Explain American Football To People From The UK
 

This is like a sister thread to the one Right-Track started because I was flicking through the TV and there`s a live game on & i`m totally baffled by it.
So hows about answering me a few questions.

Why do you need time outs when the play seems to stop every few seconds anyway?

From what I can see there are 11 players on the pitch , so what do all the other 90 odd on the sidelines do?Why do you need so many? Do players ever play in more than one position during a game?

Why is it called a touchdown when you don`t even have to touch the ball down like you do in rugby for example?

Why does the clock seem to stop & start at total random?

I`ve been watching about 10 minutes & not seen a single player kick a ball yet, so why call it football?

Why are you so obsessed with statistics? why is it important to know how many yards a player has thrown a ball forward all season?

Don`t you ever get bored of the endless commercial breaks in the middle of a game?

Don`t you think it would be more interesting if a player ran out of play with the ball that the opposition got possession instead of his own team , don`t you think that would add a little more skill to the game instead of just running out of play you`d have to make than little more effort to go further?

What consitutes a proper tackle , does he just have to knock the guy on the ground or does he actually have to hold him down till he can`t move?

lol you answered it your self, its a sport thats been bastardized by the american media. id much rather watch a rugby match

/\ Yes what urban wanted was a kiss-ass sell out responce that equates to baseline pandering. Come on man, don't be one of those "I wish I were brittish" kids. Don't hate yourself in 10 years.

Theres a whole **** ton of questions there man, let me take one.

Its called Football because it came over when futeball had no definitive rules and so carrying, kicking, throwing and passing were all legal by virture of no ruling made possible.

As I recall, the general rule in England was that you kicked it as we know UKfootball today, and was only cemented in law when someone just picked it up and ran down field.

Meanwhile stateside, the only reason football here is football here is because America at the birth of the nation was violently anti-british changing the spelling of words and the origin of like-oriented sports but not identical ones.

If you really want to know who decided that we'd carry it and wear pads and all that ****, You'll have to blame Harvard (I blame them for everything) becuase they are the ones who instutionalized it.

As a small adjunct, Soccer is called that because the name used to be some super ass long one like Socially Organized Football Leauge, and it went to Soc. Football, and then later, Soccer by what I can only speculate as Rob Schnider-esque "copy guy" morons.

Pretty or not, thats how it came to be.

sorry i dont like football, and i dont wish i was british.. i hva ebitish blood, but big deal, id rather live somewhere with mountains

1. time outs are needed because while there are constant stoppages in play, the clock doesnt stop. a time out stops the clock, and gives the team time to plan a play.

2. the players on the side line are there incase a current player gets tired or injured. they are on the roster (alhough it may be 2nd or 3rd string).

3. players can play multiple positions during a game. it is very common for a player to be a wide receiver and return punts as well.

4. its called a touchdown because a part of your body must physically "touch down" in the endzone for it to count.

5. there is a game clock and a play clock. the game clock stops during a time out, at the 2 minute warning (2 minutes left in a quarter), and at the end of a quarter. the play clock is the same, but also stops when a player with the ball goes out of bounds.

6. im not sure exactly why its called "football". i would imagine that it is because it is closely related to Rugby football. and they do actually kick the ball. they kick off at the start of every quarter, they punt when they are on 4th down and not in scoring position, and they kick fieldgoals when they are in scoring position (usually on 4th down) and after a touch down (if they choose not to go for a 2 point conversion)

7. statistics are important in all sports. they indicate which players are the best, and which are not. the better the player, the more money. the statistics also help to determine the MVP (and Heismann Trophy winner in NCAA, although it is supposedly selected by fan votes).

8. yes, the commercials do get rather old, but thats a problem with most television. thats why I prefer to attend the games live (as much as possible).

9. as for the opposition getting posession after a player goes out of bounds, thats just not how it works. i dont see how that would make the game any more interesting. teams rely on the out of bounds to stop the play clock.

10. it is ruled a tackle if 1 knee of the player with the ball touches the ground.


Anything else?

football is one of the stupidest things ever.

don't bother trying to understand it

^ you're a pretty big idiot arent you?

...........................oh yeah, SHUT UP!

how rude LesPaul. how rude:rolleyes:

it's barbaric and stupid.
a bunch of guys chasing after a ball and trying to get it to another end of the field.

and pro football is worse. ignore how stupid football is and look at all the potentials to get an injury. these dudes are suicidal. no amount of money is worth it.

they dont do it for the money (well, some do). they do it b/c they love it. there is TREMENDOUS risk for injury in all sports but that doesnt stop them. how about a 90mph fastball to the noggin in baseball? is baseball barbaric? and if so, whats wrong with being barbaric?

You're completely dunse. I cant believe the crap you say sometimes.

unless you're the right fielder for detroit, there isn't a very high risk for injury because of a abseball to the head in baseball.

and there's nothing wrong with it being barbarbic. I just say that as an excuse for why i don't like it. and the reason id on't like it is because my team (the eagles) always disappoint me.

actually any player who ever steps up to bat is at risk.

haha, the eagles arent that bad:rolleyes:

i win more money betting against the eagles.

here's somethingt hat baffles me about football. all the obviously overweight players.

McNabb is the most overated QB since Farve

Thats a complete lie. McNabb's numbers before his injuries were damn good.

I think he is a bum, he'll last another 2 years at best

offensive line is usually rather large, but thats out of necessity. but dont question their strength. theyve basically got the same job as a sumo wrestler, and no one complains about them being fat.

most of them can also run the 100m faster than I can

You thinking hes a bum differs hugely from him being overrated.

sumo wrestling confuses me. why would you put your health at risk for a sport?

and i don't mean to sound like a hypoocrite cause I do the same thing but ym to that extent. no way.

He's no Warren Moon

theyre just naturally fat, but they do eat massive amounts of food. but they still have tons of muscle under all the fat. probably medically healthier than you and me put together.

Again, him being as good as Moon..and him being overrated arent relevant to eachother.
EDIT:MJ

Speak for yourself.

my school sports coordinator put me on a restricted diet and I can't play if I don't meet certain medical standards.
Granted I don't feel veyr healthy at the moment. I ate a carton of ice cream and half a pizza earlier today.

i usually run/jog/walk 3 miles per day so id like to think im getting a little healthy.

they shold call it hand ball or something, it has very little to do with the foot and alot to do with hands

I`ll be interested to know what peoples opinion of franchises.

I mean do you think that 32 professional teams to cover the whole of a country the size of the U.S. is a little small?
I mean England has 92 professional clubs just in the football league with a handful of amateur clubs turning pro outside the league with ambitions to get into the league & play at the highest level , there are about 15 clubs just in London alone

Do you think there should be more openness like there is in British football with promotion & relegation? giving smaller teams a chance to grow & be up there with the big boys? Would you like to see more cities represented?

What happens when a team loses it`s franchise? do they still play at a competative level? Do the fans of the old team follow the new team even though they could be playing their matches hundreds of miles away?

there more that 16 team i can't remeber all of them but i'll take a crack

nc panthers
salt lake
pittsburg
green bay
dallas
miami
49ers
kanas city
tampa bay
jets
oilers
bears
seatle seahawks
ravens

and some i can't recall, got stuck haveing to watch it at my first job

Yeah it`s 32 I was just looking at the top half of the list :o:

there also the college rankings i always thought they played abit better while in school..

no 32 teams is plenty. it works out well when it goes to the playoffs. most fans of the old team do still follow the new team (ex. Houston Oilers --> Houston Texans). and there is also NFL Europe with i think 20-30 teams. many players refine their craft in NFL Europe before moving to the big time.

this thread sounds like someone trying to demean an american sport.
it's easy to make a sport sound stupid, its easy to make anything sound stupid actually.

I've seen an American Football game, And while it was probably nowhere near the calibre of Games in America, I'd say, it was still fun to watch. Live. I'd say it's pretty damn boring on TV.

And Ice-hockey Kicks American Football ass any day.

I guess youve got to be a football fan to ennjoy watching it on TV. And it is 10X better live. Im not really into ice hockey. maybe because i cant keep track of that damn little puck. nut the body checks and fights are pretty entertaining.

It`s funny that people are willing to accept that over there because they`ve only francised one team in English football and that was Wimbledon.And that was a total disaster.

They were in the top league but had to close their stadium because it was unsafe. They groundshared for a while with Crystal Palace while they tried to get planning permission for a new stadium.Just as it looked like things were finally happening after about 6 years of legal bullsh*t the club were taken over by a Norwegian buisnessman who announced he would build a stadium for them ... approx 150 miles away in Milton Keynes. The Wimbledon fans were totally against it and boycotted the club attendences went down to just a couple of thousand a game and they plummetted down the leagues.

About 3 years ago they moved into the Milton Keynes stadium and changed their name from Wimbledon to the Milton Keynes Dons (The Dons being Wimbledons nickname) and now they are in the bottom league with hardly any supporters and no money whatsoever .The original Wimbledon supporters put together a new amateur club called AFC Wimbledon and supported them instead. The fans in Milton Keynes don`t care about the club either because they don`t see them as their team.

So yeah , franchising doesn`t work here at all.

Urban, dont forget that Americans dont give a flying fook about soccer. Maybe thats why our 1 English team didnt work out all that well.

How long does the American Football season last?

17 weeks, 16 games are played per each time giving you one week off and I can't remember off the top of my head how long post season is 3-4 games to win everything or something like that.