Down Set ... I Hate Football?

Believe it or not when I was pretty young I hated football ... let me repeat ... hated. But I think it's because I didn't know what I was missing. I was a mama's girl and always got annoyed with how loud my dad yelled at the TV when some ref some where got some call wrong. I just wanted to watch TV upstairs with mom in peace! My whole family was big on football, so it was weird for me not to be. Sometimes if we had big family gatherings 80% of my family would go out back and toss the pig skin around. Not me. I'd be playing dress up or coloring or playing dolls. Something productive!

Until 5th grade. I'm pretty sure that's when my life changed. Starting seeing more football, going to high school football games with my family. I now knew what I had been missing. The hitting, the excitement, the hail mary! Ah! FOOTBALL! Why had I spent so much of my life hating what I didn't know?!

Well, it seems there are MANY women out there who hate or dislike football. It's a shame! It's a sport that anyone can get behind and now, for whatever reason, they make the colors, we die hards bleed, in pink. There's a little something for everyone! So I want to share some information to help some of you get behind the ball! (See what I did there? Behind the ball? Yeah if you don't we'll get to that!)

Now, I can't reasonably explain the entire game in one blog post. That would take a millenia to type and even longer to read. So we'll just do some of the basics. First of all football is the one where they wear helmets and throw the brown oblong ball around. Now that we got that out of the way, here we go.

There are 11 players on each side. There is an offense, those trying to score, and a defense the opposite team trying to stop the offense from scoring. The main players (pun intended) are the quarterback, linemen, running backs and receivers for the offense. (Remember you footballers this is the basics, we're not gonna go into detailed positions so just sit tight!) The defense has linemen also, corner backs and safetys. Linemen are easy because they all line up facing each other on what's called "The Line of Scrimmage." This is an imaginary line on the field where it has been determined the ball starts and so must the offense. The quarterback is the one who makes the play happen for the offense. He either hands the ball off or throws it to another player. The defense is always trying to down the ball. That means make the play stop. They do that either by sacking the quarterback (Tackling the quarterback while he still has the ball back behind the line of scrimmage) or by tackling the player he gives the ball to.

The goal of a game is to score points. You can do that a few different ways. The main and most important way is to score a touchdown. If your offense can get down the field and into the end zone (the end of the field usually with a team name in it or some colors. It's 10 yards deep) - it's a touchdown which is 6 points. If you score a touch down your kicker comes on the field and you have an opportunity to kick the ball through the goal posts for an extra point. Making the whole drive worth 7 points. A teams defense can also score a touchdown by either picking up a fumbled ball - the offense loses possession of the ball before they are called down, or by interception. That's where the ball is throw by the offense and caught by the defense. If either of those happen the ball is still live and the player can run it into his end zone for a touchdown. The other main way to score is called a field goal. This is where you have exhausted all your downs (I'll explain that next) in an attempt to score a touchdown and now you want to still score points by kicking the ball through the goal posts. (Goal posts are the big yellow posts at the back of the end zone) This can happen anywhere on the field, but it usually happens from the defense's 40 yard line or closer. A field goal is worth 3 points. There are also scoring opportunities called safeties. This happens when the quarterback is tackled in his own end zone (that's the end zone to his back, not the one he is trying to reach to score) This is worth 2 points. A team can also go for a 2 point conversion after a touchdown instead of the extra point.

Now what are these things called downs?? You read my mind! (Pun also intended there) The offense has to move the ball by either running it or throwing it 10 yards in 4 tries. Each time the ball is declared dead, or no longer in play, that is a down. If you move the ball 10 yards from the original line of scrimmage, that is called a first down. Meaning all your tries start again and you maintain possession of the ball. If you fail to go the full 10 yards in your 4 tries you must give possession of the ball over to the other team. This usually means the team on offense will bring on a kicker and they will punt the ball down the field to the other team.

The game is regulated by referees. They have several names determine by a letter on their shirt (L for Line judge, B for back judge, R for referee etc) They are located in different positions around the field to see every play from several different angles. Take for example if a player runs out of bounds, the Line judge is there to see it and whistle the ball dead and the play is over. There are many many different fouls (or illegal actions) in football so I won't cover them all. They main calls you will see are Holding. This is when a player holds onto another player in an illegal way preventing that player from making a play. This is indicated by the ref throwing a yellow flag at the spot of the foul and they will go on camera and he will grab one wrist with the other. Another big foul is False Start. This is when the offensive line moves before the ball is snapped back to the quarterback. Once both teams are set in their starting positions on the line of scrimmage you must remain still until the center snaps (or throws through his legs) the ball back to the quarterback to start the play. This will be indicated by the ref rolling his forearms - kinda like, "come on ride the train!" It's actually the same motion refs use in basketball to indicate a traveling violation. The third biggest foul you will see is Pass Interference. This happens when one player illegally prevents another playing from catching a thrown ball. This is indicated by the ref putting both hands forward. All fouls are indicated by the yellow flag(s) and when the ball is declared dead a whistle blast to let all players know the play is over.

There are various penalties for fouls. Holding is a 10 yard penalty against the team charged with the penalty. If it is on the defense it results in a first down for the offense. A false start is a 5 yard penalty and a repeated down. (Because false starts are only called on the offense) Pass interference is a 10 yard penalty as well in pro football and 15 yards in college. Needless to say it behooves a team to not accrue any penalties against themselves!! Look at me I used a big word!

So that's a start! It's some of the most basic information I can give on such an awesome sport. The best way to learn is to watch. They have super annoying commentators that do a great job of stating the obvious so everything gets over explained. Plus the refs have microphones now so they say what was called and why.

There's a lot more to learn, but it's easy once you get started. Plus, men LOVE a lady who knows football!! Even if it's just, "What?! That wasn't pass interference!! That ball wasn't even catch able!!" (If the team you're routing for is on defense) Or, "No way that was a hold!! That was textbook blocking!" These are usually things you should shout only after you see his reaction by they way. Especially if you really don't know. But he'll be impressed that you're trying to learn, and even more impressed that you know a little bit!

So hang in there ladies!! Football is an AWESOME sport that we should all come to embrace and watch! Hopefully this gives you more info for the next time you need to watch some. It gives you something to hang on to so you can intently watch the game instead of being bored out of your mind!

Go Bucks (The Ohio State Buckeyes are a college team) and Go Browns (The Cleveland Browns are a professional football team)!