Interim Editor-In-Chief
Now that the Seattle Seahawks are edging closer to the Superbowl, the fairweathered fans are starting to come out in droves to be a part of the football mania sweeping the Emerald City by storm.
No doubt there are many people in Seattle turning their attention to football to support the local team. Of course, watching the game and watching the score increase is one thing. Understanding the game is quite differently.
First of all, football isn’t really football at all. As Ellen DeGeneres pointed out on her talk show, only occasionally do the foot and the ball actually come into contact. This is probably why in Europe football actually refers to soccer. But in America, Football is the football we know and love. Even if the foot and the ball rarely come into contact.
After the kickoff, players will either pass the ball or run with the ball in order to make it across the field. The field is divided up every 10 yards where there is a defined yard line. At each end of the field, there is an end zone. In the game, each of the two teams has an end zone and if a team gets the ball in the end zone, they gain six points.
As players throw or run with the ball, the defending team gets the opportunity to run after the ball and try to tackle the player who happens to be holding it. With the unique design of super tight jersey pants and bulky gear on the upper body, tackling a player doesn’t seem to cause much bodily harm.
If a player successfully scores these six points, it’s called a touchdown. The touchdown is generally followed by a dance of some sort. As far history goes, this dance has existed for quite some time but does seem to vary from player to player. The further the player had to run to get the ball into the end zone, the more involved the dance seems to be.
After scoring the touchdown, the team gets to decide if they want to go for an extra point or go for two points. If they go for the extra point, this is where the foot comes into play. The ball is placed on the two-yard line and kicked by a player. They are aiming for the goalpost. If it goes through the goalpost then they get the point. If not, then it’s time for another kickoff.
If they decide to go for two points, the team can either run or throw the ball into the end zone. This is usually more difficult so most teams go for the extra point.
Now the game is made up of four quarters of 15 minutes each. This generally adds up to three hours of game time. While four multiplied by 15 generally equals 60, in football time is stretched out by timeouts as well as a 12-minute break in between the second and third quarter known as halftime.
At the end of the game, the winning team decides to waste their precious Gatorade and start having wet t-shirt contest with their coach.
If football is still confusing to you, just ask someone else who is watching the game. After moderate ridicule for you not understanding the game, they’ll most likely explain it to you.