Okay, so, today I was hanging out with some buddies, and we got into this crazy debate about NFL teams. We were throwing names around, trying to stump each other, when one of them dropped this bomb: “What NFL team is not a real thing?” It got me thinking, and I realized, “Hey, this is actually a pretty cool topic to explore!” So, I grabbed my laptop and decided to dig in.
First thing I did was, obviously, hit up Google. I typed in “NFL teams” and got the usual list – you know, the Patriots, the Cowboys, the Packers, and so on. I scrolled through a couple of articles, skimmed some team histories, just to get a feel for what’s out there. Then I started to cross-reference the teams with some other sources. I checked out the official NFL website, browsed through some fan forums, and even dusted off an old NFL encyclopedia I had lying around.
The tricky part was figuring out what “not a real thing” actually meant. Did it mean a team that used to exist but doesn’t anymore? Or maybe a team that was planned but never actually formed? Or even a fictional team from a movie or a book? I decided to investigate all of these possibilities, to cover all bases.
I started with defunct teams, so I made a list of teams that folded or merged throughout history. I dug into some old newspaper archives online, read about teams like the Dayton Triangles, the Canton Bulldogs, and the Staten Island Stapletons. They were legit teams at one point, but they sure aren’t playing anymore. Also, I looked up expansion teams that were planned or proposed but never materialized. I found some interesting proposals for teams in cities like Memphis, Birmingham, and even a couple in Canada. These were teams with names, logos, and everything, but they never made it to the big leagues.
Then I ventured into the realm of fiction. I made a list of teams from TV shows and movies, like the Miami Sharks from “Any Given Sunday” and the Dillon Panthers from “Friday Night Lights.” These teams are iconic, they got fans, jerseys, and entire storylines, but they only exist on screen.
My Findings:
- Defunct Teams:
- Dayton Triangles
- Canton Bulldogs
- Staten Island Stapletons
- Many more…
- Proposed Teams:
- Memphis Hound Dogs (proposed in 1993)
- Birmingham Barracudas (CFL then proposed for NFL in 1995)
- A possible team in Toronto
- More proposals over the years…
- Fictional Teams:
- Miami Sharks (Any Given Sunday)
- Dillon Panthers (Friday Night Lights)
- New York Hawks (The Last Boy Scout)
- And many more in books, movies, and TV shows…
So, after all that digging, what’s the verdict? Well, it depends on how you look at it. There are plenty of teams that “aren’t real” in the sense that they don’t exist anymore, never came to be, or only exist in our imaginations. It was a fun little journey, and it made me appreciate the rich history and cultural impact of the NFL even more. It’s not just about the teams playing today, but also about the ghosts of the past and the dreams of what could have been.
