Sam Huff was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1982. Huff, a Middleburg resident, played in the National Football League from 1956 through 1969 as a linebacker with the New York Giants and the Washington Redskins.

The 2011 National Football League season which began on Sept. 8, 2011, will end with Super Bowl XLVI, the league’s championship game, on Feb. 5, 2012, at the Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis. The playoffs have begun which is the process of elimination to bring about this championship game. Additionally, the National Collegiate Athletic Association, having 1,281 schools, conferences and associations, recently completed its competition for football’s national title game. 

This is a period of time that puts considerable pressure on the players and coaches throughout the country. In fact, many of the coaches on both the university and professional level whose teams did not make the playoffs will lose their jobs, if they have not already. Many players will lose their positions on both the university and professional level teams. 

Football is America’s favorite sport, and the higher the rank the tougher the competition gets. The regular season in most college and professional football games has always been tough, but the playoffs increase that pressure tremendously. As I have said before, what happens in the sports world has more to do with money than anything else. Having a team in the playoffs means more money; of course, winning teams bring in the money. The media coverage has grown so that any major game may have an enormous viewing audience. For example, NBC will broadcast the Super Bowl this year not only on television but will also provide online streaming to computers and mobile devises. That’s awesome. Think about the pressure on the coaches and the players with that kind of coverage. 

I know something about that pressure in championship games. The first bowl game I ever participated in was the Sugar Bowl. I was playing guard and tackle for West Virginia University, and we played Georgia Tech. Georgia Tech beat the hell out of us because they had more experience playing in bowl games. I think we had the better team, but they had the confidence of experience. 

My rookie year in 1956, when I played for the New York Giants, we won the World Championship Game in Yankee Stadium. We had won the NFL Eastern Division title with a regular season record of 8-3-1. The Giants had a number of players on the team who would become Hall of Fame members. I was one of those, and there was Frank Gifford, Alex Webster, Roosevelt Brown and Andy Robustelli. Offensive coach Vince Lombardi and defensive coach Tom Landry would become Hall of Fame members also. We defeated the Chicago Bears, 47-7, for the championship. I remember the field was icy, and we wore sneakers to adjust to the condition, rather than football cleats. I played in six NFL title games, but I remember the 1956 game especially because it was my rookie year, and I was named NFL Rookie of the Year. 

The Pro Bowl is part of the competition also. In American football, the Pro Bowl is the all-star game for the NFL, officially matching the AFC and the NFC. This year, the Pro Bowl will be played Jan. 29, and is scheduled for Hawaii. My brother of the Legacy, Sonny Jurgensen, and I both have played in Pro Bowls. I was named to five Pro Bowls. Through the years, the method for selection for that bowl has been scrutinized and criticized. Currently the players are voted into the Pro Bowl game by the coaches, the players themselves, and the fans with each group counting as one-third of the votes. I personally think London Fletcher, the Redskins lineman, should be one of those voted in this year. He earned it, in my opinion, but was selected only as an injury replacement. 

I remember the pressure of the final competitions and trying to get to the playoffs. I loved it. I only wish I could line up one more time against one of my two main opponents, Jim Brown or Jim Taylor. I hit Jim Taylor so hard once that I dented my helmet, and that helmet is now in the Hall of Fame Museum. I hit Jim Brown once so hard neither he nor I could get up off the ground. I knocked us both out. Of course, I would get fined by today’s rules. The way we played then makes today’s football look like touch football. Still, it’s the greatest sport ever, and I love it. Football is America’s game.