50th Anniversary Season for the AFL
June 28th, 2009 10:31 pm
by
Big Dog
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So the 2009 NFL season also happens to be the 50th Anniversary Season for the original eight teams of the AFL. Of course this will be celebrated in many ways throughout the coming months but the primary format will be a series of matchups being touted by the NFL as “Legacy Games“.
These Legacy Games will involve the original eight teams (or their modern variations) wearing special historic uniforms and will of course provide the opportunity for a great deal more NFL merchandise to be sold. For the die-hard fan of any one of these franchises it will be all but impossible to not buy a commemorative jersey, cap, tshirt, sweatshirt, jacket, cup, cup-holder, giant foam finger and so forth.
Not to appear overly cynical, I think it’s great that the game’s alive and well today, here 50 years later and still going strong, but it does seem to me that the value of any game – “Legacy” or otherwise – can really only be measured in terms of its contribution to the season as a whole.
Why on earth is it more important that the Tennessee Titans Houston Oilers play the New York Jets Titans of New York on September 27 than that Cleveland and Baltimore go head-to-head on the same day?
It’s important to celebrate the evolving history of the game we love, but let’s all remember to keep it in context. And that context is competition. Win your division, win your conference, win the title… but win. It doesn’t matter if you’re facing a legacy team or the high school from the next town over. The game is the game, and it only rewards winners.
So feel free to buy a commemmorative tshirt, jersey, hat, whatever. Just don’t expect it to make one bit of difference to how well your team plays.
Posted in Baltimore Ravens, Cleveland Browns, Game, NFL, NFL Franchises/Teams, NFL schedule, New York Jets, Tennessee Titans |
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