| American Football: | | | | teams and to start one of them in his city of |
| The first person paid to play football was William | | | | Dallas, Texas. The NFL rejected this idea wanting |
| Heffelfinger also called Pudge; he was paid 500 | | | | to stay with the 12 teams they had in the league. |
| dollars in 1892 to play for Allegheny against | | | | After this failure Lamar came up with the idea of |
| Pittsburgh. Of course American Football started | | | | forming a new league. Having convinced other |
| earlier than this. Football type games had been | | | | wealthy businessmen to start teams the new |
| around for many years in Europe and in the | | | | league was official in August 1959 and called the |
| Americas, but each area had its own set of rules | | | | American Football League or AFL. Merger talks |
| as limited as they might be, often the rules and | | | | between the two leagues began in 1966, but they |
| even the name of the game varied from school | | | | were not fully merged until 1970. |
| to school. In the early days it was often just | | | | Sports Ornaments: |
| called mob-ball, because it was usually a lot of | | | | There are all kinds of football decorations and |
| people on the field just trying to move the ball | | | | ornaments for the football fan to use and enjoy, |
| into the end zone. Because the game was so rife | | | | from the Collegiate Football Star to Football Moms |
| with injury many colleges began to ban it, but as | | | | Sports Christmas Ornaments. Most people enjoy |
| they did so it gained popularity in prep schools. By | | | | decorating their Christmas Trees Artificial with |
| the mid 1800s inflatable balls were being | | | | their favorite types of ornaments, whither Angel |
| manufactured and in wide spread use. In those | | | | Ornaments or Sports Ornaments and everything |
| days it was more running or kicking, looking very | | | | in between. There are ornaments for children |
| similar to a rugby game. But the big change came | | | | such as the African American Football Gifts For |
| from Walter Camp, also known as the Father of | | | | Boys or even for the child who will grow up to be |
| American Football, he helped create many rule | | | | Our Next Pro Quarterback. |
| changes to differentiate the game and make the | | | | Playing the Game: |
| rules uniform. Throughout his life he wrote books | | | | As with most games the object is to finish with |
| and articles and gave lectures about the game he | | | | more points than your opponent. A game of |
| loved so much. Football became one of the most | | | | football is broken up into 4 quarters each lasting |
| popular sports drawing in large crowds where | | | | 15 minutes, two quarters make a half, and at the |
| everyone could play and enjoy the game, even | | | | end of the first half is the halftime break. So while |
| Santa Claus Playing Football. | | | | the actual game play is roughly one hour, the |
| NFL: | | | | game can take several hours to play. The football |
| The NFL was formed in 1922; it was previously | | | | field where the game is played is 120 yards long, |
| called the American Professional Football | | | | including ten yards for the end zone at either end. |
| Association, which had been started in 1920. Then | | | | The end zone is where the scoring takes place, |
| in 1959 a Texas oilman named Lamar Hunt tried | | | | the object is to get the ball into the other teams |
| to buy one of the Chicago teams and failed, after | | | | end zone, either by running or throwing. |
| which he tried to get the NFL to create expansion | | | | |