American Football

American Football

Six Seconds to Go The date is January30, 2000. The Tennessee Titans and the St. Louis Rams are playing in the Super Bowl, American football's greatest game. With the Rams ahead 23-16, the Titans are at the Rams' 10-yard line. There are only six seconds left in the game. Titans quarterback Steve McNair passes the ball to wide receiver Kevin Dyson, whose outstretched arm comes up just 1 yard (0. 91 m) short of the end zone. The crowd goes wild as the Rams win their first Super Bowl championship. With exciting game endings like this, it isn't hard to see why the spectacular sport of American football is something to cheer about.

America's Favorite Sport American football is the most popular sport in the United States. More fans attend football games and watch football games on TV than any other sport. About seventy thousand fans attend each National Football League (NFL) game. The NFL's championship game-the Super Bowl-is one of the biggest sports events in the world.

Football in Other Countries About seventy countries around the world have American football teams. The sport is not as popular as some other sports, but interest in the game is growing. Canada has had its own form of football for more than one hundred years. Canadian football is like American football. However, the field size, number of players, and some of the rules are different. Arena football, an indoor version of American football, has been around since the 1980s. Its fast games take place on a small playing field.

A New Sport Is Born In the late 1860s and early 1870s, students at several North American schools started playing two games from England. Soccer, which is also called football in parts of the world, was mainly played with the feet. Rugby (short for rugby football) was played with hands as well as feet. Yale, in Connecticut, was one of the schools that played rugby. Walter Camp, a Yale student from 1876 to 1881, suggested changes to the game's rules. Over time, modern American football was born.

Playing the Game During a football game, two teams try to move the ball into the other team's end zone to score points. Each team has two platoons of eleven players each. (Teams also have a third platoon for kicking. ) The offensive line, or platoon, tries to score, and the defensive platoon tries to stop the other team from scoring. The two platoons take turns playing. When Team A has control of the ball, its offensive unit plays Team B's defensive platoon. When Team B has control of the ball, its offensive platoon plays Team A's defensive platoon. A quarterback is the leader of each offensive platoon.