Title

An American Game
football has been a major part of American culture, ever since the NFL came to fruition
on August 20th, 1920. Many fans have already established who their favorite franchises
are, and who rivals their team, but many do not know how it all came together. I feel
there will be little bias found in this topic proposal, as there is no side being taken, simply about how the game of football came to be. I hope to inform the current generation
of NFL fans on how it all came to fruition, who founded the game, and why the game is
where it is today in American culture, because without all the events that lead to the
league coming together, we would still be watching baseball, and no one likes baseball..
When talking about fans in the NFL, they often are not knowledgeable in regards to NFL
history, the piece of football that I myself find the most fascinating. This is mostly due to
the fact that the NFL gains more and more fans by the day, many of them bandwagon
fans, ones who are not there for a history lesson, they simply want to watch, with no
background in regards to the franchise they suddenly choose to support. I personally
dislike the fans previously described, and I tend to refer to them as fake fans, fair
weather fans, etc, as they only support such teams in times of victory, rather than in
times of defeat as well.
My objective is to shed light on the past of the NFL, in the hopes that some of today's fans may learn something new, and as I will be stating factual information, there
will be limited bias in terms of information provided by myself. As state above, I find it
important for the fans of today to know how the pro sport came to be, as it gives you a
greater appreciation for the game. My hope is that one day, all fans will understand the
hard work, the blood, the sweat, the tears it had taken to get the league where it is today.
All of my sources are obviously about the game of football, but more importantly, are
about how the game came to be. My most useful sources come directly from the Professional Football Hall of Fame, where all records regarding anything in pro football are
stored. many fans today know little about the NFL's humble beginnings, and I plan to
bring them to the surface, show the fans of pro football how everything came to be, who
founded the league, etc. there is little new information I can add, as i am writing about
the history of the game, and how professional football came to fruition. So, as stated in
my previous paragraph above, I plan to shed light on the things that really matter, things
the common fan knows nothing about, THAT is what I plan to bring to the table. All that
fans know today is who their favorite franchise is, what color they wear, and who they
play, little to none know anything regarding how it all came to be. One of the things all
NFL fans should know is the name of the man who started it all, his name was Walter

Camp, and he is the reason for football's role in American culture today, as without him,
it wouldn't be a professional sport, and there would be a minimal amount of fans behind the sport(Pro Football Hall of Fame). I also plan to talk about the different historical
events that influenced the game, and the organizations within the league, as well as the
AFL-NFL merger, which many fans are ignorant of. another piece I will touch on that
many of today's fans know about is the Madden curse, more specifically what it is and
what it does.

If you go up to any fan in the NFL today, and ask them who Walter Camp was, or
what he did for the sport of football, many would either try to throw together some response they pulled outta thin air, while the others would just say Who!?!?. This, at
least in my eyes, is a major problem! I find it sad that the fans of today could be so ignorant, not knowing the name of the man who started it all! what is also sad is that I do
not believe many of the game's commentators know who he is, or what it is that he did
for the sport.
As many fans do not know, as I stated above, Walter Camp is the man who started professional football. He is the sole reason we can kick back on a Sunday after
church, sit down on the couch with family and friends, and cheer for guys hitting each
other. football is a way for old friends to reconnect, for families to unify (if they support
the same team), and for the stressed to either unwind or have a heart attack depending
on the outcome of the day's game. it truly is more than just a game, and we have a man
named Walter Camp to thank for it. For now, his name is still elusive to the ears of fans
everywhere, but hope that one day that can change. It angers me to see the man who
built it all, be lost in his own creation, he has been overshadowed by the very thing he
created. In the end, I hope that the fans of today, as well as the fans of tomorrow, will
one day know the name Walter Camp, the father of professional football.
Onto Walter Camp, and how he started it all. It all began with small games of
soccer and rugby, from which Camp developed the games rules. The first college game
was between Rutgers and Princeton universities in 1869, though the game played was
really just a rugby match. It was not until Camp came in in the 1880s, that the rules of
American football were established. His main influences where rugby and soccer, mostly rugby, and we can still see the resemblances in the sports today. for example, the
field goal in football stems from the extra point in rugby, where the player must punt the
ball between the uprights, only difference is in football, you line up for the kick, while in
rugby you simply punt from wherever you finish the play within the endzone. the major
difference between football and rugby is the 11 man team for football, as well as the use
of a down's system, where players on the offensive side must reach 10 yards within four
plays, or they turn it over, where as in rugby, no such rules exist. With these additions,

Camp developed a far more organized version of the game, as before it really just was
another rugby spin off, and because of him, football is the most popular sport in America, with its popularity growing in several European countries, with the possibility of new
franchises forming overseas. though the sport wasn't what it is today, many rules were
developed as the game progressed, a major thing that changed over time was the scoring system, mostly to the field goal, which was initially worth five points, versus today's
three points.(Pro Football Hall of Fame)
Another piece of NFL history today's fans are unaware of is the AFL-NFL merger,
which took place in June of 1966, when both leagues decided to merge together under
the name of the NFL. within the agreement to merge, we were given many of the games
important events, the major one being the NFL draft, where that years draft class is
picked by each individual team, where the worst team from the previous season has the
first pick, and vice versa. The merger is the reason the NFL is around today, as without
it, more than likely, the AFL would hold the games to watch on Sundays, as the AFL was
where all the money was at the time, as it had all the major network contracts( to the
tune of 36 million), and had several emerging and exciting star players. The NFL was
not doing poorly either, though they felt it would be beneficial for both leagues to come
together and merge, before things started to get out of hand for either league. The
merger proved to be one of the greatest things to ever happen to Pro football.(Pro Football Hall of Fame)
Now I am going to talk about something almost every pro football fan knows
about, it is every fan's worst nightmare, the Madden Curse. For those who do not know,
the Madden Curse is what happens to every player featured on the cover of the ever
popular game series Madden NFL, a video game based on the sport of professional
football, and named after legendary coach and broadcaster John Madden(The Madden
Curse Explained). The theory is, is that when a star player is given the honor of being
on the game's cover, that player will more than likely have a season ending injury,
whether they tear a major ligament, or they break their neck, something is bound to
happen. this has some fans voting for opposing offensive or defensive weapons, in the
hopes that their rival team will be missing a key player. this leads to the question, should
we continue to put players on the cover, if this has proven to be a real thing?(it's been a
thing since the game first came out 26 years ago). to me, I find it sad that this is the
most relevant thing outside the game itself that pro fans know about, which goes to
show the ignorance of many fans today. what I also find hilarious is that many of the
games players do not know anything about the game's namesake John Madden, who
was a legendary head coach for the Oakland Raiders in the 1970s, with one of the
highest winning percentages ever in the history of the game for a head coach, he led his
team to a superbowl victory, as well as several playoff berths. his career win-loss-tie are
as follows; 112 wins, 32 losses, and seven ties. that puts him at a career win percentage of 76.3 percent, unreal in today's league, with many coaches just over 50 percent

today(Pro Football Hall of Fame). unfortunately fans today only know him as the fun
filled, wacky, interesting announcer who had a thing for former packers quarterback
Brett Favre, who until last season was the greatest quarterback in NFL history, with a
career 509 touchdown passes, and over 71,000 career passing yards (over 44 miles in
total, if that paints the picture for you), which is almost superhuman(Pro Football Hall of
Fame).
My main points I was trying to make were that today's fans truly have no knowledge of
the rich history of the NFL, yet they are more than informed when it comes to a common
superstition such as the Madden Curse. The only thing I can hope is that someone
learned something from this paper, perhaps encourages them to dig further and learn
something new. so all in all, I pointed out the ignorance of today's fans, as well as gave
them a history lesson while doing so. one day I hope the name Walter Camp will one
day become a household name, and that he will be celebrated properly, because without him, we would still be watching america's pastime, baseball, and no one really likes
baseball..

http://www.profootballhof.com/history/general/birth.aspx Pro Football Hall of Fame: The

Birth of Pro Football

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2174618-madden-nfl-15-exploring-history-of-infamousmadden-curse The Madden Curse: Explained

The Anatomy of a Game: Football, the Rules, and the Men who Made the Game by David
Nelson, google scholar
http://www.footballfoundation.org/Programs/CollegeFootballHallofFame/SearchDetail.aspx?id=88004 The National Football Foundation Walter Camp Biography
http://www.nfl.com The National Football League Official Website
http://www.profootballhof.com/history/stats/franchises.aspx Pro Football Hall of
Fame:Franchises
Ken Kardos Assignment One

http://www.hornetfootball.org/documents/football-history.htm A Brief History of

the Game