The Top Ten Things Your Girlfriend Doesn’t Understand About Football

I’ve been told multiple times how rare it is to find a girl like me – one who actually loves football and spends all day on Saturdays flipping through the various games. Why doesn’t your girlfriend like football? It bores her…and that’s because she doesn’t understand it. Chances are the no one really ever explained the rules of football to her, so watching a game is like you trying to tell the difference between a real Coach purse and a knock-off.

If you want to make your favorite sport interesting to your leading lady, take a moment to explain these ten things. In fact, just send her to this webpage, and she can read it herself. When a person understand football, it’s hard not to fall in love with the game.

1. Your girlfriend doesn’t understand scoring. It’s not just one point here and one point there like in other sports. There are five ways to put points on the board:

• Run or pass the ball into the end zone for a touchdown (6 points)
• Kick a field goal on the play right after the touchdown (1 point)
• Run of pass the ball into the end zone again right after a touchdown (2 points)
• Kick a field goal without a touchdown first (3 points)
• The defense tackle the offensive play in the wrong endzone – called a safety (2 points)

2. Your girlfriend doesn’t understand what a “down” means. Each team gets the ball for four “downs,” which basically means four plays. They have those for plays to either make a field goal or move the ball 10 yards. When they move the ball ten yards, they start over again at a “first down.”

3. Your girlfriend doesn’t understand where the teams are going. The middle of the field is the 50 yard like. Ten yards on either side at two 40-yard lines, then two 30-yard lines, and so forth until you get to the endzones. Teams face the endzone where they are trying to get the ball.

4. You girlfriend doesn’t understand why the crowd is so loud. Players have a set amount of time to begin the play. In between, the team’s leader (in most cases, the quarterback) quickly yells directions as to where the team should run. If the crowd is really loud, they’ll have a hard time hearing directions, and may mess up the play. So, the stadium always gets loud with fans yelling when the visiting team has the ball. They aren’t cheering!

5. Your girlfriend doesn’t understand why players sometimes kneel down with the ball. This is called “taking a knee,” and players do it for two main reason: to waste time on a clock (done usually at the end of a quarter or end of a game) or to avoid being tackled after a kickoff.

6. You girlfriend doesn’t understand what a kickoff is.At the start of the game, a coin is tossed and the winning team chooses either to kick off the ball or to play offense first. The team kicking off puts the ball on a tee at the 35 yard line and kicks it to the other team at the other end of the field. If the ball goes out of the endzone or the player catching it puts his knee down in the endzone, it is called a fair catch and the team starts at the 20 yard line. The player can also signal early on for a fair catch by waving his hand in the air. The last option is running the ball. If the player things he can get past the 20 yard line, he will run and risk being tackled. The team then starts with a first down wherever he was tackled.

Players also kick off after scoring points and at the start of the second half.

7. Your girlfriend doesn’t understand what a “snap” is. Every play starts with a snap (unless it is a kick off). All players put one hand on the ground, except for the center, who puts both hands on the ball. He then “snaps” the ball backthrough his legs to the quarterback. The quarterback can either run with the ball, hand the ball to a running backk who will run with the ball, or drip back a few yards and pass the ball.

8. Your girlfriend doesn’t understand who can throw the ball. Any player can throw the ball, but only the quarterback can pass it forward. Other players can pass it behind them or to the side, which is called a lateral, but this is rarely done, as it is difficult to set up.

9. Your girlfriend doesn’t understand how the other team can get the ball. During a team’s play, they can make two mistakes that “turn over” the ball to the defense. First, a pass can be intercepted, which just means that the wrong player caught the ball when the quarterback passed it. Second, a player running with the ball can fumble it, which means that he drops is before his knees touch the ground. If a defensive player pick it up or falls on it, the defense recovers that ball at that spot.

10. Your girlfriend doesn’t understand how a team can be “first and 15″ if they only have to go ten yards. Sometimes players can actually lose yards on the play. First, the quarterback could be sacked – tackled with the ball still in his hands behind the starting point (called “the line of scrimmage”). Second, there could be a penalty. Penalties occur when players do things like pull one one another’s face masks, start moving before the ball is snapped, delay the game by not snapping the ball in the set amount of time, and do other things that are potentially dangerous to players or cause unfairness in the game.

So there you go – a down and dirty guide to help your girlfriend understand football better. No promises that she’ll sit down and watch it with you all day, but at least now maybe she’ll be interested in going to a local college game with you!