By: Anna Carpenter
Opinion Editor
As the fall season continues on, we have reached peak football season. The National Football League (NFL) has just passed the halfway point of their season and college football is gearing up for some big title games come December. For those of you who are not yet familiar with football, this may not sound very exciting to you but for football fans, this is truly the most wonderful time of the year.
Football has long since been the most popular sport in America and for good reason. The big matchups, star players, and dedicated fans have been appealing to Americans for decades. While there is a bit of a learning curve when it comes to understanding football, it is nothing to be intimidated by. Whether you want to have something to entertain you during holiday get-togethers, hope to learn more about your loved ones’ interests, or are a Swiftie looking to support Taylor Swift’s boyfriend, this guide will help you ease your way into becoming a football fan while having fun and bonding with your family and friends.
Step 1: Pick a team to cheer for.
Everything is more fun if you feel like you have some stake in it and football is no
different! By finding a team or a few teams to support during their games, you will feel like you have a reason to watch them play and it will make the game that much more interesting. Most fans develop a loyalty to the team that they live close to or support the team from their alma mater. Others have a favorite player and let their loyalty follow that player from team to team. Regardless of your reasoning behind choosing your team, doing so will help you become more excited about watching games as you immerse yourself into the world of football.
Step 2: Understand the basic rules of football.
This is admittedly the hardest step to becoming a football fan. From an outside
perspective, the rules of football may seem too intricate and have too many caveats to make them understandable but really, there are three basic principles that will help you understand 95 percent of what is happening during football games.
First, you must understand the system of “downs.” Whichever team is on offense gets four chances to advance 10 yards down the field. If they reach the 10 yards or go beyond it, they get a fresh set of downs and repeat this until they score. However, if they fail to reach the 10-yard mark after their fourth down, the other team will get the ball from wherever they were on the field. Because each team’s end zone is on the opposite side of the field, many teams will choose to kick the ball as far down the field as they can so they avoid giving the other team the ball close to their goal.
Second, you need to be familiar with the scoring system. If a team gets the ball all the way to their goal, also called the “end zone,” they get six points, known as a touchdown. After they get a touchdown, they have the opportunity to kick the ball from a spot on the field near their end zone (the exact yardage depends on the league) into the big yellow uprights for one extra point. If they are losing by a lot of points or want to extend their lead, they may opt for a two-point conversion where they line up at the 2-yard line and try to get the ball into the end zone. If, after three downs, they are not able to reach their end zone and are close enough to the uprights for the kicker to kick the ball through them, they may instead choose to kick a field goal instead of risking giving the ball to the other team. If they make it through the uprights, they get three points.
Third, there are a lot of rules in football that, when broken, result in penalties. While you do not need to know all of these, the penalties that occur the most often are false starts, holding calls, and pass interferences. A false start occurs when a player moves to hit a player on the opposing team before the play begins. A holding call happens when a player hangs onto, or “holds,” any part of an opposing player. A pass interference happens when a player makes it impossible for the intended player to catch the ball either by tackling him before the pass is made, blocking him from running to the place where the ball is thrown, or anything else that the referees deem as making it uncatchable. While there are a lot more small parts of football to understand, these are the main things to keep in mind when you are watching a game.
Step 3: Watch a game.
This is the most obvious step in this guide but arguably the most important. The best way to do this is with friends and/or family who love the game and are willing to help you understand the game by answering any questions you may have throughout the game. For even more fun, you can make it a party with chips, dip, drinks, and pizza, classic football game cuisine. By using football as a way to bond with your loved ones, it will make your experience even more enjoyable and incentivize you to keep watching games.
Step 4: Go to a game.
There is no feeling quite like being surrounded by football fans in a huge stadium while your team scores a game winning touchdown. The atmosphere of football games is one that is not easily replicated in any other sport. Whether it is an NFL game, a college football game, or even a matchup between two of your local high school teams, the adrenaline and excitement that surges through the crowd on game days is one of the most wonderful feelings in the world. Grab a few friends, dress up in your team’s jersey colors, and enjoy an afternoon of football and fun!
Step 5: Join a fantasy football league.
Once you know the basics of football and have watched a game or two, it is time to gain a deeper understanding of the sport and what better way to do that than by joining a fantasy football league. To do this, grab a few friends, create a league on ESPN’s website, and draft players that you think will do well in the upcoming football season. Do not worry if you do not know many players, the program tells you who is projected to do the best for each position you draft for. By doing this, you will learn more about the different positions that players are assigned to, be able to recognize the big names in football, and be invested in multiple games each week while you watch your players rack up points and hopefully outscore your friends.
Step 6: Immerse yourself in football-related media.
If, after you have completed the first five steps, you want to know even more about football and gain a greater depth of knowledge about the sport, tune into different football shows and follow your favorite teams and players on social media. If you prefer analysis-based coverage, you would appreciate the pregame and postgame shows as well as segments throughout the week on major sports networks such as ESPN and Fox Sports Network. If you are looking for something funnier and more surface level, check out a YouTube channel like “That’sGoodSports” or “Tom Grossi” that make videos each week about current events in football. And of course, if you are a Swiftie, tune into the “New Heights” podcast to watch Travis and Jason Kelce talk about football, answer fan questions, and delve into their personal lives with frequent mentions of Taylor Swift each week.
No matter what your reason is for wanting to learn about the wonderful game of football, this guide should help you become a lifelong fan in a matter of weeks. Remember, at the end of the day, it is all about having fun and making memories. Unless you are a Carolina Panthers fan. Then your weeks will be filled with the harrowing feeling that comes with week after week of losses. I suggest you root for the Kansas City Chiefs or the Philadelphia Eagles instead if you want to watch a winning team play.
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