NFL
Limbo Teams: The Dallas Texans
By Stephen Turk
Naming a team can be a tough endeavor. Previous posts here have dealt with the various processes that take place in giving a team an identity. Some names, however, just don’t seem to work out, as if the name itself dooms the team to failure. It seems kind of silly, but it isn’t totally without merit, those in the sports world are a superstitious bunch. The Texans seems to be one such name.
There is a current team, the Houston Texans, who entered the NFL in a recent expansion. They have struggled in their years of existence, and I can only hope for Houston fans that these current Texans fare better than the Texans of old. › Continue reading
A Unique Pairing: Part II
By Stephen Turk
After the 1965, only five years into the AFL’s existence, the NFL realized that they had a competent competitor in the AFL. The animosity amongst the leagues centered around some fairly simple concepts, talent and money.
With nary a friendly agreement between the leagues, rosters were often raided. The AFL at this time 
was be headed up by bullish Raiders owner Al Davis (a man still making headlines today), and there really was nothing off limits.
The AFL was able to establish itself rather quickly. Player contracts weren’t at the level they are today, so owners could compete in drafting college talent, the AFL had a television deal, so people were watching, and the interest in football around the country was only growing. Dave Steidel chronicles in his Remember the AFL that it all started when the Giants signed away kicker Pete Gogolak from the Bills. Al Davis responded by promising big money to NFL players coming up on the ends of their contracts.
A Unique Pairing: Part I
By Stephen Turk
I recently picked up Remember the AFL by Dave Steidel, and I haveto say it’s pretty fascinating. The idea that an upstart league could not only survive in the same waters as the powerhouse, but take only six years to force a merger, is something that’s as impressive to me as it is foreign. I’ve seen expansions in the major sports, but I’ve never seen a merger.
But yet, what is wholly unimaginable to me happened in 1966 with the AFL and NFL merged. To put it in perspective, that would
be like if the NFL joined up with the ill-fated XFL, something which certainly did not happen. In fact, I don’t believe that a merger like the one between the NFL and AFL could ever happen again; the circumstances were just too singular. › Continue reading