Ever since the digital TV stations came to Australia I can now follow the footy, not only all year round, but different codes in different countries as well.
At the moment I have been following the US footy and as of yet I haven’t chosen a team to ROOT (which means a totally different thing in Australia) for but no doubt I will.
If anyone wants to make suggestions here please feel free to do so. Don’t like popular teams that win day in and day out and year in and year out, kind of more go for the underdog (you know, a team that doesn’t always make it but has the capabilities to snatch victory from behind).
But anyway, I digress, one of the things I have noticed about the American style of football is that the “mode of play” is overly ordered and laid out in such a way that its like playing a big human board game like chess or snakes’n’ladders.
By this I mean, there is a lot of stopping and starting and Defence comes on and Offence goes off and vice versa,
…and every now and then someone comes with a gigantic ruler and measures something
…and then coaches call "time out’ and player/coach discussions seem endless
…and strategies in play must be executed with precision
…and if not the ball just seems to go nowhere as if no player has the ability to counteract mistakes in play
…and after awhile my brain gets confused and I wish they would just play footy …and stop fucking around, rahhhhhh!
It just becomes a blur.
I imagine this is what it must be like in the army or something. Rules and regulations observed to the nth degree. Orders to be followed correctly and accurately, follow ups to be done with protocol.
Still, despite all this I love my footy of all kinds, no doubt the regimentation of American football will take longer for me to figure out than expected …bit like fighting ignorance yeah!
American football (AF) is very rules-based, and much more time is spent standing around than is spent actually playing. I would guess this came about as a consequence of the concept of the “down”; unlike rugby, in AF when the ball touches the ground, the play stops.
The NFL does have a ton of breaks… lots of time outs, but also mandatory commercial breaks that aren’t really part of the game but are part of the deal the league made with the TV stations!
I can’t really advise you on what team to cheer for - I don’t have a favourite NFL team myself, though I do really enjoy watching the game.
And since I’m a CFL fan, I should mention that from July to the end off November, Canada has a football league as well. 8 teams, 3 downs, fewer time outs and commercial breaks and 12 men per team on a larger field. The game is much faster than an NFL game and is better suited to passing plays. It’s true that the quality of the players is lower (the NFL has the best players) but IMHO, the CFL game rules are better. And the Montreal Alouettes are the only team worth cheering for. Ignore Roughrider fans…they are silly people with watermelons on their heads.
It looks like a completely different game because it’s – get this – a completely different game. It’s not the same old footy with a lot of additional rules.
Cheers Mate. Allouettes aye. They don’t seem to play the Canadian league on TV here, might have to download a Canadian sports channel to get my fix. Thanks. Will take on board.
American football is not a game of continuous action; the actual plays last about five seconds, then a pause of up to 30 seconds until the next one (normal – there is the “no huddle” and “hurry up” offenses, which have plays coming closer together). That doesn’t include time outs.
This makes it ideal for TV, especially TV with instant replays. The play is run, then the commentators can explain what happened and discuss. Fans like the ability to analyze and view the play again.
For a neophyte, the key is to watch the ball. The team with the ball will usually either try to run, or to throw a forward pass. You can tell it’s the latter if the quarterback moves backwards with the ball (usually; there are trick plays, too).
No I mean football as in all codes from Rugby League, Rugby Union, Soccer (English Football), Australian Rules, American Football, Canadian Football et cetera.
The purist argument of football in its literal sense (played with the foot and not the hands) is lost on me. Its all footy regardless whether its all foot, hand and foot, foot and head and shoulders and knees and toes, or even foot in mouth.
It’s very much like a chess game. The chess element gives it a powerful strategic dimension to go along with the purely tactical play-by-play considerations. That’s what makes it an utterly different sport.
Okay. Point taken. I mean Football not Footy, thanks for pointing that out guys. In Australia the colloquial generic name for all Football is Footy. Will respect cultural differences, no offence intended.
Indeed - as “utterly regimented” as it may be, if you say that to an American they won’t know what you’re talking about. If you’re among American football fans and they realize that’s how you are referring to football, you will hear no end of ridicule for it. Your sexuality may also be called into question (not saying I would, just saying them’s the facts).
Dennis Arthur PERRETT asks:
…and every now and then someone comes with a gigantic ruler and measures something
** Those are measurements for a close first down call. The offensive team gets 4 plays (3 more realistically because the last one has to be used to punt kick or try for a field goal if they don’t make it) to advance the ball ten yards. The official is the one that marks where the ball was officially down. There is a separate marker showing where the first down line is. The measurement is to compare the two if it is really close. The nose of the ball has to be just over the line any amount for it to count as a first down.**
…and then coaches call "time out’ and player/coach discussions seem endless
American football is different from most other sports in that the coaches have a real influence over the game. They are micromanagers and there are many coaches from offensive to defensive to special teams and more. They all have a say in the exact way the game will be played based on the players that they control. They generally call the plays they want the players to perform. In other sports, the players mostly just play the way they were trained to in general
…and strategies in play must be executed with precision
Professional American Football teams have 500 or more plays that they can call. The chance of one working drops greatly if each player doesn’t follow the play assignments. The quarterback has to know where to expect a receiver to be at a given moment and the receiver needs to know exactly when to turn around and catch it. The other players need to know which blocks to throw to help make that happen. Teams are forced to improvise plays sometimes but it typically shows and it is risky. Good defenses can exploit any lack of coordination to their benefit.
…and if not the ball just seems to go nowhere as if no player has the ability to counteract mistakes in play
See above. They can and do correct mistakes sometimes but it is hopeless to play American football like that as a general strategy.Watch some real life examples of teams forced to run plays that way because of mistakes or desperation. It is successful sometimes for individual plays but very risky and easy for defenses to exploit.
