The Internet's best hidden treasures for football fans

NFL fans are a unique breed indeed. Where else can you see a fan in a gorilla suit sporting a Santa Claus hat and not think twice about it?

From the minute a game ends, NFL fans are plotting: what to do with that sorry QB; why run on third-and-long; get past this road stretch and we can make the playoffs.

Immediately, they want to talk and read about their teams. And the Internet offers innumerable ways to comment and console.

With that in mind, these sites should help bide time until you put on the face paint and use binoculars.

John "Frenchy" Fuqua
steelref.com/fuqua

Interviews, stats and photos of the former Pittsburgh Steelers running back, who remains famous for his part in one of the NFL's wildest plays, the Immaculate Reception. He also holds the team's game record for most rushing yards.

He was stylin' before it was fashionable. He might be best remembered, however, for his outrageous outfits, which once included goldfish in glass-heeled platform shoes and countless bell bottoms. The goldfish shoes never quite caught on, but is he beloved by Steelers fans? Oui! Oui! monsieur.

Remember the USFL
www.remembertheusfl.8m.com

The name says it all. Excellent history lesson for the second-best outlaw league (AFL is tops) in America and the best in the spring. Has all the records, coaches and attendance figures during the USFL's three-year run.

You can find out where legends such as Jim Kelly, Herschel Walker, Reggie White and Steve Young started their careers and where Steve Spurrier coached before he took heat for running up the score. You can find the good (Young), the bad (the USFL's attempt to compete head-to-head with the NFL) and the ugly (most of the logos really, but we'll go with the green-and-black Washington Federals as the worst).

You also can buy almost all of the teams' mini-helmets for $25 or a set of 20 for $470. That's $467 more than the NFL had to hand out to the USFL in an antitrust lawsuit. But if you're a USFL nut, it might be money well spent.

Darth Freeman's Christian Raider Page
members.aol.com/darthfreeman

A unique site even for Raiders fans, some of earth's most rabid (read obnoxious). It's mostly a Christian viewpoint of the Raiders hosted by Darth Freeman of Santa Rosa, Calif. As Darth says, "Where else can you find such an interesting blending of Christianity and the Oakland Raiders (and there is some Star Wars in there, too)?"

With the Raiders helmet wallpaper, it's not the easiest homepage to read, but it provides several Raiders lists and a look at some of the greatest games in Raiders history. Fans also can download audio clips of classic and 2001 games.

In case you think it's all a Sunday-school lesson, however, Darth has the latest odds (with a disclaimer, of course) and his picks against the spread. Just click, baby.

The Red Zone
www.theredzone.org

This site, run by Don Maier of St. Louis, is a compendium of NFL news in one convenient place with drop-down links for scads of NFL categories.

In addition to salaries for every player, the site provides breaking NFL news, schedules, a draft history, free-agent terms, etc.

It also has chat forums for every NFL team and general NFL talk, a history of the salary cap and how it works, fantasy sites, etc.

Perhaps the best feature, though, is the news from each NFL team, complete with archived articles. Maier posts articles from several sources — all free.

— Tony Guadagnoli, The Seattle Times