Speaker 1: NFL explained is a production of the NFL in partnership
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Speaker 1: Dot up work, dot com um What is in a name?
Speaker 1: Welcome to NFL explained. Her name is A D Kinkabla.
Speaker 1: My gam with you. This is the maiden voyage of
Speaker 1: our podcast add our Mega Major awesome, tremendous, have to
Speaker 1: listen podcast. Where are the adjectives? Dam, There's a lot
Speaker 1: of adjectives, but I thought I would let you cover
Speaker 1: that since your background actually is in print as well,
Speaker 1: so you understand sort of the nuance of writing all
Speaker 1: these cool things and using all those colorful adjectives. The
Speaker 1: magic of words. Yes, the power. Although this episode and
Speaker 1: really every episode that we're gonna be doing in this
Speaker 1: podcast is going to be focused more on the history
Speaker 1: of the sport, the game that we love, and I
Speaker 1: should even want to limit this podcast to just the
Speaker 1: history behind the NFL. I would just say anything that
Speaker 1: any fan wants to know about this sport. D You
Speaker 1: and I are going to give all the context and
Speaker 1: perspective that people need to hear. And when you say anything,
Speaker 1: we're not just talking about what happens on the field.
Speaker 1: We're talking about how the field is made, or what
Speaker 1: is actually on the field, or the way that the
Speaker 1: field is videoed. I mean, really anything that you have
Speaker 1: ever wondered about the game, anything that you've ever needed
Speaker 1: for a good game of trivia. We have your answers.
Speaker 1: The most frequently searched topics that need better perspective, we
Speaker 1: will have you covered here on the NFL Explained podcast.
Speaker 1: In fact, today I started this episode by saying, what's
Speaker 1: in the name? We are all about team names, specifically
Speaker 1: the ones in the NFC. Next week it will be
Speaker 1: about the A, F, C, A D. D. There have
Speaker 1: actually been and I don't know if you realize this,
Speaker 1: but more than seventy five franchises in NFL history. But
Speaker 1: because that would take a whole lot of time to
Speaker 1: go through the history and the origins of all of
Speaker 1: those teams, for this episode, it's just NFC teams that
Speaker 1: still exist today. Wait, so we're not going to get
Speaker 1: to the Tonawanda Cardex. No, I'm not touching that one.
Speaker 1: If you'd like to do the what about the Racene Tornadoes?
Speaker 1: Are we going to get to the Racene Tornadoes? No,
Speaker 1: not touching that one either. The Duluth Kelly's. That one
Speaker 1: might actually pop up, just because the whole the Loue
Speaker 1: thing just sort of sounds cool to me. But you
Speaker 1: and I there is a lot to get to because
Speaker 1: it is the NFC, because we have a lot of teams,
Speaker 1: because there's so much great history and tradition, I think
Speaker 1: it's important to kind of just drive right into it.
Speaker 1: And add actually started this podcast by saying, what's in
Speaker 1: a name? And I think for a lot of us,
Speaker 1: it's not only just a way that we are idd publicly,
Speaker 1: but it's in a lot of ways identity. And I
Speaker 1: think for a lot of our favorite teams, the history
Speaker 1: behind knowing where that name came from, we're just don't know.
Speaker 1: In fact, I grew up a Giants fan. Had it
Speaker 1: not been for the preparation of this podcast, I couldn't
Speaker 1: tell you why they were actually called the Giants. And
Speaker 1: I think add I am not alone in that assessment.
Speaker 1: We just scream and cheer every single Sunday and we
Speaker 1: don't know some of the intricate details to how we
Speaker 1: got to the place that we're at. That's a great
Speaker 1: launching point. So why don't we start at the beginning,
Speaker 1: at least at the beginning in terms of what is
Speaker 1: the longest tenured name for the longest tenured franchise that
Speaker 1: has played in the same city under the same name.
Speaker 1: Do you know what that is? What team has been
Speaker 1: around the longest played with the same exact name in
Speaker 1: the same exact city. The answer is the Green Bay
Speaker 1: Packers and I know there's some Arizona Cardinal fans who
Speaker 1: want to talk a little bit about their team. We
Speaker 1: netted out on the Packers because of some of the
Speaker 1: categories that you just made reference to, the lack of movements,
Speaker 1: the history around Lambeau and the whole thing. So they
Speaker 1: actually kick off our list. They do. But do you
Speaker 1: actually know why the Packers were named the Packers? Do
Speaker 1: you want to give it again? I'm gonna let you
Speaker 1: explain that because I know you did the deep dive
Speaker 1: on the Packers. It did do the deep dive, and
Speaker 1: you know what it made me think of my own
Speaker 1: athletic career, because when I played Little League, you needed
Speaker 1: to go and find somebody to sponsor your team, and
Speaker 1: you had to wear you know, some law firm or
Speaker 1: some grocery store or some hair salon's name on the
Speaker 1: front of your shirt. Well guess what that how the
Speaker 1: Packers were named, Mike. What happened was that Curly Lambeau
Speaker 1: and George Calhoun founded the team in nineteen nineteen. They
Speaker 1: needed money for uniforms, just like I did when I
Speaker 1: was a kid, and Curly Lambeau went to his boss
Speaker 1: at the Indian Packing Company and his boss said, Okay, sure,
Speaker 1: I'll give you five hundred bucks to buy uniforms, but
Speaker 1: you need to make sure you put my company's name
Speaker 1: on your uniforms, hence the Packers duty. That's actually pretty
Speaker 1: cool and it's a great flashback for me to my
Speaker 1: childhood Bowers Sports shop. I remember that being all over
Speaker 1: our baseball caps and jerseys when I was a kid,
Speaker 1: which actually has me thinking, there's gotta be some cool
Speaker 1: sponsors that people have had during the course of their
Speaker 1: athletic career. So make sure you tweet at us using
Speaker 1: that hashtag. NFL explained. I feel like people should also
Speaker 1: tweeted us their questions, Mike, because this whole entire thing
Speaker 1: just begs the question why do Packers fans where foam
Speaker 1: cheese on their heads? I mean, I get that Wisconsin
Speaker 1: is America's dairy land and that Wisconsin is known for
Speaker 1: its cheese, but the Packers were named after a meat company.
Speaker 1: You think that maybe they should put foam meat on
Speaker 1: their heads. Meat and cheese, meat and cheese. I always
Speaker 1: paired wine and cheese together, or grapes and cheese together.
Speaker 1: I actually don't know the reason to it, but there
Speaker 1: is some creativity and I think the other thing to
Speaker 1: add is that we've learned there are connections sometimes that
Speaker 1: aren't as obvious. So maybe the meat and cheese thing
Speaker 1: is just one of those we're just going to have
Speaker 1: to roll with. I mean, it's fair. But you know,
Speaker 1: the other thing with the Packers that I think is
Speaker 1: vitally important is that they play in a stadium which
Speaker 1: I believe is on your bucket list lambeau Field. Oh yeah,
Speaker 1: I just I would prefer to have like winter gear
Speaker 1: when I'm there in the dead of winter. But I
Speaker 1: think Packer fans have to be loving the fact that
Speaker 1: they get to lead off our list. And you know
Speaker 1: it's really interesting is from a Chicago Bears perspective. I
Speaker 1: was doing some research on this team, and I think
Speaker 1: there's there's a lot of really interesting tidbits about the
Speaker 1: Chicago Bears. But it's important to note two the league
Speaker 1: actually changed its name from the American Professional Football Association
Speaker 1: to the National Football League. That actually wasn't the only change.
Speaker 1: The Chicago Staley's They actually moved from the Catur to
Speaker 1: Chicago in one they changed their name to the Chicago Bears.
Speaker 1: And what's fascinating to me about this the Bears. They
Speaker 1: played in Wrigley Field, and it's not the only time
Speaker 1: that we've seen some football teams playing inside baseball stadiums.
Speaker 1: Wriggley obviously has a lot of tradition. We made reference
Speaker 1: to Lambeo, but the Cubs, since they were already playing
Speaker 1: in Wrigley the football players were just larger in stature,
Speaker 1: so they just said, well, why are we going to
Speaker 1: call ourselves the Cubs. We're gonna go and call ourselves
Speaker 1: the Bears, which to me is kind of cute and interesting.
Speaker 1: But it actually could be argued that the Bears are
Speaker 1: the NFL's oldest team. The Packers sort of beat them
Speaker 1: in the name game, which is why a d D.
Speaker 1: You got to start off with Green Bay. The rivalry
Speaker 1: it goes back and forth between some of these squads,
Speaker 1: so to me, once again, the history around this team
Speaker 1: is sort of fascinating. Man, it takes the snap back
Speaker 1: to throw under pressure aboards the Ross and he's gonna
Speaker 1: fight out of it. Now close the deep downfield, white
Speaker 1: up a Tyree who takes the class. Want to play
Speaker 1: by Manning, don't want to catch by Tyree? Fifty eight
Speaker 1: seconds to goal. Okay, so the new York Giants. You know,
Speaker 1: as a Jersey girl, the Giants have been in New
Speaker 1: Jersey forever, and I sort of get a little bit
Speaker 1: perturbed by the New York thing. But they were indeed
Speaker 1: founded in New York. There technically the fourth oldest team
Speaker 1: in the NFL, and they did start playing at the
Speaker 1: Polo Grounds. The way that they named themselves is after
Speaker 1: the baseball team. So there was already the New York
Speaker 1: Giants and they were playing baseball, and those New York
Speaker 1: Giants named themselves the Giants after Mike. Come on, tell us,
Speaker 1: when you're in New York City, what is the most
Speaker 1: notable thing besides the pizza. Yeah, the most notable thing
Speaker 1: is trying to get through Midtown Manhattan when it's nothing
Speaker 1: but tourists that are surrounding you, and they look up
Speaker 1: and they're staring at large buildings for no reason. You
Speaker 1: take for granted. How if you grew up in that area,
Speaker 1: you're just used to it, And in other parts of
Speaker 1: the country they're just not used to seeing skyscrapers ding
Speaker 1: ding ding ding ding. So the skyscrapers were so tall
Speaker 1: they were giant like. And the Major League baseball team
Speaker 1: named themselves the New York Giants, and then the football
Speaker 1: team came along, which I will say that the baseball
Speaker 1: name is really quite clever, but the football team just
Speaker 1: copying the baseball team feels a little less creative. And then,
Speaker 1: in like the only little ode to creativity, at one point,
Speaker 1: the New York Giants became the New York Football Giants
Speaker 1: to designate that they were different than the original New
Speaker 1: York Giants. Which maybe if you had an unusual and
Speaker 1: interesting name like A d. D as opposed to Michael,
Speaker 1: you wouldn't really necessarily have to differentiate which Giant you
Speaker 1: were or which Michael you were. Yeah, I'm getting now
Speaker 1: flashbacks to my childhood being in class and hearing Mike
Speaker 1: and four kids in my class going yeah and paying attention.
Speaker 1: That's why Yammer just sort of became an interesting little
Speaker 1: nickname that's stuck since my childhood. You know, you mentioned
Speaker 1: the Giants and the skyscrapers and the baseball connection. I
Speaker 1: just want to highlight this, not only for the rest
Speaker 1: of this NFC episode of NFL Explained, but the a
Speaker 1: f C one that's going to come out next week.
Speaker 1: Add the amount of baseball influence on the sport of football,
Speaker 1: as it pertains to team names, is really significant. There's
Speaker 1: a large amount of teams that had association connection with
Speaker 1: baseball teams, whether they were playing inside those arenas or
Speaker 1: being named literally after the baseball team, which sounds ridiculous nowadays,
Speaker 1: but this, I guess was a common theme when you
Speaker 1: go back to the twenties, thirties and forties. Well, it's
Speaker 1: like you said with the Bears in the Cubs, some
Speaker 1: of the names were indeed derivative. Did you know, Mike
Speaker 1: that there was once a professional football team named the
Speaker 1: New New York Yankees? I do, now. I think I
Speaker 1: must have missed that in the research back there you
Speaker 1: go skip that one. Well, you know, sometimes you have
Speaker 1: to do your own research, my friend, especially if you
Speaker 1: want to win a trivia which, by the way, I
Speaker 1: just I'm about building teams, so I just get all
Speaker 1: my smart friends to be on my squad. But you
Speaker 1: mentioned doing some of the work, and I did. So
Speaker 1: you're a freeloader, is that what you're telling me? Yeah?
Speaker 1: I am, but I pick up the drinks, so it's
Speaker 1: all good. The Detroit Lions is one of those teams
Speaker 1: actually dug pretty deep in in fact, when you just
Speaker 1: google ports Smith, Ohio. What comes up is Portsmith dot org,
Speaker 1: where Southern Hospitality begins. That's what popped up on my
Speaker 1: Google search. And I was like, damn, that sounds like
Speaker 1: the type of place that I want to go and hang.
Speaker 1: And why it's significant. You're like Portsmith, Ohio, Like, why
Speaker 1: the hell are you talking about that? Well, the Detroit Lions,
Speaker 1: who are the fifth oldest team, actually started play in Portsmith, Ohio.
Speaker 1: And they weren't even called the Lines. In fact, they
Speaker 1: were the Spartans. You go back to George A. Richards,
Speaker 1: who was a radio executive, and he purchased the Spartans
Speaker 1: for eight thousand dollars. Eight K got you a franchise.
Speaker 1: Now I get it. I'm flashing back to my grandfather
Speaker 1: telling me about you know, things that he was able
Speaker 1: to get for a quarter, but a K got him
Speaker 1: a football franchise. He ended up moving the team to
Speaker 1: Detroit back in ninety four. And you go, how did
Speaker 1: the Lions come about? Well, he decided on the Lions
Speaker 1: because he wanted them to be the quote Kings of
Speaker 1: the NFL, like the line was King of the Jungle.
Speaker 1: The tie in was also with the baseball team once again,
Speaker 1: this sort of the team that Detroit Tigers. He was
Speaker 1: trying to capitalize on the popularity of the baseball team
Speaker 1: and that connection there lines and Tigers and Bears. We
Speaker 1: can skip the Bears because we already did that a
Speaker 1: little bit earlier, but it's just a theme of DD
Speaker 1: that just continues to to ring true for the rest
Speaker 1: of this podcast. I will say that Spartans has always
Speaker 1: been a name that I've liked when it comes to
Speaker 1: college football. Nicknamest the Spartan said sort of invokes something,
Speaker 1: but yeah, I mean I appreciate that as well, especially
Speaker 1: since the majority of original professional football teams really started
Speaker 1: in the Midwest, and the two oldest teams in the
Speaker 1: NFL have their ties to Chicago. The Decatur Stanley's obviously
Speaker 1: became the Chicago Bears, and then the next team we're
Speaker 1: talking about, the Arizona Cardinals, actually started as the Chicago Cardinals.
Speaker 1: The Cardinals were formed in nineteen twenty in Chicago, just
Speaker 1: like the Bears. They were part of the NFL's first
Speaker 1: fourteen teams, but the Cardinals roots actually go all the
Speaker 1: way back to eighteen. They were an amateur team known
Speaker 1: as the Morrigan athletic club on the South side of Chicago,
Speaker 1: and the way their name started is really actually quite brilliant.
Speaker 1: Their owner was a gentleman named Chris O'Brien, and Chris O'Brien,
Speaker 1: being very fiscally responsible, went and bought some old jerseys
Speaker 1: from the University of Chicago Maroons in nineteen o one.
Speaker 1: The thing is, though, Mike, when he looked at these
Speaker 1: dis easy said, that's not maroon, that's Cardinal red because
Speaker 1: they were old and they were faded. And you know
Speaker 1: why we need to trust Mr O'Brien because he was
Speaker 1: a house painter, so obviously he knows the difference between
Speaker 1: different shades of red. Hence the Chicago Cardinals were born.
Speaker 1: And obviously the Cardinals moved multiple times to St. Louis
Speaker 1: and then onto Arizona, which is where they have stayed.
Speaker 1: It's crazy to me because there will eventually be an
Speaker 1: episode on uniforms on NFL explained just the emphasis that
Speaker 1: we have on looking good. What's that phrase, look good,
Speaker 1: feel good, play good? And can you imagine being a
Speaker 1: member of the Cardinals and rocking old uniforms, probably not
Speaker 1: looking good, definitely not feeling good about it. You know what,
Speaker 1: I know it's the wrong conference right now, but the
Speaker 1: Pittsburgh Steelers were those bumblebee uniforms in real time and
Speaker 1: then again, so I can imagine all sorts of things. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that's just not exactly the way that I would go,
Speaker 1: but just the fascination that I think a lot of
Speaker 1: us have with uniform arms in the jerseys. I mean,
Speaker 1: how you go to an NFL stadium on a Sunday,
Speaker 1: the team colors that you're squad's rocking. Those are really
Speaker 1: really important. But add you know, you and I have
Speaker 1: been referencing the team names from a lot of these
Speaker 1: squads from the nineteen twenties. But coming up next, we're
Speaker 1: gonna move along one hundred years to check in on
Speaker 1: one recent headline that's making a significant change. We'll do
Speaker 1: that coming up on NFL explained. Build the team that
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Speaker 1: dot Com America's most reliable network is going ultra with
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Speaker 1: not specific to five G networks. Your results may vary.
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Speaker 1: five G content optimization there's the snap handa Riggans. God, hold,
Speaker 1: he's got the first off the party. He's got, He's gone,
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Speaker 1: D It is NFL, explained my cam in to d D.
Speaker 1: King Kabala with you. This week's episode, we are all
Speaker 1: about the history of names for NFL teams in the NFC.
Speaker 1: Our episode number two is all about the a f C.
Speaker 1: But we continue moving this train ahead of d D
Speaker 1: and the Washington football team. You know, it's a franchise
Speaker 1: that was actually founded in nineteen thirty two as the
Speaker 1: Boston Braves. They moved to d C in nineteen thirty seven.
Speaker 1: Now they actually shared the name the Boston Braves with yeah,
Speaker 1: you guessed it, the baseball team because they shared the
Speaker 1: field with them. Nineteen thirty three happened. So the baseball
Speaker 1: team they moved to Fenway changed their name to the
Speaker 1: Red Sox. The football team, well, then they became the Redskins.
Speaker 1: The name and the logo of the team has obviously
Speaker 1: generated a ton of controversy over the last few years
Speaker 1: and they finally changed it in to the Washington football team.
Speaker 1: But keeping on the baseball side of things, the Cleveland Indians,
Speaker 1: you know, they change their names to the Guardians and
Speaker 1: the Washington football team. Their president Jason Wright, actually announced
Speaker 1: that the franchise has narrowed down add more than forty
Speaker 1: thousand submissions. That is a lot of looking over names
Speaker 1: for a really long period of time. So the new
Speaker 1: nickname for the team is down to three. And if
Speaker 1: there's one thing that I have learned from working with
Speaker 1: you add in a short period of time when it
Speaker 1: comes to team names, no weather conditions are allowed. You
Speaker 1: just you're not a fan of it. I just kind
Speaker 1: of don't get it. Like the Miami heat. Does that
Speaker 1: put you in a great place? The heat? Well, if
Speaker 1: I'm on the beach with a cocktail, I'm in a
Speaker 1: really good place. Heat. I mean that's different than warm weather.
Speaker 1: I don't know, storm, the Seattle storm, the Carolina Hurricanes.
Speaker 1: But again, I feel like naming a team is a really,
Speaker 1: really difficult endeavor. You just mentioned the Guardians. I mean
Speaker 1: people were ripping the Guardians and it's I don't know,
Speaker 1: there's not going to be any sort of unanimous approval here,
Speaker 1: so you just hope for the best, especially when there's
Speaker 1: forty thousand submissions. The one thing for me, Addie, I
Speaker 1: will be happy as long as there's a literation when
Speaker 1: it comes to the Washington football team and whatever that
Speaker 1: nickname is going to be. What does that mean? That's
Speaker 1: like the Washington Warriors. But then that doesn't work because
Speaker 1: there's already a Warriors. I told you, if there's one
Speaker 1: thing that I really really despise, it's naming a team
Speaker 1: after a team that already exists. I hear what you're
Speaker 1: saying on the Warriors as a guy that lives in
Speaker 1: the city of San Francisco, not too far from Chase Center,
Speaker 1: where the Warriors play. I got you the Steph Kurry.
Speaker 1: I think Warriors. I think Curry bombs away from the
Speaker 1: bleachers and knocking down long triples. But there is something
Speaker 1: to be said for the alliteration aspect of it. I'm
Speaker 1: going enough to think about this one. It's a good
Speaker 1: thing that it's not up to me to come up
Speaker 1: with the name. You've got some time on that one,
Speaker 1: and it has been kind of cool to just say
Speaker 1: Washington football team. As you work on shows and we
Speaker 1: continue to discuss this. Yes, but it has been very,
Speaker 1: very hard to tweet the Washington football team. Do you
Speaker 1: know how many characters? That is? Too many accounts? So
Speaker 1: I'm with you there, all right. Well, moving up by
Speaker 1: nine five and staying in the NFC East, we have
Speaker 1: the Philadelphia Eagles. So the Eagles joined the National Football
Speaker 1: League in nineteen thirty three, right when the Pittsburgh Steelers did.
Speaker 1: And of course, you know, the Pittsburgh Steelers are near
Speaker 1: and dear to my heart since I live in the
Speaker 1: city of Pittsburgh. But we will get to their naming
Speaker 1: and when the Eagles and the Steelers actually joined for
Speaker 1: a period of time in our next episode when we
Speaker 1: hit the a f C. Sticking with the Eagles, they
Speaker 1: were named after a piece of government legislation during FDR's
Speaker 1: New Deal era, and that is the National Recovery Act.
Speaker 1: The symbol for the National Recovery Act was the Eagle,
Speaker 1: and so the Philadelphia Eagles were born. But I've got
Speaker 1: a little added votus piece of trivia for you here
Speaker 1: the Eagles. Oh, I thought you were going to quiz
Speaker 1: me on like speak softly and carrying a big stick.
Speaker 1: Ron Roosevelt my friend. But I mean, it's true, not
Speaker 1: that either of us really knows anything about speaking softly,
Speaker 1: but Ron Roosevelt, same family. In any case, the Eagle
Speaker 1: will not be hosting a history podcast at any single
Speaker 1: point in my career. I just ruined that opportunity for myself.
Speaker 1: So thank you for calling me out on that. Add
Speaker 1: In any case, let me go back to my trivia.
Speaker 1: You've took me off my game. Okay, here's my question
Speaker 1: for you, Mr Yama. The Eagles logo is distinct from
Speaker 1: every logo in the National Football League because oh uh god,
Speaker 1: I actually don't know the answer to this as it
Speaker 1: have to do like I'm just thinking like something animal related,
Speaker 1: bird related. You know, there are other birds and there
Speaker 1: are other animals. I'm sorry, Mike, you do not win
Speaker 1: a beernay Eagles. You're the one that said you were
Speaker 1: buying earlier in any and you're not on my tribute team,
Speaker 1: especially in the history category. Yes, all right, the Eagles
Speaker 1: logo is the only logo in the NFL that faces left,
Speaker 1: and the reason it faces left. We'll go ahead and
Speaker 1: look at all the logos. It's really interesting, Like if
Speaker 1: you see all thirty two logos lined up, it's the
Speaker 1: only one facing that way. And that's so that the
Speaker 1: eagles tail feathers can make an e Okay, sorry, not
Speaker 1: the tail feathers, I'm sorry, the feathers at the tail
Speaker 1: of its head. So if you look at the Eagles
Speaker 1: logo come literally which okay, okay, if you look at that,
Speaker 1: if you look at the eagle's head, the back, the tail,
Speaker 1: the feathers on the back of its head make an
Speaker 1: e and that only works if the eagle's eyes are
Speaker 1: facing left. Okay, Yeah, there's something to that. I think
Speaker 1: that's relatively cool. The thing is a little bit of
Speaker 1: a stretch. Actually, as I google the logo, someone actually
Speaker 1: did the outline, I am going to say, I'm okay,
Speaker 1: if I don't get that trivia question right, Well, Mike,
Speaker 1: that's clearly just your bias as a Giants fan speaking.
Speaker 1: All right, there might be a little bit of that
Speaker 1: in play, but d D, there is absolutely no bias
Speaker 1: here right now. Maybe maybe not, because I am all
Speaker 1: about the l A. Rams. I happen to be a
Speaker 1: very very proud Fordham University alone and certainly thrilled that
Speaker 1: somehow I can work into this show of NFL explained
Speaker 1: a reference to where I went to school, six same
Speaker 1: year for the Rams. The same year that Boston moved
Speaker 1: to Washington, the Cleveland Rams were born. Well guess what
Speaker 1: teams GM? Damon buzz what's his favorite college team? Yes,
Speaker 1: the Fordham Rams. I can't even tell you how much
Speaker 1: I lit up when I saw the history. Does Fordham
Speaker 1: still have a football team? Yes, we do have a
Speaker 1: football team. And I see the little tone. Look, I
Speaker 1: get it. We're not a top twenty five squad where
Speaker 1: you know, look it happens, but we have had success
Speaker 1: at the FCS level that needs to be thrown out there.
Speaker 1: In fact, when I was there, Dave Classen was their
Speaker 1: head coach who's now at Lake Fourest. But the point is,
Speaker 1: and he turned around the program. Joe Moore head who
Speaker 1: is now the offensive coordinator Oregon, kudos to him in
Speaker 1: that offense. I'm going to go on tangents all day,
Speaker 1: but Will actually was a huge Fordham Rams fan. We
Speaker 1: just lost half our listeners. No, no, we didn't. We
Speaker 1: didn't care. I'm sorry. They do care about Lombardi though,
Speaker 1: who used to walk around the Rosehoe campus just like
Speaker 1: I did, and he was five eight a buck eighty
Speaker 1: something and was part of it dropping right there. Oh yeah,
Speaker 1: it was part of a dominant offensive line. It gives
Speaker 1: me hope, no, no hope, because things have changed physically
Speaker 1: for football players. Seven blocks of granted, come on, now,
Speaker 1: some old school heads know what I'm talking about. The
Speaker 1: Ramso the professional football team, they've actually moved around a lot. Six.
Speaker 1: They moved out of l A the year after they
Speaker 1: won the NFL championship in nineteen. Following the ninety four season,
Speaker 1: they moved from St. Louis, then back to l A
Speaker 1: for the season, and now we're neighbors with them, NFL
Speaker 1: Network sort of moving in next door to Sofi Stadium.
Speaker 1: So certainly I think a lot of people excited about that.
Speaker 1: And you're right, Mike, that is a beautiful Sofi stadium.
Speaker 1: But let's head up the beautiful Pacific Coast Highway to
Speaker 1: another team in California, and that is the one in
Speaker 1: San Francisco, which plays its games in Santa Clara. But
Speaker 1: that's not really where we're going with this very very
Speaker 1: clever name here. You want to take one stab at
Speaker 1: why the San Francisco team is called the San Francisco
Speaker 1: forty Niners. It's my life motto of trying to get
Speaker 1: rich quick. I have not been able to achieve that.
Speaker 1: Though that a stretch to try to link those two
Speaker 1: things out. That's right on point, isn't it. That's pretty
Speaker 1: good right there. So in ninetifty the NFL merged with
Speaker 1: the All American Football Conference. Three new teams came into
Speaker 1: the NFL. One of those new teams was the forty Niners,
Speaker 1: and of course it is because of all of those
Speaker 1: gold prospectors who rushed to Northern California after the Team
Speaker 1: forty nine gold Rush, and that is of course why
Speaker 1: the uniforms still have besides that red red, you know,
Speaker 1: like the Big Red, they also have that gold. I
Speaker 1: do like the gold helmets. I have to tell you.
Speaker 1: They're pretty sweet, man, Like those old school unis. They
Speaker 1: are definitely fun to watch and I was kind of
Speaker 1: light up. And I'm not even a Niners fan, but
Speaker 1: living in San Francisco seeing them, it is kind of
Speaker 1: cool to see, just sort of like the nostalgia that
Speaker 1: that comes up when you see some of those jerseys.
Speaker 1: So when you think of all the names, right, when
Speaker 1: you think of all the names, animals, articles of clothing
Speaker 1: odes to the region, forty Niners is really a very
Speaker 1: brilliant fitting name, isn't it. Yeah, it totally makes sense,
Speaker 1: you know. And as we shift our attention to America's team,
Speaker 1: Dallas Cowboys, there was a time they were almost called
Speaker 1: the Steers, which to me is sort of interesting. The
Speaker 1: GM at the time, tex Tram didn't actually like the
Speaker 1: idea of naming his team after basically Steer, and there
Speaker 1: was a little bit of push back there. He couldn't
Speaker 1: go Rangers because it was already taken by the minor
Speaker 1: league baseball team in Dallas at the time, so they
Speaker 1: settled on the Cowboys. And how about this, Like, you
Speaker 1: just think about the popularity of the Dallas Cowboys and
Speaker 1: then here we go, this team, the NFL's first modern
Speaker 1: error expansion team, the success that they've had, and we
Speaker 1: could have been calling them the Steers the entire time
Speaker 1: of it does feel like Cowboys is more of an
Speaker 1: America's Team sort of name than Steers and the Hats
Speaker 1: and all of that. Yes, somebody who lived in Texas
Speaker 1: for a while, it's hard to imagine them being called
Speaker 1: anything else. But that the fact that our next team
Speaker 1: is associated with nothing that would remind me of the
Speaker 1: middle of the country. I think is just random, really mean,
Speaker 1: the Vikings. But that just speaks to what you know
Speaker 1: of where we are. Because here you're going to get
Speaker 1: a bonus, my friend, Ken, Okay, you're not only going
Speaker 1: to get a lesson on why the Minnesota Vikings are
Speaker 1: named the Vikings. You're going to get a lesson about
Speaker 1: the region of Minnesota. So Minnesota Vikings. This is the
Speaker 1: first team in the NFL to actually use their state
Speaker 1: instead of a city, which I kind of really appreciate
Speaker 1: because you know, it's the whole state in general that
Speaker 1: roots for a team. It's about a region, and Minnesota
Speaker 1: doesn't have to share. You know, states like Ohio, Pennsylvania,
Speaker 1: New Jersey, even though New Jersey isn't named they all
Speaker 1: have multiple teams Texas, Minnesota has the one. So that's
Speaker 1: really good. And the reason that they are called the
Speaker 1: Vikings is because there's actually a very very strong Nordic
Speaker 1: tradition in the Upper Midwest, and the general manager at
Speaker 1: the time in nineteen sixty Burt Rose, thought, you know what,
Speaker 1: not only should we honor this Nordic tradition here in
Speaker 1: the Upper Midwest where we are based, but also what
Speaker 1: do you think of When you think of Vikings, you
Speaker 1: think of tough, aggressive fighters who stop at nothing. I
Speaker 1: think Game of Thrones for some reason, kind of have
Speaker 1: that Game of Thrones vibe. Maybe that speaks to your youth.
Speaker 1: But I will say this, Mike Zimmer, the coach of
Speaker 1: the Vikings, he's definitely some that you would think would
Speaker 1: lead a team called the Viking. Yeah. No, I think
Speaker 1: that is very very appropriate. By the way, I appreciate
Speaker 1: you calling me young. Got card to the other day.
Speaker 1: I got it really excited about that. I got more
Speaker 1: white hair than I would like to admit. So yeah,
Speaker 1: anytime you can compliment me like that, probably they just
Speaker 1: had to card you. You know, when you wear a mask,
Speaker 1: you need to card everybody just in case. Let's not
Speaker 1: go that way. I like the way that I was thinking.
Speaker 1: The person thought I was really young. But I'm here
Speaker 1: to keep it real. Okay, that's fine. Coming up next.
Speaker 1: I need a little bit of a break from adity
Speaker 1: right now, so it's probably a good time to take it.
Speaker 1: Will take it through the rest of the NFC. We're
Speaker 1: just getting started here because we've got some mergers and
Speaker 1: some teams that are starting to pop up at a
Speaker 1: ridiculously fast rate. We'll explain that coming up next on
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Speaker 1: You know, as you look back at the year of
Speaker 1: nineteen sixty, you probably remember a great many sports events. However,
Speaker 1: I doubt that anything was more important than the established
Speaker 1: but of the American Football League continuing to roll on
Speaker 1: here on NFL explained. We are taking you through the
Speaker 1: history of the teams in the NFC and how they
Speaker 1: got their names. But I mentioned nineteen sixty being a
Speaker 1: big year d d for the NFL. First time ever
Speaker 1: a successful rival league was actually created after a whole
Speaker 1: lot of failed attempts. Nineteen six, nineteen thirty six, nineteen forty,
Speaker 1: and then of course we get the American Football League.
Speaker 1: The a f L and the NFL would eventually merge
Speaker 1: in nineteen seventy, but that merger was announced four years
Speaker 1: before in nineteen sixty six. When we do our a
Speaker 1: f C naming show, we're gonna go through a lot
Speaker 1: of those squads that has sort of popped up here,
Speaker 1: But I do want to focus in on the NFC
Speaker 1: front when it comes to the Atlanta Falcons. Did you
Speaker 1: made reference to this? Sometimes like the fans that get
Speaker 1: involved in the team names, Well, guess what, the Falcons
Speaker 1: also one of those teams that went to the community
Speaker 1: and said, hey, what should we do? Because they joined
Speaker 1: the league in nineteen sixty five. The owner at the time,
Speaker 1: Rickon Smith, was actually offered an NFL franchise to keep
Speaker 1: him from joining the a f L, Which is why
Speaker 1: the history around the NFL and the a f L
Speaker 1: and the merger it's really significant because it was a
Speaker 1: rival league. So the name was chosen by a contest.
Speaker 1: Over five hundred names were submitted by the fans. You
Speaker 1: got a lot of examples that didn't necessarily make the cut.
Speaker 1: Peaches sort of one of my personal favorites, the Vibrants,
Speaker 1: the Lancers favorites or is that? Can you imagine a
Speaker 1: football team named the Peaches really unique? Though not exactly
Speaker 1: strike Fear. You said, look, you wanted unique. No one
Speaker 1: else is the Peaches, the Vibrants, the Lancers. I don't
Speaker 1: really want have been crazy about that one. One that
Speaker 1: really would have created a lot of controversy, and it's
Speaker 1: probably a good thing they didn't go down that path. Uh,
Speaker 1: the Confederates, because something tells me that wouldn't have lasted
Speaker 1: the way some of the name changes have gone down.
Speaker 1: But the Falcon name was actually submitted by a couple
Speaker 1: of different fans. A school teacher said her reason for
Speaker 1: picking the name was because the falcon was a proud
Speaker 1: and dignified bird with great courage to fight. She went
Speaker 1: on to say, it never drops its prey. It's deadly
Speaker 1: and has got a great sporting tradition. I think that's
Speaker 1: kind of cool, especially in a game where you never
Speaker 1: want to let go of the football, so dropping your
Speaker 1: prey prey football. I think there's some sort of connection
Speaker 1: there a d D. I feel like that's something that
Speaker 1: Arthur Smith could possibly be pulling out this year to say, hey, everybody, reminder,
Speaker 1: this is where our name comes from, and this is
Speaker 1: who we are supposed to be, especially that defense. Maybe
Speaker 1: I think there's some issues too offensively, let's get that going.
Speaker 1: Moving right along, we'll go a little bit west to
Speaker 1: the New Orleans Saints, who also asked for fans submissions
Speaker 1: for city choices candidates when it came to naming their team.
Speaker 1: And now here's something incredibly cool. They were officially founded
Speaker 1: on November one, they being the New Orleans Saints, and
Speaker 1: November one is All Saints Day. But the New Orleans
Speaker 1: Saints didn't actually get their name from being founded on
Speaker 1: All Saints Day. It's because of the song when the
Speaker 1: Saints go marching in, and that's of course a homage
Speaker 1: to all of the city street jazz bands and is
Speaker 1: so so so fitting for that city and for that team.
Speaker 1: And now I feel like, can you sing me a
Speaker 1: didny no no? As a guy that's actually never been
Speaker 1: to New Orleans, believe me, I would absolutely love to
Speaker 1: head down there. I know, I know you give me
Speaker 1: the shock. Look, I know this is a podcast of
Speaker 1: people can't see you a DV is surprised. I know,
Speaker 1: bad job by me. I mean, I'm surprised by the
Speaker 1: fact that you haven't been to Green Bay, but I'm
Speaker 1: definitely more surprised by the fact that you've never been
Speaker 1: to New Orleans. Yeah. Yeah, you know, like I said,
Speaker 1: grew up Northeast. I've been all over the West Coast
Speaker 1: covering college football for a really long period of time
Speaker 1: and certainly dipping into some NFL stuff for the years.
Speaker 1: But New Orleans has not been a city that I
Speaker 1: have been fortunate enough to visit. It almost happened a
Speaker 1: couple of years ago for a bachelor party. That's definitely
Speaker 1: a story for another time. We did not make it
Speaker 1: to New Orleans. Well, maybe I'll get to the Superdome
Speaker 1: where everything is deafening when they play, when the Saints
Speaker 1: go marching in, when you know they're on defense. Just
Speaker 1: in general, the Superdome is a very very deafening place.
Speaker 1: Is it louder than the Twelfth Man in Seattle? Because
Speaker 1: it gets pretty loud up in the Pacific Northwest for
Speaker 1: that franchise, that's pretty loud. But I think Arrowhead Stadium
Speaker 1: is pretty late too. Is it still called Arrowhead Stadium
Speaker 1: by the way, Yeah, I was there a couple of
Speaker 1: years ago. I'm terrible at that. Just while we're talking
Speaker 1: about names, when teams move, you know, the Los Angeles Chargers,
Speaker 1: I'll still occasionally called them the San Diego Chargers. And
Speaker 1: when stadiums change, like the Bills, they're now playing in
Speaker 1: a new stadium. But it's going to take me a while.
Speaker 1: You're just pretty wired that way pretty much. By the way,
Speaker 1: speaking of loud franchises, I know I had said it,
Speaker 1: because it does get loud. In Seattle nineteen seventy four,
Speaker 1: the NFL said, you know what, Seattle, you get a franchise, Seahawks.
Speaker 1: They joined the lead in seventies six. There were seventeen
Speaker 1: hundred unique suggestions by fans, the Skippers, the Pioneers, the Lumberjacks,
Speaker 1: the Seagulls. I'm really glad they didn't go with the Seagulls,
Speaker 1: really glad. I know you and I are on the
Speaker 1: same page on that one. Their GM John Thompson went
Speaker 1: with the Seahawks because of their prominence in the Northwest.
Speaker 1: There's an unique aggressive nature that apparently he felt like
Speaker 1: that name actually conjured up. But can you imagine, seriously,
Speaker 1: if you're the twelfth man yelling for the Skippers to
Speaker 1: me just would not have been great. But a little
Speaker 1: fun factoid that I was able to find Seahawks only
Speaker 1: team to switch offerences twice in the post merger. I
Speaker 1: didn't really even put those things together. Seventy six NFC West,
Speaker 1: which conferences with the Buccaneers after one season and then
Speaker 1: joined the a f C West and then returned in
Speaker 1: two thousand to NFC West realigned in the NFL. But
Speaker 1: I found that I was like, oh damn, Like I
Speaker 1: actually didn't realize that that had gone down. So that
Speaker 1: was I thought something I wanted to pass along. Well,
Speaker 1: it's a perfectly great segue to the Bucks then, of course,
Speaker 1: who were originally in the a f C West and
Speaker 1: then swapped with the Seahawks, as you just said, and
Speaker 1: then they came back to the NFC South in two
Speaker 1: thousand two. And what's actually interesting though, is that this
Speaker 1: was not the first itineration of an NFL team called
Speaker 1: the Buccaneers. There used to be Mike the Los Angeles Buccaneers.
Speaker 1: Of course, that team didn't make it. So then you
Speaker 1: go to the Bucks in Tampa Bay. And the Bucks
Speaker 1: in Tampa Bay got their name not only from owner
Speaker 1: Hugh culver House, but from a group of people that
Speaker 1: he gathered together who are some of the smartest, most
Speaker 1: creative minds on the planet. Who would those people be sportswriters.
Speaker 1: A paddle of sportswriters came up with the idea of
Speaker 1: Tampa Bay Buccaneers as a nod to the pirates who
Speaker 1: used to raid the Florida coastline back in the seventeenth century.
Speaker 1: And beyond that, Mike, it was actually a newspaper cartoonist
Speaker 1: who came up with the mascot Bucko Bruce. So cartoonists
Speaker 1: also impacting another franchise in the a f C, which
Speaker 1: we will get to in our next episode, and that
Speaker 1: would be the Patriots, believing the history around that particular
Speaker 1: franchise also sort of fascinating. I just love all the
Speaker 1: parallels and who each NFL franchise leans on in order
Speaker 1: to help create an identity for their organization. And then
Speaker 1: that's a little bit more on the old Dodge and
Speaker 1: say old school side, but a little bit more new
Speaker 1: school as well. Carolina Panthers kind of rounding out our
Speaker 1: NFC squads. The youngest team, the Panthers actually born out
Speaker 1: of that expansion. The team name came after the team
Speaker 1: exacts thought that the animal was everything a player should be, powerful, sleek,
Speaker 1: and strong. Yeah, I think those are good attributes to
Speaker 1: give NFL players. They also appeared with the Jags as
Speaker 1: the youngest team to appear in a conference championship and
Speaker 1: only their second season. But I do know the Carolina
Speaker 1: Panthers right now? Are they a powerful, sleek and strong team? Uh?
Speaker 1: They got some really good players on that squad. I
Speaker 1: don't know if I necessarily describe them in that regard,
Speaker 1: more like some younger players. But they're hoping. They're hoping.
Speaker 1: But I do. I like their colors, I like their logo.
Speaker 1: I like the name. I think it's all fitting and
Speaker 1: it's unique. It is unique, and that might be the
Speaker 1: most important thing. But look, you and I episode number
Speaker 1: one of the NFL Explained Podcast, Officially in the books,
Speaker 1: I am no longer nervous to be working with you
Speaker 1: just because look, you are nervous to work with me. No,
Speaker 1: you bring the heat. So I just wanted to make
Speaker 1: sure that I was matching the intensity. And I know
Speaker 1: our coverage on some of the burning topics, the most
Speaker 1: search topics. We will have everyone covered throughout the course
Speaker 1: of the season. Our next episode is all about the
Speaker 1: a f C and history behind their team names. And
Speaker 1: I know you're pumped for that. Just wait, just wait,
Speaker 1: I am, because you know that's sort of my wheelhouse
Speaker 1: right there. We've got some juicy things Mike in the
Speaker 1: next one. But speaking of juicy things, there are things
Speaker 1: you've always wondered. Don't hesitate to message us. You can
Speaker 1: find me on Twitter at a Kinka Bwala. You can
Speaker 1: find Mike at Mike Underscore. Yam do the I G deal.
Speaker 1: I also do the Twitter deal. Sorry, I just kind
Speaker 1: of wanted to sound hippen cool. You can also comment
Speaker 1: in the comments section of Apple Podcasts well great, follow
Speaker 1: review those the pillars of course at any successful podcast,
Speaker 1: and also tell us what you are curious about. We
Speaker 1: are here to answer your questions. Uh brought to you
Speaker 1: by up work, where you can build the team that
Speaker 1: will build your business. Learn more at upwork dot com.
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