As we discussed in a previous article, rugby and soccer stated off as the same sport. As time went out, differences in rules and manliness caused a split between the players, and two different sports were born. After a century or so of development, the two sports completely separated, and only a few rules indicated the games' common origin. Finally, from the manly side of the split (i.e. rugby) came the greatest sport every created, American Football.

The father of American football, Walter Champ, enacted a few major rule changes, which really signified the divergence between the two sports. The biggest of these would be the line of scrimmage – basically the line where the ball is placed and the divider between the two teams until the ball is snapped. Another major change would be the down and distance rule, which states that the team must get ten yards from the line of scrimmage in four tries, or the ball is turned over to the other team. Finally, the most important change that was instated would be the option of a forward pass; in rugby, the only way to pass the ball off is to lateral it backwards to a teammate; football allows one to pass it forward as long as the player is behind the line of scrimmage.

What really brought football to its popularity was college football, as it became the dominant version of the sport in the United States for the first half of the 20th century. Bowl games and huge college rivalries really reinforced its popularity. Football was played by some of top schools like Princeton and Columba, and they would even have scrimmages against each other. The problem was that each school had its own rules, and teams would have to learn new rules every time they went on the road to play.

On October 20, 1873, representatives from Yale, Columbia, Princeton, and Rutgers met in New York City to set the intercollegiate football rules.

The concept of a professional game can first be traced back to 1892, where a man named William "Pudge" Heffelfinger signed a 500 dollar contract to play for Allegheny Athletic Association against Pittsburg Athletic Club. A short 30 years later, the NFL was created and soon become the major league in the United States. Professional football eventually became a national phenomenon. Football's popularity is usually traced to the 1958 NFL Championship game that has been dubbed the "Greatest Game Ever Played". Finally, the NFL and its rival league, the AFL, merged into one entity, and the Super Bowl, the most watch sports game in the United States, was created.

Football took off from there and is now considered America's sport. The greatest team in this sport would have to be America's Team, the Dallas Cowboys. They have been to the Super Bowl eight times – more times than any other team. They have also won five Super Bowls.

Slowly, the NFL is trying to expand its popularity to other countries by playing games in the UK and Mexico.