Football - Coloring Pages Kids Should Have Five Facts

Football coloring Kid, you love a football coloring book but don't know the game of pigskin?

Coloring football Kid, would you believe five facts about football will put you in the know?
Let's get started...

1. Football History


2. Football Fundamentals


3. Organized Football Structure


4. Players' Skills Levels


5. Football Season

1. Football History

American football comes from rugby football. The first major football game was won by Rutgers University (score - 6) against Princeton University (score - 4). Their war was in 1869 -- four years after the Civil War.

Coloring football boy, the main idea of football is still the same. Football fans still yell, "Run that football!", "Throw it!", "Kick it!", and "Score man, score!"

2. Football Fundamentals

Coloring kid, you must get the ball into your opponent's end zone.
Get yourself an egg-shaped, air-filled leather ball to throw, catch or kick.
Follow the rules and regulations. No running "any-which-a-way" with the football, man!

Only two teams can square off. Your team and the other guy's team must have eleven players on the field at one time. Smaller football leagues use fewer than eleven guys.

The teams take turns playing offensive (trash talking is allowed), then playing defensive (cry baby guys are not allowed).

The offensive team possesses the ball until they score, or fail to gain 10 yards in four tries, or loses the ball to the defensive team.

The defensive team tries to stop the offense from gaining yardage or scoring. The defense tries to steal the ball, too.

3. Organized Football Structure

Do you love knocking people down, kid? Is screaming in a big guy's face your dream
come true? Is slamming a little guy into planet Earth your idea of fun?
Well, Coloring football kid, tackle football is for you...

NO! Football coloring Kid, no scratching or spitting! "Eye-gouging and kicking?" NO! "Choke holds and pistol whipping?!" NO! Don't get greedy, kid...

Here is a little lowdown info to help understand organized football structure:

Teams may change their players as long as 11 guys are on the field.
Scrimmage is the action once the ball is snapped (quickly given) to the Quarterback by his Center until the ball is dead.
Line of Scrimmage is an invisible field line where teams face each other. Now get this...

Both teams can have three specialized teams where players have one or more roles.

Here are a few roles...

I. The Specialized Offense Team must score or gain yardage to win.

The Quarterback leader gets the ball from his Center man -- his second brain. The QB throws the ball to a Receiver, or hands it to a Running Back or runs the ball himself (gutsy!).

The Offense Line is five Mack trucks. They power protect the Passer, block, and leave tread marks on defense players' backs.

Running Backs have roles in running the ball, catching, blocking plus wrecking havoc on yardage.

Wide Receivers catch zooming balls from the Quarterback. These guys have "superhero" speed plus they block, too.

Tight Ends have two roles. They can perform as Wide Receivers or as Offensive Linemen who protect Quarterbacks and block for Runners.

II. The Specialized Defense Team must stop opponents from scoring or gaining yardage.

The Defensive Line has 3 to 6 "massive giants" blocking the sun and creating darkness and pain along the line of scrimmage.

Linemen ("monster trucks") roll over running backs. They crash test "sack" the quarterback before he passes or hands off the ball.

Linebackers cause nightmares. They lurk behind the Defensive Linemen plus rush the quarterback or cover receivers.

Defensive Backs with superhero speed cover receivers and stop zooming passes plus rush quarterbacks!

III. The Specialized Special Team must score extra points.

Got a funky leg and foot, kid? Become a punter or place kicker to get those game saving extra points. Long snappers need pinpoint skills, too.

4. Players' Skills Levels

Professional level


There are 32 US teams for wanna be professional players.
American football leagues are found in 50 countries!
Maybe you can sign with the German Football League (GFL) or the Japanese X-League.
Sports agents and lawyers help you make big money deals.


Football coloring kid, if you can't cut the professionals levels go to the semi-professional leagues. Or become a sports agent or lawyer! Don't play the fool, kid, study hard at the...

College level


Your pro football training starts in college. Nearly every college and university has a football team and stadium.
You like crowds, football coloring kid? Go to a college game. If you get lost hold your tears, boy. Wait by the security station. After the last 60,000 to 100,000 fans leave your people can spot you!


High School level

More high school boys play football than college guys play football.
High school leads to collegiate, then to professional level football careers, then to high paying TV commercials careers.
The high school sophomore year is when most players decide about a football career. Some professionals learned to play football in...

Youth and Pee Wee level

Do 5 to 14 year old players have fans besides mom and dad? "Yes."

5. The Football Season

Can organized teams throw pigskin any ole time? No? That is right.

• Football season starts in August.
  
  


• Football runs you crazy until January pro playoffs



• High school games are played on Fridays.



• College games are played on Thursday and Saturday.



• Professionals play on Sunday and Monday. We will...
  

Wrap it up, football coloring Kid...

Do you know about players' numbers?



• 1-19 for Quarterbacks, Wide Receivers, Punters plus Kickers


• 20 - 49: Running Backs plus Defensive Backs


• 50 - 59: Centers plus Linebackers


• 60 - 79: Defensive Linemen and Offensive Linemen


• 80 - 89: Wide Receivers plus Tight Ends


• 90 - 99: Defensive Linemen plus Linebackers

Now, you know the game of football, coloring Kid. You learned basic: football history, football fundamentals, organized football structure, players' skills levels, and the football season...

So get yourself into a game with other football coloring pages kids.

Play hard. Laugh Loud.

Permission is granted to reprint this article "Football - Coloring Pages Kids Should Have Five Facts". Use it for your website, class, home school, football camp, church or library with the http://www.coloring-pages-book-for-kids-boys.com/football-coloring.html links and credits intact. Get more free Coloring Page articles, too. No permission is granted to edit, alter or sell the articles.

Michael J Bennett -- editor of Coloring-Pages-Book-for-Kids-Boys -- Extreme coloring pages for boys. Coloring buddy Mike started drawing and coloring by creating coloring fun for his daughters. Visit http://www.coloring-pages-book-for-kids-boys.com

Top 20 Fundraising Ideas For Booster Clubs and School

I often get asked for fundraising ideas for booster clubs, athletic clubs, schools, and sports teams. Of course, the answer is different for each team, but one of the key factors is that whatever type of spirit item you choose to sell, it needs to be fun for the recipient and useful for them (at least useful for that given period of time). I have compiled a list of 20 inexpensive fundraising ideas for your school sports team or booster club that have great profit margins to raise money for your club or team. These spirit items are fun, inexpensive, and generate school spirit. Remember that by getting a business to sponsor the spirit items, they pay for them, and your club can sell them at 100% profit. That is the key to a successful fundraising campaign.

1. Pom Poms - These can be imprinted with your school or team name and can be obtained for well under $1.00 each. Custom imprinted pom poms are crowd favorites and look great in the stands. Fans feel more comfortable cheering on their team when they have some kind of spirit item such as pom poms. Pom poms have been around for years and will be around for years to come as spirit items.

2. Mini Basketballs - Obviously, these work great for basketball teams. You can choose to get either the vinyl mini basketballs or all the way up to tournament quality balls. The vinyl mini basketballs are about the size of a grapefruit and cost around $1.40 or less depending on quantity and are meant as more of a novelty toy for kids. If you feel your fan base will buy full sized basketballs, you can get customized basketballs with your choice of basketball panel colors and multi-colored logos imprinted on the balls.

3. Mini Volleyballs- Volleyball teams can choose from either vinyl mini volleyballs or tournament quality volleyballs. It is important to know your crowd and have an idea of how much money they are willing to spend. There is always the option to take pre-orders for higher ticket items such as tournament quality volleyballs.

4. Mini Footballs - Promotional mini footballs are commonly thrown at football games by the cheerleaders. These mini footballs can be used in 2 different ways for fundraising: a) You can have a business sponsor and put their name on logo on one side of the ball and your school and team name on the other sides of the footballs. With this option, the business actually pays for the footballs and lets the cheerleaders throw the footballs at the games. This helps the team by generating revenue and team spirit from the crowd as well as helping the business who sponsored with cheap advertising. b) You can simply print your school and team name on the footballs and sell them through your booster club to fans. Typically, the business sponsor is much easier and takes less effort. For a typical football game, you want to plan on throwing a minimum of 100 mini footballs, and more for big games such as playoffs and championship games to help keep the crowd going.

5. Mini Soccer Balls- These mini soccer balls can be sold as novelty items to home crowds. The vinyl mini soccer balls are less profitable than selling the tournament quality soccer balls. With full size soccer balls, you can print on every panel for a really dramatic effect. Take pre-orders to avoid being stuck with a large quantity of soccer balls.

6. Thundersticks - Crowds never get tired of thundersticks (or sometimes called thunderstix or bam bams). These thunder sticks can be personalized with a large imprint area. They are easy to sell for $3-$4 per pair, and you can get them for around $1.40 or less per pair. You can print on the both sides of the thunder sticks, so you can get a business sponsor to pay for the thundersticks and sell them to make 100% profit. Thunder sticks have become a standard in any active stadium. These stadium noisemakers bring the stadium to life and helps to encourage the players.

7. Discount Cards - Discount cards are credit card sized plastic cards that have multiple discount offers from local restaurants and retailers. The buyer can usually recoup his/her money after using the discount card only twice. The discount cards are typically printed with about 15 business are 1 side and the school and team name on the other side. Some schools choose to print discount offers on both sides of the cards allowing for more business sponsors. You can charge each business a nominal fee of $50-$100 to advertise their offer. Then you sell the cards for $10 each and make a huge profit. These discount cards are easy sell; they virtually sell themselves if you get some great offers from local businesses. The hardest part is lining up your 10-15 businesses to advertise. This is not difficult though, because most business know that offering discounts brings in business.

8. Stadium Seat Cushions - Stadium seat cushions are another great and traditional fundraising item for stadium sports such as football and basketball. Sponsors can offset the cost of the stadium cushions by ads on the back of the cushion. The booster club can then sell the cushions for $5-$10 to make 100% profit and generate thousands of dollars at a single game. You can sell up to 20 business ads on each side of the stadium cushions. Imagine the amount of money your booster club can earn with the combination of the sponsorship money collected plus the money collected from sales of the stadium cushions!

9. Hand Fans - Sports shaped hand fans are great for games in the South during the beginning of football season. Choose from Football helmet or football shaped hand fans. These fans can be printed with the team schedule, and even a business sponsor name to help offset the cost. Any type of spirit item the fans can hold, such as hand fans, helps make them more comfortable, thus cheering more and louder.

10. Schedule Magnets- All fans need a game schedule and a schedule on a magnet is even better because they won't lose it. Most people will put a magnet on a refrigerator, and think how many times the average person goes to the refrigerator. Fans will buy a schedule magnet, and the profit margins are easily 400%-500%. This will help boost your attendance at games because your fans will always know your game times.

11. Car Magnets - Car magnets with your mascot and team name help to promote team spirit within your community. These are popular with fans because they are easy to remove and cause no damage to their cars. Not only do you make money selling these car magnets, but think how many people will see your team name and mascot on a daily basis. The more people that see you car magnet, the more community support you cultivate.

12. Megaphones - Cheerleaders have used megaphones for years and the the mini plastic megaphones are great for fans to use for cheering for their team. Personalized megaphones are a great way to get your fans loud.

13. Spirit Noodles - Spirit noodles are made of foam and are great to wave around while cheering. These are a great option when noise makers aren't allowed in your stadium. They come in varios shapes and sizes to tailor to your team or school.

14. Foam Fingers - Foam fingers and foam hands come in many different varieties and shapes. There are foam paws, foam talons, foam mascots, and many different foam hand shapes that are great for cheering for your team. These are also great for stadiums that don't allow noisemakers.

15. Sport Horns - Sports horns are unique noise makers that are really loud but come in a small package. These stadium horns take minimal effort to blow and will rock the house and a make a bold statement for your team.

16. Spirit Towels - Spirit towels are classic stadium items to show team spirit. They have a large imprint area and are great to wave around while cheering.

17. Sports Bottles - Personalized sports bottles are great items to fill with drinks at concession stands. The custom printed sport bottles give fans a souvenir to take home after buying a drink. This will encourage fans to buy a drink because they get an item they can keep that is useful after the game. Many concession stands charge an upcharge to get a souvenir mug. If you don't want to use sports bottles, consider stadium cups. Stadium cups are cheap and a great option to use to serve beverages at the stadium.

18. Stadium Blankets - During cold games, stadium blankets are much needed items that are often forgotten by fans. You'll be surprised how many fans will buy a stadium blanket because they forgot to bring their own blanket. Stadium blankets have the ability to generate large profits per sale.

19. Yard Signs - Don't forget about spirit items to promote your team outside from games. The custom yard signs can be sold to fans to proudly display in their yard. These also can have very high profits per sale, and are an easy way to generate large amounts of money in a small amount of time.

20. Hand Clappers - Hand clappers are one of those spirit items that never get old. They make a lot of noise and are fun to use when rooting for your team.

Whatever type of spirit items that you use, make sure they are allowed in your stadium. Most importantly, make sure you do have spirit items available for your fans. Spirit items are the easiest ways to generate team spirit, because fans feel more comfortable cheering when they have a spirit item to use. One important rule to remember is that you don't want to overprice your spirit items. You have to consider the area you live in when determining a reasonable price that the fans will not think is too expensive. School spirit items are easy to sell; therefore, generating lots of money for your school booster club or organization is very easy.

Copyright 2009 Patrick Black and Perfect Imprints. All rights reserved.

http://www.perfectimprints.com
http://www.promotionalproductsblog.net

Boost Team Spirit! Great Ideas For High School Sports Booster Clubs

July had become our new vacation month. After years of dodging the "dog days" of August up in Lake George, NY our family had to adapt to a new schedule. Starting in 1995, August revolved around High School fall sports and their pre-season practices. So over the years as our four participated in soccer, field hockey and football during the month of August, I became involved with the various team booster clubs. While the kids ran, lifted, sweated and practiced, I was busy with the Boosters getting activities planned for the season. High school sports booster clubs, if run with spirit and enthusiasm, are a great means of boosting team spirit.

Between our four children and all the various sports, we have had both superstars and bench sitters. However, I think they would all agree that team sports overall were a great experience. By broadening the focus of the various high school sports booster clubs from fund raising to "fun raising", these organizations can enhance the team experience and encourage team spirit.. Booster clubs can help make each player feel a sense of belonging. Over the years, our Booster Club activities ranged from Team Tailgates, to door decorating, player gifts and Kick Off parties. By providing some balance of fun with the rigors of athletics, booster clubs can spread the team spirit. It takes time and energy to put together a pre-game breakfast for 80 football players, but it is well worth the effort. What started as a pre-playoff event, turned into a weekly Saturday morning café hosted by the Dads! It was such a huge hit, that by the time my younger son was playing, we could have run a restaurant. For Friday night games, we organized "post walk through" dinners on Thursday nights.

Our girls were not left out in the cold. Soccer and Field Hockey benefited from booster club energies. They had a season Family Kick Off party. Funds short.. we improvised and assigned each grade level a category; desserts, drinks or salads. Seniors exempt! We used booster club funds for the pizzas. It was the perfect compromise! For more fun, we let the kids design team practice shirts, complete with their own tag line. They were meant for the practice field but the kids wore them all over the place. We made "pride pins" with the team mascot, player name and number for the parents. These buttons were so popular that they found their way into the locker rooms and a generic version turned out to be a great club fundraiser!

So as your son or daughter heads out to the practice field this August, find out who is running their team booster club and volunteer. Your child will appreciate it, you will enjoy it and you will have a whole new group of friends by the end of the season. We still have "team reunion" parties with one of our booster groups and it is 6years later. Check out some more fun team spirit ideas at Celebration Ideas Online Team Spirit Ideas

Carol is married with four grown children who loves to celebrate everything! Their family celebration experiences and traditions can be further viewed at Celebration Ideas Online There are some great ideas for creating lasting family memories! there are fun ideas for college care packages, holiday parties, theme parties, team spirit projects, party favors, games and special occasions. It is an album of celebration ideas.

5-on-5 Flag Football Playbook Philosophy - Keep it Simple

Five-on-five flag football is a growing sport both in the United States and abroad. If you look at television ratings throughout the year, you will see that some of the most watched programs include Monday Night Football, the Superbowl, the college Bowl games, as well as just the normal football college and professional games played on Saturday and Sunday. There's a reason why many non-football fans complain on the weekends of football season: There's nothing on but football!

Flag football prepares interested youngsters for a future career in pads. Developing a 5-on-5 flag football playbook makes youngsters accustomed to learning some of the basic structure of what they will see in the future. The 5-on-5 flag football playbooks are simple to make, and should be kept simple for the sake of the youngster, or the average Joe who wants to engage in the support as a hobby - as a part of an office group or among friends - as they will unlikely have time to study more sophisticated playbooks.

The 5-on-5 playbook should consist of a majority of running plays, and a few simple pass plays. At least two trick plays should be included in the 5-on-5 playbook, as well, to develop the players' mentality of thinking outside the box.

Offensively, the 5-on-5 flag football playbook should show how the opponents defense will appear on an average basis. The 5-on-5 playbook should make runners aware of the holes in this defense, or basically, potential weaknesses to be capitalized on throughout a game. It should be simple enough to where the players can understand what a coach is calling for and also open enough to allow them to use their own creativity and make mid-game adjustments. Each play in the 5-on-5 flag football playbook should have a brief summary of why the play is designed that way, so a player understands what he or she needs to accomplish in the game.

Defensively, the 5-on-5 flag football playbook should show a defensive setup that maximizes the potential to top runs up the middle and around the outside of the front line, while leaving a player or two back to cover passes. Again, write down the philosophies of the defensive scheme, so each player understands his or her role. You don't want a safety always rushing up to the line, if their job is to stay back and wait for a pass or cover a breakthrough on a run.

Plays for a 5-on-5 football playback should be left to the discretion of the coach, but again, be made simple enough for the youngest of rookies to pick up on. After a while, the 5-on-5 flag football playbook can be modified off of the simple plays that are already established. Look at the 5-on-5 flag football playback as a lego building, which you can keep adding pieces on as time progresses.

Gary Pearson is an accomplished niche website developer and author.

To learn more about 5 on 5 flag football playbooks, please visit Flag Football Online for current articles and discussions.

Coaching Youth Football Defense

50% of the time, when a youth defense fails, it is because one or more players did not use good tackling technique. Tackling is a skill where the natural way kids tackle is awful. They want to grab the shirt of the opponent with their hand and a half dozen other abominations. That means you must use a large dose of drilling to get them to do it right.

I did a ten-minute-a-night, half-speed, form-tackling drill every night of the season for all defensive players. And I made any player who used poor technique in scrimmage leave scrimmage for remedial tackling practice. That fixed the problem. Nothing less would.

About 40% of defensive failures are caused by a player not knowing his responsibilities or deliberately abandoning his responsibilities. You fix the not knowing by repeatedly walking through the several different categories of offensive plays against your defense:

inside runs

counters

sweeps

reverses

quarterback passes

halfback passes

Certain team drills must be done correctly full-speed at least once each week, namely:

wide-play pursuit drill

pass-pursuit drill

You fix deliberate abandonment of responsibilities by disciplining the player in question or replacing him with one who is more obedient. I once had another coach's son, an excellent athlete, in a key defensive position. But the player insisted on doing his own thing instead of taking care of his assigned responsibilities. As a result, attacks at his area of responsibility often succeeded because he had gone off somewhere else. I reduced his responsibilities by changing his position until he was in a position where he had so little to do he could hardly screw it up. Had the season lasted longer, I would have removed him entirely from the defense. A defender who does his own thing needs to find another sport.

Defense requires discipline. Each defender is like the Dutch boy who put his finger in the dike. All holes must be plugged. All receivers must be covered.

The remaining 10% of defensive failures are caused by defenders deciding prematurely that all will be quiet at their area of responsibility, therefore they can go off somewhere else to see if they can get in on the play. The most devastating example is the contain man who sees a dive fake and decides to go over to the middle of the defense to get in on the tackle of the dive back, only to learn too late that the play was a fake-dive sweep. The sweep succeeds because the contain man abandoned his contain responsibilities too soon.

Another example is inside linebackers who are taught not to mirror offensive flow if it goes away (to the far side), because of the danger of the counter going back through where they originally were. But when they see flow away they go ahead and step toward the flow in violation of their orders, only to see the counter shoot behind them right through the spot they were told not to vacate in the event of flow away.

The solution to players abandoning their responsibilities too soon is to have your scout offense run the problem play in question over and over. Indeed, you may want to have the scout offense use multiple balls so that there is always a ball carrier running a sweep on every single play in practice. Another alternative is to run your scrimmages with no football and have the various defenders tackle the faking ball carrier in their area of responsibility every single time. This no-ball method of practice is often used in preparation for playing a triple-option team or a wing-T team with excellent faking skills.

Notice some of the things I did not advocate in this article:

backpedaling drills

W drills

any other defensive drills other than form tackling, defensive line charge and pursuit

That stuff is a bunch of time-wasting nonsense in youth football. You only have about 30 to 40 minutes a night for defense. If you do the stuff you need to do as I described above, you will have no time left for traditional drills. Too many coaches think running drills constitutes coaching. In fact, most drills are a useless or even harmful distraction from the task at hand, which is fixing the true causes of your defensive failures.

Todd Krueger is a former NFL Quarterback that runs a youth football/quarterback website called http://www.footballtools.com

Building Cohesiveness and Chemistry in Your Youth Football Team

Building Chemistry When Coaching Youth Football

The best youth football coaches are not only very good X and O guys and great teachers, they are outstanding at bringing their teams together. One of the best I've seen at doing that is my friend Tony Holland from Baltimore. Tony has been using our system for the last 3 years and has had some amazing results. He has some very unique techniques he uses to bring his teams together. Tony is a voracious learner and has taken some concepts he has used so successfully in his business and applied it to his youth football team to make it better and improve the experience for his kids.

Laying the Foundation of Your Youth Football Team

Like us, Tony divides his team into multiple groups of 5-6 players. We do the same and assign a coach to each group and allow the group to name their little "team". By organizing your team in this way the kids feel more connected. When you are running circuit type drills and take a break, it is much easier calling out each group by name and sending that group to the next station. The kids often take pride in their little group. We've found when doing competitive drills or the fun team building drills from the group, the kids have more fun and effort greater when there is competition between groups. By keeping kids in those smaller groups, the kids connect quicker and deeper which in turn improves their fun and commitment levels.

Laying The Solid Rock Foundation

Tony takes this a step further. Before the season, Tony goes to Walmart and buys a bunch of small smooth round rocks. His team is the Ravens, so Tony spray paints each rock purple and puts Ravens stickers on each rock. After each practice the coach of each of the groups awards a rock to one player in his group who has listened the best and efforted the hardest. Each coach hands out the rock to his group winner before the entire team at the end of each practice. Tony said his kids go nuts over getting these little rocks. He calls the effort the kids put during practice as the foundation (rock) of success for his team. The foundation is built with the help of these strong little rocks that cost Tony less than .25 each.

Lifetime Lessons From Youth Football

These simple and inexpensive rocks are treasured by Tony's players. One player in fact was moving and mentioned to Tony he had put his treasured rocks in a box and made sure he got them to his new house. It was as if these rocks were his most treasured possession. He told Tony "I'm keeping my rocks forever"m which brought a huge and knowing smile to the lips of my buddy Tony. The teams parents even bought in after some initial skepticism and now are all for it after seeing the results.

Just think about this kid, 40 years from now in 2048, this same kid is moving again. He is now 49 years old and loading his belongings into the moving truck. he takes a look at that last small box from the attic. In that box are a few old scrapbooks, some old kids trophies and his little box of treasured rocks from Tony Holland, he got back in 2008. 40 years from now that player will still remember Tony and his lessons on effort, commitment and team work. How many other people are going to remember you 40 years from now? Think about that.

If you are coaching youth football, my good friend Tony is definitely one of the guys you want to emulate if you want those kind of permanent lessons ingrained into your players.

Dave Cisar

Dave is a Nike "Coach of the Year" Designate and speaks nationwide at Coaches Clinics. His book "Winning Youth Football a Step by Step Plan" was endorsed by Tom Osborne and Dave Rimington. His personal teams using this system to date have won 90% of their games in 5 Different Leagues.

To Sign up for his free tips and drills newsletter or to view 400 free youth football coaching tips go to: Youth Football Plays

Offensive Line

National Football League: Say No to Thugs! Part One

"What the heck is going on out there???" the Great Man would say if he were here today commenting on the numerous incidents of National Football League players getting arrested--for all sort of crimes, from DUI, to physical violence to weapons charges. It's really depressing when you look at the National Football League headlines on Web sites like ESPN.com and most of what you find involves reports of players getting in trouble with the law. Sports are supposed to be a pleasant diversion from the ugliness we see in the international news headlines, or the forecasts for the real estate market.

The bright new NFL Commissioner, Roger Goodell, obviously wants to solve this problem, and he seems to be trying to get the message across that thug-like behavior won't be tolerated. But the question is, are the players listening? Clearly, he has a tough task ahead.

Several sportswriters have observed that in reality, all that matters in professional sports is winning, and if you are a talented enough player to help your team win, it doesn't matter what kind of citizen you are. The teams are willing to give the players any number of second, third or fourth chances, much more than an employee of a company in the "real world" would be allowed. Many corporations, in fact, don't allow second chances whatsoever.

Maybe Mr. Goodell needs a catchy slogan that could be run in advertisements, to remind the owners and coaches (and fans) that integrity in professional sports should be as important as winning. How about:

SAY NO TO THUGS!

One big city newspaper took a look at the incidence of NFL players being arrested and compared it to that of the general population--and found the numbers very similar, almost as though the problem has been blown out of proportion. This is fuzzy logic at best, because National Football League players are not part of the "general population." The correct peer group to compare them to would be:

--Pampered millionaire celebrities who only have to work a few months per year.

And among this group, football players have had a higher incidence of running afoul of the law in the last several years, even if we count every single encounter Paris Hilton has had with the police, and give Mel Gibson double penalty points because of the foul-mouthed things he said to the police officer who arrested him in Malibu.

It's time the fans let the league know that they want them to get rid of the players who can't behave like decent citizens.

SAY NO TO THUGS!

Are you an NFL fan? Then you'll love the novel Over Time Money, Love, and Football: All the important things in life. Find out more about Brian Hill, the author, at his Capital Connection

Super Bowl 2011 - Are You Ready?

The first ever Super Bowl was played on January 15, 1967 at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. This game was created as a part of a merger agreement between the National Football League (NFL) and the American Football League (AFL). Football fans were not really as enthusiastic about this big game as they are now, as they did not really realize the potential of such an event.

Initially, the main purpose for the Super Bowl was to determine the champion among the AFL and the NFL but now it represents so much more. This amazing game represents America's determination to overcome and succeed against all odds.

Super Bowl I was played in 1967. The Green Bay Packers won the first ever game by defeating the AFL Kansas City Chiefs. The winning team was lead by quarterback Bart Starr who was also named the Most Valuable Player (MVP).

Next year, Arlington Texas will host the Super Bowl XLV. It will be held on the 6th of February 2011 and as usual, the champions of NFL will go up against the champions of AFL at the Cowboy's Stadium. It will be the 45th edition of the championship game. This is going to be the first time that a Super Bowl will be held in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.

The Black eyed peas will perform at the half time show of the Super Bowl XLV next year. This year, the New Orleans Saints won the Super Bowl but this does not necessarily mean that they will win next year too. There are very few teams, talented enough to win the Super Bowl consecutively. Let us look at some of the teams who have the potential to win next year. Let's start with the AFC teams.

Last year, the New York Jets had one of the best defenses in the NFL. They trained hard and once they were in the playoffs, they showed everyone that they had what it took to win. The New York Jets have done the impossible; they have improved their defense. The New York Jets will be a tough team to beat.

Another impressive team is the San Diego chargers. They have one of the most talented teams; however, their coach Norv Turner leaves a lot to be desired. The question remains, are the San Diego Chargers talented enough to win even without good coaching?

Another good team is the Indianapolis Colts. To be honest, they are not the most talented team but they have Peyton Manning. Peyton Manning is one of the best quarterbacks in the league. With Manning, the Colts have a very good chance of winning.

The NFC has very few teams that have the potential to win. Other than this year's winning team, the New Orleans Saints, the only good team is the Minnesota Vikings.

There are other teams who, without doubt, could come out in the Super Bowl race next year but these teams are the favorites so far.

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Akers Over the Hill, Henery on the Horizon?

With the Eagles drafting a new kicker this year it could mean that David Akers's fruitful spell with the Eagles could be over.

Over Akers's tenure spanning 12 seasons he has proved to be the surprise package for the team, scoring clutch field goals when depended upon and becoming one of the most consistent kickers in the league. Akers's best statistical year came in his 4th year with the team when he successfully kicked a impressive 30 of 34 field goals, a percentage of 88.2%.

Akers's has received five pro bowl selections and also holds the record for the most consecutive postseason field goal conversions. An extraordinary player, and a very charitable role model, it seems that in the light of most recent circumstances he might however not be returning with Philly. He is a free agent now, and the Eagles tagged him as their transition player this offseason, a move that Akers disagreed strongly with. The uncertainty surrounding Akers's contract is likely to be the motivation for picking a kicker in this season's draft. Another factor might have been the underlying personal issues which led to a previously calm and collected kicker missing two vital field goals in last season's playoff loss to eventual winners Green Bay Packers. We all know that even the most reliable kickers have been benched after missing key field goals.

So out with the old and in with the new. In Alex Henery, the Eagles get a fantastic player. The former Nebraska Cornhusker went 120th overall, and he is the highest kicker to be selected since the Patriots took Stephen Gostkowski two spots earlier than that in 2006, and the best part is that he is also a great punter.
Henery definitely has some big shoes to fill but looks like he is the right man for the job. In his four seasons with the Cornhuskers he missed just two attempts shorter than 50 yards. Does he have a long leg? Take a look at this kick and decide for yourself...

Is he a clutch kicker? Well, if scoring all the points against the Texas Longhorns in the Big 12 Championship game is anything to go by, it would suggest that he is ready for the task in Philly.

I still very much doubt that Akers's career is over, one hiccup shouldn't cost you your whole career and I'm sure he will get a second chance. One man's loss is, of course, another man's gain. Some sources have already linked Akers with NFC East rival teams the Redskins and Cowboys. The Cowboys' current kicker David Buehler converted 24 of 32 (75%) field goals last season, and Akers, even at the age of 36, still made 32 of 38 (84%). The Redskins' Graham Gano made just 24 of his 35 attempts (69%), illustrating another cause for concern for the struggling franchise.

As one of the Eagles most prolific scorers, wherever Akers ends up I'm sure he will be greatly missed. But in Henery I hope the Eagles can find a talisman able to guide them into the new era.

Cincinnati Bengals - Decades of Ups and Downs

The Cincinnati Bengals is based in Cincinnati, Ohio and a former member of the now defunct professional football league, American Football League (AFL). The AFL merged with the National Football League (NFL) in 1966. The Bengals first season was in 1968, playing as an AFL franchise and expansion team; they only became part of the NFL in 1970. The team is now a part of the American Football Conference (AFC) North Division in the National Football League (NFL). Their uniform colors are black, white, and orange.

Their first seasons in the NFL

During their membership in the AFL, rusher Paul Robinson led the team and got the honor of rookie of the year. In their first NFL season in 1970, the Bengals won the AFC Central Division but during the playoff, they lost in the first round. Paul Brown, the Bengals esteemed coach from the 1950s guided the team to postseason games in 1973 and 1975. During that time, Bengals quarterback Ken Anderson emerged as one of the premier quarterbacks in the NFL. In both the 1973 and 1975, the Bengals got as far as the playoffs but lost again in the first round.

1980s - A good decade for the Bengals

The next few seasons saw a number of changes, particularly the several replacements of head coach. The result was mixed over the next NFL seasons. In 1981, the Bengals won the division crown once again under the guidance of head coach and hall of famer Forrest Gregg, formerly an offensive tackle. It was a fairly successful season for the Bengals with a couple of their players earning awards. Ken Anderson won his fourth passing title. Wide receiver and rookie Cris Collinsworth and running back Pete Johnson both gained more than a thousand yards. During the playoffs, their luck also turned around, defeating the San Diego Chargers and Buffalo Bills and playing in the Super Bowl. They finally lost to the San Francisco 49ers, the eventual Super Bowl Champions with a record of 26-21. Throughout the mid-80s, the Bengals was a team to contend with and played competitively. In 1985, Boomer Esiason replaced Ken Anderson as quarterback. Like Anderson, Esiason also became one of the best quarterbacks in NFL. In 1987, Cincinnati had a win-loss record of 4-11. The next season, 1988, they finished with a 12-4 record. Esiason won his first National Football Conference passing title and won player of the year together with quarterback Randall Cunningham of the Philadelphia Eagles. Among the American Football Conference's top-rated offense were Cincinnati running back James Brooks, tackle Anthony Munoz, and receiver Eddie Brown. The Bengals once again advanced to their second Super Bowl in a decade, playing against the San Francisco 49ers. But, history, repeating itself, the Bengals lost to the 49ers who scored a touchdown at the last minute.

1990s - A struggle for the Bengals

In 1990, the Bengals once again won in the Divisions, gaining their fifth division title. Boomer Esiason got a 3,000-yard season for six consecutive times. The 1990s was a struggle for the Bengals compared to the 1980s. Between 1992 and 1994, the Bengals won only eleven games.

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2008 Dallas Cowboys Draft Report

In 2007, the Dallas Cowboys were the talk of Texas until the divisional playoffs, where they lost to the New York Giants who would go on to win the Super Bowl. This was ironic considering that they defeated the Giants in their two regular season matchups. What can you say? Comeuppance is as hard to swallow as Texas Tabasco sauce. Nevertheless, the Cowboys had much to be proud of in 2007, finishing their season with a 13-3 record. Will 2008 be the Cowboys' return to Super Bowl victory? Before you start hollering and flipping hats in the air, consider first a very telling sign: the 2008 draft. What was Dallas thinking this year?

The Cowboys chose six players for the 2008 draft, including running back Felix Jones from Arkansas, cornerback Mike Jenkins from South Florida, tight end Martellus Bennett from Texas A&M, running back Tashard Choice from Georgia, cornerback Orlando Scandrick from Boise State and defensive end Erik Walden from Middle Tennessee. Thanks to the draft trade made a year and a half ago, the Cowboys had two first round picks this season and the media began to speculate what the team's strategy would be. Experts were not quite underwhelmed, but more observant of the team's cautious approach. They resisted choosing a flashier player and instead focused on strengthening their roster, which had played very well in the previous season.

Critics noted that none of the team's draft picks could really be considered starter material. Owner Jerry Jones resisted going all out this season, even backing away from courting superstar Darren McFadden as the cost was simply deemed too much. However, Dallas did well in terms of filling some holes. They replaced Julius Jones with Felix Jones in a move that was largely predictable. While Felix Jones doesn't have the flash of other players Dallas could have sought, he remains a great talent and one that can effectively join a game as a runner, receiver and return man.

Another controversial move was Dallas trading some spots to acquire Mike Jenkins, a player well liked in the draft and actually rated by the team as the #2 cornerback. Filling the role of cornerback was one of Dallas' most crucial needs as Anthony Henry is aging and Pacman Jones is hardly reliable at this point in his career. Martellus Bennett was brought in to replace Anthony Fasano and is a fantastic find. This is type of athlete that major leagues court right out of high school, which does say something about Dallas' eye for new talent.

All in all, the consensus among fans and NFL experts was that Dallas' drafting efforts were shrewd. They filled needs with their first two first-round picks, however disappointed others with their head-scratching picks of players like Tashard Choice. Some experts still see a problem in the team's offensive and defensive lines. While some have seen this cautionary attitude as proof that Dallas is doing everything right thus far (hard to debate after 2007's improved performance) others are left wondering if the playing strategy has changed. While the Dallas draft has divided fans, no one can deny that Dallas is one of the most likely teams to upset the 2008 season.

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Who Was Really the First Black Quarterback?

Who was the first black NFL quarter-back? That is a very interesting question and the response seems to depend greatly on who you ask. You will hear names like Briscoe and Harris, Williams and Thrower but were any of them really the first black QB? Let's do a little research.

Some are convinced that the correct answer is the one and only Willie Thrower. He played for the Chicago bears in mid October of 1953. It was his first and last game. He never appeared in another game and it would be 15 years before another African-American would take a snap in a pro game. But is this historically correct? Others think it was a man named Joe Guilliam, known as Jefferson Street Joe not until the early 70s. Joe even has a web page dedicated to him with this honor and both are often credited with the title of the first black quarter back. But had there really been no one before these players?

Due to racial attitudes of the time it seems that while black players were allowed to play not many were given starting positions, and while all of the previous mentioned players do have their roles in the history of black quarter backs, and it is accurate to say that Briscoe was the first to start a game. He played for as a QB for the Denver Broncos in 1968. Time lines and history tell us that it would not be until 1974 for a black player to start a playoff game. His name was James Harris and he played for the Los Angeles Rams. It would be fourteen years before Doug Williams would be the first to start and win a championship for the Washington Redskins in 1988.

What is the best and most accurate response? The correct answer would have to be none of the above with the correct response dating back much further than common misconception.

In fact, Fritz Pollard is the correct response. He played quarterback way back in the early 20s for a team known as the Hammond Pros. Frederick Douglass "Fritz" Pollard was born in 1894 in Rogers Park, Ill., a Chicago Suburb. He was one of eight children. Pollard graduated from Lane high School in Chicago where he ran track and later went on to play college football at Brown University. In 1915 as a freshman, he led Brown to the Rose Bowl vs. Washington State. He was also the first African American to play in a Rose Bowl. Among other accomplishments in the spring of 1916, he set a world record in low hurdles for the Brown University track team, qualifying for the Olympic team. Also in 1916 he led Brown to an 8-1 record with 12 touchdowns. He was the first African American head coach in the NFL. He also organized the first inter-racial all-star game in Chicago to showcase African American players. "Frtiz" Pollard died in 1986 at the age of 92.

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