the.com/end zone

The 10 yards where careers get made and grown men cry on purpose.

means The end-marked scoring area of a football field, running the full width of the field behind each goal line, where a team must get the ball to score a touchdown.

from A plain compound of 'end' (the terminus of the field) and 'zone' (a marked-off area), rooted in 'zone' tracing back to Greek 'zone' meaning a belt or girdle — fitting for a strip of turf cinched at the field's edge. The term formalized alongside American football's own evolution from rugby in the late 1800s and early 1900s, as the sport fixed its rules about scoring territory and needed a plain name for the space behind the goal line.

size
10 yards deep, full field width
origin
formalized in football rules by 1912
celebration rule
excessive celebration can draw a penalty
nickname
the paint, promised land
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