SWOSU offers 38 bachelor’s degrees,7 associate degrees,6 masters degrees and 1 doctorate. Enrollment for SWOSU is approximately 5,200 and the most up-to-date student-to-faculty ratio is 20,1, SWOSU has a Veteran’s assistance program as well as a distance learning program. SWOSUs Sayre campus was founded in 1938 as a Junior College and it offers open admission to high school graduates. SWOSU at Sayre is fully accredited and offers Associate of Science, Associate in Applied Science Degree, Criminal Justice – Corrections, Physical Therapy Assistant, Occupational Therapy Assistant. SWOSUs athletic teams are known as the Bulldogs, the university competes at the NCAA Division II level as a member of the Great American Conference
21.
Brian Billick
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Brian Harold Billick is a former National Football League coach and commentator. He was also the coordinator for the Minnesota Vikings when they broke the scoring record in the 1998 season. Billick, who played football and basketball at Redlands High School in Redlands and he played both quarterback and cornerback and holds the state record with 21 career interceptions. After spending his freshman season as a linebacker at the United States Air Force Academy, Billick transferred to Brigham Young University and became a tight end. He later told friends that he left the Air Force Academy because he learned, after hed already enrolled and he received All-Western Athletic Conference and honorable mention All-America honors in 1976. Billick was selected in the 11th round of the 1977 NFL Draft by the San Francisco 49ers and that season, he also split time as an assistant coach at Redlands High School. Billick said he coached the school teams practice from 2 to 4 p. m. then headed over to the university for the college practice. Billick worked as an assistant at Brigham Young for one season before joining the 49ers as the assistant director of public relations for two years. He returned to coaching with San Diego State University, serving as the ends coach. After being named the offensive coordinator of Utah State University, Billick improved the second-worst offense in Division I-A into an offense in three seasons. Billick was then hired as the assistant head coach and tight ends coach at Stanford by Dennis Green, the Vikings made the playoffs during six of the seven seasons that Billick spent with the team, and set several offensive records in the process. In 1998, Minnesota set an NFL record for most points scored in a season and his work under Minnesota head coach Dennis Green put Billick in the Bill Walsh coaching tree. Billick became the coach in Baltimore Ravens history on January 19,1999. He had an 85–67 record in nine seasons with the team and he won a Super Bowl title. Although Billick had the opportunity to interview for the coaching job of the reactivated Cleveland Browns and was rumored to be their top candidate. He signed with Baltimore in under 24 hours after his initial interview, in his first season with the Ravens, Billick led the team to its first non-losing record in the franchises four-year history. The next season, the Ravens finished with a 12–4 record, Billick felt this approach would help them reach that goal, and went so far as to fine Tony Siragusa for violating the rule. In response, the players borrowed the term Festivus from the television series Seinfeld for the playoffs, when they reached the playoffs, Billick lifted this ban
22.
2009 New York Jets season
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The 2009 New York Jets season was the 50th season for the club and the 40th season in the National Football League and the last season at Giants Stadium. While they did not improve their 9–7 record from 2008, this time the team headed to the playoffs, the Jets fired head coach Eric Mangini on December 29,2008 and hired Rex Ryan from the Baltimore Ravens on January 18,2009. The New York Jets were represented at the 2010 Pro Bowl by Darrelle Revis, Nick Mangold, Shaun Ellis, D’Brickashaw Ferguson, head coach Eric Mangini was fired by the Jets on December 29,2008. The decision was made after the Jets fell from 8–3 and sole possession of first place in the AFC East with four losses in their last five games and he finished his tenure as head coach with a 23–25 record including the playoffs. At first, the Jets attempted to lure former Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Bill Cowher out of retirement, Cowher ultimately decided to stay retired in 2009. The Jets interviewed several candidates for their vacancy, in-house candidates included offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer and offensive line coach Bill Callahan. Other candidates interviewed were Indianapolis Colts defensive coordinator Ron Meeks, New York Giants defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo, the Jets eventually picked Baltimore Ravens defensive coordinator Rex Ryan as their head coach. He accepted the position just hours after the Ravens loss in the AFC Championship Game on January 18, on February 27, the Jets signed former Baltimore Ravens linebacker Bart Scott to a six-year, $48 million deal. On March 3, the Jets inked Jim Leonhard, former Ravens safety, to a three-year, though Coles admitted a chance he could re-sign with the Jets, he signed a four-year deal with the Cincinnati Bengals. On March 4, former kicker Mike Nugent was signed by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to a one-year deal, on February 28, the Jets traded for cornerback Lito Sheppard of the Philadelphia Eagles, sending the Eagles a 2009 fifth-round draft pick and a 2010 conditional draft pick. The pick can be as high as second and as low as fourth, upon the trade, Sheppard received a four-year, $27.2 million contract extension. The Jets were assigned the 17th selection in the first round of the 2009 NFL Draft and they gave their fifth round pick to the Philadelphia Eagles in the Lito Sheppard trade. They also received a third selection from the New Orleans Saints in exchange for linebacker Jonathan Vilma. The Jets used the selection to draft quarterback Mark Sanchez from the University of Southern California, the Jets also sent their third, fourth, and seventh-round selections to the Detroit Lions for the Lions third-round pick, which was the first of the second day of the draft. The Jets selected running back Shonn Greene of the University of Iowa with the pick, the Jets slate of regular season opponents was determined after the completion of the 2008 season. Their schedule was released in full on April 14, Game times and channels from weeks 11,12, and 14–17 were subject to change per the NFLs flexible scheduling policy. Some controversy ensued over the placement of the Jets first two games, coinciding with the Jewish holidays of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. In response, the NFL moved the time of the game against the Tennessee Titans to 1,00 pm Eastern, all games will be broadcast on 1050AM ESPN except for Week 13
23.
AFC Championship Game
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The AFC Championship Game is one of the two semi-final playoff games of the National Football League, the largest professional American football league in the United States. The game is played on the penultimate Sunday in January and determines the champion of the American Football Conference, the winner then advances to face the winner of the National Football Conference Championship Game in the Super Bowl. The game was established as part of the 1970 merger between the NFL and the American Football League, with the merged league realigning into two conferences. Since 1984, each winner of the AFC Championship Game has also received the Lamar Hunt Trophy, named after the founder of the AFL and longtime leader of the Kansas City Chiefs, Lamar Hunt. The first AFC Championship Game was played following the 1970 regular season after the merger between the NFL and the American Football League. The game is considered the successor to the former AFL Championship, every AFC team except the Houston Texans has played in an AFC Championship Game at least once. The Pittsburgh Steelers have the most appearances in the AFC Championship Game at 16, with 11 of those games being in Pittsburgh, at the end of each regular season, a series of playoff games involving the top six teams in the AFC are conducted. In the current NFL playoff structure, this consists of the four division champions, the two teams remaining following the Wild Card round and the divisional round play in the AFC Championship game. Initially, the site of the game was determined on a rotating basis, since the 1975–76 season, the site of the AFC Championship has been based on playoff seeding based on the regular season won-loss record, with the highest surviving seed hosting the game. A wild card team can only host the game if both participants are wild cards, in case the fifth seed would host the sixth seed. Such an instance has never occurred in the NFL, beginning with 1984–85 season, the winner of the AFC Championship Game has received the Lamar Hunt Trophy, named after the founder of the AFL. The original design consisted of a base with a sculpted AFC logo in the front. Numbers in parentheses in the table are AFC Championships, bold indicates team won Super Bowl that year. ^ b, The Seahawks were members of the NFC in 1976 and then members of the AFC from 1977 to 2001, including their appearances in the NFC Championship Game, they hold a combined 3–1 record between both Conference Championship Games. ^ c, The Buccaneers were members of the AFC in 1976 before moving to the NFC in 1977, ^ e, Includes appearances as the Baltimore Colts, where they went 1–1 in AFC Championship Games. Since moving to Indianapolis in 1984, the Colts are 2–3 in AFC Championship Games ^ f, Includes appearances as the Houston Oilers, since moving to Tennessee in 1997, they are 1–1 in AFC Championship Games. Los Angeles Raiders Largest margin of victory –48 points**, January 20,1991 – Buffalo Bills vs
24.
2014 New York Jets season
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The 2014 New York Jets season was the franchises 45th season in the National Football League and the 55th overall. The Jets failed to improve on their 8–8 regular-season record in 2013, as a result, head coach Rex Ryan was fired on December 29,2014, after compiling a 46–50 record in six seasons. Linebackers coach Brian VanGorder was hired as Notre Dames defensive coordinator, defensive quality control coach Bobby April III was promoted to replace VanGorder. Special teams coach Ben Kotwica was hired by the Washington Redskins for the same position and he was replaced by former LSU special teams coach Thomas McGaughey. The Jets promoted Tony Sparano Jr. to offensive assistant and hired former player Eric Smith as a seasonal intern, the Jets hired Aaron McLaurin as an assistant strength and conditioning coach and Kavan Latham as a strength and conditioning intern. The Jets signed Colin Anderson, T. J. Barnes, Tevita Finau, Michael Campbell, Dwight Jones, Dalton Freeman, Tim Fugger, the Jets signed Ras-I Dowling to a reserve/future contract on January 6,2014. The Jets signed Patrick Ford and Lowell Rose to reserve/future contracts on January 8,2014, the Jets signed Jacolby Ashworth and Nick Taylor to reserve/future contracts on January 14,2014. The Jets signed Brandon Hardin to a contract on January 15,2014. The Jets signed Johnny Patrick off waivers on March 5,2014, the Jets signed Breno Giacomini and Eric Decker on March 12,2014. The Jets signed Michael Vick on March 21,2014, the Jets signed Jeremy Reeves on March 28,2014. The Jets signed Jacoby Ford and Dimitri Patterson on April 1,2014, the Jets signed Chris Johnson on April 16,2014. The Jets signed undrafted free agents Tevon Conrad, Steele Divitto, Anthony Grady, Kerry Hyder, Terrence Miller, Brent Qvale, Zach Thompson, the Jets claimed Daryl Richardson off waivers on May 16,2014. The Jets signed A. J. Edds and Markus Zusevics on May 19,2014, the Jets signed Andrew Furney and Jacob Schum on June 19,2014. The Jets signed Jason Babin on July 23,2014, the Jets signed Michael Smith on August 1,2014. The Jets signed Bruce Campbell on August 5,2014, the Jets signed LeQuan Lewis on August 12,2014. The Jets claimed Leon McFadden off waivers on August 31,2014, the Jets signed Matt Simms, Daryl Richardson, Chris Pantale, Brent Qvale, Tevita Finau, Kerry Hyder, and Rontez Miles to the practice squad on August 31,2014. The Jets signed Phillip Adams and A. J. Edds, claimed Walt Powell off waivers, the Jets signed Quincy Enunwa and Jeremiah George to the practice squad on September 2,2014. The Jets re-signed Ellis Lankster on September 12,2013, the Jets signed Brandon Smith to the practice squad on September 23,2014
25.
University of Chicago
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The University of Chicago is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. It holds top-ten positions in national and international rankings and measures. The university currently enrolls approximately 5,700 students in the College, Chicagos physics department helped develop the worlds first man-made, self-sustaining nuclear reaction beneath the viewing stands of universitys Stagg Field. The university is home to the University of Chicago Press. With an estimated date of 2020, the Barack Obama Presidential Center will be housed at the university. Both Harper and future president Robert Maynard Hutchins advocated for Chicagos curriculum to be based upon theoretical and perennial issues rather than on applied sciences, the University of Chicago has many prominent alumni. 92 Nobel laureates have been affiliated with the university as professors, students, faculty, or staff, similarly,34 faculty members and 16 alumni have been awarded the MacArthur “Genius Grant”. Rockefeller on land donated by Marshall Field, while the Rockefeller donation provided money for academic operations and long-term endowment, it was stipulated that such money could not be used for buildings. The original physical campus was financed by donations from wealthy Chicagoans like Silas B, Cobb who provided the funds for the campus first building, Cobb Lecture Hall, and matched Marshall Fields pledge of $100,000. Organized as an independent institution legally, it replaced the first Baptist university of the same name, william Rainey Harper became the modern universitys first president on July 1,1891, and the university opened for classes on October 1,1892. The business school was founded thereafter in 1898, and the law school was founded in 1902, Harper died in 1906, and was replaced by a succession of three presidents whose tenures lasted until 1929. During this period, the Oriental Institute was founded to support, in 1896, the university affiliated with Shimer College in Mount Carroll, Illinois. The agreement provided that either party could terminate the affiliation on proper notice, several University of Chicago professors disliked the program, as it involved uncompensated additional labor on their part, and they believed it cheapened the academic reputation of the university. The program passed into history by 1910, in 1929, the universitys fifth president, Robert Maynard Hutchins, took office, the university underwent many changes during his 24-year tenure. In 1933, Hutchins proposed a plan to merge the University of Chicago. During his term, the University of Chicago Hospitals finished construction, also, the Committee on Social Thought, an institution distinctive of the university, was created. Money that had been raised during the 1920s and financial backing from the Rockefeller Foundation helped the school to survive through the Great Depression, during World War II, the university made important contributions to the Manhattan Project. The university was the site of the first isolation of plutonium and of the creation of the first artificial, in the early 1950s, student applications declined as a result of increasing crime and poverty in the Hyde Park neighborhood
26.
Toronto
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Toronto is the most populous city in Canada and the provincial capital of Ontario. With a population of 2,731,571, it is the fourth most populous city in North America after Mexico City, New York City, and Los Angeles. A global city, Toronto is a centre of business, finance, arts, and culture. Aboriginal peoples have inhabited the area now known as Toronto for thousands of years, the city itself is situated on the southern terminus of an ancient Aboriginal trail leading north to Lake Simcoe, used by the Wyandot, Iroquois, and the Mississauga. Permanent European settlement began in the 1790s, after the broadly disputed Toronto Purchase of 1787, the British established the town of York, and later designated it as the capital of Upper Canada. During the War of 1812, the town was the site of the Battle of York, York was renamed and incorporated as the city of Toronto in 1834, and became the capital of the province of Ontario during the Canadian Confederation in 1867. The city proper has since expanded past its original borders through amalgamation with surrounding municipalities at various times in its history to its current area of 630.2 km2. While the majority of Torontonians speak English as their primary language, Toronto is a prominent centre for music, theatre, motion picture production, and television production, and is home to the headquarters of Canadas major national broadcast networks and media outlets. Toronto is known for its skyscrapers and high-rise buildings, in particular the tallest free-standing structure in the Western Hemisphere. The name Toronto is likely derived from the Iroquois word tkaronto and this refers to the northern end of what is now Lake Simcoe, where the Huron had planted tree saplings to corral fish. A portage route from Lake Ontario to Lake Huron running through this point, in the 1660s, the Iroquois established two villages within what is today Toronto, Ganatsekwyagon on the banks of the Rouge River and Teiaiagonon the banks of the Humber River. By 1701, the Mississauga had displaced the Iroquois, who abandoned the Toronto area at the end of the Beaver Wars, French traders founded Fort Rouillé on the current Exhibition grounds in 1750, but abandoned it in 1759. During the American Revolutionary War, the region saw an influx of British settlers as United Empire Loyalists fled for the British-controlled lands north of Lake Ontario, the new province of Upper Canada was in the process of creation and needed a capital. Dorchester intended the location to be named Toronto, in 1793, Governor John Graves Simcoe established the town of York on the Toronto Purchase lands, instead naming it after Prince Frederick, Duke of York and Albany. Simcoe decided to move the Upper Canada capital from Newark to York, the York garrison was constructed at the entrance of the towns natural harbour, sheltered by a long sandbar peninsula. The towns settlement formed at the end of the harbour behind the peninsula, near the present-day intersection of Parliament Street. In 1813, as part of the War of 1812, the Battle of York ended in the towns capture, the surrender of the town was negotiated by John Strachan. US soldiers destroyed much of the garrison and set fire to the parliament buildings during their five-day occupation, the sacking of York was a primary motivation for the Burning of Washington by British troops later in the war
27.
Canada
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Canada is a country in the northern half of North America. Canadas border with the United States is the worlds longest binational land border, the majority of the country has a cold or severely cold winter climate, but southerly areas are warm in summer. Canada is sparsely populated, the majority of its territory being dominated by forest and tundra. It is highly urbanized with 82 per cent of the 35.15 million people concentrated in large and medium-sized cities, One third of the population lives in the three largest cities, Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver. Its capital is Ottawa, and other urban areas include Calgary, Edmonton, Quebec City, Winnipeg. Various aboriginal peoples had inhabited what is now Canada for thousands of years prior to European colonization. Pursuant to the British North America Act, on July 1,1867, the colonies of Canada, New Brunswick and this began an accretion of provinces and territories to the mostly self-governing Dominion to the present ten provinces and three territories forming modern Canada. With the Constitution Act 1982, Canada took over authority, removing the last remaining ties of legal dependence on the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Canada is a parliamentary democracy and a constitutional monarchy, with Queen Elizabeth II being the head of state. The country is officially bilingual at the federal level and it is one of the worlds most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, the product of large-scale immigration from many other countries. Its advanced economy is the eleventh largest in the world, relying chiefly upon its abundant natural resources, Canadas long and complex relationship with the United States has had a significant impact on its economy and culture. Canada is a country and has the tenth highest nominal per capita income globally as well as the ninth highest ranking in the Human Development Index. It ranks among the highest in international measurements of government transparency, civil liberties, quality of life, economic freedom, Canada is an influential nation in the world, primarily due to its inclusive values, years of prosperity and stability, stable economy, and efficient military. While a variety of theories have been postulated for the origins of Canada. In 1535, indigenous inhabitants of the present-day Quebec City region used the word to direct French explorer Jacques Cartier to the village of Stadacona, from the 16th to the early 18th century Canada referred to the part of New France that lay along the St. Lawrence River. In 1791, the area became two British colonies called Upper Canada and Lower Canada collectively named The Canadas, until their union as the British Province of Canada in 1841. Upon Confederation in 1867, Canada was adopted as the name for the new country at the London Conference. The transition away from the use of Dominion was formally reflected in 1982 with the passage of the Canada Act, later that year, the name of national holiday was changed from Dominion Day to Canada Day
28.
University of Toronto
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The University of Toronto is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada on the grounds that surround Queens Park. It was founded by charter in 1827 as Kings College. Originally controlled by the Church of England, the university assumed the present name in 1850 upon becoming a secular institution, as a collegiate university, it comprises twelve colleges, which differ in character and history, each with substantial autonomy on financial and institutional affairs. It has two campuses in Scarborough and Mississauga. Academically, the University of Toronto is noted for influential movements and curricula in literary criticism and communication theory, by a significant margin, it receives the most annual scientific research funding of any Canadian university. It is one of two members of the Association of American Universities outside the United States, the other being McGill University, the Varsity Blues are the athletic teams that represent the university in intercollegiate league matches, with long and storied ties to gridiron football and ice hockey. The universitys Hart House is an example of the North American student centre. The founding of a college had long been the desire of John Graves Simcoe. As an Oxford-educated military commander who had fought in the American Revolutionary War, the Upper Canada Executive Committee recommended in 1798 a college be established in York, the colonial capital. On March 15,1827, a charter was formally issued by King George IV, proclaiming from this time one College, with the style. For the education of youth in the principles of the Christian Religion, the granting of the charter was largely the result of intense lobbying by John Strachan, the influential Anglican Bishop of Toronto who took office as the colleges first president. The original three-storey Greek Revival school building was built on the present site of Queens Park, under Strachans stewardship, Kings College was a religious institution closely aligned with the Church of England and the British colonial elite, known as the Family Compact. Reformist politicians opposed the control over colonial institutions and fought to have the college secularized. Having anticipated this decision, the enraged Strachan had resigned a year earlier to open Trinity College as a private Anglican seminary, University College was created as the nondenominational teaching branch of the University of Toronto. Established in 1878, the School of Practical Science was precursor to the Faculty of Applied Science and Engineering, while the Faculty of Medicine opened in 1843, medical teaching was conducted by proprietary schools from 1853 until 1887, when the faculty absorbed the Toronto School of Medicine. Meanwhile, the university continued to set examinations and confer medical degrees, the university opened the Faculty of Law in 1887, followed by the Faculty of Dentistry in 1888, when the Royal College of Dental Surgeons became an affiliate. Women were first admitted to the university in 1884, over the next two decades, a collegiate system took shape as the university arranged federation with several ecclesiastical colleges, including Strachans Trinity College in 1904. The university operated the Royal Conservatory of Music from 1896 to 1991, the University of Toronto Press was founded in 1901 as Canadas first academic publishing house
29.
46 defense
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The 46 defense is an American football defensive formation, an eight men in the box defense, with six players along the line of scrimmage. There are two players at linebacker depth playing linebacker technique, and then three defensive backs, the 46 defense was originally developed and popularized with the Chicago Bears by their defensive coordinator Buddy Ryan, who later became head coach of the Philadelphia Eagles and Arizona Cardinals. To stop a passing game, you cant stop it unless you put pressure on it, now some people are good enough to put it on with a three-man rush, well, were not. In fact, I dont know whether were good enough to put it on with a four-man rush, if we have to send eight, well send eight, but were not going to let you sit back there and pick us apart. I had to use every bit of knowledge and experience and wisdom I had to come up with plans to attack this defense. Its really the most singular innovation in defensive football in the last twenty years, the 46 defense was an innovative defense with a unique defensive front, designed to confuse and put pressure on the opposing offense, especially their quarterback. Compared to a 4-3 base defense, the 46 dramatically shifts the line to the weak side. Moreover, the weak side defensive end would be aligned one to two yards outside the offensive tackle, leaving the opposing tackle man-on-man when trying to block the pass rush. Another key feature of the 46 is that both outside linebackers tend to play on the side of the formation. To avoid confusion, the strong and weak side linebackers are often renamed the Jack and Charlie linebackers, the linebackers line up behind the linemen somewhere between one and three yards from the line of scrimmage. Ryan would use all of these rushers to out-man and overwhelm the offense, another major key to the 46 is the ability of the cornerbacks to play man free and bump and run coverage. Bump and run can allow the defense to take away the quarterbacks immediate decision-making ability, the formation was very effective in the 1980s NFL because it often negated a teams running game and forced them to throw the ball. Currently, the 46 is rarely used in professional and college football and this is largely because of multiple receiver and spread formations. The eight man line that the 46 presented was most effective against the two back, two wide receiver sets common in the 1980s. A minor weakness of the 46 defense can be too many defensive players lining up near the line of scrimmage to blitz, also, short, timed passes can be thrown before the players blitzing have a chance to reach the quarterback. In todays game, the 46 defense is often simplified to its main component of walking the strong safety up to the line of scrimmage as a man in the box to help contain the run. Defenses today may also run safety blitzes and corner blitzes at crucial moments without committing wholly to the 46 defense, up front, teams still use the concept of the T-N-T alignment, where two defensive ends are covering the guards, and a nose tackle is covering the center. In the case of a scheme, this makes it difficult for the offensive linemen to reach any of the linebackers on the second level
30.
Lineman (gridiron football)
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In gridiron football, a lineman is a player who specializes in play at the line of scrimmage. The linemen of the currently in possession of the ball are the offensive line. A number of NFL rules specifically address restrictions and requirements for the offensive line, linemen are usually the largest players on the field in both height and weight, since their positions usually require less running and more strength than skill positions. An offensive linemans motion during a play is limited to just a few quick steps to establish position. Offensive linemen thus tend to be the largest players on the field, with excellent agility and balance, most pro and college football offensive lineman tend to weigh over 300 pounds. On passing plays, the line is responsible for stopping defensive players from tackling the quarterback before he has thrown the ball. The interior offensive line consists of the center, who is responsible for snapping the ball into play, in addition to the interior line, a full offensive line may also include a Tight End outside one or both of the tackles. However, ends are eligible to catch passes, when an offensive lineman knocks a player down on a block, leaving the defensive player lying flat on his back, it is colloquially known as a pancake block. When an offensive line has an number of men on either side of the center. The defensive line consists of one or two defensive tackles and two ends who play outside the defensive tackles. The defensive line works with the linebackers to try to control the line of scrimmage, the 4-3 defensive formation, most commonly used in the NFL, employs two defensive tackles, while the 3-4 formation uses just a single defensive tackle, called the nose tackle. However, defensive ends in a typical 3-4 have responsibilities more similar to a 4-3 defensive tackle than 4-3 defensive ends, on running plays, the goal is to tackle the ball carrier. The defensive tackles are usually the most skilled run defenders on the team, on passing plays, the defensive line tries to reach the quarterback. Defensive ends are usually the most skilled pass rushers on the team, in order to increase the pressure on the quarterback, teams will often have players other than the defensive line attempt to tackle the quarterback, this is called a blitz. Defensive linemen—particularly defensive ends—are called upon to do more running than offensive linemen, thus they usually tend to be somewhat lighter and faster
31.
Minnesota Vikings
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The Minnesota Vikings are an American football team based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The Vikings joined the National Football League as a team in 1960. The team competes in the National Football Conference North division, before that, the Vikings were in the NFC Central, the team has played in four Super Bowl games, but lost each one. The team plays its games at U. S. Bank Stadium in the Downtown East section of Minneapolis, professional football in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul area began with the Minneapolis Marines/Red Jackets, an NFL team that played intermittently in the 1920s and 1930s. However, a new team in the area did not surface again until August 1959. Skoglund, and Max Winter were awarded a franchise in the new American Football League. Ole Haugsrud was added to the NFL team ownership because, in the 1920s, when he sold his Duluth Eskimos team back to the league, the agreement allowed him 10 percent of any future Minnesota team. Coincidentally or not, the teams from Ole Haugsruds high school, Central High School in Superior, Wisconsin, were called the Vikings. From the teams first season in 1961 to 1981, the team called Metropolitan Stadium in suburban Bloomington home, the Vikings conducted summer training camp at Bemidji State University from 1961 to 1965. In 1966, the moved to their current training camp at Minnesota State University in Mankato. The Vikings played their games at the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome in Minneapolis from 1982 to 2013. The Vikings played their last game at the Metrodome on December 29,2013, since the teams first season in 1961, the Vikings have had one of the highest winning percentages in the NFL. As of 2014, they have won at least three games in every season except in 1962, and are one of only six NFL teams to win at least 15 games in a regular season. The Vikings have won one NFL Championship, in 1969, before the merger with the American Football League. Since the league merger in 1970, they have qualified for the playoffs 26 times, the team has played in Super Bowls IV, VIII, IX, and XI, though failing to win any of them. In addition, they have lost in their last five NFC Championship Game appearances since 1978, the team currently has 13 members in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. The team was named the Minnesota Vikings on September 27,1960
32.
Chicago Bears
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The Chicago Bears are a professional American football team based in Chicago, Illinois. The Bears compete in the National Football League as a club of the leagues National Football Conference North division. The Bears have won nine NFL Championships and one Super Bowl and hold the NFL record for the most enshrinees in the Pro Football Hall of Fame, the Bears have also recorded more victories than any other NFL franchise. The franchise was founded in Decatur, Illinois, in 1919 and it is one of only two remaining franchises from the NFLs founding. The team played games at Wrigley Field on Chicagos North Side through the 1970 season, they now play at Soldier Field on the Near South Side. The Bears have a rivalry with the Green Bay Packers. The team headquarters, Halas Hall, is in the Chicago suburb of Lake Forest, the Bears practice at adjoining facilities there during the season. They hold their training camp from late July to mid-August at Ward Field on the campus of Olivet Nazarene University in Bourbonnais, Illinois. Originally named the Decatur Staleys, the club was established by the A. E. Staley food starch company of Decatur and this was the typical start for several early professional football franchises. The company hired George Halas and Edward Dutch Sternaman in 1920 to run the team, the 1920 Decatur Staleys season was their inaugural regular season completed in the newly formed American Professional Football Association. Full control of the team was turned over to Halas and Sternaman in 1921, official team and league records cite Halas as the founder as he took over the team in 1920 when it became a charter member of the NFL. The team relocated to Chicago in 1921, where the club was renamed the Chicago Staleys, under an agreement reached by Halas and Sternaman with Staley, Halas purchased the rights to the club from Staley for US$100. In 1922, Halas changed the name from the Staleys to the Bears. The team moved into Wrigley Field, which was home to the Chicago Cubs baseball franchise, as with several early NFL franchises, the Bears derived their nickname from their citys baseball team. Halas liked the bright colors of his alma mater, the University of Illinois. The Staleys/Bears dominated the league in the early years and their rivalry with the Chicago Cardinals, the oldest in the NFL, was key in four out of the first six league titles. During that span, the Bears posted 34 shutouts, the Bears rivalry with the Green Bay Packers is one of the oldest and most storied in American professional sports, dating back to 1921. The franchise was a success under Halas, capturing the NFL Championship in 1921
33.
Illinois
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Illinois is a state in the midwestern region of the United States, achieving statehood in 1818. It is the 6th most populous state and 25th largest state in terms of land area, the word Illinois comes from a French rendering of a native Algonquin word. For decades, OHare International Airport has been ranked as one of the worlds busiest airports, Illinois has long had a reputation as a bellwether both in social and cultural terms and politics. With the War of 1812 Illinois growth slowed as both Native Americans and Canadian forces often raided the American Frontier, mineral finds and timber stands also had spurred immigration—by the 1810s, the Eastern U. S. Railroads arose and matured in the 1840s, and soon carried immigrants to new homes in Illinois, as well as being a resource to ship their commodity crops out to markets. Railroads freed most of the land of Illinois and other states from the tyranny of water transport. By 1900, the growth of jobs in the northern cities and coal mining in the central and southern areas attracted a new group of immigrants. Illinois was an important manufacturing center during both world wars, the Great Migration from the South established a large community of African Americans in Chicago, who created the citys famous jazz and blues cultures. Three U. S. presidents have been elected while living in Illinois, Abraham Lincoln, Ulysses S. Grant, additionally, Ronald Reagan, whose political career was based in California, was the only U. S. president born and raised in Illinois. Today, Illinois honors Lincoln with its official slogan, Land of Lincoln. The Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum is located in the capital of Springfield. Illinois is the spelling for the early French Catholic missionaries and explorers name for the Illinois Native Americans. American scholars previously thought the name Illinois meant man or men in the Miami-Illinois language and this etymology is not supported by the Illinois language, as the word for man is ireniwa and plural men is ireniwaki. The name Illiniwek has also said to mean tribe of superior men. The name Illinois derives from the Miami-Illinois verb irenwe·wa he speaks the regular way and this was taken into the Ojibwe language, perhaps in the Ottawa dialect, and modified into ilinwe·. The French borrowed these forms, changing the ending to spell it as -ois. The current spelling form, Illinois, began to appear in the early 1670s, the Illinois name for themselves, as attested in all three of the French missionary-period dictionaries of Illinois, was Inoka, of unknown meaning and unrelated to the other terms. American Indians of successive cultures lived along the waterways of the Illinois area for thousands of years before the arrival of Europeans, the Koster Site has been excavated and demonstrates 7,000 years of continuous habitation
34.
Prairie View, Lake County, Illinois
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Prairie View is an unincorporated community located in northeastern Illinois, in southern Lake County. It is a part of Vernon Township, Prairie View has not been annexed entirely by either Lincolnshire or Buffalo Grove, although tiny portions of it have been. In recent years, Prairie View has been divided into two sections as surrounding towns have annexed their neighboring settlements and tiny portions of Prairie View itself. This section receives its water, sewer, and fire service from Lincolnshire, all other services are provided by Vernon Township. A modern subdivision located in this section was built during the 1990s on what had previously been farmland and is called Krisview Acres, the original homes in the area, located exclusively on Easton Avenue and Main Street, were built piecemeal between the late 19th century and early 1980s. The other section is a distance south and is completely surrounded by Buffalo Grove. This subdivision is called Horatio Gardens and is close to the Buffalo Grove train station, the residents of this subdivision resisted being overtaken by Buffalo Grove Park District and currently still defend their rights to be an independent part of unincorporated Prairie View. Prairie View was originally made up almost entirely of people, however since the 1990s it has become more diverse. A well known Chabad shul is located there, northern Prairie View is served by Lincolnshire-Prairie View School District 103. Schools that comprise this district are Daniel Wright Junior High School, Half Day Intermediate School, most inhabitants of Prairie View who attend District 103 schools graduate to Stevenson High School. Local churches include the Westminster Reformed Presbyterian Church, Prairie View has one roadhouse-style tavern, known as The Prairie House. For many years, an American Legion post stood on Easton Avenue, however it moved to a new building in the 1990s, Prairie View has a stop on Metras North Central Service, which provides daily rail service between Antioch, Illinois and Chicago, Illinois. Joe Lando, the actor best known as Sully on Dr. Quinn, local Presbyterian Church website with photographs
35.
Lincolnshire, Illinois
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Lincolnshire is a village in Vernon Township, Lake County, in the U. S. state of Illinois. The village is a suburb of Chicago. The population of Lincolnshire was 7,275 at the 2010 census, Lincolnshire was incorporated on August 5,1957, from the unincorporated Half Day area when land was purchased to build a residential subdivision. The community underwent an aggressive era of expansion from 1983 to the 1990s, the Des Plaines River bisects the village, passing from north to south, Illinois Route 22 also divides the village into two parts, crossing the village from east to west. Lincolnshire is home to the public Adlai E. Stevenson High School and it serves as the headquarters for corporations including the global outsourcing company Aon Hewitt, and was the base of operations for the Newman/Haas Racing team. The village of Lincolnshire hosts several festivals in either commercial establishments such as City Park or the Village Green. The village maintains a department that closely collaborates with its local school districts. Lincolnshire manages a public system at the direct expense of the village, it retrieves all of its water from the city of Highland Park. The village has a government and is a home-rule municipality. The mayor of Lincolnshire is Elizabeth J. Brandt, the first inhabitants of what would become the village of Lincolnshire were Native American Potawatomi migrants from Canada and Wisconsin. The tribesmen left these places in the 16th century in search of a warmer. The first Europeans to visit the area were the French Jesuit explorers Father Jacques Marquette and Louis Jolliet. Shortly after arriving in 1673 at the site of what later became Waukegan, they sailed down the Des Plaines River and made contact with the local Potawatomi, who would dominate the area by 1768. The Lincolnshire area was originally a part of the town of Half Day, the first white settler in the Lincolnshire area was Captain Daniel Wright, who arrived in 1834. Chief Halfda allowed Wright to build his cabin at the end of the Potawatomi village at the site of the intersection of present-day Milwaukee Avenue. The Potawatomi tribesmen were ousted a year later in the 1833 Treaty of Chicago, the Half Day area experienced an economic boom with the arrival of new settlers during the two decades after Wrights arrival. By 1855,21 years after the settling of the Half Day area by Wright, the town was a community with a blacksmiths shop, sawmill, country store. This prompted the opening of businesses, including an amusement park, a race track, a bowling alley, a dance hall, and taverns
36.
Weatherford, Oklahoma
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Weatherford is a city in Custer County, Oklahoma, United States. The population was 10,833 at the 2010 census, Weatherford is located at 35°32′18″N 98°41′14″W. According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has an area of 5.8 square miles. By 1900, the population was 1,017. The towns original post office was located two miles north of town, on William John and Lorinda Powell Weatherfords homestead. Lorinda Weatherford served as its postmaster and namesake, in its early years, farming and ranching provided the major economic base, with corn, cotton, and maize the major crops. Additionally, a plant, a cement plant, and a broom factory provided jobs as well as supplies for early residents. As of the census of 2015, there were 12,126 people,3,991 households, the population density was 1,699.3 people per square mile. There were 4,468 housing units at a density of 770.1 per square mile. The racial makeup of the city was 73. 7% White,4. 9% African American,2. 3% Native American,1. 4% Asian,0. 03% Pacific Islander,1. 76% from other races, and 6. 6% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 10. 8% of the population,31. 6% of all households were made up of individuals and 8. 3% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.27 and the family size was 2.96. In the city, the population was out with 19. 8% under the age of 18,32. 1% from 18 to 24,22. 4% from 25 to 44,16. 2% from 45 to 64. The median age was 24 years, for every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 91.2 males. The median income for a household in the city was $26,908, males had a median income of $29,683 versus $20,833 for females. The per capita income for the city was $16,046, about 11. 8% of families and 21. 7% of the population were below the poverty line, including 19. 1% of those under age 18 and 11. 8% of those age 65 or over. Weatherford is the home of a Kodak manufacturing plant as well as a hub for multiple oil, Weatherford is the hometown of astronaut Thomas P. Stafford, veteran of four space flights and commander of the Gemini 9, Apollo 10 missions and the Apollo-Soyuz project. The museum is located at the Thomas P. Stafford Airport, Weatherford also has another museum called The Heartland Museum
37.
Defensive end
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Defensive end is a defensive position in the sport of American and Canadian football. This position has designated the players at each end of the defensive line, early formations, with six- and seven-man lines, used the end as a containment player, whose job was first to prevent an end run around his position, then secondarily to force plays inside. Some teams would use both styles of end play, depending on game situations, some defensive ends play the position due to their size, they close down their gap so the running back has no hole to run through. Other ends play the position due to their speed and agility and these ends can time the snap of the ball in order to get a jump on the rush, and stop the play. Most of the time it is the job of the end to keep outside or contain. The defensive ends are fast for players of their size, often the fastest and smallest players on the defensive line and they must be able to shed blockers to get to the ball. Defensive ends are often used to cover the outside area of the line of scrimmage, to tackle ball carriers running to the far right or left side. Since the creation of zone blitz defenses in the late 1990s, defensive ends have sometimes used in pass coverages. In the 3–4 defense, defensive ends are used primarily as run stoppers and are much larger, often, the position is played by a more agile or slightly undersized defensive tackle. Because of the popularity of the 3–4 defense, the value of a defensive tackle prospect that can possibly be used in this manner has increased. They are used to distract the offensive lineman on pass rushing plays to let the outside linebackers get a sack and they block screen passes and are put outside of the offensive tackles to get a sack. Some say you might as well convert a nose tackle into a 3–4 end
38.
NCAA Division I
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Division I is the highest level of intercollegiate athletics sanctioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association in the United States. This level was called the University Division of the NCAA, in contrast to the lower level College Division. For football only, Division I was further subdivided in 1978 into Division I-A, Division I-AA, in 2006, Division I-A and I-AA were renamed Football Bowl Subdivision and Football Championship Subdivision, respectively. FCS teams are allowed to award scholarships, a practice technically allowed. FBS teams also have to meet attendance requirements, while FCS teams do not need to meet minimum attendance requirements. Another difference is post season play, starting with the 2014 postseason, a four-team playoff called the College Football Playoff, replaced the previous one game championship format. Even so, Division I FBS football is still the only NCAA sport in which a champion is not determined by an NCAA-sanctioned championship event. All D-I schools must field teams in at least seven sports for men and seven for women or six for men and eight for women, with at least two team sports for each gender. Division I schools must meet minimum financial aid awards for their athletics program, Several other NCAA sanctioned minimums and differences that distinguish Division I from Divisions II and III. Each playing season has to be represented by each gender as well, there are contest and participant minimums for each sport, as well as scheduling criteria. Mens and womens teams have to play all but two games against Division I teams, for men, they must play one-third of all their contests in the home arena. The NCAA has limits on the financial aid each Division I member may award in each sport that the school sponsors. Equivalency sports, in which the NCAA limits the total financial aid that a school can offer in a sport to the equivalent of a set number of full scholarships. Roster limitations may or may not apply, depending on the sport, the term counter is also key to this concept. The NCAA defines a counter as an individual who is receiving financial aid that is countable against the aid limitations in a sport. The number of scholarships that Division I members may award in sport is listed below. In this table, scholarship numbers for head-count sports are indicated without a point, for equivalency sports, they are listed with a decimal point. An exception exists for players at non-scholarship FCS programs who receive aid in another sport, participants in basketball are counted in that sport, unless they also play football
39.
NCAA Division II
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Division II is an intermediate-level division of competition in the National Collegiate Athletic Association. It offers an alternative to both the larger and better-funded Division I and to the scholarship-free environment offered in Division III, before 1973, the NCAAs smaller schools were grouped together in the College Division. In 1973, the College Division split in two when the NCAA began using numeric designations for its competitions, nationally, ESPN televises the championship game in football, CBS televises the mens basketball championship, and ESPN2 televises the womens basketball championship. CBS Sports Network broadcasts six football games on Thursdays during the regular season, the official slogan of NCAA Division II, implemented in 2015, is Make It Yours. There are currently 300 full and 20 provisional members of Division II with seven institutions moving to full membership in September 2015, Division II schools tend to be smaller public universities and many private institutions. A large minority of Division II institutions have fewer than 2,499 students, only six institutions have more than 15,000 students. Division II has a membership, with two active member institutions in Alaska and four in Hawaii. Additionally, it is the division that has member institutions in Puerto Rico. Simon Fraser University became the first institution outside the US to enter the NCAA membership process and this occurred after the Division II Membership Committee accepted the institutions application during a July 7–9 meeting in Indianapolis, Indiana. Simon Fraser, located in the Vancouver suburb of Burnaby, British Columbia, prospective members also must complete at least one year of provisional status before being accepted as full-time Division II members. In the fall of 2012, the NCAA Presidents Council officially approved Simon Fraser University as the organizations first international member. Division II institutions have to sponsor at least five sports for men and five for women, for sports other than football and basketball there are no scheduling requirements. There are not attendance requirements for football, nor arena size requirements for basketball, there are maximum financial aid awards for each sport, as well as a separate limit on financial aid awards in mens sports, that a Division II school must not exceed. Division II teams usually feature a number of local or in-state student-athletes, many Division II student-athletes pay for school through a combination of scholarship money, grants, student loans and employment earnings. Division II athletics programs are financed in the institutions budget like other departments on campus. Traditional rivalries with regional institutions dominate schedules of many Division II athletics programs, Athletic scholarships are offered in most sponsored sports at most institutions, but with more stringent limits as to the numbers offered in any one sport than at the Division I level. For example, Division II schools may give financial aid in football equivalent to 36 full scholarships, two exceptions to this rule currently exist. First, football players transferring from a Division I FBS school to a Division I FCS school do not have to sit out a year
40.
Famous Idaho Potato Bowl
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As of 2013, the bowl pits a team from the Mountain West Conference against a team from the Mid-American Conference. The game is televised nationally on the ESPN family of networks, cincinnati defeated Utah State, 35–19, in the inaugural game in 1997. The current Famous Idaho Potato Bowl champions are the home state University of Idaho, from 1997 to 1999, the opponent was a team from Conference USA, while in 2000 the Western Athletic Conference sent a representative. The Big West stopped sponsoring football after the 2000 season, the WAC champion would receive the automatic bid to the game unless that team received a better offer from another bowl game or qualified for the Bowl Championship Series. The bowl also had to contend with the hometown guarantee tie-in with the Hawaii Bowl, in 2009, the Mountain West Conference replaced the ACC as the WACs opponent, but ended its agreement after one season. For the 2010 playing, the Humanitarian Bowl inherited the MACs International Bowl tie-in after the Toronto-based bowl folded, the WAC stopped sponsoring football in 2012 and the Mountain West inherited its spot as host. Boise State, the games host school, is tied with University of Idaho for the record for most bowl wins with three, fresno State also has multiple wins, with two. Boise States four appearances are the most of any team, the game was sponsored by Micron Technology, an Idaho-based manufacturer, from 1999 to 2002 under the name Crucial. com, which sold computer memory upgrades from Micron. The bowl game then briefly had no sponsor for the January 2004 game, in December 2004, the name was changed to the MPC Computers Bowl. MPC Computers, which is based in Idaho, was formerly MicronPC, the computer manufacturing division of Micron. In April 2007, it was announced that the bowl will again be called the Humanitarian Bowl, in May 2007, Boise-based Roadys Truck Stops was announced as the new sponsor, thus renaming the game the Roadys Humanitarian Bowl. On May 25,2010, mobile application, uDrove became the sponsor of the Humanitarian Bowl. On August 3,2011 The Idaho Potato Commission signed a naming rights deal to sponsor the bowl. With fifteen games played through 2011, it is the longest running cold weather bowl game currently in operation. The payout is $750,000, but teams are required to provide a corporate sponsor, purchase a number of tickets. Because of this, 7–4 UCLA declined an invitation to the 2001 Humanitarian Bowl, beginning in 2008, the Humanitarian Bowl featured a Highway Angel, a truck driver who performed a heroic feat to save the life of another motorist. The 2008 Highway Angel, Leonard T. Lenny Roach, pulled a driver from a ditch near South Bend, Indiana. The 2009 Highway Angel, Michael Hunt, used his truck to push away a vehicle from a collision near Spring Lake
41.
Utah State Aggies football
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The Utah State Aggies are a college football team that competes in the Mountain West Conference of the Football Bowl Subdivision of NCAA Division I, representing Utah State University. The Utah State college football program began in 1892 and has played games at Merlin Olsen Field at Maverik Stadium since 1968. They have won conference championships in four different conferences during their history. Overall, the Aggies have a record of 525–517–31, in December 2012, Matt Wells, previously the offensive coordinator, became the Aggies new head coach, replacing Gary Andersen. Andersen left the Aggies shortly after the game of the 2012 season to become the new head coach for the University of Wisconsin. Andersen had replaced Brent Guy following the unsuccessful 2008 season, Andersen was previously the defensive coordinator at the University of Utah, and he was also a part of the 2008 Ute team that went undefeated and won the 2009 Sugar Bowl. Their most recent appearance was in the 2015 Famous Idaho Potato Bowl, the first intercollegiate athletic event in Utah State Universitys history took place on November 25,1892, when the Agriculturalists defeated the football team from the University of Utah, 12–0. The game was played on what is now the quad, the Aggies enjoyed early regional dominance, notching their first perfect season in 1907. In 1911, under head coach Clayton Teetzel, the team finished undefeated. The makeshift field on the continued to serve the team until 1913. The new field represented an improvement, but the facilities remained meager, which became more apparent with the success of Coach E. L. Dick Romney. Romney, for whom the current football stadium is named, earned the teams first-ever conference championship in 1921 and it was during this time that Utah State finished two seasons with year-end Top 25 rankings, No.10 in 1961 and No.19 in 1972. Following the great heights of the 1960s and 70s, Aggie football fell upon hard times, many longtime Aggie supporters attribute the decline to administrators at both Utah and BYU freezing then-superior USU out of the newly forming WAC. USUs other teams remained in that conference until the school was invited to join the WAC in 2005. Later on, Utah State joined the Mountain West Conference in July 2013, again following departures by Utah, former head coach Gary Andersen led the team to new heights. In 2011, he led the team to the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl, Andersen left the program following the 2012 season. He was replaced by his offensive coordinator, Matt Wells who coached the Aggies in their inaugural year as members of the Mountain West Conference. Coach Wells was awarded the Mountain West Coach of the Year award, Utah States home games are played on Merlin Olsen Field at Maverik Stadium
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Bill Snyder
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William David Bill Snyder is an American football coach and former player. He currently serves as the football coach at Kansas State University. Snyder is in the College Football Hall of Fame and has won several conference and he has been the head coach at Kansas State for the programs 300th, 400th, and 500th all-time wins. In recognition of his contributions to the program, the stadium at Kansas State, Bill Snyder Family Football Stadium, is named in honor of him. As of the end of the 2016 season, Snyders 202 wins are the third-most of any active NCAA Division I head coach. William David Snyder was born October 7,1939, in St. Joseph, Missouri, the son of Tom, a traveling salesman, Bill attended Lafayette High School in St. Joseph, graduating in 1957. He earned a B. A. degree from William Jewell in 1963 and he earned his M. A. degree from Eastern New Mexico University in 1965. Snyder had his first collegiate coaching experience in 1966, serving as a assistant coach for the USC Trojans. He next worked as a coach for several years in the California high school ranks. He then served as an assistant football coach, and also coached swimming, at Austin College in Sherman and he helped Fry build Iowa from a program that had not had a winning season since 1961 into a two-time Big Ten champion. Snyder was hired as the 32nd head coach of the Kansas State University Wildcats following the 1988 season. When Snyder was hired at K-State for the first time on November 24,1988, Kansas State had a cumulative record of 299–510 in 93 years of play, which was easily the most losses of any team in Division I-A at the time. The school had been to one bowl game, had not won a conference title since 1934 and had enjoyed four winning seasons in the previous 44 years. The program had not won a game since October 1986. Prior to Snyders first season in 1989, Sports Illustrated published an article about Kansas State football entitled Futility U, which labeled the school Americas most hapless team. Snyder won only one game in his first season, beating the recently renamed North Texas, the game was especially thrilling, with a touchdown pass coming on the last play of the game. In Snyders second season, in 1990, the Wildcats improved to 5–6, the five wins posted by the team had been matched only twice in the prior 17 years at the school, in 1973 and 1982. The 1991 season saw another breakthrough when the Wildcats finished with a record of 7–4
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Linebacker
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A linebacker is a playing position in American football and Canadian football. Linebackers are members of the team, and line up approximately three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage, behind the defensive linemen, and therefore back up the line. Linebackers generally align themselves before the ball is snapped by standing upright in a two point stance, the goal of the linebacker is to provide either extra run protection or extra pass protection based on the particular defensive play being executed. Another key play of the position is blitzing. A blitz occurs when a linebacker acts as a pass rusher running into any exposed gap. When a blitz is called by the defense, it is mainly to sack or hurry the opposing offenses quarterback. Linebackers are often regarded as the most important position in defence, due to their versatility in providing hard hits on running plays or a layer of pass protection. Similar to the safety position, linebackers are required to use their judgment on every snap. Before the advent of the two platoon system with units for offense and defense, the player who was the teams center on offense was often, though not always. Hence today one usually sees four defensive linemen to the five or more. Most sources claim coach Fielding H. Yost and center Germany Schulz of the University of Michigan invented the position, Schulz was Yosts first linebacker in 1904 when he stood up from his usual position on the line. Yost was horrified at first, but came to see the wisdom in Schulzs innovation, william Dunn of Penn St. was another Western linebacker soon after Schulz. However, there are historical claims tied to the linebacker position. For example, Percy Given of Georgetown is another center with a claim to the title first linebacker, despite Given, most sources have the first linebacker in the South as Frank Juhan of Sewanee. In the East, Ernest Cozens of Penn was one of the first of the centers, another, archaic term for the position. Walter E. Bachman of Lafayette was said to be the developer of the roving center concept, edgar Garbisch of Army was credited with developing the roving center method of playing defensive football in 1921. In professional football, Cal Hubbard is credited with pioneering the linebacker position and he starred as a tackle and end, playing off the line in a style similar to that of a modern linebacker. The middle or inside linebacker, sometimes called Mike or Mohr, is referred to as the quarterback of the defense
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