Tag Archives: NFL

There was an extraordinary NFL running back named Jim Brown. He possessed an unrivaled combination of speed, strength, and agility, which made him an unstoppable force on the football field. Jim grew up in a small town, dreaming of becoming a professional athlete. His passion for football ignited at a …

Published Sunday, May 30, 2010 LOWELL, Mass. - Roger Goodell sent 40 letters to the NFL office in New York City looking for a job in 1981. Forty rejections came back. But more letters to NFL headquarters followed, until one day a weary league executive invited him to "stop by when you're in the neighborhood." "I told him I was in the neighborhood," recalled Goodell, who then drove all night from Pittsburgh to New York City to apply for what was supposed to be a three-month internship. Twenty-five years later, Goodell was appointed to his dream job: commissioner of the National Football League.

-- By Frank Reich

As I warmed up my car on a cold Buffalo morning, I readied myself for a drive to Rich Stadium where I was to start my first NFL playoff game. This particular day, January 3, 1993, we were playing the Houston Oilers in an AFC wildcard game.

By BRUCE LOWITT

To much of America, and certainly to the NFL, the American Football League was somewhere between a minor league and a joke.

Until Super Bowl III.

Until quarterback Joe Namath made good on a preposterous guarantee -- that his New York Jets would beat the seemingly unbeatable Baltimore Colts. They did, 16-7.

This AFL was the fourth league to challenge the NFL. The first three died within a year or two of their birth. But this one, which began playing in 1960, had network television money behind it.