When I was younger, I didn't really get into football. I'd watch the occasional game on the weekends, the obligatory Thanksgiving games, and the Super Bowl, but that was the extent of it. Sports never really interested me. I cared more about work and music. When I got to college, I still didn't care because I wanted to deny the meathead football fan stereotype and Baylor plays in the Big 12 South which means they'll probably never break .500. Plus, Sundays were devoted to studying. It wasn't until I left school that football really started to interest me.
The truth is football is really, really intricate and complicated. Far more than any other 'major' sport. Even the basics are difficult. Two teams of usually between 11 and 18 players try to score by throwing, carrying, or kicking the ball. When on offense, each team has four downs to go ten yards or score; whichever comes first. It is the only sport that you have more than one way to score points. Basically two: when the ball crosses into the end zone and when it passes through the uprights. In every other sport, there is only one way to score. Baseball, soccer, basketball, auto racing, and hockey all require only one way to score. For example: you can only score in baseball when a player steps on home plate. That is it. Just one example of the superiority of football. Everyone knows the basics, but dig a little deeper and the complexity is staggering.
I enjoy NCAA football, but the NFL is what I truly like. The NFL has 32 teams, divided into two sixteen-team conferences, each of which consists of four four-team divisions. The regular season is a seventeen-week schedule during which each team has one bye week and plays sixteen games. This schedule includes six games against a team's divisional rivals, as well as several inter-division and inter-conference games. Each team has players that are invariably assigned numbers based on their primary position. There are coaches, assistant coaches, and specialty coaches; you've got the offense, defense, and special teams; the NFL draft, the Pro Bowl, and the Super Bowl. Not to mention all the possible penalties that could be called in any given game. That just scratches the surface of the NFL's breadth. Here is a short, bullet list of terms that illustrate my point:
- Red Zone
- line of scrimmage
- 3 and out
- 3-step drop
- West Coast offense
- Nickel defense
- the 'Pocket'
Again, I'm only touching on a few aspects of it and I'm probably doing a poor job. My point is that my misconceptions about football and it's average fan have been shattered. Being some overweight, beer-guzzling, meathead frat boy isn't an accurate representation of average fandom. It actually takes intelligence to not only understand football, but to play. Case in point: Chad Pennington, the QB for the Miami Dolphins, is a Rhodes Scholar. So, much to the dismay of my 15-year-old self, I can say with confidence that I love me some football.
1 comment:
i'm not convinced.
Post a Comment