I don’t much care for sports generally and football specifically, but where I live (ground-zero for Huskermania) it’s impossible notto know something about it (through osmosis). Here’s the question:
Why do football announcers always refer to the ball in football as the football? Not just “the ball?” I don’t hear about passing the basketball, teeing off with the golfball, or serving the volleyball–then it’s just the ball.
Is football really that big of a deal (dumb question, given my location) that its balls need to be distinguished from the balls of other sports (no snide comments on that last sentence, please)?
You are waaay off base here, whc! (Note the mixed metaphor!) They don’t always refer to it as a football. Sometimes they call it a pigskin!
It hadn’t occurred to me before, but you’re right. They do use the word “football” a lot more often then announcers do in baseball (the ol’ horsehide) or basketball, etc. I, too, wonder why?
OTOH, we do know why baseball managers where uniforms. It’s because they look so good in them.
Strangers have the best candy.
You’re obviously forgetting the literary tour-de-force enititled
Just Give Me the Damn Ball! : The Fast Times and Hard Knocks of an NFL Rookie
by Keyshawn Johnson, Shelley Smith
“The world ends when I die. And as far as I’m concerned, the rest of the universe might as well call it a day too.” – Matt Groening
They use the whole word because they realize that if they just call it a ‘ball’, it will draw attention to the fact that a football isn’t even a ball, giving us soccer enthusiasts more ammo. 
It is referred to as a ball all the time, actually. Which makes sense, since oblong spheroid is not the kind of word that rolls off the tongues of former linebackers and tight ends…
Yer pal,
Satan
I watched Monday Night Footbal last night and tried to keep track of references to “ball” and “football”.
I couldn’t.
I kept watching the game and ignoring the announcers. Sorry. And it wasn’t even a very good game.
Did I mention that a football field is 53-1/3 yards wide?
Strangers have the best candy.