Football - The Great American Game
By: Matt Ristman

One of the most popular team sports in the United States is football. Their version combines soccer and rugby and wasn't played until the nineteenth century. Millions of spectators and thousands of players participate in football games every year.

Football has a unique tradition in the US. American football is like an institution in the people of USA. Football gets the center stage of students' activity in the high school. The entire school comes to back their team during tournaments. The homecoming games and dances are nearly bigger than prom. The quarterback of the football team is the most popular guy in the school.

Football rules are fairly complex. Those who don't understand them, or care, can find the game slow moving and boring. On the surface it looks like running and tackling is all the players do, but actually the strategy is difficult and confusing. The coaches and assistants spend years studying offensive and defensive moves that go into making touchdowns. Often they aren't given enough credit for their hard work.

The first professional football game was played in Pennsylvania in 1895. Within a decade many colleges formed their own teams for football and apart from that many other teams also came up. The American Professional Football Association was formed in 1920 to give a fillip to the game. In 1922, the American Professional Football Association was converted into the National Football League.

These days pro football and the NFL are extremely popular. Many of the top players are national celebrities. The Super Bowl is one of the biggest television draws each year. As it's the final game between the two top contenders, millions of people from the US and many from Canada crowd around their TV sets to watch.

National television stations charge millions to advertisers for slots during the Super Bowl, and the commercials are an event all their own. So is the star- studded half time show which is usually quite the spectacle thanks to recent "wardrobe malfunctions".

Why is football so wildly popular in the United States? Many people think its because of the game's violent nature. Tackles are hard and rough, many players end up severely injured. Also, many people find the anticipation quite exciting. Anyone who has played football at one time or another enjoys thinking up what strategy they would employ given the current situation. Yelling at the coach for a poor plan also seems to be a favorite of many spectators.

Watching football becomes more popular every year. Football games are at least as popular, if not more so, than baseball and hockey. Canadians also play football, but their rules are a bit different. For some reason though, Canadian football is not nearly as popular as the games in the United States are.

Young children, both boys and girls start playing football early on. Teams used to be made up only of boys, but now the girls are proving that gender doesn't have to play a part in sports.

Article Source: http://www.ArticleJoe.com

About the author: Matt Ristman is the chief writer at Football is Best, the #1 source on the internet when you're looking for fresh up to date advice and reviews to do with Football. For further information on Football please visit: www.footballbest.com/articles You can swap links with us by going to: www.footballbest.com/links
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