The best local traditions in the NFL

When it comes to great football traditions, many think first of the collegiate game. Certainly, college football is replete with famous rituals, from Clemson’s “Howard’s Rock” to the “Play Like A Champion Today” placard that every Notre Dame player touches as they leave for the field.

Yet the NFL has traditions of its own. While many of these practices are of more recent vintage than their college counterparts, they’re as much a part of the culture of football.

The Green Bay Packers are perhaps the most mythologized team in sports. Their fans own the team, their stadium is a celebrated combination of history and modern amenity, and the team has won more championships than any other in the NFL. However, they are perhaps most famous for their scoring tradition, the Lambeau Leap. The Leap was born in 1993 when a Reggie White fumble recovery was lateralled to LeRoy Butler, who took it in for the score and jumped into the crowd. The tradition became so famous that the league grandfathered it in after implementing rules restricting touchdown celebrations. Just this year, the Packers honored the Lambeau Leap with a statue.

One of the stranger traditions in the NFL, the Hogettes are a collection of cross dressers who appeared at Washington home games and raised money for charity. Their name and suinae image come from The Hogs, the impenetrable offensive line of the 1980s Skins teams that won multiple Super Bowls. While the Hogettes retired in 2012, they earned $100 million for the Children’s Miracle Network, Ronald McDonald House, and March of Dimes.

The New York Jets are hardly the only team to spell out its name in a chant. Half the Big Ten has its own spin on this very same idea. However, the Jets fandom cannot be severed from the image of Fireman Ed inciting the stadium-wide cheer. Though he no longer performs at games, the chant lives on.

These days I call Southern California my home. While the Los Angeles market has been without an NFL team for two decades, the locals believe a franchise will arrive on their doorstep in the coming years. By and large, they’re happy to welcome any franchise with open arms. The one team for which some hold reservation is the Oakland Raiders. Why? Because the Raiders possess the scariest fans in the NFL. Decked out in unwieldy spiked outfits and with faces painted silver and black, the fans strike fear in their opponents even when the players on the field don’t.