Internal Server Error

The United States Football League played professional football during three spring seasons from 1983 to 1985. Even though it folded in the fall of 1986 due to a court case against the NFL, it still impacts the game of pro football even today. Here are three reasons why in case you are not familiar with the history of the USFL.

For the New Orleans Saints, the Louisiana representative of the Southern Division of the National Football Conference (NFC), life in the National Football League (NFL) has been one long exercise in patience. Since their establishment as an expansion franchise in 1966, the Saints have been on an upward trajectory – but one with a very slight uphill grade. It took them more than ten years to manage a break-even season, and another decade beyond that to finally have their first season with more wins than defeats. They didn’t manage a playoff victory until the 2000 campaign. Saints fans have had to endure far more downs than ups over the last four decades as their team struggled to find its place in an NFL dominated by concepts of parity, but throughout it all, patience has been the byword.

The Rams have a long history in the NFL, having begun play in Cleveland in 1936. They have been a rather mobile team during their history, moving from Cleveland to Los Angeles in 1946, and then from Los Angeles to Anaheim in 1980 before ultimately relocating to Saint Louis in 1994. The team’s mobility may have been foreshadowing of the mobile offense they would employ from 1999 to 2001 – an offense that earned the apt nickname “The Greatest Show on Turf.” Though the Show didn’t have the staying power of previous dynasties like the 1940s Bears, 1960s Packers, or 1970s Steelers, there is no arguing that it was one of the most dazzling displays of offensive efficiency that the sport had ever seen.

In football, clever monikers are the order of the day. Everything must have a name, whether it is the Packers-Cowboys Ice Bowl or the label of Joe Cool to describe the great Joe Montana. Nicknames add a sense of familiarity to any person or event – and even plays – and nothing sums up any of those better than a colorful descriptive phrase. In a League with two teams that both proudly hoist the pirate emblem, it was almost inevitable that they would eventually meet in the biggest game of them all. The title “Pirate Bowl” seems to have been waiting to be used for that contest, and got its chance in Super Bowl XXXVII when the Buccaneers of Tampa Bay faced off against the Raiders of Oakland in January of 2003.

If you’re a fan of the National Football League, you know how important tradition is. Dallas and Detroit are supposed to play football games every Thanksgiving. Madden has to bring a twelve-legged turkey to the game. There’s a reason they called it the Ice Bowl, and it doesn’t matter if non-fans understand what we are talking about. These traditions give the sport we love its own unique flavor and appeal. The Seattle Seahawks, despite only having been in the league since 1976, have an important tradition of their own – and it is one that every fan of football can appreciate. It involves the team’s acknowledgement of that all-important 12th Man

The San Diego Chargers have been at the top of their game over the course of the last four seasons, winning the NFL’s AFC West crown in each campaign. This four-season romp through their division has marked the team’s best string of success since the early days of the franchise in the first half of the 1960s. As fans of the team know, however, their appearances in the playoffs have been less than spectacular. Much of the blame for the team’s inability to go deeper into the postseason and win that elusive first Super Bowl trophy has fallen squarely upon the shoulders of the Chargers’ otherwise flawless kicker, Nate Kaeding.

It is hard to believe that there could be a single professional football fan in the world who has not heard of the legendary John Madden. He has, over the last half century, become as much a part of the game as the turf on which the NFL’s teams play. For the Oakland Raiders, Madden’s career as a coach is of particular interest, as it was under his stewardship that the team enjoyed some of its most productive years. This was, of course, during the team’s glory years in the 1970s – a decade that saw the franchise win their first of what would eventually be three Super Bowl titles.

National Football League fans are well aware of the sterling reputation of the San Francisco 49ers franchise. With five Super Bowl trophies to their credit, the team had one of the NFL’s greatest dynasties during the 1980s and early 1990s, thanks to an innovative style of offensive and great play from the quarterback position. And when we say dynasties, we mean dynasty of the highest order! Over the course of a sixteen year time frame beginning in 1984, the team won ten games or more during each season with such NFL greats as Steve Young, and Jerry Rice. For sheer star power, though, and four of those five Super Bowl wins, the great Joe Montana cannot be overlooked.