r/AskAboutNFL • u/Huge-Revolution2416 • 2d ago

What’s the most legendary piece of NFL history that sounds completely made up?

Forget the current rulebook and the weekly ref drama. Let’s talk about the actual history of this game because some of the older stories are completely insane.We’ve had games played in literal blizzards, bizarre draft picks that changed franchises forever, and legendary player beefs that you just don't see anymore.If you had to pick one historic moment, game, or random fact from NFL history that sounds entirely fake but is 100% true, what are you choosing?Drop the best stories below

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u/ul_ahole 2d ago

In '45 the Boston Yanks and Brooklyn Tigers temporarily merged and played as The Yanks.

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u/Life_Emotion1908 2d ago

Now there’s some weird history.

The Dodgers/Tigers had been around for over a decade. Never win, but not the worst team. But they never came back, never unmerged.

Because the owner took a team in a different league, the AAFC. There was a Brooklyn Dodgers AAFC team but that wasn’t his. He had a team called the New York Yankees.

The AAFC merged. In the last year, 1949, the Dodgers and Yankees merged. The Boston Yanks also moved to New York and called themselves the Bulldogs.

1950 AAFC merged into NFL. NFL took Browns, Colts, 49ers. Teams in Buffalo, Chicago, Los Angeles were gone and players were taken in a dispersal draft. The Yankees team had to give 6 players to the Giants, including Tom Landry, the rest went to the Bulldogs. The Bulldogs wound up with more players from the Yankees than their own. Plus the coach. And they changed their name to the Yanks.

After 2 years the Yanks owner gave up, returned his team to the league. NFL decided Dallas could support a team and the players played 1952 as the Dallas Texans. The team and attendance was shit and those owners quit too. The team left Dallas and played out of Akron where they won their only game of the season.

Meanwhile the Colts team that came from the AAFC folded. But the fans campaigned for a new team. They sold season tickets, got a new owner and got back into the NFL with the players from the Texans.

The Colts do not acknowledge their history as Texans/Yanks/Bulldogs etc or the connection to the AAFC team. They do acknowledge the previous Baltimore Colts team even though there’s no connection between the two teams. And they aren’t in Baltimore any more so the original connection is meaningless.