Sport-Blog.com

by Leanne Phillips

Even if you are not a huge football fan, the thing about football is that there are a lot of extra bells and whistles that make football a fun game to watch. Here is a guide to the football extras that add fun to the game for even the beginning spectator.

Cheerleaders and Marching Bands. Since just about the time football was invented, cheerleaders and marching bands have added to the fun and excitement of football games. The job of cheerleaders is to get the crowd excited and to get them cheering and making a lot of noise. The idea behind this is that, the more excited the crowd becomes, the more motivated the teams will be to win. I'm not sure if this is necessarily true, but I do know that a lot of football fans sure seem to like cheerleaders. Likewise, it is always exciting to see marching bands perform. There is just something about seeing the band march into the stadium, in their uniforms and all in unison, playing and marching to the beat of the bass drum. Many marching bands perform routines in which they create patterns on the field while playing, which is very cool to watch.

Football Pools. Football fans often enjoy placing friendly bets or "wagers" among friends, or participating in something called a football pool. A football pool may cover one game or a series of games. The participants in the pool contribute a small amount of money to the pool, perhaps weekly. There are a number of different kinds of football pools. For example, in one type of pool, participants attempt to pick the winners for that week's professional football games. The person who correctly picks the winners for the most games wins the money that was pooled together. For example, if 10 people participate in the pool and each participant contributes $10 to the pool, the prize will be $100. Another fund may be set aside from weekly contributions to form a pot of money that will go to the person who correctly picked the winners for the most games all season. Entering a football pool is a good way for the novice football fan to begin to experience the excitement of the game. For some reason, it's a lot more fun to watch a football game, even when you aren't quite sure what's going on, if you have $100 or so riding on the outcome of the game.

How to pick a winning team. It's fun to try to predict which team will win a football game, even if you don't have any money riding on the outcome. It's especially fun to pick different teams and get a friendly rivalry going while watching the game. If you are new to football, have not been following the teams and know absolutely nothing about football teams, there are still plenty of ways to pick a winning football team. The best way to predict the winning team is by the name of the team's home town. Teams who play for cities with two-word names usually beat teams who play for cities with one-word names. For example, if the New England Patriots are playing against the Cincinnati Bengals, the Patriots will win. If the San Diego Chargers are playing against the Pittsburgh Steelers, the San Diego Chargers will win.

What if both teams come from cities with two-word names or, even worse, one-word names? Well, then it gets a little trickier. You then have to resort to the teams' colors. Teams with darker team colors will beat teams with lighter colors. For example, the Oakland Raiders' colors are silver and black. This trumps the Miami Dolphins' colors, which are teal and orange. So, although both teams come from cities with one-word names, the Raiders will win. Okay, try this one on your own: Who wins between the San Francisco 49ers, whose colors are red and gold, and the Dallas Cowboys, whose colors are blue and silver? This is tricky, you may say, because red and blue are both bright, primary colors. But, remember the first rule: The San Francisco 49ers play for the city of San Francisco, a city with a two-word name, while Dallas is a one-word name. Besides that, everybody knows that the San Francisco 49ers always beat the Dallas Cowboys.

Snacks and beer. If you have invited a group of people into your home to watch a football game, there are two things that are mandatory: Snacks and beer. A big screen television is optional, but desirable. Football watching fare is always casual. The perfect snacks for a football party include submarine sandwiches, hot dogs, chips, dips and finger foods, such as chicken fingers or Jeno's Pizza Rolls. One of the good things about football fans is that they are not picky. One of the bad things about football fans is that they are messy. Be prepared for cups of beer being knocked over as fans jump up exuberantly to cheer a touchdown. If you can get your guests to drink out of sippy cups, so much the better.

Talking during the game. Talking during the game is a big no no. This may seem strange to hear, since anyone knows that a room full of football fans watching a game is a very noisy room indeed. However, please note that the fans are not actually talking. They are doing anything but talking. It is okay--in fact it is encouraged--to cheer, boo, yell, jump up and down, curse the referee, or call the players idiots or heroes, depending on how well they are playing for that particular game. Make as much noise as you like. Actual talking, however, with real sentences and logical content, is discouraged or, in some locales, even forbidden.

Half time. Now you can talk. In fact, this is the time to do so. Many people think that half time is a time for the players to regroup and make plans to come from behind in the second half of the game, or for the crowds to be entertained with various half time shows, including cheerleading routines, dancers, singers and marching bands. This is not true. Now is the time to discuss how great a game a particular player is having, or what a stupid mistake one of the players made, or the records of the respective teams, or the fact that you are out of beer. If you are, indeed, out of beer or snacks, this is the time to run to the corner store and replenish the football game watching provisions. If your team is winning, now is the time to "talk trash" or brag about the great game or season your team is having, especially if other members of the group are rooting for the opposite team. If you are all fans of the same team, now is the time to crow and brag about what great taste you have in football teams.

Celebrating. "Celebrating" occurs when a football player makes a touchdown and then "spikes" the football in the end zone. Spiking the football means to throw it down into the ground with a grunt or shout of triumph. Instead of spiking the football, a player might make up a funny dance to let the other team know exactly how happy he is to have made a touchdown. If someone on your chosen team makes a touchdown and begins doing a celebration dance in the end zone, the appropriate response is to get up and being doing the end zone dance yourself, preferably on the coffee table.

History lesson: Back in the day, the touchdown celebration was an art form. Billy "White Shoes" Johnson invented the end zone celebration in 1984 when he did a celebratory dance much like the funky chicken in the end zone. In 1988, Ickey Woods created his famous end zone "shuffle." Over the years, end zone celebrations like the Moss Moon, The Dirty Bird, the Mile High Salute, the Lambeau Leap and the Bob and Weave have regaled the crowds.

In 2003, Joe Horn took the end zone celebration to new heights when he pulled a hidden cell phone out of the goal post padding and made a phone call or pretended to make a phone call. Some say he called one of his relatives to celebrate the touchdown, while others say he called NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue to find out how much his fine would be. Note: Horn was fined $30,000 for his celebratory phone call, which was ruled to be unsportsmanlike conduct.

Monday Night Football. Monday Night Football was invented in order to ease football fans gradually out of a weekend filled with college and professional football games and back into the regular work week, which in most cases does not include football. In order to make the transition a little less painful, the National Football League, in its infinite wisdom, came up with Monday Night Football. Monday Night Football is just like any other football game, except that it is played on Monday Night. It is a regular league game, and there is absolutely nothing different or special about it, except that it is played on Monday Night. Although you may by now have a keen appreciation for the game of football, spending an evening watching football when you just spent all day Sunday watching games may be a little too much for you. If you have a football lover in the house, and you are not yet quite at that level, it is a wise idea to have two televisions in the house so you do not miss The Bachelor.

Copyright (c) 2005 by Leni Leanne Phillips