One of the special joys of the holiday season—for football fans anyway—is the approaching playoffs. That’s right, after the grueling 17-week regular season, the top teams move on to see which two will play at the annual Super Bowl. Here’s what you need to know about the post-season, including the dates where the fans you know are likely to be glued to the tv.
The National Football League is made up of two divisions, the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). Each year the top six teams in each conference – the ones with the best won-lost records, “make the playoffs.” The top four teams in each conference get a week off while the bottom two teams in each conference play a “wild card” game without a week of rest.
Unlike baseball and hockey, football playoffs are single-game eliminations, so it’s do or die, one shot only.
This year, the wild card games will take place January 9th and 10th, the divisional playoffs occur the 16th and 17th, and the conference championships happen on January 24th. The 2010 Super Bowl—number 44—takes place on February 7th at Florida Marlins Stadium in Miami. The site for the Super Bowl is pre-selected, is usually in a city that has a professional football team, and it’s often someplace warm, or in a city with an enclosed/domed stadium.
Although the New Orleans Saints lost to Dallas last Sunday to ruin their undefeated season, they will be favored to do well in the playoffs as will the undefeated (at least as of today) Indianapolis Colts. The Minnesota Vikings and Philadelphia Eagles are looking good too. The 2009 defending champion Pittsburgh Steelers haven’t had a great year – their record is seven wins, seven losses – so right now their chances look pretty dim for a repeat.
It’s not just the pros who have a “post season.” The college football season ends with bowl games (stadiums were called bowls when this started). They are played in December, thought the Rose Bowl, one of the oldest and most famous bowl games is played on New Year’s Day in Pasadena, California. Today, instead of being named after the stadium, many of these games are named after their corporate sponsors.
While there is no sanctioned national championship in college football, there is now a Bowl Championship series, with a final game held in January, and the winning team is considered by many to be the national champion. The teams that play are chosen based on polls and computer selection, and teams like the Florida Gators and the University of Southern California Trojans (that’s the Trojan War so stop giggling) are perennial top contenders.
Best wishes for a “winning season” and a happy and successful 2010.
