ParkviewFootball.com is your one stop shop for all your high school, college and pro gear. We also have a large selection of football apparrel, and of course your favorite football memorabilia. But first lets talk about football gear. Football is a rough and tumble sport that requires a lot of protective equipment. Even the staff wears football gear, although it isn't necessarily protective equipment.

Football staff is the coaching team. This group of individuals wears specialized football gear to help them communicated with the other coaches. That is why so many coaches wear headsets. The main coach also carries a playbook or something to write down the plays. The playbook is an essential piece of football gear, as coaches need to adapt to every scene and situation. During practice, coaches use whistles to begin and end drills and plays. Football staff usually wears shirts or uniforms to make them easily distinguished.

The players' football gear is much more involved. Their personal equipment consists of many different things, beginning with uniform pants and shirt. Players are provided with helmets to provide essential head protection. Under the uniform, each player is layered in protective padding. Shoulder and knee-pads are just two areas that need to be protected by football gear during a game. Unless it is a small high school or community team, the players will usually be supplied with cleats. If the team does not supply cleats, the individual players will have to purchase them.

Training equipment is another area of football gear that must be worn. Both offense and defense players wear practicing equipment as they perform their drills. The entire team uses dummies to practice tackles, and pads to practice pushes.

Football coaches make up their own patterns of drills; the necessary football gear is determined by which drills will be performed. Most coaches, whether high school, college, or pro, will require their players to build strength by lifting weights. In addition to building muscle mass, weight training helps the players become more disciplined.

A fully equipped gym is usually supplied to schools to help students and players stay fit and get in shape for the next season. All students in the school typically share these gyms, but some have special gym rooms used exclusively by football players. These gym rooms are located near the football locker room or in the field house.

Football gear is essential equipment for all athletes of every skill level. It protects the players from injury, and helps them to develop their skills and become better, more disciplined athletes.

College Football: The Complete History:

The very first university Football Game was played between Princeton and Rutgers on November 6th, 1869 at New Brunswick in New Jersey. There were different things between the game played that day and the games we watch today. In the early days of college football, the football was round and the field 120 yards long and 75 yards wide and each team had 25 players.

The popularity of college football was fairly low in the early days and there were only 6 teams by the time a rugby ball was adopted for playing with and the first officials of the game were used. In the following year a crossbar was added to the goalposts and these remain in use for college football games to this day. The college football field was also made smaller and the members of each team were reduced to 15.

In 1876 a crossbar was added to the goal posts at a height of 10 feet (in effect to the present day), and the field was reduced to nearly modern dimensions. At the same time the number of players on each side was lowered to 15.

It took until 1880 before more revisions were made to the rules and the teams were limited to 11 players. In 1882, the downs system was introduced in college football games although it began as a requirement for a team to make 5 yards in 3 downs which remained in effect until it was changed to 10 yards in 4 downs in 1912. The college football game now became much more popular and widespread with over 250 colleges playing by 1900.

The first real college football uniform was designed in 1877 and included a tightly laced canvas jacket, black knee pants, stockings and a jersey with orange trim. This form of college football uniform did not offer the players very much protection, unlike the college football uniforms used today and a number of college football players suffered serious injury and some were even killed.

The number of officials at a college football game grew from a single referee in 1885 to a trio in 1894. These three college football officials were a referee, an umpire and a linesman. Eventually, a field judge was added to the team of college football officials in 1915, then a back judge in 1955, a line judge in 1972 and finally, in 1983, a side judge.

By 1894 the officiating crew had grown from a single referee (first required in 1885) to a trio: referee, umpire, and linesman. A field judge was added for a brief period starting in 1908, and was made a permanent part of the crew in 1915. A back judge was not added until 1955, with a line judge added in 1972 and a side judge in 1983.

In 1905 there was such an outcry about the violence of a college football game that a governing body was needed to oversee changes in the game. This became the National Collegiate Athletic Association and it still exists to create rule changes and procedures to ensure the safety of college football players.

Football Heroes Capture Our Hearts:

Super Bowl Day! The championship of the National Football League! A hundred thousand spectators yelling and cheering in the stadium! The intensity of the competition vibrates over the television in every home! Excitement resonates everywhere! No one remains unaffected by this event!

The excitement all began in the 1860s when courageous players from Princeton and Rutgers played the first football game in New Jersey. The Rutgers’ players wore scarlet-colored scarves wrapped around their head like turbans. This was long before helmets were mandatory and the Princeton players evidently played bare-headed. The competition was fierce. It was intense.

The rivalry between the schools was played out in two vicious games that resulted in football being banned for a time because it interfered with academic studies. This same accusation has plagued college football teams every since.

The memorable heroes of this sport are still talked about years after they’ve passed on. On a dusty dirt field in Ohio in 1915 the infamous Jim Thorpe, a running back, played against the most determined defensive end, Knute Rockne. They didn’t have a television camera on them, but their names went down in history. Rockne was a Norwegian immigrant who grew up in Chicago and went on to Notre Dame. He became the college’s most famous football coach. He died in a plane crash in 1931. Jim Thorpe, a twin, was an American Indian of the Sac and Fox Tribe in Oklahoma and was studying at a federal government vocational school for Indian students. Not just a football player, he went to the Olympics in Stockholm in 1912 and won gold medals in both the pentathlon and the decathlon.

When King Gustaf V of Sweden presented Thorpe with his two gold medals, he said, “You, sir, are the greatest athlete in the world!” Bruised members of other football teams playing against Thorpe agreed that he was the theoretical super player in flesh and blood.

The National Football League formed in 1920, and George Halas was one of the twelve founders. In 1921 his Decatur, Illinois, team moved to Chicago and was nicknamed the ‘Bears.’ Halas created his own fast-moving history as the owner, coach and captain of the team he helped make famous.

When introduced to President Calvin Coolidge, along with team member Red Grange, as being with the Chicago Bears, the President replied, “How interesting. I’ve always enjoyed animal acts.” Football was not yet the favorite American sport.

Television both educated and influenced the public regarding football. Especially with the instant play-back features that modern electronics provides, football has captured the hearts of Americans. Now fans can see a unique play not only once, but from several angles, over and over again. They can study every move of their heroes.

Football Q&A: Little Known Pro Football Facts:

First of all, from where did the name ‘football’ originate?

Based on its history, it was the Greeks who had first played the football called harpaston. In the United States, it was called foot ball. A blown-up bladder was used in Virginia in the year 1609.

Football in Europe is actually soccer, the sport from which American football evolved.

Football got its name because originally the hands could not be used in the sport. Only the feet were allowed. Then rugby football came into action wherein the hands were allowed to be used. American football had been widely influenced by these sports and is now known throughout the world.

- Who was the highest paid football player in the NFL?

Steve Young was the NFL’s highest paid player, just ahead of Brett Favre on his seven year contract. Young had only a six year contract deal worth 45 million dollars for six years of playing. Young had traded a salary cap room for the right to say that he was the highest salary paid in the League.

- What is the average height and weight of an NFL Football player?

On the event of the NFL Kickoff Roster, in 2003, there were 321 players weighing in at a minimum of 300 pounds and 6’3” in height. Different positions require a different height and weight. But most of the players are required to be at least 6’1” in height and can a weigh about 245 lbs.

- What is the average salary of an NFL football player?

Based on the NFL Stats, the average earnings of the highest playing NFL team is reaching up to $895,716 (Pittsburg Steelers) and the lowest salary team is San Diego (Chargers) at an average of only $453, 800. Aside from that the football players also have a signing bonus every time they sign a contract and an allowance per game season. So, all in all, the average salary of an NFL football player ranges from $650,000 to $700,000.

- Where can you find the official rules and regulations of Pro Football?

The National Football League has the official rules and regulations of Pro Football. NFL set of rules consist of Official’s Jurisdiction, positions and its duties. Football’s officials are the umpire, the referee, head linesman, line judge, field judge, side judge, and back judge.

NFL has the definitions of the game, Summary and Penalties, field end zone and the official markings to avoid confusion in terms of goal lines, sidelines, and end lines.

Other sets of rules like fumble, double foul, unfair acts, kicking from scrimmage and intentional grounding of forward pass are also imposed by the NFL. Official Rules and Regulations of NFL are followed by the players in the whole game season.

Many websites dedicated to the NFL have the official rules and regulations of Pro Football that can be downloaded or viewed for free. There are also books that can be purchased locally with the official rules and regulations.

Pro Football’s NFL – The Largest American Pro Football League Has Significant Rivalries:

The National Football League or the NFL is the biggest professional football league in the United States. The NFL has thirty-two teams that are based in a variety of cities across the country. Originally known as the American Professional Football Association when it was formed in 1920, the Association assumed the name “National Football League” in 1922.

At first, the most popular way people enjoyed their football was by watching their favorite college team play but the focus of the country changed in 1958. That NFL game went into overtime and captured a number of new fans who found that they enjoyed the professional football league just as much as if not more than their college football teams. Due to the rising popularity of professional football, the NFL merged with the American Football League in the 1960’s to form what is now the National Football League.

Over the years, some friendly and some not-so-friendly rivalries have come about due to a number of circumstances. These rivalries can be categorized into three separate groups. The first is the ‘intradivisional’, which is a rivalry between teams in the same NFL division. The second is interdivisional, which is a rivalry between teams in the different divisions but in the same conference. The third is the ‘interconference’, which is a rivalry between teams in different conferences. Many times fans will hear sportscasters refer to team rivalries as “divisional rivals”, “division rival” or “conference rival” instead of including the appropriate prefix.

For example, in the AFC North, there is a rivalry between the Baltimore Ravens and the Cleveland Browns based on the when the team’s owner, Art Modell, moved the Cleveland Browns franchise to Baltimore. Fortunately for Cleveland Browns fans, the “Dawg Pound” and its colors remained in Cleveland. The Cleveland Browns were reactivated as a NFL team in 1999. The “Dawg Pound” fans waited for their revenge and got a taste in 2001 when the Browns won against the Ravens after only four games.

Another famous rivalry began in the AFC East when the Buffalo Bills owner, Ralph Wilson, wasn’t allowed to base an AFL team in Miami and went on to establish the Buffalo Bills as a charter member of the AFL. The Buffalo Bills and the Miami Dolphins have maintained a rivalry based on this history since 1967. This particular rivalry has had a number of key moments that continued to fuel their contention over the years including playing against each other in the ultimate game of the football season- the Super Bowl.