Now first of all I should tell you I hate football and never saw the point of it.
But still, I watched it with a really good friend, who had great commentary. Didn’t just make us sit there and stare at it, it was pretty entertaining with her.
I now know that Terrell Owens is a complete and utter asshole. I also know that almost never do players get thrown out, except for Monday, when two players got thrown out before the game even started!
The game was between the Atlanta Falcons and the Philadelphia Eagles. It was kind of funny, the whole time she was explaining to me about wide receivers and first downs I kept thinking, “She’s speaking English, but I don’t understand a thing she’s saying!”
Even if you do, that might not mean you like football. A lot of people think the stopping in between plays is kind of weird. The rules are strange too, but explaining baseball is much more difficult.
In football, certainly you can understand that you need to gather territory. The tricky part is that you need to do it in 10 yard chunks. If you can get 10 yards in 4 tries, you get another 4 tries allotted to you to gain 10 more yards.
But, if you don’t do it in 3 tries, you usually shouldn’t try on the 4th, because then the other team gets the ball where you are. You therefore have the choice to kick to them and they get the ball where the kick was caught/run back.
Scoring: if you carry the ball across the line, or kick it through the uprights, you get 6 or 3.
Still, you might not like it. I watch a lot of football, but I almost always have money on the game, or I’m in a fantasy league, or a pick-em pool, or whatever. That enhances my enjoyment.
And that’s one of the most important things you need to know! Now if you start liking the Dolphins and hating the Jets, that is a good thing too, but if not, nobody’s perfect.
My fiancee is a former soccer player and a Cowboys fan (like me) and said she used to watch football with her dad when she was a kid.
So… we would sit and watch Cowboys games and cheer them on, and she would clap and cheer for Dallas.
I had found the woman of my dreams who not only understood and enjoyed football, but she’s a Dallas fan to boot… so I proposed, and she accepted. YAY!
After watching games all season, cheering and booing together, it turns out she had no idea what “2nd & 8” meant, or how “downs” work, when to kick a field goal, what “pass interference” means, etc. She never asked about how the game worked or why certain things were happening, so I figured she knew the game.
I said, “So, all this time, you really had no idea how this game really works?”
She said, “Yeah. I just cheer when the Cowboys move the ball forward or score. I became a Cowboys fan because I thought Danny White* was cute.” :smack:
Let’s just say the football clinic started immediately, and it’s going well. She just learned the term “nickel defense” during the Falcons-Eagles game. The wedding is still on.
I’m working on Lady Mung. I live and die with my Tennessee Vols and I like to watch pro football too, so the indoctrination process is still on. I really don’t care if she likes pro football or not, but she has no choice but to watch Tennessee football with me. Now I just have to teach her about the I-formation…
Just remember that the Patriots are the best team in the game, and you’ll be OK! (Well, I’ll continue talking to you, anyway :p) You’re practically in New England anyway…
Oh – about the Falcons and Eagles. It’ll date me :eek: , but I remember when the quarterbacks for the two teams were Jaworski and Bartkowski (or something like that… it’s been a while!) Anyway, the result was that the Philly QB (Jaworski?) was called the North Pole, and the Atlanta QB was the South Pole
Anaamika, before you write off football altogether, try and attend a big college game between rivals. In person. It’s a completely different experience that’s nothing like watching a NFL game on tv.
If you STILL don’t like football after that, hey that’s OK Plenty of other sports out there.
**Trunk ** - I don’t really like *watching * any sports, no. I’ll occasionally watch Wimbledon if I pass it, and the Soccer Cup but beyond that you can’t interest me.
Watching sports is boring. Who cares? It’s all just a big game anyway and I’d rather get out there and play myself.
While you’re enlightening her about football, be sure to explain the intricacies of how Tennessee managed to lose to Auburn three times in two seasons!
It’s fun to get together with a friend to watch a game. Fun to go to a game together. Fun to sit in a bar and watch a game together.
It’s joking with each and giving running commentary – talking about which players are major assholes and that kind of thing, as well as strategy.
Would that we all were able to get together with our friends and discuss Wittgenstein over a game of backgammon for 3 hours straight each week. But we’re all more likely to end up in Barney’s car eating mustard packets. Embrace the mustard.
I always dread the start of football season. My husband has to buy NFL Sunday Ticket on DirecTV every single year, and he listens to the game on the radio when we have to go somewhere on a Sunday. I can’t get away from it.
The funny thing is, I have a fairly extensive knowledge of the game. I have been to one professional game (between the Cowboys and the Cardinals when they played in Tempe a few years ago…), and I liked it much better than watching it on TV. The atmosphere is much more conducive to the concept of fun at a live game than it is watching a small section of the field at a time and trying to follow commentary.
My dislike for “football” in general probably comes from my experiences with my ex-husband. I became a Super Bowl Sunday Victim of Domestic Violence[sup]tm[/sup] when I reminded him that we lived above people who probably didn’t appreciate his tendency to jump up and down every time the Cowboys got a touchdown. He failed to understand that concept, thus Fighting and Screaming ensued.
My mother was a rabid fan of football in general–the Dallas Cowboys, in particular (what is it with Cowboys fans??). Most of my knowledge came from her. She always liked to tell the story about how she used to hate football, too. Then one year, at Thanksgiving, she decided that she would force herself to sit through an entire game. She learned a lot about how the game works and found herself in love with it. (The Cowboys lost one good fan when she traveled into the Great Beyond :(…)
So maybe there’s hope for someone like me. Maybe someday I’ll share my husband’s enthusiasm for the game. Until then, I’ll keep that magnet on the fridge that reads: “We interrupt this relationship to bring you the football season.”
My father always watches football with the sound off because he can’t stand the commentary. Never could…I remember him doing so when I was a kid.
He used to say he could tell perfectly well what was going on by looking at the screen, he didn’t need some idiot telling him what he had just seen.
I’m sorry about your Super Bowl experience BTW. People need to remember it’s just a game. At least you are rid of the guy.
Was this in the days of Howard Cosell? I remember that people either loved Howard or hated him, and for those who hated him (including my father) turning the sound down was part of the experience of watching Monday Night Football.
Now all you have to do is draw up a lengthy football-trivia test and plan the wedding and reception in silver and blue… contingent upon her passing the test, of course!
I married a Bears fan, and on Sunday during the fall, the TV is constantly on a game somewhere.
True story: I was made to stand in the hall as punishment for repeatedly saying the word “peckers” in class. I swear I was 8 before I knew that other team whose name I will not say was actually called what they are.
