A Basic Guide to the National Football League

Football has now become America's pastime usurping baseball many years ago. What could be better? Constant action, brute force combined with the grace of a long, perfect pass, and the almost lunacy of the fans make football the sport to watch. The NFL has an almost storied past that could be made into thousands of movies. Just the saying the letters NFL makes some people crazy. For the football impaired, NFL stands for the National Football League or, as I call it, National Football Lunacy. Why would men want to risk their lives every week to win a ballgame? They want to win, stupid. Football players want to win for the money, for the glory, and for their own pride. That's football.

The National Football League, or NFL as it's commonly known, is the largest professional football organization in the United States and consists of 32 teams. These 32 teams are divided into conferences as well as divisions. The conferences are the AFC, or American Football Conference, and the NFC, or National Football Conference. The divisions are North, South, East and West. From September to January, each team plays sixteen games. After that, six teams from each conference participate in what are called playoffs. All of this leads up to the biggest game of the year -- the Super Bowl.

The history of the NFL dates back to 1920 when it was first formed under the name of the American Professional Football Association. The name NFL was taken in 1922. Most every major American city has their own NFL franchise. The most valuable franchise in the nation today is the Washington Redskins, with an estimated financial value of $1.3 billion. Not to say that other franchises are not valuable, because they are. For example, simply buying air time during a Monday night football game can be extremely expensive, yet also effective for advertisers. The Super Bowl is probably the most sought after and costly time for big name companies to air their commercials.

During football season, you will find the games aired on a variety of major television channels. For example, in 2006 five different major networks will broadcast season games. They are CBS, FOX, NBC, ESPN and even the NFL Network -- a channel devoted to what else? The NFL! If you have DirectTV, you can even get additional access to games with a feature known as the Sunday Ticket. There's no shortage of televised football action for fans out there!

The current champions of the National Football League are the Pittsburgh Steelers. Fans everywhere are awaiting the Super Bowl, which will crown a new champion. Every year, millions of people watch the Super Bowl -- the ultimate matchup between the two best teams in the league. Football is a national phenomenon, and is so much more than just a game between two teams. You'll find an amazing variety of football theme merchandise in stores -- everything from clothing to games and most anything in between. The NFL has been part of the American way of life and from the looks of things, it will continue to be for many years to come!

Copyright 2006 Jim Sterling - All Rights Reserved

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