NFL — Bunk History

Patrick Mahomes and Jalen Hurts shaking hands at Super Bowl 57.

It Took Until 2023 for Two Black QBs to Start in a Super Bowl. Here’s Why.

Ideas dating back to slavery have minimized opportunities for Black quarterbacks in the NFL.

by Kate Aguilar via Made By History on February 12, 2023

Harold "Red" Grange, one of the biggest stars of the early NFL.

NFL Television Broadcasting and the Federal Courts

The NFL's control over entertainment.

by Jake Kobrick via Federal Judicial Center on January 24, 2023

White students, including Jerry Jones, at Arkansas' North Little Rock High blocked the doors of the school Sept. 9, 1957, denying access to six Black students.

Jerry Jones Helped Transform the NFL, Except When It Comes To Race

Decades after the segregation battles of his youth, Jerry Jones has modernized the NFL’s revenue model but hasn’t hired a Black head coach.

by David Maraniss, Sally Jenkins via Washington Post on November 23, 2022

Action shot of the Detroit Lions playing the Chicago Bears in 1934.

How the NFL Popularized Thanksgiving Day Football

The NFL holiday tradition took off in 1934, when the Detroit Lions hosted the unbeaten Chicago Bears in a game broadcast nationally on radio.

by Chris Mueller via HISTORY on November 10, 2021

A Kansas City Chiefs fan in a headdress.

How the Kansas City Chiefs Got Their Name and the Boy Scout Tribe of Mic-O-Say

The Mic-O-Say was founded in 1925, under the leadership of Harold Roe Bartle, a two-term Kansas City mayor known in his social circles as ‘Chief.’

by Vincent Schilling via Indian Country Today on September 21, 2019

Marques Colston of the New Orlean Saints during a game, Asim Bharwani, Flickr

The NFL and a History of Black Protest

For far too long, Americans have used football to sell the ideas of democracy and fair play. But for Black America, this is an illusion.

by Louis Moore via Black Perspectives on September 12, 2018

A souvenir superbowl 53 football outside of a stadium

The NFL: America’s Socialist Utopia

The Super Bowl might be a capitalist bonanza — but its creation was the ultimate socialist act.

by Jesse Berrett via Made By History on February 2, 2018

‘Some Observations on the NFL and Negro Players’

Newly discovered league memo from 1966 anticipates controversies over the Colin Kaepernick protest.

by Paul Lukas via Andscape on February 1, 2018

The NFL Marketing Ploy That Was Too Successful For The League’s Own Good

For decades, the NFL has used patriotism to advance its interests. Now fans expect it to be something it never was.

by Jesse Berrett via Washington Post on December 10, 2017

Illustration of man throwing football to sports broadcaster.

Before and After the Contest: Wraparound Sportscasting Through the Ages

National Football League pre- and postgame shows have become a testing ground for novel technology in the waning days of linear television.

by Chloe Lizotte via Mubi on August 1, 2024

The San Francisco 49ers running onto a football field led by their mascot, a gold prospector.

Who Were the Real 49ers?

San Francisco 49ers fans may feel like their team name is less racist than the “Chiefs,” but given the history of the Gold Rush, they shouldn’t be so smug.

by Simon Moya-Smith via The Nation on February 9, 2024

Baltimore Colts' Jim O'Brien making a game-winning field goal kick in Super Bowl V in Miami, 1971.

The Man Who Changed Field Goals Forever

A Hungarian immigrant first brought the soccer style field kick to the NFL.

by Russ Crawford via Made By History on February 8, 2024

The son of Robert "Whitey" Fuller, director of publicity for Dartmouth athletics, and other children playing football, Dartmouth, 1946.

'Hit the Line Hard'

During the cold war, football’s violence became precisely its point.

by Jake Nevins via New York Review of Books on February 12, 2023

NFL bust broken at the head by Liam Eisenberg.

The Forgotten History of Head Injuries in Sports

Stephen Casper, a medical historian, argues that the danger of C.T.E. used to be widely acknowledged. How did we unlearn what we once knew?

by Ingfei Chen via The New Yorker on February 11, 2023

Whitney Houston singing the national anthem at the Super Bowl

The NFL, the National Anthem, and the Super Bowl

A brief history of their tangled saga of patriotism and dissent.

by Mark Clague via The Conversation on February 10, 2022

How Marvin Gaye Earned a Tryout for the Detroit Lions

On the 50th anniversary of ‘What’s Going On,’ a look back on Gaye's onetime dream to become a professional football player.

by Justin Tinsley via Andscape on May 21, 2021

Making Philly a Blue-Collar City

Sports, politics, and civic identity in modern Philadelphia.

by Timothy Lombardo via Sport in American History on September 6, 2018

African American medalists Tommie Smith and John Carlos with their fists raised during the national anthem at the 1968 Olympics.

This Isn’t the First Time Professional Athletics, Protest and Politics Have Mixed

The long history of athletes taking a stand for racial justice.

by Michael MacCambridge via The Oklahoma Eagle on September 1, 2018

Football players kneeling in prayer on the field.

Football and the Political Act of Prayer

In football, prayer is—and has always been—political.

by Paul Putz via Arc: Religion, Politics, Et Cetera on August 28, 2018

Black Athletes, Anthem Protests, and the Spectacle of Patriotism

The NFL's response to player protests reflects decades of League and U.S. attempts to portray false images of post-racial harmony.

by Amira Rose Davis via Black Perspectives on June 7, 2018

NFL Tells Players Patriotism Trumps Protest

Here’s why that didn’t work during WWI.

by Chad Williams via The Conversation on May 29, 2018

Roger Goodell’s Father Had a Political Backbone—Why Doesn’t Roger?

The NFL commissioner is bending to pressure from a reactionary Republican president—something his father refused to do.

by John Nichols via The Nation on May 27, 2018

The NFL Has Officially Whitewashed Colin Kaepernick’s Protest

The co-opting of protests against racism has a storied history in our country.

by Louis Moore via Vox on September 28, 2017

How the National Anthem Got Tangled Up With American Sports

Like most relationships, it’s complicated.

by Tevi Troy via Politico Magazine on September 26, 2017

How NFL Protests Mirror Berkeley’s 1960s Free Speech Movement

The football players are following in a long tradition of protest.

via VICE News on September 25, 2017

From Louis Armstrong to the N.F.L: Ungrateful as the New Uppity

The belief endures, from Armstrong’s time that visible, affluent African-American entertainers are obliged to adopt a pose of ceaseless gratitude.

by Jelani Cobb via The New Yorker on September 24, 2017

Baseball card featuring Clem Daniels.

This Football Player Fought for Civil Rights in the '60s

Here's what he thinks about national anthem protests.

by Clem Daniels, Olivia B. Waxman via TIME on September 8, 2017

The NFL’s Pending Hall of Fame Problem

If everyone is breaking records, then who goes to Canton?

by Kevin Clark via The Ringer on August 4, 2017

John Montgomery Ward and Helen Dauvray.

Before Taylor and Travis, There Was Helen and John

She was an actress. He was a shortstop. What we can learn from the press parade around this 19th-century power couple.

by Scott D. Peterson via Zócalo Public Square on January 11, 2024

Football player on the ground, grabbing his head in pain.

‘Another Player Down’

How concern about injuries is changing sports.

via Retro Report on November 20, 2023

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