The Baseball Of The Nfl - 1342 Words

American Football was voted the most popular sport in America by 20% over baseball(ESPN Harris Poll). The NFL today has tv ratings off the charts, breaking records every Super Bowl(Coming Soon.com). But what started out as an American staple, actually was a mix of different sports. The first â€Å"football† game was actually just an altered soccer game between Rutgers and Princeton, but no one would realize the revolution it would bring to America. It then evolved with the help of rugby. Twenty years later the NFL was born and football went from a simple college game to a professional sport. The NFL today began as a simple concept which blossomed into an American tradition. The National Football league was founded on August, 20, 1920 by a†¦show more content†¦Lombardi revolutionized the game with his leadership, and maybe the most famous play drawn up in NFL history, the â€Å"Packers Sweep†. The NFL was growing to be something huge in America then, a new league came along. The American Football League began in 1959, looking to become a rival league to the NFL(Pro Football HOF). The American Football League or AFL, was founded in 1959 by Lamar Hunt, a sportsman(Pro Football HOF). He looked to create a rival league to the already emerged NFL after failed to gain ownership of an NFL franchise. The NFL first looked at the AFL as if the would be a yet just a pest on their arm, and a waste of time. Although, the AFL lived past the expectancy the NFL gave them and they had a bit of growth in their league with new teams and relocations. But, the NFL and AFL got into a big disagreement over college players entering the draft. The NFL thought they d haul them in like nothing until surprisingly the AFL Kansas City Chiefs signed Heisman Trophy winning running back, Mike Garrett. This turned out to be huge for the AFL because Garrett would end up helping the Chiefs reach the AFL championship, and a Super Bowl berth. With the surprising rise of the AFL, the NFL ended up shockingly asking for a merger agreement to become 1 league. This