The NFL, the most popular sport in and out of the U.S. continent, is going over the middle of the season. 사설토토 As of the 22nd, after the 11th week of the game, the most wins are nine.
The Philadelphia Eagles, who suffered from the Canja City Chiefs in the last Super Bowl, have the highest winning percentage this season with 9 wins and 1 loss. It is followed by the Baltimore Ravens 8-3, Detroit Lions 8-2, Miami Dolphins, Jacksonville Jaguars, San Francisco 49ers, and Chiefs 7-3.
The NFL is one of the most intense leagues in the world. It’s a place where huge objects weighing more than 100 kilograms collide at full speed. There are quite a few Korean stars who are active on that rough stage. There are definitely people who say that it’s tacky to be pedigree-based in sports. Of course, it can be funny to be obsessed with bloodlines in the global era.
However, the Korean stars to be introduced in this article are players who cherish their roots and are proud of the Taegeukgi attached to their helmets. Although the NFL is not well known because it is not very popular in Korea, they are playing on the NFL stage with high-quality skills this season.
Before that, shall we take a look at the pioneers who announced Korea’s existence to the NFL? The first Korean player to enter the NFL is Korean kicker John Lee 59, Korean name Lee Min-jong.
John Lee, who graduated from UCLA and joined the St. Louis Cardinals in 1986, scored 13 field goals in 11 games that year, making eight. Unfortunately, he was no longer given a chance. When it comes to Korean stars in the NFL, the first person that comes to mind is legendary wide receiver Hines Ward.
Born to a U.S. military father and Korean mother, Kim Young-hee, he moved to the U.S. at the age of one. A wide receiver position who takes a quarterback’s pass, he is known as the one club man who played 14 seasons with the Pittsburgh Steelers alone.
As a player, he received 1000 passes, including 85 touchdown passes. The 1,000 receiving passes are the 10th highest ever. The total receiving yard is 12,083. Ward has won two Super Bowls with the Steelers. In particular, he scored a wedge-shaped touchdown in the 2006 Super Bowl 21-10 wins against the Seattle Seahawks, earning MVP honors. I remember when I visited Korea with my mother after the Super Bowl, it was very noisy with a welcoming atmosphere.
Ward, who had a glorious career in the NFL, took off his uniform after the 2011 season. He is currently the head coach and general manager of another football league, the XFL San Antonio Brahmas. Since last year, the NFL has organized a Heritage Program that requires national flags symbolizing their nationality, ancestry, and origin to be attached to their helmets for two weeks.
Players run with their roots attached to their helmets. They attached the national flag of the country where their parents or grandparents lived or the country where they lived for more than two years to their helmets. This season, too, the program was held in weeks 7-8. More than 330 athletes and coaches have flagged helmets and jackets in more than 70 countries.
My grandmother, who was born and raised in Samoa, passed away in 2021, said Naqua, a wide receiver of the Los Angeles Rams with the Samoa flag on her helmet. When I run with the Samoa flag on my helmet, I feel like she’s with me. I’m proud to play for Samoa fans. I hope I can inspire future Samoan players, too. According to the list released by the NFL, there are a total of six Korean-American players in the NFL who played with the Korean national flag this season. Compared to the time Ward played, he’s improved a lot. Among them, there are two quarterbacks who have recently started.
Washington Commanders’ main quarterback Sam Howell is a quarter Korean whose biological grandmother is Korean. Called Han, Howell’s grandmother met and married Bruce Howell, a U.S. soldier in Korea, in 1960, and the two settled in North Carolina. Her husband Bruce passed away early, and Howell’s grandmother started the Howell family by doing laundry, restaurants, retail stores, etc.
My grandmother came to watch every game when I was in high school, Sam Howell said, and it was really nice to have my grandmother in my life. When Sam was in high school, his father, Duke Howell, served as an attack coach, and his grandmother, who lived 10 minutes away, always watched his grandson’s game.
Sadly, Sam’s grandmother passed away in November last year. I played my first starting quarterback against the Dallas Cowboys in January, and I think my grandmother would have loved it if she saw that scene, he said. It is said that the grandmother was a person who connected her with Korea.