Portal:American football/Selected article/2007
April
In just its third season, the team finished with the best record in the league at 11–1–1 and was awarded the NFL title. In a fourteen year span from 1933 to 1946, the Giants qualified to play in the NFL championship game 8 times, winning twice. They did not win another league title until 1956, aided by a number of future Pro Football Hall of Fame players such as running back Frank Gifford, linebacker Sam Huff, and offensive tackle Roosevelt Brown. From 1958 to 1963, the Giants played in the NFL championship game 5 out of those 6 years, but failed to win. The 1958 NFL Championship game, in which they lost 23–17 in overtime to the Baltimore Colts, is widely credited with increasing the popularity of the NFL in United States.
From 1964 to 1980, the Giants registered only two winning seasons and were unable to advance to the playoffs. But from 1981 to 1990, the team qualified for the postseason seven times in ten seasons. During that period, they won Super Bowl XXI (1987) and Super Bowl XXV (1991). The team's success during the 1980s was aided by head coach Bill Parcells, quarterback Phil Simms, and Hall of Fame linebackers Lawrence Taylor and Harry Carson. The Giants struggled throughout much of the 1990s as Parcells left the team and players such as Phil Simms and Lawrence Taylor declined and eventually retired. They returned to the Super Bowl in 2001 losing to the Baltimore Ravens, and as of 2007 have made the playoffs in two consecutive seasons.
May
The Cleveland Browns' front office was busy during the first several days off the free-agent signing period, looking to help the team by signing players who they felt would make immediate impacts upon the team. On the first day, the Browns signed center LeCharles Bentley, wide receiver Joe Jurevicius, and offensive tackle Kevin Shaffer. Bentley and Shaffer were signed to help protect second-year quarterback Charlie Frye in the pocket, and Jurevicius was signed to provide veteran support to the Browns' young receiving corps, which then-consisted of Braylon Edwards, Joshua Cribbs, and veteran Dennis Northcutt. On the second day of the free-agent period, the Browns signed punter Dave Zastudil to replace Kyle Richardson, and to establish a good punting game. An interesting fact about the Browns' free-agent signings deals with the fact that Bentley, Jurevicius, and Zastudil are each Ohio-natives, and expressed their wish to play for the Browns at some point in their careers. A day after signing Zastudil, the Browns signed veteran nose tackle Ted Washington in an attempt to improve the Browns' run defense. After signing Washington, the Browns made their final key free-agent signing, by inking a deal with linebacker Willie McGinest. McGinest was signed to provide veteran support among the Browns' linebacking corps, and brought back under the direction of head coach Romeo Crennel, who coached McGinest defensively through three Super Bowls while in New England.
(more)June
The 2006 Alamo Bowl was the seventeenth of thirty-two collegiate bowl games played during the 2006-07 bowl season, subsequent to the National Collegiate Athletic Association Football Bowl Subdivision's 2006 season. The game, played at the Alamodome (pictured) in San Antonio, Texas, on December 30, 2006, matched the defending champion University of Texas Longhorns of the Big 12 Conference and the University of Iowa Hawkeyes of the Big Ten Conference; the Longhorns entered the game as an 11-point favorite. The matchup for the game was finalized on December 3, when the Longhorns, having failed to earn selection to a New Year's Day game, accepted an invitation to the side's first-ever Alamo Bowl; tickets sold out in record time, and a crowd of 65,875 ultimately attended the game, which also became the most-watched bowl game ever broadcast on the cable television network ESPN. Iowa received the opening kickoff and compiled a 77-yard drive on its first offensive series, tallying a touchdown on a one-yard rush by running back Albert Young. Texas failed to score on its first series and punted to the Hawkeyes, who extended their first-quarter lead to 14 points when quarterback Drew Tate threw a 63-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Andy Brodell.
(more)July
Since success or failure in recruiting is seen as a precursor of a team's future prospects, many college sports fans follow it as closely as the team's actual games and it also provides a way to be connected to the team during the long off season. Fans' desire for information has spawned a million-dollar industry which first developed extensively during the 1980s. Prior to the internet, popular recruiting services used newsletters and pay telephone numbers to disseminate information. Since the mid-1990s, many online recruiting websites have offered fans player profiles, scouting videos, player photos, statistics, interviews, and other information, including rankings of both a player and a team's recruiting class. Most of these websites charge for their information.
In the United States, college football recruiting is the most-followed sports recruiting. This is due mainly in part to the large following football usually has at most Division-I universities. Division I-A football also has the highest number of scholarship players (85) of any other college sport. The NCAA allows football teams to add up to 25 new scholarship players to the roster per academic year, so long as the total number of scholarship players does not exceed 85. Scholarship limits are lower for Division I-AA (63) and Division II (36) teams.
(more)August
The Pittsburgh Steelers trailed the Oakland Raiders 7-6, facing fourth-and-10 on their own 40-yard line with 22 seconds remaining in the game and no time-outs. Head coach Chuck Noll called a pass play, 66 Circle Option, intended for receiver Barry Pearson, a rookie who was playing in his first NFL game. Steelers quarterback Terry Bradshaw, unable to find Pearson while avoiding two Raiders defenders, threw the ball to the Raiders' 35-yard line, toward fullback John "Frenchy" Fuqua. Raiders safety Jack Tatum collided with Fuqua just as the ball arrived. Tatum's hit knocked Fuqua to the ground and sent the ball sailing backward several yards, end over end. Steelers running back Franco Harris, after initially blocking on the play, had run downfield in case Bradshaw needed another eligible receiver. He scooped up the sailing ball just before it hit the ground, apparently off the tops of his shoes, and ran the rest of the way downfield to score the touchdown that gave the Steelers a 12-7 lead and the game.
(more)September
Heinz Field is primarily a football facility, though it has also hosted soccer games and concerts—in fact the first event at the venue was a concert by pop band 'N Sync shortly after the stadium opened in August 2001. The Steelers debuted there during the 2001-2002 NFL season. The stadium is a bowl design with an open end facing south. The open end allows views of the Pittsburgh skyline across the Ohio River.
(more)October
Today, the only original cast member remaining is Lee Corso. Chris Fowler serves as host and Kirk Herbstreit, former Ohio State quarterback, serves as Corso's counterpart and foil. Craig James, currently with ESPN on ABC, was on the show in the mid 1990s. Desmond Howard and Rocket Ismail serve as frequent contributors. Steve Cyphers is usually featured as a reporter. Nick Lachey joined the crew as a contributor during the 2005 season. Doug Flutie joined in 2006. Discussions are often held between the GameDay cast and studio analysts, including Lou Holtz and Mark May. It's not uncommon for Auburn alumnus Charles Barkley to appear (via phone or at site) to discuss Tiger football.
GameDay began its twenty-first season on September 1, 2007 in Blacksburg, Virginia.
(more)November
Indoor football is a variation of American football with rules modified to make it suitable for play within ice hockey arenas.
The first major indoor football game was the 1932 NFL Playoff Game, which was played indoors in the Chicago Stadium due to a severe blizzard that prevented playing the game outside. A dirt floor was brought in, and to compensate for the 80-yard length of the field, teams were penalized twenty yards upon crossing midfield.
In the 1960s the Boardwalk Bowl, a post-season game involving small college teams, was contested at the Atlantic City Convention Center, probably known better as the home of the Miss America Pageant, in another attempt to make Atlantic City more of a year-round resort in the pre-gambling era as opposed to a single-season one (the Miss America pageant likewise began as an attempt to extend the season beyond Labor Day). The Philadelphia-based Liberty Bowl game, which had been played at Municipal Stadium from 1959-1963, was moved into the Convention Center in 1964 for the contest between Utah and West Virginia. The game drew just over 6,000 fans, though, and the Liberty Bowl moved to Memphis, where it is still held as of 2006.
This, however, was not technically "indoor football" as discussed here, as the size of the playing surface and hence the rules were essentially the same as in the standard outdoor game, with only the necessity of contingencies for what were to happen should, say, a punt strike the ceiling. Some would say that the relative success of this game, which was staged for several years, helped lead to the domed stadium era which began with the opening of the Houston Astrodome in 1965. The Astrodome in turn led to the development of the artificial turf playing surface required to make the indoor game truly practicable. (The Houston Oilers did not move their games inside the Astrodome as soon it was completed; they continued to play outdoors until 1968.) Football played in domed stadiums such as the Astrodome, however, is not truly "indoor football", as the game as played in domed stadiums is essentially identical to that played outdoors.
(more)December
Indoor football is a variation of American football with rules modified to make it suitable for play within ice hockey arenas.
The first major indoor football game was the 1932 NFL Playoff Game, which was played indoors in the Chicago Stadium due to a severe blizzard that prevented playing the game outside. A dirt floor was brought in, and to compensate for the 80-yard length of the field, teams were penalized twenty yards upon crossing midfield.
In the 1960s the Boardwalk Bowl, a post-season game involving small college teams, was contested at the Atlantic City Convention Center, probably known better as the home of the Miss America Pageant, in another attempt to make Atlantic City more of a year-round resort in the pre-gambling era as opposed to a single-season one (the Miss America pageant likewise began as an attempt to extend the season beyond Labor Day). The Philadelphia-based Liberty Bowl game, which had been played at Municipal Stadium from 1959-1963, was moved into the Convention Center in 1964 for the contest between Utah and West Virginia. The game drew just over 6,000 fans, though, and the Liberty Bowl moved to Memphis, where it is still held as of 2006.
This, however, was not technically "indoor football" as discussed here, as the size of the playing surface and hence the rules were essentially the same as in the standard outdoor game, with only the necessity of contingencies for what were to happen should, say, a punt strike the ceiling. Some would say that the relative success of this game, which was staged for several years, helped lead to the domed stadium era which began with the opening of the Houston Astrodome in 1965. The Astrodome in turn led to the development of the artificial turf playing surface required to make the indoor game truly practicable. (The Houston Oilers did not move their games inside the Astrodome as soon it was completed; they continued to play outdoors until 1968.) Football played in domed stadiums such as the Astrodome, however, is not truly "indoor football", as the game as played in domed stadiums is essentially identical to that played outdoors.
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