By Ben Gazoli
2014-03-13

There are some truly inspiring and rather amazing facts about the NFL that everyone should know. Even people that don't care about the NFL will be amazed by some of these. You will not find any NFL betting information below, but these facts are sure to impress your friends next time when you're watching a game together.

  • In NFL history, the longest field goal is held by Matt Prater, kicker for the Denver Broncos – the distance was 64 yards. But that isn't what is interesting: the previous record was 63 yards, originally set by Tom Dempsey, a kicker for New Orleans Saints – the guy only had half a foot! A defect he'd had since birth, but he overcame this disability in magnificent style. His record was then matched by three other players as well.
  • Cheerleaders for NFL only make $50 a game, they aren't even allowed to socialize with the players. Many actually make their money by participating in public appearances. Some get lucky and make a career out of their popularity, Teri Hatcher used to be a cheerleader for the San Francisco 49ers.
  • Deion Sanders is the only person to score an NFL touchdown and MLB home run in the same week!
  • Edgar Allan Poe's poem The Raven was the inspiration for the name of the Baltimore Ravens. Their team mascots are even named Edgar, Allan and Poe.
  • 700,000 regulation size footballs are made each year by one factory in Ada, Ohio. It employs 150 people to construct these footballs. Wilson Sporting Goods has been the official supplier of footballs to the NFL since 1941.
  • George Braishear, the Packers equipment manager, came up with their logo design in 1961 and intended the "G" to mean greatness, in the hope of inspiring the players to live up to it. So, that "G" logo on the Green Bay Packers helmets doesn't actually refer to the team name!
  • Team huddle formations originated from deaf football players. It was first used by Paul Hubbard, the quarterback for Gallaudet University, a higher education institution in Washington D.C for the deaf and hard of hearing. Hubbard first used the formation in the 1940's as a way of stopping the other teams from reading their sign language, and eventually caught on with other teams.
  • Sometimes, if a team hasn't sold enough tickets to a game, it will be blacked out on television within a certain radius. This is to encourage fans that live nearby to buy tickets and fill up the stadium, earning the team more money and making them look better on the television broadcast.
  • In 1958, during an NFL championship game, NBC's television feed went dead. In order to delay the game to give them more time to get the feed working again, they got an employee to pose as a fan and run onto the field!
  • Around 60% of NFL players end up facing bankruptcy within 5 years of their retirement. This is due to the fact that they earn a huge amount of money during their 20's and do not realize that the big paydays will soon end. The average player has a career span of about 3 and a half years, and many simply fail to save for retirement.