Watching the Super Bowl this year was painful for me for two reasons. First, I am a die-hard Patriots fan and might have shed a tear at the loss. Second, I could not believe that some of the girls around me had absolutely no idea what was going on in the game. I will admit that some of the finer points of football rules are lost on me, but was shocked at the lack of basic knowledge that some of my fellow collegiettes admitted to. Ladies, there are few things that are more attractive to a man than a girl who knows her sports. So, here are the basics you need to know to not sound clueless at the next football party.
The Game: Football is like most sports in that it has an offense and a defense each trying to gain possession of the ball. The offense tries to get the ball down the field by either running or throwing it, and score points by getting the ball into the end zone. Meanwhile, the defense is trying to stop the offensive team. If the offense gives up the ball or scores, the teams switch roles (offense becomes defense and defense becomes offense) until the end of the four quarters of the game.
The game starts with a kickoff, where the defensive team kicks the ball to the offensive, then tries to stop their advance down the field. The offensive team tries to gain yards down the field, and have four tries, which are referred to as downs, to push the ball forward by ten yards. If they are successful, they continue the advance, if not, they lose possession of the ball. The defense is trying to stop them from making it those ten yards by either intercepting the ball or tackling the offensive players. The defense can also get the ball if the offense drops the ball and a defensive player recovers it. The team with the most points at the end of the game wins.
Timing of the game: Football games are divided into four 15-minute quarters, separated by a halftime. The team on the offensive has 40 seconds from the end of a play to start the next play before they are penalized.
The players: Each team gets 11 players on the field at any given time. I won’t go into too many specifics about the positions, but there is one in particular you need to know: the quarterback. He is the playmaker for the offensive team. Any play in football begins with a snap, where a player throws the ball underneath his legs to the QB (aka the quarterback). The QB can then decide to pass the ball, throw the ball, hand it off to another player, or run with it. I’ll be completely honest and tell you that the QB is definitely the coolest position; my favorite player, Tom Brady just happens to be a QB!
Scoring: You can score points in four different ways in football. The first is called a touchdown, where a player runs the ball into the end zone to get their team 6 points. If the offense scores a touchdown, they get the opportunity to kick the ball through the goal posts for an extra point, which is the second way teams can rack up points. Teams can also try and kick the ball through the goal posts for a field goal, which is worth 3 points. The final way is called a safety, which is rare, and is when the offense is tackled into his own end zone.
And there you have it collegiettes, a basics guide to football. My advice? Pick a team, either from your home state, or just by uniform color (my personal strategy for many years) and get cheering!
Photo credit: http://www.inquisitr.com/wp-content/2011/10/super-bowl.jpg