National Football League

The Birth and Interesting Facts

Founded on August 20, 1920 by Roger Goodell
The NFL is a professional American football league that
constitutes one of the four major professional sports
leagues in North America

78% of NFL players are bankrupt just two years

after finishing their careers

During a typical NFL game, the ball is only in play

for 11 minutes!

73% of Men watch Football, 55% of Women.

The Longest, Greatest Field Goal(before the

Broncos last year)

On November 8, 1970, New Orleans Saints kicker Tom Dempsey,

a man born without four fingers on his right hand and missing
half of his right foot, was down by one in a tough 16-17 game
with 2 seconds to go in the fourth quarter

He kicks a miracle 63-yard Field Goal and pulverized the

previous record by seven yards, and the Saints go crazy

Generally whenever a field goal is kicked, the referees stand

beside the field goal and give the signal whether he made it or
not. They are to show no emotion.

As the football clears the crossbar, the referee leaves his feet
with excitement, giving the signal.

Unseen in any other referee

Tom Dempsey
www.youtube.com/watch?v=zrxTjgFYoU8

Time Spent on Football

Among adults who say they watch football
60% say they spend 5 hours or less per week
watching football
27% say they spend sometime between 6 and 10
hours per week watching football

Fantasy or Reality?
Over 33 million people play Fantasy Football
Trends more in kids than adults

Fantasy football is increasingly becoming more

popular

The average person spends about $110 on it,

equating to roughly $3.6 billion worldwide.
39% of male FF players would sacrifice beer for an
entire season to win their league
19% would ditch their mobile phone
16% would give up sex

Manufacturing Footballs
Approximately 3,000 cows are slaughtered each
year to provide a full seasons worth of footballs

If you are a cow, you have a one in 17,420,000

chance of becoming a football that will be used
in the Super Bowl (the same odds of catching
the Black Plague).

The Cover of Madden

Curse

For over a decade, players that were featured on the cover of the
Madden NFL video games were cursed with a serious injury or a
dramatic reduction in performance during the following season.
1999- Garrison Hearst: broken fibula, missed the next 2 seasons rehabbing; never got back to full strength
2000- Barry Sanders: Sanders retired unexpectedly
2001- Eddie George: Gave up interception return to Ray Lewis, lost the division finals for his team; spent next
season injured

2002- Daunte Culpepper: Went 4-7 as a starter, threw 23 interceptions

2003- Marshall Faulk: Ankle injury; failed to break 1,000 yards or make the playoffs
2004- Michael Vick: Broke his leg in the preseason; only played 5 games
2005- Ray Lewis: recorded 0 interceptions in 2004, sat out the last game of the season with a torn hamstring,
and barely missed out on the playoffs

2006- Donovan McNabb: started the season with a hernia, had surgery, missed 7 games, and his team finished
in last their division

2007- Shaun Alexander: broke his left foot, missed 6 games

2008- Vince Young: quadriceps injury, missed his first game ever from an injury (including middle school, high
school, and college)

2009- Brett Favre: started off well, but then threw just 2 touchdowns to 9 interceptions; failed to make the
playoffs after starting out 8-3. Vacationed in a resort in San Antonio where I met him that year

2010- Troy Polamalu & Larry Fitzgerald- Polamalu sprained medial collateral ligament, Fitzgerald rib injury
missed playoffs & Pro Bowl

2011- Drew Brees: Drew Brees presumably "broke" the curse by playing through a minor MCL sprain, but still
threw a career-high 22 interceptions.

The History of the

Huddle
Paul Hubbard, quarterback for Gallaudet
University (for the deaf and hard of hearing in
Washington D.C.) came up with the huddle in
the 1940s.

The purpose was to prevent the other teams

from reading their sign language when theyre
discussing the plays.

It caught on and is used to this day

Interesting Facts
The average lifespan for an NFL player in 1994 was 55
years (52 for linemen) vs. 77.6 years for the rest of the
US population.

The NFL requires football fields to be built either facing

north/south or in the shade, so that the sun doesnt
interfere with play.

If you hand a ball to a fan after a touchdown, you are

not fined.
But if you throw it to them, you can be fined up to more
than $10,000.

Cheerleaders only get $50 a game.