The NFL is fast approaching its centennial birthday. Most of what the fans know about, certainly what they care about, is the game on the field. As long as it is there each fall they are happy. They don't care how it gets there. They only care about the touchdowns, the big plays, the big hits and fantasy football. That was especially evident last year when most cared more about the lockout ending than how the whole mess was settled. There have been a lot of off field messes in the history of the NFL. Most of them few care to know. Getting the game to the field has never been easy. Nearly every year has seen a battle to simply get to that opening kickoff. If you ask the long fighting football families, the Halas-McCaskeys, the Maras, the Rooneys, the Bidwills, they will all likely say that it was well worth it.
Starting in 1920, the NFL was simply fighting for survival. Respect was fleeting as college football was king. Professional football was seen by many as a bunch of hobos running into each other on a sandlot. Teams came and went. So did the players. One year there would be twenty teams giving it a go and the next would there would be half that number. The league got some much needed attention when the Chicago Bears signed University of Illinois phenom Red Grange. Bears owner George Halas and Grange's maniac manager C.C. Pyle proceeded to jeopardize their star football player's career by going on a nationwide barnstorming tour. The insane schedule may have shortened the career of a fantastic football talent but it brought the NFL a ton of attention. In sacrificing himself Grange may have saved the league. Of course Pyle had to take advantage of that attention by trying get his own NFL team by using his client as a bargaining chip. The league didn't budge and Pyle started his own league with Grange as the headliner. The NFL had a rival league for the first time but certainly not the last time. This new league, the American Football League, didn't last long and once again Grange was in a Bears uniform. Fortunately, Pyle left football for his next scheme. The NFL gained some footing and stability in the 1930s. The Chicago Bears, Green Bay Packers, Detroit Lions, New York Giants, Chicago Cardinals, Boston/Washington Redskins, Pittsburgh Steelers, Philadelphia Eagles and the Cleveland Rams formed the nucleus of the league then and survive, some in other cities, today. They were far from home free but things were getting better. Then, World War II changed everything. There was talk of shutting down but the NFL waddled on. Some teams merged. Some teams took a break. The NFL got by. The end of the War brought peace and relief. It wasn't all happy for the NFL as a gambling scandal and a new rival league were the next challenges.
Prior to the 1946 NFL Championship game between the New York Giants and Chicago Bears, Frank Filchock and Merle Hapes of the Giants were approached by gamblers with an offer. For $2,500 the two players were to give less than maximum effort in the big game. The authorities caught wind of it before the game. Hapes admitted to being approached by the gamblers. Filchock denied all of it. Hapes was suspended from the NFL indefinitely. Filchock was allowed to play in the game. As the sordid details were brought to light during the court trials of the gamblers, Filchock was also suspended indefinitely. As all of this cast the NFL in a ugly light, the All America Football Conference was getting kick started. Unlike the sad but true efforts of C.C. Pyle's AFL in the 1920s. This new league was legit. Filled with talent too. The AAFC competed for four years. The best teams would have been very competitive in the NFL, the Cleveland Browns in particular. This league threw a scare into the NFL but they couldn't keep the finances up. After four years, The Browns, San Francisco 49ers and Baltimore Colts joined the NFL. The Buffalo Bills could have made the leap as well. The Browns, in particular, showed their worth immediately. They won the NFL title in 1950. They made it to the title game each of the next five years, winning again in 1954 and 1955. The National Football League finally became a national football league when the Cleveland Rams moved to Los Angeles and the San Francisco 49ers joined. Under the guidance of commissioner Bert Bell the league really started to look like a strong outfit through the 1950s. By the end of the decade televison was entering the picture. Professional football was starting to pass college football in popularity and even approaching baseball. It wouldn't be long before the NFL was looking back at every other spectator sport. Before that could happen, the 1960s would present a whole list of challenges.
The American Football League would scare the hell out of the NFL for the better part of a decade. This new league would drive the old league nuts. The AFL was made up of a bunch of rich guys. Most of them had been turned away by the NFL on several occasions. Nothing pisses off a rich guy more than telling him he can't buy something. The AFL had a bunch of pissed off rich guys. They were also rich guys that had a nice TV contract for their league. The AFL was there to stay and the NFL had to deal with it. The result was a signing war over the college players. The AFL got a decent share of those players including the big fish, Joe Namath. The rising player salaries and losing talent brought the proud NFL people to the bargaining table. By the end of the decade there was a full merger of the two leagues. The old league couldn't beat the new kids so they had to invite them into their sacred little league. The NFL would have minor battles in the next two decades with rival leagues World Football League and the United States Football League. The WFL posed little threat since they lasted about a week and a half. The USFL did a little more damage. They ended up in court. Despite winning that battle the USFL was destroyed in the war. The NFL would have to take a tremendous fall to ever be threatened by another league again. They are simply too strong.
While the NFL was playing with the AFL, they had some home grown issues. They had another gambling scandal. This time it was a couple of players that were found to be betting on the games. A couple of stars too, Packers running back Paul Hornung and Lions defensive tackle Alex Karras. New commissioner Pete Rozelle suspended both for the 1963 season. Some people criticized current commissioner Roger Goodell with being a little heavy handed with his punishments. Rozelle set that precedent with his suspensions of Hornung and Karras. Neither player was a serious gambler and they were caught making casual bets with friends. Unlike today, players then had no union to got to bat for them. That would soon change too. The radical 1960s brought players ready to join ranks. Ready to take a stand against the owners. It took some time but the NFLPA was finally open for business in the early 1970s. Since then some labor issue has hit the owners pretty much every couple of years. Two strikes went so far as to cost everyone games. A handful of others threatened the games including the mess that was last year's offseason. Every year one of the two parties is unhappy about something. They each have to understand that they can't have anything without the other. There's clearly more than enough to go around.
There's always something going on with the NFL. Right now, we have the idiot New Orleans Saints bounties, the ever present performance enhancing drugs, health care for former players and player safety. It seems like every year has it's own little challenges before they can even get to the games. There were some times of relative peace in the 1930s and 1950s but they sure ended in a hurry. World War II and the AFL put a quick end to those happy days. As I think of the mess caused by the Saints I should be thankful. It could be so much worse.
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