Yes, I did. It never made any sense to me.
So in European football (soccer) what do they call the ball?
I’m not sure about in the rest of Europe, since they have different languages, but in English national football it’s called ‘that distant round thing that the other team always has.’
Wait: two kick-offs, then during the last play the clock runs out and then someone scores. Final score: 6-0. Isn’t that right? Or would an extra point still be kicked?
Yes, I wondered about that. I assume most kids did. So they ask somebody who tells them, “The game used to be played more with feet.” Apparently the pass was an innovation that came after the game was set up.
The above US football history might be wrong: it’s my impression, which is what the OP inquires about. Generally speaking, I have never followed spectator sports, with the exception of the Olympics and the past 3 world cups.
As far as I know, American football was derived from rugby which was, in turn, derived from soccer. The name ‘football’ was carried down and (apparently) eventually dropped by rugby players.
Just like other good Americans, I never question why something is called ‘something.’ [at least, until I grow up and find the SDMB]
It all goes back to those crazy Romans, kicking around a ball. And, oh yeah, violence* is inherent in the system.
From the OED
*Notice the beastly furie and exstreme violence.
The extra point still gets kicked. The game clock doesn’t even run during an extra point attempt in the NFL and CFL, whether it’s a kick or a two point conversion.
I suppose for the hypothetical you laid out, the scoring team could opt to try and win 8-0 instead of 7-0 and therefore only 2 kicks are needed in the game. That seems…unsportsmanlike… to me, for some reason!
But such a game would surely have several punts, the success of which has a large influence on the other team’s field position, which is vital in a close, defensive contest.
Oh, no doubt. But it wouldn’t necessarily have any punts. I was just painting the most kickless hypothetical.
Extra points are not kicked in OT in the NFL because it does not matter. But they are kicked in regulation time even if time expires on the last play.
That was my thinking.
So, does that mean my streak of never being wrong about anything ever is still intact?
Just by way of example, here’s the number of “kicking” plays the New Orleans Saints had during the last Super Bowl:
Kickoffs: 6
Punts: 2
Extra Points: 2
Field Goals: 3
Total “kicking” plays: 13
Total rushing and passing plays: 58
Total plays: 71
% of plays that were “kicking” plays: 18.3%
You forgot your smiley. 
People claim 1/3 of all plays are special teams (which mostly is kicking) but I think that number is high.
I never wondered about “football,” but I have wondered about “soccer.”
Yeah. My streak does make me happy. But I feared if I added it people would think I was joking.
The NFL can go to a tiebreaker based on points so that is why they still kick the XP even when it’s not needed in regulation time.
“Soccer” is slang for “asSOCiation football”. It has always been slang - it has never been the proper name. The proper name has always been football. They only added the “association” on to it when it became organised in the 19th century.
Before that it was just called football. Shakespeare mentions it when someone insults someone else by calling them “You base football player” in King Lear. He also mentions it in Comedy of Errors.
It was an insult because football back then was played by the rowdy masses. One village would challenge the neighbouring village to a game. The pitch was a mile long, the ball was a pig’s bladder and the general idea was to kick the shit out of each other. Back in Shakespeare’s day, football was a game for uncivilised people, the underclass, the drunken rowdy mob. The first time it got banned in England for being too rowdy was in 1324. But it was called football back then (because you used your feet to propel the ball).