WHAT DOES IT ALL MEAN?
As you may or may not have heard, there's a big soccer tournament going on down in the southern hemisphere. The best players in the world have left behind their professional club responsibilities to play for their homelands. I'd go on, but this isn't a futbol site -- it's a football site.
That's why we've decided to ponder what would happen if all the NFL players took a leave of absence from their employers so they could go represent their hometowns in a World Cup-style gridiron tournament.
We've circled the country's top 16 biggest generators of pro football talent and created the optimal rosters (at least as we see 'em). Each of those teams was placed at random in one of four groups of four. The goal? To determine the best pigskin metropolis in all these United States. Move over, World Cup. This is the NFL Cup.
Here's how it works ...
*
*
TEAM ROSTERS
Only professional players who attended high school within 100 miles of a given city are eligible.
If a team does not have the sufficient number of NFL players to fill a given position, those spots will be filled by locals selected from local gymnasiums, pool halls & underground fight clubs.
*Starters denoted by
RULES
A single-elimination bracket tournament with three games played within each group: Two preliminary matchups followed by a Group Final between the winners. The winners of each group will combine for two semifinal matchups with the winners of those games meeting in the championship game.
And here are the four groups...
LOS ANGELES
BAY AREA
PHOENIX
HOUSTON
CHICAGO
CINCINNATI
CLEVELAND
DALLAS
MIAMI
TAMPA
ATLANTA
NEW ORLEANS
CHARLOTTE
NEW YORK/TRISTATE
PITTSBURGH
WASHINGTON D.C.