Football FAQs

A few weeks ago I did the first post of baseball FAQs and now it's time for Round 2. 

Since football season is in full swing, I can only guess that you're surrounded by football crazed men everywhere you turn. Read below and you'll be a bit closer to understanding the complicated world of the sport.

photo via MJB

Q: What do the yellow and blue lines mean on the field?

A: Those lines are actually computer generated and only appear on TV—not on the actual field. The blue line represents the line of scrimmage, or where the players and the ball is starting from. The yellow line represents how far the offense needs to go to receive a first down. (Tip: The players have four tries to get this first down.)

Q: Why do I hear my guy talking about wanting his team to lose all their games?

A: He is most likely talking about wanting his team to have the worst record in the NFL, so that they get the top pick in next year's draft. (Tip: The first pick of next year is probably Stanford QB, Andrew Luck.) Basically, the team that does the worst each year gets to pick first at the draft the following year and can end up with the next franchise superstar. You usually only hear fans wish this upon their team when they are really bad or really need that first draft pick.

Q: What's the difference between a punt and a kickoff?

A: Punts: These are kicked when the team didn't score, and/or didn't make it to a first down. The team who was just trying to score punts to the opposite team. 

Kickoff: These are done at the start of each half and after teams score. You then kickoff to the opposing team. More here.

Q: Why do some states have so many teams and some none? Which state has the most teams?

A: It mainly has to do with profit—Montana might not bring in as many viewers, aka cash, to the owners and players of the team in a city like New York.

California, Florida and New York all have three teams (with California having two in the Bay Area—only 20 minutes from each other, and two of NY's teams actually play in New Jersey.)

Q: What's the difference between the AFC and the NFC? 

A: They are each a conference that make up the NFL. There are 16 teams in each conference, making up 32 teams in the NFL. (Tip: Each conference then breaks down into four divisions: West, East, South, North—four teams per division.) A team from each conference will go on to play each other in the Super Bowl. More here. 

Q: How long is the NFL season?

A: Preseason starts in August and the Super Bowl is played in early February. 

Hopefully these help you on the way to being super sporty (and help to get you off your boyfriends back—you're welcome boys!) Now head to the local watering hole on Sunday to totally impress a babe sporting jersey.

Email me with any questions that I didn't get to.