Nine yards, but not 10?

I do not know where the saying "the whole nine yards" comes from.  Being a football person, I have always assumed it came from football, but shouldn't it be 10.  It probably comes from somewhere else, but this quote came to me while doing some reading about middle schools.  We can all agree that the middle school years are vital, in fact they are probably more important than high school years.  Then why do we not support our middle schools more?  We do not cheer in football for nine yards, we want ten.  So why do we think that we should put a ton of money and energy into elementary schools and high schools and leave our middle schools to fend for themselves.  Middle schools do not have an identity.  When is the last time you have seen a future teacher in college say, "I want to be a middle school teacher."  I'm sure there are some out there, but they are few and far between.  We have to give our middle schools an identity.  We have to quit modeling them after elementary and high school and create a learning environment for hormonal, crazy kids.  I am not writing this to demean kids in middle school, but that is what they are.  We have to think outside the box and put time, money, and energy into the most important developmental years.  After all, without good middle schools, we will not have good high schools.