asmFootball

In NFL(2) news.. The Cleveland Browns completed a winless season losing 24-28 vs Pittsburgh Steelers. The Browns finished the season with an 0-16 record.

Prior to his arrival in Chicago Heffelfinger was working a job in Omaha, NE. Crawford however offered Heffelfinger enough "incentive" for him to leave his job & join the CAA. At the time there were no AAU rules prohibiting players from receiving their expenses. Crawford offered Heffelfinger enough "inducements" and/or "incentives" for him to quit his railroad job in Omaha to play for the Chicago Athletic Association. Now the rest of the world may think that Heffelfinger wasn't getting paid. Well he left his job... to play for free? Obviously not!! So while the Amateur Athletic Union didn't consider this as getting paid, we here at asmFootball see it differently. Officials at Northwestern University thought likewise calling the CAA players professionals. Crawford, undaunted, would make contacts with other athletic clubs while on tour to further his agenda. Heffelfinger of course accepted Crawford's "incentives" & ...

You might ask what does the Chicago Athletic Association have to do with professional football. Sure Heffelfinger played with them prior to playing with the Allegheny Athletic Association but that's it, right? Not quite. The football club at Chicago was established in 1892 with the intention of being competitive from day one, which it was. Heffelfinger's presence on the team was key & this allowed them to sign up games with the Big Three [Harvard, Yale, & Princeton] instantly. Heffelfinger was considered the greatest lineman of his day. In the past, players traded their services in exchange for expense money, double expenses, or trophies/trinkets that they would pawn back to the team. The Amateur Athletic Union which governed the sport, questioned these tactics but the players were always one step ahead. William Randall Crawford [Billy Crawford], captain of the team, was able to find loopholes in the rules of the AAU. This paved the way for Crawfor...

We here at asmFootball celebrate that!  In this blog we will endeavor to "talk" professional football, from its pre-beginnings to the present.  Yeah that's 125 years of football & we'll try to be chronological about it while also acknowledging that many relevant things are happening now, so it will be a mix. The way we see it, three clubs were involved in the rise of professional football; the Chicago Athletic Association, the Allegheny Athletic Association, & the Pittsburgh Athletic Club. Let's begin with The Chicago Athletic Association.