The Origins of American Football

 

During the early 1800's a popular game known as rugby, where a football is kicked at a goal and run over a line, had its beginnings at the famous Rugby Boy's School in England. Around the same time in America, the emergence of a game called "ballown," similar to Rugby, was played by a group of students from Princeton. East coast prep schools like Harvard, Yale, Dartmouth, and Rutgers College also competed in football-type games. At that time these early games resembled the more traditional "mob football" style played in England. The rules were simple with large numbers of players trying to advance the ball into a goal area usually by any means necessary. By 1855 manufactured inflatable balls were being used as football evolved into a kicking and running game.

Since there weren't many rules established, violence and injury were common due to the roughness of the game. The increasing brutality of the game became such a public concern because of so many injuries and deaths, that some universities banned it. President Theodore Roosevelt even threatened to ban the game and urged Harvard, Princeton, and Yale to help make changes or lose the sport. Eventually the Intercollegiate Football Association was formed by representatives of Harvard, Columbia, and Princeton to establish a new code of rules mainly based on the rugby games.

The man responsible for shaping American football as we know it today was Walter Camp. He enrolled at Yale in 1876 and led the IFA's rules committee. He proposed reducing the number of players from 15 to 11. He helped establish the line of scrimmage and the snap from center to quarterback. Camp also proposed that teams be required to advance the ball a minimum of five yards within three downs. More changes were instituted like the reduced size of the playing field, scoring rules, and game time. By 1887 a paid referee and an umpire were mandated for each game and tackling below the waist was allowed. In 1889 officials were given whistles and stopwatches. The forward pass, one of the most important changes in the game, didn't become legal until 1906.

Although the rules were changing, football continued to be played violently in the style of the earlier mob games. Changes had to be made to make the game safer. These changes were discussed on December 28, 1905 by sixty-two schools who met in New York City. Eventually the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) was formed as a result. Over a century later college football continues to thrive as one of the most popular collegiate games. After the demise of the IFA, the American Professional Football Association was formed in 1920. The association was later reorganized and in 1922 renamed the National Football League.

 

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Smokin' Joe Frazier's "Greatest" Victory

Sugar Ray Robinson was the greatest boxer of all time.

Joe Frazier knew it, Joe Louis knew it.... Muhammad Ali knew it. Still Ali, brash young boxer who had never been defeated also knew the power of branding. If he said "Greatest" enough about himself, he would eventually win over a segment of the crowd. They would say it about him, especially once he took the heavyweight title.

Being the subject of a late 1960's character assassination by the United States media, Muhammad Ali was vilified, and stripped of his title for refusing to join the military. Famously saying "No Vietcong ever called ME a nigger." he claimed status as a "conscientious objector" to the war in Vietnam. Ali successfully defended his title many times from 1963 to 1967, but this episode of his life (outside the ring) is why I call him "The Greatest"... If you check the tape however, Sugar Ray Robinson was the greatest fighter.

Seeing all this, and realizing it could just as easily happen to him, another boxing legend by the name of Joe Frazier was making his mark. Although he was the number one contender at the time, he refused to participate in the tournament for the world championship belt, which took place after Ali was stripped of it.

Joe Frazier had morals, decency and a sense of fair play seldom exhibited by boxers or anyone for that matter. Joe Frazier was also a monster in the ring, who constantly slipped jabs while working his way toward his opponent; setting up one of the meanest left hooks ever known to boxing (the result of a broken arm that never healed correctly). Frazier eventually won the Heavyweight title in Ali's absence but campaigned tirelessly on Ali's behalf (even petitioning Then-President Nixon). Frazier also gave Ali money to get by during his years of banishment from the ring.

In 1970 the supreme court overturned Ali's banishment. Ali immediately went to work destroying fighters, but the question of his vacated title still went unanswered. This set the stage for what would be known as "The Fight Of The Century". Although friendly outside the ring, Ali would resume all his previous braggadocio, making his friend Joe Frazier the brunt of the verbal assault. No stranger to the power of media suggestion, Ali succeeded in mis-characterizing Frazier as being the champion for the same conservative values which wrongfully stripped him of his belt. He repeatedly and publicly referred to someone who had helped him through the worst time of his life as "Uncle Tom". Frazier was anything but an Uncle Tom, having to leave his South Carolina home at 15 to avoid trouble that came from standing up to racists.. In my opinion Ali's treatment of Joe Frazier was his lowest moment as a sportsman.

The "Fight Of The Century" took place at Madison Square Garden in 1971 with record purses, the biggest media coverage of all time, and even riots around the USA. The fight lived up to its name, going the 15 round distance with Ali establishing himself early on, but Joe Frazier delivering his killer left hook, putting Ali on his ass... twice... eventually emerging the victor.

Frazier would defend his title twice more, eventually losing to George Foreman. He would also have two major rematches with Ali, which he lost, ultimately developing a deep disdain for the man. Not one for media manipulation or image branding, (He was not well spoken) Frazier never successfully made the commercial revenue that a George Foreman or Ali would. He opened a boxing gym and lived out his days in Philadelphia. Frazier died of Liver cancer on Nov.7 2011 at the age of 67. He is recognized as one of the top ten greatest heavyweight champions of all time.

 

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Boxing in the 20th century

The opening decade of the 21st century is coming to a close and, regardless of the outcome of the remaining matches that are yet to play out in what has turned to be an exciting 2010 for professional boxing,  it is time to bring back the glorious years of boxing entertainment. It is time to recall those who gave color, drama and life to the sport; those who created indelible impressions among the fans; and those who, year after year, have proven their reign atop the ring by taking on the toughest opposition. I mean let's meet, once more, the fighters of the decade.

1910's-1920's

BoxRec Boxing Encyclopedia wrote that "Jack Dempsey changed the sport of boxing from a slow, defense-minded contest of single punches and frequent holding into an exciting, aggressive battle of furious combinations and blazing knockouts." But his life outside the ring gave him a bad press. Widely regarded by many as "a thug wallowing in immorality and brutality," fans loved to hate him. And yet when Gene Tunney dethroned him in 1926 after a 7-year reign, fans ironically began to admire him. Tunney was the epitome of an intelligent and scientific boxer, and they found him boring to watch. They missed Jack's "ultra-masculine charisma and slugger's brawn." In Dempsey's time, nobody packed the crowds in quite like he did.

Still, when the scribes minted the term "pound-for-pound" during this period, it was not because of Dempsey. It was because of Benny Leonard, who reigned as Lightweight Champion from May 1917 to January 1925. Boxing experts argued that Leonard at this time was the best, pound for pound. They also made mention of Harry Greb, a Middleweight Champion from 1923 to 1926. Greb has incredibly beaten heavier opponents in the light heavyweight and heavyweight divisions. He held the distinction of being the only fighter to ever beat Gene Tunney, the light heavyweight champion and conqueror of heavyweight king Jack Dempsey.

1930's

Henry Armstrong rocked the boxing world in 1937 and 1938, generating after-shocks that would continue to be felt until now. At a time when there were only 8 weight divisions, he won the featherweight, welterweight and lightweight titles in succession within a period of 10 months (from October 1937 to August 1938). Thus Armstrong would go down in boxing history as the only fighter ever to hold 3 world titles in 3 different divisions all at the same time.

Also at this time, Heavyweight Champion Joe Louis started a terrific run and would continue to dominate the opposition towards the latter part of the 40s. Earlier in the decade, Barney Ross stamped his class in the lightweight and welterweight divisions, besting Italian and fellow all-time great Tony Canzoneri, among others, twice.

1940's

World War 2 momentarily halted ring action except on very few occasions. Joe Louis kept his title despite being out of ring action due to his military service, and when he did return in 1946, he defended it 5 more times until Ezzard Charles defeated him in 1950.

At the lighter divisions, Featherweight Champion Willie Pep was making it hard for anyone not to notice him. He won 229 of his 241 fights, and showing, in the process, his opponents the finer points of defense in boxing.

Towards the late 1940's, the welterweight division had ran out of warm bodies that were capable of putting up a decent competition against a rising star named Sugar Ray Robinson.

1950's

Sugar Ray Robinson remained lord of welterweights and was, by now, the newest darling of boxing. He reminded boxing historians of Benny Leonard, Henry Armstrong, Willie Pep and all the great boxers of the lighter weight divisions before him. The only difference with them, it seemed, was that he was better. When he annexed the middleweight crown early in the decade and outclassed the best middle-weights afterward, the term "pound-for-pound" champion that briefly emerged during Leonard's era was back, and it was firmly associated with Robinson. Fans found him so good that beating him-which the likes of Carmen Basilio and Gene Fullmer did when Robinson was apparently past his prime-meant earning for themselves an exalted place in the all-time greats list.

1960's

Cassius Clay became Muhammad Ali on the same night he wrested the heavyweight crown from Sonny Liston in 1964. Producing spectacular wins inside the ring and creating political drama outside of it made Ali the most recognized-and probably adored -athlete in this era.

The lighter weight divisions also produced an exciting crop of fighters in Bantamweight Champion Edre Jofre (Brazil), his conqueror Fighting Harada of Japan, Junior Lightweight King Gabriel "Flash" Elorde (Philippines), and Lightweight Champion Carlos Ortiz (Puerto Rico).

1970's

In no time was there such a bumper harvest, so to speak, of talent in the heavyweight division as in this period. Ali, Joe Frazier and George Foreman were not only former Olympic stars, all of them were also undefeated challengers when they all won the heavyweight championship. Frazier grabbed the title vacated by Ali (who preferred to be in jail rather than in military service during the American-Vietnam war in the 60s and 70s). Frazier yielded it to Foreman via a second round KO loss. Ali recaptured his title from Foreman after besting the latter in 8 rounds.

Elsewhere, Argentina's Carlos Monzon rose to the Middleweight throne in 1970 and ran out of abled opponents in that division until he retired in 1977. Experts viewed him as the pound for pound champion in this era-that is, until Roberto Duran of Panama came along.

1980's

Like what Monzon did in the middleweight class, Duran thrashed all comers in the lightweight division. He eventually invaded the talent-laden welterweight and middleweight divisions. He won the welterweight championship from Sugar Ray Leonard in their first encounter (1980), only to relinquish it back to Leonard in their return bout. Leonard did not only bested Duran in their 3-bout match-up, he beat Hall of Famer Thomas Hearns and decisioned Middleweight all-time great Marvin Marvelous Hagler, among many other who's who in boxing.

1990's

Mexico's Julio Cesar Chavez, Pernell Whitaker, Oscar De La Hoya and Roy Jones Junior dominated their respective divisions during this period. Although Chavez, Whitaker and De La Hoya crossed paths at some points in their careers, one would be off his peak in relation to the other. The outcomes of their personal match-ups could therefore hardly be a measure of who was superior to whom. Jones? He rocked (for a time, that is.)


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7 Classic Fights Between Undefeated Boxers

In the advent of the pay-per-view phenomena, many recent matches have turned out to be just a bunch of sleep-o-ramas where one can simply grab a pillow and not worry about missing anything. Is this what the sweet science of boxing has reverted to? Now let's try to freshen our memories. Here are seven previous classic mega-bouts between undefeated fighters, in chronological order, that provided enough electricity to light up the Las Vegas skyline:

1. Joe Frazier (26-0) vs. Muhammad Ali (31-0), Mar. 08, 1971

With The Greatest coming out of a three-year hiatus, "The Fight of The Century", the first in the Ali-Frazier Trilogy, was supposedly the vehicle for his reclaiming of the WBC and WBA heavyweight titles. However, a victorious Smokin' Joe was emphatic in handing Ali his first defeat instead. Frazier floored Ali in the 15th round enroute to a unanimous decision triumph.

2. George Foreman (37-0) vs. Joe Frazier (29-0), Jan. 22, 1973

In the 1973 Ring Magazine Fight of the Year, Frazier was floored 6 times, 3 times in the 1st round and another 3 times in the 2nd round, when the fight was stopped by the referee, giving the brutal TKO conquest to Foreman.

3. Wilfredo Gomez (21-0-1) vs. Carlos Zarate (52-0), Oct. 28, 1978

It was a battle of frighteningly powerful knockout artists, Gomez winning all 21 within the distance after a draw in his first bout while Zarate knocking out a tremendous 51 opponents in 52 fights. With the WBC super bantamweight title on the line, it was no surprise that it took only 5 rounds to determine the winner. Would it be youth or experience that will prevail? This time the younger fighter, "Bazooka" Gomez, won.

4. Sugar Ray Leonard (25-0) vs. Wilfred Benitez (38-0-1), Nov. 30, 1979

It was a hard-fought 2nd defense of the prodigy Benitez, who became the youngest world boxing champ at age 17, for the WBC welterweight crown which saw him hit the canvas on the 3rd canto and bleeding in the forehead with a cut. The referee Carlos Padilla stopped the bout seconds before the end of the 15th round for a TKO win, with Leonard leading on all score cards.

5. Michael Spinks (27-0) vs. Larry Holmes (48-0), Sep. 21, 1985

A historic bout, given that a Holmes victory would have matched Marciano's unblemished 49-0 record, while a Spinks win will make him the first ever light heavyweight champion to become heavyweight king. As fate would have it, Spinks snatched a piece of history away from Holmes with a unanimous decision victory, taking the IBF heavyweight title along with it.

6. Riddick Bowe (31-0) vs. Evander Holyfield (28-0), Nov. 13, 1992

Unanimous decision win in 12 rounds by Bowe, their first fight in a trilogy. Many were doubtful that Holyfield could take on the huge Bowe but Real Deal proved in this fight the true warrior that he is. Round 10 was named Round Of The Year by Ring Magazine as a tribute to the two men giving in a round where the favor shifted from one to the other in a see-saw battle for supremacy in the heavyweight division.

7. Felix Trinidad (38-0) vs. Fernando Vargas (20-0), Dec. 02, 2000

A total war in the truest sense, Trinidad scored a 12th round TKO victory for the WBC/ WBA/ IBO junior middleweight titles. The Aztec Warrior managed to floor Trinidad once in the 4th round, but Trinidad made Vargas kiss the canvas a total of 5 times (twice in the 1st round and 3 times in the 12th round) when the bout was stopped.

Five Interesting Facts About the Touchdown Passes of the Patriots Tom Brady

There are few teams in history that have had a quarterback as good as Tom Brady. He is incredibly accurate, has deceptive arm strength, and is about as cool under pressure as a player can be. Brady came out of the University of Michigan without a lot of high expectations. He got onto the field due to an injury to the player starting ahead of him and went on to make the most of that opportunity. Since then he has won multiple Super Bowls, conference championships, and individual awards.

With the high powered offense that the New England Patriots have run since Brady came into the league, he has been able to put up some great passing numbers. Here is a look at five little known facts surrounding his touchdown passes. All information is taken from his entire career through the end of the 2009 NFL season.

#1 The first touchdown pass that Tom Brady ever threw in the National Football League came in the second quarter of a 29-26 win over the San Diego Chargers in 2001. The pass went for 21 yards and was caught by Terry Glenn. This was the only time that Brady would ever throw a touchdown pass to Glenn.

#2 Tom Brady has thrown more touchdown passes against the Buffalo Bills, 33 in total, during his career than he has against any other team in the NFL.

#3 He is a second quarter kind of guy. Over the course of his career, he has thrown 47 touchdown passes in the first quarter, 47 in the third quarter, 53 in the fourth quarter, and one in overtime. He has topped all of those though with 77 career second quarter touchdowns.

#4 No player has caught more touchdown passes from Tom Brady than Randy Moss. He and Moss have hooked up for a touchdown 36 times during their time together. This is more than twice the amount of touchdown passes he has thrown to anyone else.

#5 During his career, Brady has thrown 19 touchdown pass of 50 yards or more in distance. Even though he has only played with him for two seasons, 2007 to 2009 with 2008 lost due to Brady's injury, more than one third of those 50 yard touchdown passes have been caught by Randy Moss (7).

The Golfing Greats - Arnold Palmer

Arnold Palmer has said "Success in golf depends less on strength of body than upon strength of mind and character." His sense of fairness, kindness toward everyone, and dry sense of humor have made him one of the most popular golfers to ever play the game. And he was pretty darned good at the game, too!

As a world-famous golfer, Arnold Palmer won a majority of his 92 championships on the U.S. PGA tour. The only "major" he never won was the PGA Championship, although he finished second in three of them. Probably most noted for being the first pro to win four Masters Tournaments, it's not surprising to find that he started playing golf at the ripe old age of four. He worked hard at developing his golf game throughout most of his life, and it shows with some of the prestigious awards he's won including: the 1960 Hickok Professional Athlete of the Year, the 1960 Sports Illustrated's Sportsman of the Year, and even Athlete of the Decade for the 1960s in a national Associated Press poll. The awards culminated in 2004 when President Bush awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom in a ceremony at the White House.

His professional career began in 1954, just a few months after he won the U.S. Amateur Championship. The leading money winner in three of the four years spanning his biggest period from 1960 to 1963, Palmer twice represented the U.S. in the international Ryder Cup Match.

But Palmer never let all that prestige and status go to his head. He unfailingly maintained a dry and subtle sense of humor. After succumbing to bad luck on the 18th hole at the Rancho Park L.A. Open in 1961, a newsman asked how he had managed to make 12 on the par 5 hole. His reply: "I missed my putt for an 11."

Rancho Park became his home golf course for many years. The 20th Century Fox Studios were right across the street, and many times you'd find Hollywood stars mixing with the regular golfing crowd. It's said that after Palmer once played a round with Frank Sinatra - the famed singer rumored to have been involved with the Italian Mafia - Sinatra asked him, "How do you like my game?" Palmer responded with a straight face, "I prefer golf."

Palmer even got along with members of the media, laughing at the statement made by one television commentator who noted during a live broadcast that Palmer "seems to be having trouble with his long putt. However he has no trouble dropping his shorts." That same kindness, understanding and sense of fairness have carried through his life and led to the unofficial creation of Arnie's Army, a dedicated group of fans that has numbered in the thousands.

The honor and unceasing dedication those fans offer Palmer is well-warranted. His philanthropic efforts, while never highly publicized, have earned him recognition with those who count - the people who know him. For two decades, Palmer served as honorary national chairman of the March of Dimes Birth Defects Foundation and has played major roles in fund-raising drives for hospitals in both Orlando, Florida, and Latrobe, Pennsylvania, the town in which he was born.

Now in semi-permanent retirement, Palmer splits his time between Latrobe and La Quinta, California. He has numerous business interests around the world and still keeps his hand in his first passion, golf, serving as a consultant to The Golf Channel, designing golf courses around the country, and owning several golf courses, including being part owner of the renowned Pebble Beach course in California.

Famed golf pro, down-to-earth father and family man, quiet philanthropist - all can be used to describe Arnold Palmer. His life in golf has mirrored his life in general. Speaking of golf, he once noted, "I've always made a total effort, even when the odds seemed entirely against me. I never quit trying; I never felt that I didn't have a chance to win." It seems, however, that it has been those who know him that have been the real winners in this game.