WorkbookEdition 6 the first super bowl

READTHEORY Passage and Questions Name Date • Reading Comprehension Assessment Directions: Read the passage Then answer the questions below The First Super Bowl The Super Bowl is a huge part of American culture today Nearly in Americans watches the annual football championship game on TV But this was not always the case Until 1967, there was no Super Bowl Before 1960, there was not even a reason to have one Prior to 1960, the National Football League’s fortieth season, there was no other league worthy of competition But in 1960, the American Football League came into existence Football Fights The NFL had competed against rival leagues before But the other leagues had always fizzled or flopped Because the NFL was able to attract the best athletes, the other leagues were only able to sign lesser-quality NFL rejects But the AFL became a hit because it managed to find some really good players who the NFL had made the mistake of passing on The AFL also attracted great players by paying them more The college star Billy Cannon, for instance, chose to sign with the Houston Oilers instead of the NFL’s Los Angeles Rams because the AFL team paid him twice as much as the Rams would have For years afterward, the NFL and AFL teams got into bidding wars for star players Still, there was an unspoken agreement to not sign players from one league to the other That broke down when an AFL kicker signed with an NFL team Afterward, the AFL struck back by signing eight of the better quarterbacks the NFL had to offer Suddenly, the leagues were both successful And both were fielding several excellent teams The NFL worried it might not be able to survive the AFL’s challenge After six years of strong competition, the NFL decided it had no choice but to negotiate with the AFL In June of 1966, the two leagues agreed to merge by 1969 After 1969, the two leagues would both exist as the National Football League with two conferences: the American Football Conference and the National Football Conference The two leagues would share a draft to find new players from the college ranks Additionally, the two leagues decided that there should be a championship game at the end of the season, just as baseball’s two professional leagues had long played a World Series at the end of the season The First Championship Both leagues had their own championship games played on January 1, 1967 The Kansas City Chiefs beat the Buffalo Bills in the AFL’s game Shortly after, the Green Bay Packers beat the Dallas Cowboys A week later, the Chiefs would face off with the Packers in Los Angeles in the first Super Bowl Interestingly, no one called the first Super Bowl by that name Instead, it was just called the “AFLNFL World Championship Game.” Some sportswriters called it the “Supergame,” but the term Super Bowl was not used until the third championship game, in 1969 The term was then used in reference to the longstanding tradition of ending college football seasons with bowl games such as the Rose Bowl and the Cotton Bowl The first Super Bowl was not a close game Green Bay beat Kansas City by 25 points Still, a new tradition was born, and the games would get better each year READTHEORY Questions 1) According to paragraph 1, in what decade did the National Football League play its first season? A B C D 1910s 1920s 1950s 1960s 2) As used in paragraph 2, the word rival most nearly means A B C D opposing conquering distrustful merging 3) Information in the passage suggests that the American Football League was different from previous leagues in that the AFL A B C D was able to attract NFL-quality players existed in the age of television asked the NFL to play a championship game had the best quarterbacks in the country 4) According to the passage, the NFL decided to merge with the AFL because A B C D the AFL had stolen the best college players from the NFL the AFL became more profitable than the NFL the NFL wanted to create a championship game the NFL feared its ability to compete with the AFL 5) As a result of the NFL-AFL merger, each of the following occurred EXCEPT A B C D the new league was split into two conferences a championship game was created the two leagues kept their separate names forever a shared college draft was created 6) According to the passage, which team did NOT play in a league-championship game in 1967? A B C D Buffalo Bills Los Angeles Rams Dallas Cowboys Green Bay Packers 7) Information in paragraph mostly is used to A B C D provide a transition to the next topic define a term not known to the reader describe the reasons the first Super Bowl was played clarify the use of a previously used term 8) This passage is best described as A B C D a description of the effects of the first Super Bowl an overview of the history of the NFL a history of the first Super Bowl a summary of the first Super Bowl game READTHEORY Questions 9) Based on the information in the passage, explain the main differences between the original versions of the AFL and the NFL _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 10) Who you think is the target audience for this passage? What is the average reader’s age? What are his or her interests? Where you think this passage would be published? Explain your inferences below _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ READTHEORY Questions _ _ _ _ 11) Imagine that a brand new football league were to be established today What you think would happen to this new league? What challenges would the league face? How would its story be different from the history of the NFL and AFL? _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ READTHEORY Answers and Explanations 1) D Question Type: Detail In the first paragraph, the passage states that “prior to 1960, the NFL’s fortieth season, there was no other league.” Since 1960 was the NFL’s fortieth season, the first season must have taken place in 1921 This means the NFL played its first season in the 1920s It also means choice (B) is correct The passage never discusses the 1910s nor suggests that the first NFL season was played in that decade Because of this, choice (A) is not correct The passage does not suggest that the NFL played its first season in the 1950s It does suggest the NFL existed during the 1950s, though This question asks about the first season alone, so choice (C) is not correct The passage states that the AFL played its first season in the 1960s But this question asks about the NFL Because of this, choice (D) is not correct 2) A Question Type: Vocabulary rival (adjective): a person or thing competing with another for the same goal In paragraph 2, the author refers to the other “rival leagues” the NFL “had competed against” before the AFL was created It then refers to the “other leagues” failing These sentences suggest that rival leagues are in competition with each other This would suggest that rival is closest in meaning to opposing Because of this, choice (A) is correct The second paragraph makes it clear that the NFL had actually conquered or defeated the other “rival leagues” before This would suggest that rival does not mean conquering, since rival is used to describe the leagues the NFL beat, not the NFL itself The NFL was the conquering league Because of this, choice (B) is not correct The second paragraph suggests that rival is used to describe something in competition with something else While two opposite sides might be distrustful of each other, there is nothing in the passage to suggest that rival outright means distrustful Choice (C) is not correct as a result The second paragraph refers to “rival leagues” and suggests that the AFL was one such league Though the AFL did eventually merge with the NFL, this is not described in paragraph Because of this, there is no reason to believe that rival and merging have the same meaning Choice (D) is not correct because of this 3) A Question Type: Inference In the second paragraph, the passage describes the differences between the AFL and “rival leagues” to the NFL before It states that most leagues “were only able to sign lesser-quality NFL rejects” as players But “the AFL became a hit because it managed to find some really good players,” including those that would have gone to the NFL This suggests that, unlike previous rival leagues, the AFL was able to attract NFL-quality players Because of this, choice (A) is correct The passage does discuss television a bit, but it does not describe television in the context of the AFL’s success Because of this, choice (B) is not correct The passage goes on to state that the AFL and NFL agreed to play a championship game But this is only after the AFL had proven successful This question mostly asks about what made the AFL successful, not what the result of that success was Because of this, choice (C) is not correct The fourth paragraph states that the AFL eventually did sign “eight of the better quarterbacks the NFL had to offer.” But it does not state that the league “had the best quarterbacks in the country.” Having some of the better and having the very best are two different things Because of this, choice (D) is not correct 4) D Question Type: Detail In paragraphs and 4, the passage describes the reasons for the AFL-NFL merger in 1966 At the end of paragraph 3, the author writes that “the NFL worried it might not be able to survive the AFL’s challenge.” This is the last thing mentioned before paragraph 4, in which the author describes the NFL’s merger with the AFL This means that that the NFL merged with the AFL because the NFL feared its ability to compete with the AFL As a result, choice (D) is correct The passage states that the AFL had stolen at least one college star—Billy Cannon—from the NFL, but it does not state that it routinely stole the best college players Because of this, choice (A) is not correct The passage states that the AFL had become very successful, but it does not state that it was making more money than the NFL was Choice (B) is not correct because the passage does not provide enough evidence to support that claim The passage states that the NFL and AFL decided to create a championship game after the merger But it does not suggest that the championship game was the reason for the merger Because of this, choice (C) is not correct 5) C Question Type: Detail To answer this detail question, look for the part of the passage that describes the NFL-AFL merger The results of the AFL-NFL merger are listed in paragraph There, the author states that, “After the two leagues would both exist as the National Football League with two conferences: the American Football Conference and the National Football Conference.” This makes it clear that the two leagues did not keep their separate names Rather, they would both operate under the name of the National Football League, with the two leagues renamed as conferences This question asks for the event that did NOT occur, so choice (C) is correct The results of the AFL-NFL merger are listed in paragraph There, the author states that, “After the two leagues would both exist as the National Football League with two conferences: the American Football Conference and the National Football Conference.” This makes it clear that the two leagues became one and that the new league was divided into two conferences This question asks for the event that did NOT occur, so choice (A) is not correct The results of the AFL-NFL merger are listed in paragraph There, the author states that the “two leagues decided that there should be a championship game.” This question asks for the event that did NOT occur, so choice (B) is not correct The results of the AFL-NFL merger are listed in paragraph There, the author states that the “two leagues would share a draft to find new players from the college ranks.” This question asks for the event that did NOT occur, so choice (D) is not correct 6) B Question Type: Detail To answer this detail question, look for the part of the passage that describes the league championships of 1967 This occurs in paragraph There, the author states that “both leagues had their own championship games played on January 1, 1967.” He or she states that “the Kansas City Chiefs beat the Buffalo Bills in the AFL’s game” and that “the Green Bay Packers beat the Dallas READTHEORY Answers and Explanations Cowboys” in the NFL championship The only team listed that did not play in a championship game in 1967, then, was the Los Angeles Rams This question asks for the team that did NOT play in a league-championship game in 1967, so choice (B) is correct Choices (A), (C), and (D) are each correct because paragraph states that “the Kansas City Chiefs beat the Buffalo Bills in the AFL’s game” and that “the Green Bay Packers beat the Dallas Cowboys” in the NFL championship This question asks for the team that did NOT play in a league-championship game in 1967, not teams that did play in the championship games 7) D Question Type: Inference In paragraph 6, the author strays from the main flow of the passage a bit Rather than describing the Super Bowl after listing the teams that would play in it, he or she clarifies what the first Super Bowl was actually called, as “no one called the fist Super Bowl by that name.” The term “Super Bowl” is used throughout the passage, so the author is attempting to clarify the use of a previously used term in paragraph He or she makes it clear that the “First Super Bowl” is only a name given to the event after the fact Because of this, choice (D) is correct The author never transitions to a new topic in paragraph Instead, he or she actually brings up a different path of discussion in paragraph before returning to the original topic in paragraph This means he or she does not transition into the next topic in paragraph but instead transitions away from the main topic Because of this, choice (A) is not correct The author does not actually define any terms in paragraph Instead, he or she only makes it clear that the term he or she uses (the first Super Bowl) is a term that was not used in 1967 No defining is done, though, so choice (B) is not correct The fourth paragraph explains the reasons the first Super Bowl was played This question asks about paragraph 6, though, so choice (C) is not correct 8) C Question Type: Global The entire passage is about the first Super Bowl It is divided into three sections In the first, the author introduces the topic In the second (the section labeled “Football Fights”), the author describes the background of the AFL-NFL merger, the event that brought about the first Super Bowl In the third (the section labeled “The First Championship”), the author describes who played in the game, what it was called, and the results This means the passage mostly provides a history of the first Super Bowl Because of this, choice (C) is correct The passage never describes the effects of the first Super Bowl Instead, it describes the effects of the AFLNFL merger and the causes of the first Super Bowl Because of this, choice (A) is not correct The passage does not provide an overview of the entire history of the NFL Instead, it only discusses the NFL in the 1960s and mostly focuses on the Super Bowl itself This means choice (B) is not correct The passage is about the first Super Bowl game, but it does not summarize the game itself Instead, it provides background on the game but never goes into much detail about the actual event Choice (D) is not correct as a result  ... description of the effects of the first Super Bowl an overview of the history of the NFL a history of the first Super Bowl a summary of the first Super Bowl game READTHEORY Questions 9) Based on the information... paragraph 6, the author strays from the main flow of the passage a bit Rather than describing the Super Bowl after listing the teams that would play in it, he or she clarifies what the first Super Bowl. .. is about the first Super Bowl It is divided into three sections In the first, the author introduces the topic In the second (the section labeled “Football Fights”), the author describes the background