Football podcasts.
You’re a freshman at Harvard in 1827. It’s Bloody Monday. You’re out on the commons field and the upperclassmen bellow a chant: “Football, Freshie—Football, Freshie,” and before you and your fellow first-year classmates know it, you are all standing on a field, pitted against a sea of sophomores amassed at the opposite end of the … Read more
In the early 1800s, British football begins to slowly take a more orderly form, becoming a sport for privileged boys at elite boarding schools like Eton, Charterhouse and Rugby—several of these schools are in towns with long folk football histories. Middleclass and aristocratic young men take the past and forge a future. Britain’s political, theological, … Read more
Over the last two millennia, humans have dotted the world with football. Connect these milestones and we eventually arrive at the birth of American football. In the shape of half-moons, two goals stand on opposite ends of an imperial field in ancient China. To their teammates, aristocratic young men kick an inflated round ball, which … Read more
The American Football Conference’s Central Division was unquestionably the best division in pro football during the 1975 season. Three of its four teams earned at least 10 wins in a 14-game regular season. The Pittsburgh Steelers finished that year with a league-best 12-2 record. The Steelers would eventually go on to win their second straight … Read more
From 1933 (their first season in the NFL) through 1971, the Pittsburgh Steelers had only eight winning seasons and had never played in the Championship game. From 1964 to 1968, the team had a dismal record of 18–49–3. Changes were needed. In 1969, the Steelers replaced Head Coach Bill Austin with Chuck Noll, an assistant … Read more