Facts That Most Hardcore NFL Fans Do Not Know About the League
The National Football League (NFL) is one of the most popular sports in America and versions of the sport are also popular in Canada and Europe. NFL is a professional American football league, and it is one of the four major North American professional sports leagues.
The NFL is perfect for television viewing, and fans are very devoted to watching every game. NFL fan bases are passionate but we bet these are some facts that even most hardcore NFL fans do not know about the league.
Unknown Quick Facts
The game was much adored by Former President Richard Nixon
Frank Gifford was a popular running back for the New York Giants on the 1950s and 60s. He was friends with Richard Nixon, the soon-t0-be President. After games, it’s said, he would invite Nixon out to a cocktail parties. Also, Joe Namath, the famous New York Jets quarterback, was said to be on Nixon’s enemy list!
How the ball is made
Although the football is called a pigskin, most modern footballs are made from leather acquired from cowhide. Wilson is well-known to be the exclusive maker of NFL footballs. For instance, a single cowhide coming from cows in Nebraska, Iowa, Kansas, can make about ten footballs. Wilson also produces about 4,000 balls a day.
The trophies are not as expensive as you may have thought
The most expensive trophy is the Vince Lombardi trophy which costs $25,000. This trophy is given to the winner of the Super Bowl Trophy and made by Tiffany and Company. The trophy is made out of sterling silver, which is essentially an alloy of silver.
The secret field invasion
Back in the 1958 NFL Championship game, there was a famous incident of a very memorable field invasion by an NBC employee. He was a statistician named Stan Rokiewicz. He ran into the field because a TV cable went unplugged when Johhny Unitas was leading the Colts. He pretended to be drunk and disrupted the game so that NBC could fix the cable in time!
The oldest NFL record
On November 28, 1929, Ernie Nevers set an NFL record for points scored by a player in a single game. Nevers scored all 40 points in the Cardinals’ 40–6 victory over the Chicago Bears; in that game, Nevers scored six rushing touchdowns, which remained an unshared NFL record until Alvin Kamara also accomplished the feat on Christmas Day, 2020 against the Minnesota Vikings. What set Nevers ahead was also kicking four extra points in the same game. Along with being a fullback for the Duluth Eskimos, Nevers was also playing baseball for the St.Louis Browns!
The NFL player who was also a famous actor
Fred Dryer, a famous film and television actor, famous for The Hunter movie series and “Warm Texas Rain” among many others, was a football player before becoming an actor. Dryer is well known for being the only NFL player to have scored two safety points in one NFL game.
This famous Rocky character was an NFL player
Legendary actor Carl Weathers, immensely popular for the boxer role of “Apollo Creed” in the famous Sylvester Stallone’s Rocky series played two seasons with the Oakland Raiders in the 70s! He also played for a Canadian Football League squad.
The demand for tickets
The Green Bay Packers season ticket waiting list has about 86,000 people on it. It is said that signing up for the list would take you roughly anywhere around 900 to 1,000 YEARS to get your own season tickets.
The only NFL team with a left facing logo
The Philadelphia Eagles Logo is the only team logo facing left. The rest of the logos mostly face right or are circular logos. Fans say the reason must be because the eagle’s feathers make an E.
Herschel Walker, the legendary NFL player
Herschel Walker is known to be one of the best players in the history of the League. He won the Heisman trophy back in 1982. He is also known to have set a single-season record for rushing yards with 2,411.
A fun fact about the game duration
Even though the average NFL broadcast is for around 3 hours, the actual game on the field isn’t that long. It is just 10 minutes and 43 seconds after taking away all the replays, referee chats, time-outs and huddles.
How ‘huddle up’ came into existence
The term ‘huddle’ is said to have come from a quarterback in the late 1800s named Paul Hubbard. He was deaf and was apprehensive about the other teams deciphering his signs. A huddle kept it a secret.’ A classic American pastime!
Making bets on the NFL games is said to be almost as popular as the game itself. Americans love betting and other forms of gambling, like playing on Slotsformoney.com as their favorite past time.
The only death in NFL
American football can be a mean and dangerous sport, which is a massive part of its appeal. Concussions are quite the norm in this game. However, it is interesting to see that there has been the death of only one player in the game’s long history. The wide receiver of the Detroit Lions, Chuck Hughes, tragically passed away in 1971. Hughes had an undiagnosed heart condition, and he had collapsed on the field. He died in the hospital shortly after.
The frenzy of the crowd
The crowd sounds at the CenturyLink Field can soar very, very high. The crowd has broken the Guinness World Records twice. The first time, the crowd noise reached 136.6 decibels and the second time around, it managed to reach 137.6 decibels. The sound was so staggering in its scale that the League conducted investigations to see if fake crowd sounds were being pumped to distract the opponent team.
The rare Super Bowl 1 recording
A man in North Carolina had offered to sell the only known recording of Super Bowl 1 of 1967 but was subsequently not allowed to sell it by the League as the league owned the broadcast, technically speaking.
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NFL is gradually becoming famous in all parts of the world and has already seen its fame in Europe. There is an increased viewership and fan following in England in particular. The game is simple to understand, fast-paced and makes for great television viewing with friends and family.