On this day in 1967, at the Los Angeles Coliseum, the Green Bay Packers beat the Kansas City Chiefs in the first-ever world championship game of American football.
In the mid-1960s,
the intense competition for players and fans between the National
Football League (NFL) and the upstart American Football League (AFL) led
to talks of a possible merger. It was decided that the winners of each
league's championship would meet each year in a single game to determine
the "world champion of football."
In that historic first game--played before a non-sell-out crowd of
61,946 people--Green Bay scored three touchdowns in the second half to
defeat Kansas City 35-10. Led by MVP quarterback Bart Starr, the Packers
benefited from Max McGee's stellar receiving and a key interception by
safety Willie Wood. For their win, each member of the Packers collected
$15,000: the largest single-game share in the history of team sports.
Postseason college games were known as "bowl" games, and AFL founder
Lamar Hunt suggested that the new pro championship be called the "Super
Bowl." The term was officially introduced in 1969, along with roman
numerals to designate the individual games. In 1970, the NFL and AFL
merged into one league with two conferences, each with 13 teams. Since
then, the Super Bowl has been a face-off between the winners of the
American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference
(NFC) for the NFL championship and the coveted Vince Lombardi Trophy,
named for the legendary Packers coach who guided his team to victory in
the first two Super Bowls.
Super Bowl Sunday has become an unofficial American holiday, complete
with parties, betting pools and excessive consumption of food and
drink. On average, 80 to 90 million people are tuned into the game on TV
at any given moment, while some 130-140 million watch at least some
part of the game. The commercials shown during the game have become an
attraction in themselves, with TV networks charging as much as $2.5
million for a 30-second spot and companies making more expensive,
high-concept ads each year. The game itself has more than once been
upstaged by its elaborate pre-game or halftime entertainment, most
recently in 2004 when Janet Jackson's infamous "wardrobe malfunction"
resulted in a $225,000 fine for the TV network airing the game, CBS, and
tighter controls on televised indecency.
Friday, January 27, 2012
Wednesday, January 18, 2012
Sunday, January 15, 2012
Wednesday, January 11, 2012
Tuesday, January 10, 2012
Gundy: ‘We’d have thrown 50 times… I just think we could score’ | CollegeFootballTalk
Posted by John Taylor on January 10, 2012, 11:52 AM EST
Getty ImagesIt was a performance for the ages, and LSU’s microscopic offensive numbers bore out Alabama’s defensive dominance in the BcS title game.
Zero points.
A miserly 1.4 yards per carry, and just 3.1 yards per pass attempt. Converted just two first downs in 12 third-down attempts. Four plays ran in Alabama territory, none until the fourth quarter and all coming on one drive. Five first downs. 92 yards of total offense. In every fashion imaginable, it was the Tide sawing on a Stradivarius while the Tigers plucked aimlessly on a stringless banjo.
Those numbers weren’t enough, though, to dissuade one coach from playing the what-if game.
Speaking to USA Today shortly after the Tide’s 21-0 thumping of the Tigers, Oklahoma State’s Mike Gundy lamented the fact that his Cowboys, which finished third in both the major polls, didn’t get the opportunity to do what LSU couldn’t — put some crooked numbers up on the scoreboard. And, according to Gundy, they would’ve done it by doing what they do best.
Fling footballs all over the field and see what sticks.
“We’d have thrown it 50 times,” he said. “You like to think Brandon Weeden and Justin Blackmon could have put together some touchdowns. Get the ball thrown down the field and open some things up. Try to make it exciting, and see what happens.”Granted, there were certainly a lot people who may have preferred a different style of game, as the 14-percent dip in overnight ratings from last year’s Auburn-Oregon title game attests. There are, however, a couple of teeny tiny flaws in Gundy’s logic.
…
“You sure would like to have had a shot at it,” Gundy said.
“It kind of hurts to watch it. I just think we could score. We’d use all 52 yards across (the width of) the field. Get people on the edges. Use the vertical game.”
…
“For the most part in the last couple of years, we’ve been able to move the ball and score points against about anybody we played. … It’s been talked about all year from coast to coast: Big 12 offenses, SEC defenses, how do we really know if anybody’s really any good? That (a showdown in the BCS title game) would have been the best way to find out.”
…
“I will say this,” Mike Gundy said as Alabama closed in on Monday night’s 21-0 win against LSU. “I bet you there’ll be a lot of people wish they’d given us a shot to see a different kind of game.”
First, the Cowboys would not have been facing the Tide, they would’ve been facing the Tigers. LSU was the unquestioned No. 1 while the Tide squeaked into the title game by the narrowest of margins over the Cowboys. Whether the Cowboys could’ve put scored X number of points by throwing it 50 or 100 points against the Tide simply doesn’t matter.
And secondly, they did have a shot at it…
Given the current system — as inherently flawed and bogus and exclusionary as it is — taking care of business against a team that finished the season 6-7 would not leave the door wide open for the lamenting that’s taking place after the fact. Gundy has no one to blame but himself, his coaching staff and his players.
And, yes, the system that instead of leaning toward equity runs like hell away from it should shoulder some blame as well. Alas, that’s another story for another day, a discussion that’s hopefully coming sooner rather than later.
In the interim, at least one member of the 2011 BcS champions would have no problem taking the situation to the playing field and settling whatever issues Oklahoma State may have with how the season ended.
“I could play them right now,” Tide offensive tackle Barrett Jones said after the win Monday night. “You don’t think we hear that talk? Line up, let’s go.”
CollegeFootballTalk
Monday, January 9, 2012
Sunday, January 8, 2012
Thursday, January 5, 2012
2011 NFL season by the numbers - Kerry J. Byrne - SI.com
 |
With their
lethal offense and league-worst defense, the Packers are a perfect
example of just how prominent the passing game is in today's NFL.
AP
|
2011 NFL season by the numbers - Kerry J. Byrne - SI.com
The 2011 season will go down as the Year of the Passing Game, as records were shattered like Bourbon Street revelers after a Saints Super Bowl victory. We highlight 41 eye-popping passing numbers from the season below.
The numbers were so gaudy that they were unthinkable just a decade ago, let alone in the dark ages of NFL offense, back in the era of the Steel Curtain and the Doomsday Defense.
To understand how dramatically the game has changed in recent decades, you must take a step back to the 1970s, a decade in which defenses utterly dominated the NFL. The Cold, Hard Football Facts call it the Dead Ball Era. The dominance of defense peaked in 1977, when all but the greatest offenses had difficulty finding the end zone.
The average team scored just 17.2 points per game in 1977. Tampa Bay's offense, in its second year as an expansion team, totaled just 103 points in the 14-game season -- about 10 quarters of work in the Superdome for the 2011 Saints. Tampa's average of 7.4 PPG is a post-war record for futility and may never be seriously challenged again, though the Rams made an ignoble effort in 2011 (12.1 PPG).
Atlanta's defense surrendered just 129 points in 1977, a post-war record of 9.2 PPG. The average score of a Falcons game that season was a 13-9. Somewhere Bronko Nagurski beamed with pride.
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