Hope For Football "Widows" Everywhere

With the professional football season just about to begin, football "widows" everywhere will soon be ignored and / or cast aside, while their significant others turn into football "zombies". You've no doubt hear the old expression, "If you can't beat 'em, join 'em?"

And why not? With the millions of fans (women included) that football already has, there must be something to this game, right?

Don't understand the game? Let's face it, if you don't understand something, you're probably not going to enjoy it very much, and football is no exception. Bottom line....football really isn't that complicated. Sure, it does have its own "lingo". But learning football is no different than learning a new language and it takes time to learn. Tried asking your significant other questions about football? Forget it. Particularly when the game is on; you may as well be talking to the wall.

So where to start? How about with some of the following basics:

o An NFL (National Football League) team has 53 players; some play on Offense (unit that possession of the ball and is trying to score); some play on Defense (unit that attempts to stop its opponent's Offense from scoring) and some play on Special Teams (units that are on the field for kickoffs, punts and field goals)

o At any given time, a team has 11 players on the field

o The Offense attempts to advance the ball past its opponents goal line and score touchdowns (worth 6 points) or move it into field goal range for its Kicker to attempt a field goal (worth 3 points)

o There are two type of plays - passing and rushing (running)

o An Offense has four plays (downs) to advance the ball at least 10 yards; if it does so, it maintain possession of the ball; if it doesn't, it may have to give up possession to its opponent

o An Offense has 40 seconds (as indicated by the play clock) after the end of a play to start the next one, otherwise it incurs a penalty

o The amount of time a team has possession of the ball throughout the game is called its "Time of possession"; the longer, the better. This is critical, because if you don't have the ball, you can't score!

o When a team loses possession of the ball to its opponent, through an interception (throwing a forward pass that an opponent catches) or fumble (when the ball carrier loses possession), it commits a "turnover". Turnovers can be the difference between winning and losing. Each time a team commits a turnover, it gives itself one less and its opponent one more opportunity to score

o Finally, when someone asks you the score of the game, remember to always say the name of the team that is winning or that has won first. For example, if the Bears are leading the Lions 14 - 10, say something like "The Bears are up fourteen to ten", NOT "The Bears are winning ten to fourteen". If the score is 10 - 0, say "It's ten oh, Bears." Notice the use of the word "oh"? If its 17 -17, say "It's seventeen all." Notice the use of the word "all"? Get the idea?

Continue (or start) to watch games. In particular, when watching on TV, pay attention to what is being said or shown. For example, if you see or hear the word "FLAG", you will know that a player committed a penalty. Or, sometimes you will see the seconds ticking away on the play clock in the corner of your TV screen, indicating how much time the Offense has to start the next play. Remember, it has 40 seconds.

How about forming a "football club"? Women only, of course. You can watch the games together and pick each other's brains. Remember, there's safety in numbers.

Read whatever you can, i.e., on the internet, books, magazines, newspapers, etc.

Most of all, be patient! It's not going to happen overnight. Trust me, in the end it will all be worth it.

And to further help out in this endeavor, please check out http://www.learnprofootball.com

Best of luck!

Howard Becker

http://www.learnprofootball.com

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