{"id":98551,"date":"2022-02-13T16:00:53","date_gmt":"2022-02-13T22:00:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/?p=98551"},"modified":"2022-02-23T19:50:01","modified_gmt":"2022-02-24T01:50:01","slug":"los-angeles-rams-max-pircher-puts-pigskin-twist-on-quintessential-italian-footballer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/los-angeles-rams-max-pircher-puts-pigskin-twist-on-quintessential-italian-footballer\/","title":{"rendered":"Los Angeles Rams\u2019 Max Pircher puts pigskin twist on quintessential Italian footballer"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>By Alyssa Haduck<\/strong><br \/>\n<em>Medill Reports<\/em><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">LOS ANGELES \u2014 Super Bowl week brought with it an announcement that the 2022 NFL season would feature the league\u2019s first regular-season game staged in Munich. While this is new territory for the league, it is familiar ground for a player who will be on the sidelines of Super Bowl LVI on Sunday.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Before Italian-born Max Pircher joined the Los Angeles Rams via the NFL\u2019s International Player Pathway Program, he played for the Hildesheim Invaders, an American football team in the German Football League.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u201cThey have crazy fans there,\u201d he said. \u201cWhen they make it to Munich, it\u2019s going to be really cool. I think that stadium is going to be sold out, 100%.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The NFL\u2019s expansion into Germany is the latest in the league\u2019s international growth. In December 2021, it launched an initiative to match 18 teams with 26 international markets for fan engagement and commercialization. Four teams have been assigned to Germany: the Carolina Panthers, the Kansas City Chiefs, the New England Patriots and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Rams add OL Max Pircher to 90-man roster via International Player Pathway Program<\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Los Angeles Rams (@RamsNFL) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/RamsNFL\/status\/1389663686541803520?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">May 4, 2021<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The NFL International Player Pathway Program, established in 2017, recruits a small group of international athletes to try out for a position on an NFL practice squad with the opportunity of making a team\u2019s active roster. The Italian is the first from his country to participate in the program.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Pircher played soccer and handball as a youth, but only began participating in football after being introduced to the sport by one of his high school teachers.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Despite his late start in the game, the 6-foot-7, 300-pound offensive lineman found early success, attracting the attention of the NFL\u2019s international scouts and earning a spot in the league\u2019s 2021 International Player Pathway Program.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Pircher, 22, had never been to the United States before joining the Rams. He said he has enjoyed Los Angeles from the day he arrived, thanks in part to teammates and coaches who have helped him not only adjust to life in America, but also the NFL\u2019s elevated style of play.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/PircherMax\/status\/1432244985936728065\">https:\/\/twitter.com\/PircherMax\/status\/1432244985936728065<\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Rams offensive line coach Kevin Carberry said Pircher has taken the challenge in stride.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u201cI\u2019m really proud of Max\u2019s growth and development,\u201d Carberry said. \u201cEverything we\u2019ve given him, he\u2019s run with it. During the season, when we have pads on, we would try to get some one-on-one reps, and he stepped in there and did some good things, so he\u2019s coming along. I\u2019m really proud of his progress.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">While Pircher will not see game action on Sunday, he knows his family and friends will still be watching from Italy. And through his inclusion in the Super Bowl, Pircher aims to pass forward the support he is receiving this weekend to Italian football players who aspire to play at the highest level of the game.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u201cIt\u2019s a big honor to do it,\u201d he said. \u201cThe most important thing is that people back home can see that there is a way to make it if they work hard. They don\u2019t play for nothing.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><iframe title=\"LA Rams Super Bowl LVI parade\" src=\"https:\/\/player.vimeo.com\/video\/681078744?h=682ff329fa&amp;dnt=1&amp;app_id=122963\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"autoplay; fullscreen; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><em>Alyssa Haduck is a sports media graduate student at Medill. You can follow her on Twitter at <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Alyssa_Haduck\">@Alyssa_Haduck<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Alyssa Haduck Medill Reports LOS ANGELES \u2014 Super Bowl week brought with it an announcement that the 2022 NFL season would feature the league\u2019s first regular-season game staged in Munich. While this is new territory for the league, it is familiar ground for a player who will be on the sidelines of Super Bowl [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":827,"featured_media":98570,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5201,31,5212,5182,5155],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-98551","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-medill-explores-2022","category-sports","category-la-sports-2022","category-super-bowl-lvi","category-winter-2022"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Los Angeles Rams\u2019 Max Pircher puts pigskin twist on quintessential Italian footballer - Medill Reports Chicago<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/los-angeles-rams-max-pircher-puts-pigskin-twist-on-quintessential-italian-footballer\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Los Angeles Rams\u2019 Max Pircher puts pigskin twist on quintessential Italian footballer - Medill Reports Chicago\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Alyssa Haduck Medill Reports LOS ANGELES \u2014 Super Bowl week brought with it an announcement that the 2022 NFL season would feature the league\u2019s first regular-season game staged in Munich. 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On the Rams' roster is Italian native Max Pircher, who entered the league through the NFL's International Player Pathway Program. 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