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FOOTBALLAction on the Gridiron

by Phyllis McIntosh


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On any fall weekend across the UnitedStates, football reigns as the nations favor-ite sport. Thousands of high school teams,the pride of communities from coast tocoast, compete under the lights on Fridaynights. Saturdays feature the tradition andpageantry of college football. Sundaysbelong to the 32 professional teams thatplay in the major metropolitan areas.

Professional games typically drawcrowds of 70,000 or 80,000, while somelarge universities pack their stadiums withupwards of 100,000 cheering supporters.

Back-to-back broadcasts of both collegeand professional contests reach millions ofarmchair fans. Those for whom an entire

weekend of football is not enough cantune in to yet another pro game on Mon-day Night Football, a staple of Americantelevision for the past 40 years.

A rough and tumble game of some-times violent physical contact, Americanfootball is not for the faint of heart.

Although it has roots in soccer and rugby,the sport as it is played today is purely

American, having evolved through count-less rule changes over the past 150 years.But football in the United States is morethan a game. For legions of fans, it is asource of school pride, a social event, andan integral part of holiday celebrations.

Even though football means soccerin most parts of the world, the Americangame is catching on around the globe.College and professional leagues now existin a number of countries, from the United

Kingdom to Japan.History of Football

People have been kicking and tossingballs around for thousands of years. As partof their military training, ancient Chinesesoldiers played a game known as TsuChu, which loosely translated means foot-ball . Likewise, Roman soldiers maintained


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their physical fitness through a rugby-likegame called harpastum, which they adopt-ed from the Greeks. As the Roman Empireexpanded through Europe, its army sharedthe game with conquered peoples, espe-cially in Britain, where it eventually gaverise to soccer and rugby.

A rough tackle game using an inflatedcow bladder as a ball was popular in 11thand 12th century England, first amongyoung boys and later in violent contestsbetween rival villages. Casualties were sonumerous that several English kings out-lawed the game. The sport eventually resur-faced in more organized form, and by theearly 1800s a game resembling modernsoccer was commonplace in English publicschools. As legend has it, the sport tooka new turn in 1823, when a player at theRugby School decided to pick up the balland run with it across the goal line. The ideacaught on, and the sport of rugby was born.

Football in its various forms crossedthe Atlantic and became a favorite col-lege sport. A soccer-style contest betweenRutgers University and the College of

New Jersey (now Princeton) in 1869 isconsidered the first official intercollegiatefootball game, although the game playedthen would be hardly recognizable totodays fans. An 1874 match betweenHarvard University and Canadas McGillUniversity popularized the combinationof kicking and running with the ball.

In 1876, representatives from severaleastern schools created the IntercollegiateFootball Association to standardize rulesof play. But credit goes to one man

Walter Camp, a player and coach at YaleUniversityfor crafting rules that helpedshape the game as we know it. Known asthe father of American football, Campreduced the number of players on a team,established the line of scrimmage as thestarting point for each play, created theposition of quarterback as offensive team

leader, and instituted a system of downsfor advancing the ball. For the first time,the field was marked with yard lines, lead-ing some to refer to it as a gridiron.

Following Camps innovations, collegefootball grew rapidly, with 250 schoolsfielding teams by the turn of the 20th cen-tury. But football remained a brutal sport.

With little protective gear for players anddangerous field formations that encour-aged crushing physical contact, injuries andeven deaths were common. In 1905, afterseveral colleges banned the sport and oth-ers threatened to do so, President TheodoreRoosevelt called on schools to come up

with reforms to save the game. The result

was an organization that in 1910 becamethe National Collegiate Athletic Associa-tion (NCAA), which continues to regulatecollege football today.

Football Fundamentals

As decreed by Walter Camp, footballrequires two teams of 11 players each.The teams take turns trying to score by

A quarterback, the offensiveleader of the team, getsready to pass the ball to areceiver down the field.



moving the ball across the opponents goalline. The game consists of four 15-minutequarters, with a halftime break after thesecond quarter. But because teams can taketimeouts and a number of actions on thefield stop the play clock, games can lastthree hours or more.

Play takes place on a field 53 yards wide and 100 yards long, with a goal lineat each end. Behind each goal line is a10-yard end zone with upright goal posts.Lines run across the field every five yardsand are numbered every 10 yards.

The game starts with a kickoff. Thereceiving team plays offense and will havefour chances, or downs, to move the

ball forward at least 10 yards. If it suc-ceeds, the team gets four new downs. If itfails, the other team gets the ball and triesto move it in the opposite direction. Anoffensive team that has failed to advance10 yards usually uses its fourth down topuntthat is, kick the ball down thefield, so the opposing team will have tostart its offense farther back.

To begin each down, the offensivecenter lineman snaps the ball back to thequarterback, who throws it to a receiver

downfield (a forward pass) or hands it to ateammate who runs with it. The defensiveteam tries to tackle the quarterback or theplayer running with the ball and to pre-vent receivers from catching a pass. Theoffensive linemen attempt to block thedefenders from tackling their teammates.

A team can score in several ways.The most desirable score is a touchdown,

worth six points, which a team scoresby carrying the ball into the opponentsend zone or by catching it there. After atouchdown, the scoring team can earn oneextra point by kicking the ball throughthe uprights of the goal post or two extrapoints by passing or running the ball into

the end zone from the three-yard line. Ifthe offense cannot get close enough to theend zone for a touchdown but is inside theopponents 45-yard line, it may attempt afield goalkicking the ball through thegoal post for three points. The defense canscore two points if it traps an opponent

with the ball in his own end zone, thoughthis happens infrequently.

Because football involves constantphysical contact, players are clad head totoe in protective gear. All players wear aheavy helmet with face mask, mouth guard,and chin guard. Under their uniform jerseyand pants, they wear special pads that pro-tect the shoulders, upper chest and back,ribs, hips, thighs, and knees.

The football is elliptical in shape, about11 inches long and 22 inches around thecenter, and weighs 14 to 15 ounces. Thoughsometimes called a pigskin, a holdover

from days when a pig bladder was used asa ball covering, todays football is made ofbrown cow leather stamped with pebblegrain texture to make it easier to grip.

Football players, especially at the col-lege and professional levels, specialize ineither offense, defense, or special teams.Special teams players, such as the punter orfield goal kicker, come onto the field only

when their particular skills are required.

An upright goal post standsat each end of a footballield. The field is 100 yardsong with lines running

across the width every fiveyards, leading some to call ita gridiron.



A football game begins witha kickoff. The team receivinthe ball then tries to advancethe ball back down the fieldin the direction from which iwas kicked.

Football is a game of strategyand teams memorize andpractice plays like the onediagrammed on thischalkboard.

While individual skill is important,football requires a carefully coordinatedteam effort. And strategy is critical. Eachteam attempts to read the opponentand chooses its next move from amongdozens of well-rehearsed plays in theteam playbook. In advance of a game,teams spend long hours watching filmsof opposing players and coaches andplotting strategies.

From Junior Leaguesto the Big Time

Children as young as five can begin tolearn the basics of tackle football through

junior leagues. By the time they are teenag-ers, many young competitors are playing onschool teams. Football consistently ranks asone of the most popular high school sports,

with 15,000 teams and more than a mil-

lion participants nationwide. High schoolteams are a source of immense communitypride, especially in Texas and other south-ern states, where games draw tens of thou-sands of fans. The best high school playersare recruited by colleges and universitiesand awarded scholarships to attend thoseschools and play on their teams.

Under NCAA guidelines, colleges anduniversities play football in one of three

divisions; each division has many confer-ences, or groups of schools, that competefrequently against one another. Greatattention is focused on Division Iteams, mainly at large universi-ties, where football is big business.Twenty of the largest sta-diums in the countryare home, not toprofessional teams,but to college teamssuch as Pennsylva-nia State Universityand the University ofMichigan. Some long-timecollege coaches earn morethan a million dollars a year, as muchor more than some professional coaches.

At the end of the regular season, thechampions of the various Division I con-ferences compete in bowl games on or

around New Years Day. The oldest of theseis the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California, which began in 1902. Other warm weathercities soon launched their own bowl games,such as the Orange Bowl in Miami, theSugar Bowl in New Orleans, and the Cot-ton Bowl in Dallas. Some of these gamesare now part of the Bowl Champion-ship Series, created in 1998 to determinea national champion of college football.

A helmet and shoulder padsare among the protectivegear worn by footballplayers.



A high school football playerruns with the ball asopponents topple aroundhim. Football consistentlyranks as one of the mostpopular high school sports.

Children learn the basics of football in juniorleagues. Here a young player runs for a touchdownwhile members of the opposing team try to tacklehim.

Upon graduation, the best college playersare drafted by the professional teams of theNational Football League (NFL).

Now considered the pinnacle of thesport, pro football did not begin to rival

the college game in popularity until a halfcentury after the first professional player,

William Pudge Heffelfinger, received a500-dollar contract in 1892 to play for the

Allegheny Athletic Association against thePittsburgh (Pennsylvania) Athletic Club.It was more than two decades later thatpro football found its first superstarJimThorpe, renowned for winning both thepentathlon and decathlon at the 1912Olympic Games. After signing with theCanton, Ohio, Bulldogs in 1915, Thorpeled the team to three championships anddrew unprecedented crowds of 8,000 fans

to Bulldogs games.In 1920, several pro clubs created aloosely organized league called the Ameri-can Football Association, which electedThorpe as president and sold franchisesfor 100 dollars each. Two years later, thegroup changed its name to the NationalFootball League. In its early years, theNFL did little to create stability or winover fans. As teams came and went, pro


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football simply couldnt compete withbaseball or college football.

The 1958 NFL championship contestbetween the Baltimore Colts and New YorkGiants, celebrated in football lore as theGreatest Game Ever Played, is often citedas the turning point in pro footballs popu-larity. When Baltimore kicked a field goalto tie the score with 30 seconds remain-ing, the game became the first in NFLhistory to go into sudden death overtime.

An estimated 45 million viewers who weretuned into the nationwide TV broad-cast watched spellbound as quarterback

Johnny Unitas methodically led Baltimore80 yards in 13 plays for the winning touch-

down. Overnight, Unitas and other stars ofthat game became household names, and within a few years, pro football ranked as Americas favorite spectator sport.

The sports popularity was fueled inpart by the creation in 1960 of the rival

American Football League (AFL), whichfielded eight new teams and entered into

bidding wars with the NFL to draft themost promising college players. A decadeafter its founding, the AFL was absorbedinto the NFL, which was then divided intothe National Football Conference and the

American Football Conference. Currently,the two conferences comprise 32 teams infour divisions. At the end of the 16-gameregular season, a series of playoffs deter-mines the champions of each conference,

which then face off in the Super Bowl.

Footballs Appeal

At any level, football is fun to watchbecause of its fast-paced action, but much

of the sports appeal is in the hoopla sur-rounding it. Marching bands, acrobaticcheerleaders, and costumed mascots leadexcited fans in cheers and fight songs tourge their team on to victory. Halftimeshows feature bands marching in intricateformations or, at major bowl games, per-formances by musical celebrities.

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A Temple University player(#28) runs up the field afterintercepting a pass intendedfor the other team.



This statue of Jim Thorpe,pro footballs first superstar,stands in the rotunda of thePro Football Hall of Fame inCanton, Ohio.

Football includes social events thatextend well beyond the grandstands. Highschools and colleges often hold pep ralliesthe night before a big game to rev up thefaithful with bonfires, cheers, and pep

talks by the players and coach. Homecom-ing celebrations welcome alumni back tocampus for a weekend of parties, dances,and an important game, usually against anarchrival.

Game day itself starts well before kick-off time as fans gather for tailgate partiesin stadium parking lots, where they cookfood on outdoor grills, listen to music,and visit with friends. Those who cantattend the game in person congregatearound televisions in college dormitoriesor fraternity houses, sports bars, and pri-

vate homes to watch the game and sharetheir excitement with fellow enthusiasts.Some holidays, such as Thanksgiving andNew Years Day, which feature day-longbroadcasts of games, can be as much aboutfootball as traditional celebration.

While baseball will always be knownas the national pastime, football, with itsincreasingly popular customs, has certain-ly earned its titleAmericas Game.

Fans attend a large tailgateparty before an Ohio StateUniversity football game.

Talking Football

down the period of action that starts when the offense puts the ball in play andends when the officials rule that the play

is overfield goal a play worth three points madeby kicking the ball through the goal posts;used on fourth down when the offensiveteam is close to the end zone or on anyother down when time is running outfumble to lose hold of the football whilerunning with it or handling it; the teamthat recovers the ball gains possessionhuddle players gathered in a circlebefore each down to hear instructions forthe next play from the quarterback interception a pass by one team thatis caught by a player on the other team,

which then takes possession of the ballline of scrimmage the place on the field

where a play begins; an official moves theball to this line before each down.punt a kick made when a player drops

the ball and kicks it downfield to movethe other team back; a team usually puntson fourth down after having failed to gain10 yards in three downs.rushing use of running plays to movethe ball downfield on offensesack tackling of the quarterback behindthe line of scrimmage, resulting in a loss ofyardage for the offense



A marching band performsin the Tournament ofRoses Parade in Pasadena,California. The paradeprecedes the Rose Bowl, apost-season game betweentwo of the top collegefootball teams.

Hooter, the mascot of theTemple University Owls, revup the crowd before a game.

turnover a fumble or interception thatresults in the other team gaining posses-sion of the ball

Websites of Interest

Football Almanac www.football-almanac.com

The ultimate guide to football statistics, this

site highlights teams and players who hold recordsfor passing, receiving, rushing, and other feats. Itincludes Top 100 charts and Legendary Firsts, as

well as information about the history of the game,the Super Bowl, and other football-related events.

National Football League www.nfl.com

This official site of the National Footballleague features news, statistics, schedules, playersdata and photos, and links to all the professionalfootball teams.

NCAA Football www.ncaafootball.com

This football site of the National Collegiate Athletic Association provides comprehensive infor-mation about college teams, their stadiums, andthe divisions, conferences, and bowl games in

which they play.

Pro Football Hall of Fame www.profootballhof.com

Official site of the Canton, Ohio, shrine topro football, this website features facts about themore than 250 Hall of Fame players, informationabout the history of football, and descriptions ofexhibits at the Halls football museum.

P HYLLIS M C INTOSH is a freelance writer whosework has appeared in many national magazines.

A player practices kicking field goal, sending the ballbetween the upright bars ofthe goal post. A successfulfield goal scores three poin


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T he biggest championship game in U.S. sports, the SuperBowl, lives up to its superlative title in a number of ways.It is a broadcast extravaganza, a top-notch entertainmentvenue, and an advertisers dream. And, oh yes, its usually a goodfootball game, too.

The Super Bowl originated more than 40 years ago when,as part of a merger agreement, the National Football League(NFL) and rival American Football League (AFL) decided to stagea championship playoff between the winning teams from eachleague. In the first game, held January 15, 1967, in Los Angeles,the NFL Green Bay Packers handily defeated the AFL Kansas CityChiefs. The NFL dominated the second championship matchup as well, but in the third year, the AFL New York Jets, led by charis-matic quarterback Joe Namath, beat the highly favored BaltimoreColts in one of the most stunning upsets in Super Bowl history.

The championship was not officially called the Super Bowluntil 1970. The name originated, so the story goes, when KansasCity Chiefs owner Lamar Hunt, recalling his daughter playing witha toy called a Super Ball, jokingly coined the term Super Bowl. Toadd to the contests air of importance, each game is numbered witha Roman numeral instead of the year in which it is played. The 2010game, for example, was Super Bowl XLIV.

Now played on the first Sunday in February, the Super Bowlusually takes place in a city with warm weather, such as Miami, NewOrleans, or Los Angeles. Three games, however, have been played inside domed stadi-ums in the northern cities of Detroit and Minneapolis. No team has ever played in aSuper Bowl at its home stadium.

Over the years, all but four of the teams currently in the NFL have appeared inthe Super Bowl. The most successful team is the Pittsburgh Steelers, with six victories. Among individual players, the leader is former San Francisco 49ers quarterback JoeMontana, named the Most Valuable Player in three Super Bowls. His teammate, widereceiver Jerry Rice, holds records for the most career points scored in Super Bowls (48)and the most Super Bowl touchdowns (8).

Interestingly, no Super Bowl has ever gone into overtime, although severalremained tied into the final minute. Nor has there been a Super Bowl in which neitherteam scored a touchdown or one team failed to score at all. The widest margin of victoryso far has been 45 points, the smallest just one point.

In the beginning, the Super Bowl was a rather modest affair, with tickets costing

about 10 dollars and halftime entertainment provided by local high school or collegemarching bands. In recent years, however, it has become one of the most heavily hypedand commercially important events of the year. Tickets sell for as much as a thousand dollars, and extravagantly staged halftime shows havefeatured such top performers as Paul McCartney, Bruce Springsteen, and the late Michael Jackson.

With more than 100 million viewers worldwide, the Super Bowl continues to break records as the most watched broadcast in U.S. televi-sion history. With such a vast viewership, advertisers pay up to $3 million for a 30-second spot and use the broadcast to debut their cleverestand most expensive commercials. All of the hype has made the game itself incidental for some viewers, who tune in mainly to watch the halftimeshow and critique the new commercials.

For millions of fans, the big game is an excuse for a Super Bowl party, which has become a national tradition. According to some analysts Americans consume more food on Super Bowl day than on any other day except Thanksgiving.

Super Bowl Sunday has, in effect, become Americas newest national holiday.

Indianapolis Col ts talks to his

Manning ( #18 ) of the Q uar terback Pe y ton the game, def ea ting Bo wl. The Col ts won Super teamma tes during the 2007

the Chicago Bears 29-17.

Super Bo wl half time sho ws f ea ture top perf ormers. Prince

perf ormed a t the 2007 Super Bo wl in Miami.

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