Things We Miss About The NFL

In 1965 Homer Jones of the Giants became the first NFL player to spike a football. Ironically, the receiver did it to avoid being fined by the league for throwing the ball into the stands.

The gooey substance that Lester Hayes lathered on his arms and hands helped the cornerback become a perennial Pro Bowl selection and a Raider legend.

Los Angeles has been without an NFL team for nearly 15 years after Al Davis and the Raiders left town in 1995. The Rams played in the city from Sept. 29, 1946 to Dec. 24, 1994. They moved to St. Louis in 1995.

The single-bar facemask was once a staple for NFL players. Free-agent kicker Scott Player was the last pro to wear this uniform classic; the single-bar was banned in 2004.

Sure, it's obnoxious, but we like the individualism of Chargers linebacker Shawn Merriman's "Lights Out" sack dance and the classics such as "The Ickey (Woods) Shuffle."

A group of College All-Stars played against the defending NFL champions or Super Bowl champions every year except 1935 (when the Bears represented the pros). The series was cancelled in 1977, with the NFL champs holding a commanding lead (31-9-2).

Once upon a time coaches actually dressed for work. Cowboys coach Tom Landry famously dressed in a suit before the NFL mandated (in 1993) that coaches wear team-issued clothing.

NFL defenses from yesteryear featured some lyrical nicknames, from The Steel Curtain (Steelers) to The Purple People Eaters (Vikings) to Doomsday (Cowboys).

The USFL featured free-wheeling offense and plenty of future NFL stars, including (from clockwise left) Reggie White, Steve Young, Jim Kelly and Herschel Walker.

Tony Franklin (left) and Rich Karlis were the NFL's most famed barefoot kickers.

We swear: Al Davis was once the most respected man in football. His Raiders won 13 division championships, an AFL title, three Super Bowl championships and 15 playoffs appearances in a 19-year stretch.

For nearly 20 years (1978-1995), Buck and Stram entertained and informed millions of football fans as the radio voice of Monday Night Football.

Patriots quarterback Doug Flutie converted the league's last drop kick in the New England's season-finale against the Dolphins in 2006. His point-after-attempt was the first successful drop kick in 64 years.

The schoolyard favorite is hardly used in the NFL but was famously pulled off in the 2007 Fiesta Bowl by Boise State, and the magic of quarterback Jared Zabransky and running back Ian Johnson (whose two-point conversion sealed the upset victory).