Felicity Hart: Day Two: The Blogger Challenge (Educate us on something you know)

Day Two: Educate us on something you know a lot about or are good at...

Right... When I first read this my mind went blank! Despite appearances I'm not a dumb blonde lol, but actually thinking of something to teach people about is rather tricky. I decided I'd come up with a list of things I could educate you guys on and pick one... Then I threw the list out and picked something completely different... Hands up who thought I'd be a fan of American football! After a bit of thought this is what I am going to tell you about.

First things first, a little introduction to my love for the sport. I will admit I was never really a sports fan until I met Mr F.H, now I watch boxing, rugby, baseball.., the list goes on (although some I'm more made to watch, rather than actually choosing to lol!!!). Anyway, American football is one which I do love watching, cuddled up on the sofa on a Sunday evening in the autumn/winter. The following is what Mr F.H has referred to as “The Blonde's Guide to Football”...

The main league for American Football is the NFL (National Football League). There are 32 teams in the NFL and they are split into two conferences, the AFC and NFC, then further divided into four divisions (North, East, South and West). As an example, the team I support, the Cincinnati Bengals (who I chose based on the fact that they have a really cute mascot called Who Dey!), is in the AFC North. Teams play the teams from their division, home and away, plus other selected teams. The top teams at the end of the season go on to the post-season, which is one-off knock-out games. The final game is the Superbowl and the winner is crowned the best team in the NFL. The current champions are the Baltimore Ravens.

Onto the sport itself...

The aim of American football is to score more points than the other team. You can score points by scoring a touchdown (6 points), which is followed by what is known as a PAT (a kick over the posts, similar to rugby, this is an extra 1 point). The other way to score is by kicking a field goal (3 points), or by tackling the opposing teams player in their own end zone (known as a 'Safety' – 2 points), but only if they took it into their own end zone (it took me a while to work out exactly what was going on sometimes, thankfully I have Mr F.H to explain things).

The team is split into two parts, Offense and Defense (11 players on each). When your team's Offense is on the field you have 3 chances to move the ball 10 yards, on the fourth chance you must kick it back to the other team or kick a field goal if in range (you can 'Go for it', which means having another attempt, but if you fail the other team gets possession from where you failed – teams only do this if it is a last resort!). When you're Defense is on the field you have to stop the other team scoring – simple right?! (There are things known as 'Special Teams' but this is outside the scope of this introduction).

Teams line up in what's known as 'scrimmage' where the ball is 'snapped' to the Quarterback (QB). The offensive players then run up the field hoping to receive a pass and the defensive players try to 'sack' the QB before he passes the ball. There are other options but I could be here for hours lol!!!

This leads me on to the main positions of the game. Teams line up with players in these positions...

Offense:

Quarterback (QB) - (main player on Offense, passes the ball and controls the team)
Running backs (RB) - (carry the ball and try to run up the field)
Wide Receivers (WR) - (hope to catch passes from the QB)
Tight End (TE) - (I swear I didn't make this up, they are called Tight Ends, similar to WRs)
Offensive Line – (These are the REALLY big ones who try to protect the QB from the Defense

Defense:

Defensive Line – (Again, REALLY big ones who try to push past the Offense and tackle the QB)
Line Backers – (Big athletic ones who try to 'sack' the QB)
Defensive Backs – (Cornerbacks and Safetys – Try to stop the WRs from catching the ball by intercepting or tackling them)

Lastly I thought I'd mention some of my favourite players (not based on looks before anyone asks lol...), in fact largely based on the fact that me and Mr F.H play NFL Fantasy Football and these ones got me loads of points over the past few years!!!

Tom Brady (QB for New England Patriots)
Michael Orr (Left Tackle for Baltimore Ravens – there is also a film about him called The Blind Side starring Sandra Bullock, which was really good!)
A J Green (WR for Cincinnati Bengals!!!)
Andy Dalton – (QB for Cincinnati Bengals!!!)
Robert Griffin III (known as RG3 lol – QB for Washington Redskins)

So that's my brief guide to American Football, I hope it was informative, enjoyable and that it might influence some of you guys to try watching when the season starts properly again in September!!!

Go Bengals!!! And Check out the other girls topics by visiting their sites below: