Jackson Free Press

Here is a nice trivia question you can ask your friends next week: Do you know who was the first 2016 NFL Draft player to sign with his team?

If you said Moritz Boehringer, then you would be right. The rest of you might be saying, "Who’s Moritz Boehringer?"

Funny thing you should ask that, because depending on his success, he could have started a trend.

Boehringer is the first player in NFL history to be drafted directly from Europe. The Minnesota Vikings drafted him with the 180th pick in the sixth round.

The 22-year-old, 6-foot-4-inch wide receiver was the 2015 German League Rookie of the Year, who became interested in American football after watching highlights of Vikings superstar running back Adrian Peterson.

But Boehringer isn’t the only player from the Germany to find his way to a NFL training camp this summer. Griffin Neal played Division III football at Concordia College who graduated in 2015 and headed to Hildesheim, Germany.

Neal went to Germany after an invitation from an American coach and ended up playing for the Invaders, a second-tier team in the German Football League. He also worked with a quarterback coach that helped get him an invite to Tulane’s Pro Day.

That invite to a pro day was helped by rain that forced the Tulane players to workout at the New Orleans Saints' indoor practice facility. All the Saints decision makers were there instead of just one scout. Neal impressed the New Orleans big wigs enough to get another workout. He aced that workout and earned a contract for camp later this summer.

If the sport of football is going to keep growing, that growth has to come outside of the country. Every major North American team sport has already gone global.

Soccer, can be traced back 2000 years ago but England took the sport around the world, is the world’s biggest sport. Basketball and baseball are well-known around the world. Hockey is limited by weather in most of the world, but it is still more global than American football.

The German Football League started in 1999 and is still trying to grow in terms of talent and fans. Boehringer and others explained during the draft that most German players aren’t ready to play in the NFL, much less the Arena Football League.

Germany isn’t the only place where American football is trying to take hold. There's the Amercian Football League of China, and why not try to get American football in the country with the world’s largest population?

The sport is also making inroads in Brazil, Mexico, Japan, Australia, England and other places. The International Federation of American Football says there are 80 countries with some level of organized football.

Currently the most talented players are in Germany. That would make sense if you remember the old NFL Europe that folded in 2007, which had several teams in Germany to expose fans to American football. …

American Pharoah finally broke the 37-year streak of no Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing. It was the longest drought in Triple Crown history, breaking the previous one of 25 years between Citation winning in 1948 and Secretariat winning in 1973.

While the horse captured the attention of the public from early May to June, American Pharoah is now retired after winning horse racings' first Grand Slam when he captured the Breeder’s Cup in late October. He now lives the life of a stud horse on a stud farm in Kentucky.

A new horse will get a chance to accomplish the feat of winning the Triple Crown this year. Horses have won back-to-back Triple Crowns just once, When Seattle Slew accomplished the feat in 1977 and Affirmed did it in 1978.

The Kentucky Derby, also known as “The Run for the Roses,” is a 1 1/4-mile race for 3-year-old horses. This year marks the 142nd running of the Kentucky Derby, and the race this year will have a full field of 20.

Undefeated in seven races, Nyquist is the early favorite at 3-1, as he drew the No. 13 post on Wednesday, the same one he won at the Breeder’s Cup Juvenile last year. Four horses since 1900 have won from that post, with Smarty Jones being the latest in 2004.

Mario Gutierrez rides Nyquist, Doug O’Neill trains him and Paul Redman, who went on to win the 2012 Kentucky Derby on I’ll Have Another, owns him. The horse also won the Preakness Stakes before being scratched from the Belmont Stakes due to a tendon injury.

The second favorite is Exaggerator at 8-1 odds and racing out of the No.11 post. A trio of horses are tied for third favorite: Creator from the No. 3 post, Gun Runner from No. 5 and Mohaymen from No. 14 are all 10-1 odds.

Bob Baffert, who trained American Pharoah, will have Mor Spirit, who drew the No. 17 post, a spot no horse has ever won the derby from. Mor Spirit is 12-1 odds, along with No. 19 post Brody’s Cause.

Destin from the No. 9 post and Danzing Candy from the No. 20 post are drawing 15-1 odds.

New Orleans Saints owner Tom Benson has two horses in the field with Mo Tom at No. 4 and Tom’s Ready at No. 12. Mo Tom is at 20-1, and Tom’s Ready is at 30-1 odds.

American Pharoah jockey Victor Espinoza drew the No. 10 post on Witmore, who, like No. 2 post Suddenbreakingnews, My Man Sam at No. 6 and Saghaf at No. 16, are all at 20-1 odds.

Racing from Japan is Lani from the No. 8 post. The horse is known to be unpredictable from the starting gate. Lani and No. 18 Majesto are at 30-1 odds.

Trojan Nation drew the dreaded No. 1 post. That's the horse that normally gets pinned against the inside rail and is pushed back by …