So How Does Football Work Anyways? Part I

True story: my college had a big rivalry football game towards the end of the season, like many schools do, and it was also a big social event that people attended. Guys cheered, girls cheered, but in talking to many of my gal friends, I quickly realized that many of them didn't really "get" football.

"So how does football work anyways? I never really know what's going on," exclaimed one of my college friends. I gave her a quick tutorial, and since then, she has gotten into football big time. She can draft with the best of them. Talk trades in her sleep.

So the first hurdle to becoming a female fantasy connoisseur is learning the rules. We'll start with some basics, separated into a few parts, and as I post more about fantasy I'll explain more along the way, too.

Time

A football game lasts for four quarters of 15 minutes each, with an "intermission" after the second quarter, called half time. That's when Janet Jackson shows her boob at the Super Bowl.

Four quarters of 15 minutes each would imply that the game lasts 60 minutes, but that's not exactly true. With three timeouts per half for both teams, timeouts for TV commercials and timeouts for injuries, a typical televised game can last around three hours. Once you get into football, though, those three hours will fly by.

At the end of play time, the team with the most points wins. In the event of a tie, another 15 minutes are added to the clock, but this quarter is played sudden death-style: the first team to score wins. Note that these rules apply to National Football League (NFL) football; college football rules are a bit different.

Players

Teams are divided into offense, defense, and special teams.

The offense includes the quarterback, center, running backs, offensive linemen and wide receivers. These players are on the field when the team is in possession of the ball. It is their job to move the ball down the field and cross into the opposing team's end zone for a touchdown.

The defense includes defensive linemen, defensive backs and linebackers. Their job is to keep the other team's offense from moving the ball forward.

Special teams are used for punts, kick-offs, extra point conversions and kick-off returns.

We'll spend a lot more time later on talking about the importance of each position I've mentioned, but for now this explanation will help to guide talk of how the game is actually played.

By the way, how could this (see video below) ever have been considered a "malfunction" - the song ends with, "Gonna have you naked by the end of this song." Um, yeah, riiiight.



Sources: "The Basic Rules of Football," Catalogs.com; The Drudge Report; YouTube.