a very modest paycheck, and in the hope that—
despite very long odds—they might someday be re-
cruited to play in the NFL. The games were high
scoring, and the action literally wound up in the
stands sometimes, with players landing among the
fans on some sideline plays. NFL teams were orga-
nized into highly specialized units, but many AFL
players played both offense and defense, nostalgic
reminders of the blue-collar origins of the NFL. The
offensive strategy benefited from Darnell “Mouse”
Davis, who reached legendary status as the origina-
tor of the “run and shoot” offense. At the NFL and
NCAA levels, run and shoot was a fad that faded, but
it became the staple of the AFL, driving the league’s
popularity.
Impact The success of the AFL contrasted with the
demise of the World League of American Football
and the Extreme Football League (XFL). American
football proved unpopular in Europe, and even NFL
affiliation failed to save the international league.
The XFL tried to blend the best of professional wres-
tling and football traditions, and it disappeared after
one season. The AFL remained stable, won major
network broadcasting contracts by 1998, and even
set up a minor-league network in smaller markets.
The AFL never challenged the NFL, but it thrived
based on more modest goals and a solid marketing
strategy.
Subsequent Events The high point of the AFL
came in 2000, when former Iowa Barnstormers
quarterback Kurt Warner led the NFL’s Saint Louis
Rams to victory in the Super Bowl. Warner’s career
established the possibility that other AFL players
could make a successful transition to the NFL and
could bring their AFL fans with them.
Further Reading
Brucato, Thomas.Major Leagues. New Brunswick,
N.J.: Scarecrow Press, 2001.
Evey, Stu.ESPN. Chicago: Triumph Books, 2004.
Michael Polley
See also Cable television; Football; Sports.
Art movements
Definition Organized or implicit stylistic and
ideological trends characterizing art forms of a
given time and placeArt in the 1980’s is often described as postmodern. With the
project of modernism being viewed by some as over, there was
a loss of a link with the traditional avant-garde art that de-
fined the beginning of the twentieth centur y. In the 1980’s,
then, art can be viewed as situated within a pluralist cul-
tural climate without any agreed-upon goals.Art in the 1980’s cannot be easily defined through
one style or movement. Many different styles were
created and mediums were explored during this de-
cade including painting, sculpture, photography,
and installation art. The common link between
them was the rise of a culture characterized by diver-
sity, in which little agreement existed as to whether
there were any values held in common by all Ameri-
cans, much less what such values might be. The de-
cade’s art reflected the diversity of its culture, and it
often commented explicitly on the lack of shared
goals or values underlying that diversity. Nonethe-
less, artists working in the decade entered into dia-
logue with one another, and identifiable trends and
styles emerged as a result.
In New York, America’s cultural and economic
center, the booming economy of the Ronald Reagan
years resulted in a cadre of newly rich businessmen
and media stars with disposable income to spend on
art. In SoHo, the focus of the contemporary art
world during this period, prices rose, and galleries
such as the Mary Boone Gallery found that the de-
mand for paintings among collectors was greater
than ever before. However, in venues such as the
East Village of New York, art also was created apart
from this art-market frenzy.Painting Neoexpressionism lay at the heart of the
art-market boom in the 1980’s. In the early 1980’s,
galleries in SoHo took an interest in new figurative
art from Germany and Italy by artists such as Georg
Baselitz, Anslem Kiefer, Francesco Clemente,
Sandro Chia, and Enzo Cucci. These artists’ works
were characterized by quirky and crude figurative
styles on a large scale, a loose handling of paint, and
strong color and were a significant influence on the
American neoexpressionist artists who followed in
their wake.68 Art movements The Eighties in America