Hit Me I’m Open!

Living in Qatar as a Middle School student, there are no opportunities to be able to play on a team of American Football because it is simply not offered here in the Middle East. We have asked the administration but they believe that because it is a contact sport that it is too dangerous. The funny thing is, is that they thought that because they weren’t going to provide a team for us, that we would forget about it and go play soccer or something. We are not only going to play football, but we are going to play Street Football every day at lunch until it gets too hot to bear it.

The great thing about street football is that it can be played anywhere. Street Football is the name, it doesn’t mean that is always has to be played on the street.  For my friends and I, we play on a grassy field were we decide the touchdown lines and the out of bound lines. That is the great thing about street football is that nothing can be decided without each team agreeing because there are no people like referees. It is also fun because “you” can make up the rules from how far the first down is to if you will play tackle or touch. There are normally no markers on the field and very rarely any field goals, less organized than an actual game. The game starts by picking two team captains, usually evenly matched. They take turns picking a player until all players are on a team. This is great because every time you play you get a different variety of teams. The team that picked first also kick off first which is an unspoken rule.  We play “two hand touch” where touching them with two hands at the same time anywhere on their body is equivalent to tackling them.  After the kickoff has been made, there can be a redo, if the team isn’t happy with it. This is my most hated idea because it takes the realism of the game away. The art of the redo, if someone doesn’t like how something turns out or they don’t know how to call the play so they just do it over. So aggravating, but the game must go on. After this, how you play the game is optional. I have played that you only get 4 downs to go through the entire length of the field. I have seen that the first down line is the same has the 50 yard line in the middle of the field.  All work but my favorite and we use for school street football is a version where for every two receptions from a pass makes a first down. If I were to name this it would be called “Who Cares about the Running Game?”Although I do like this version, it doesn’t make sense because it implies that running the ball won’t help. But the only other way that brings in all ideas of football while being fair is the original version, which is hard to play in Street Football because someone would have to keep track of how far away the first down yard line is at all times.

In street football, a major predicament is the lack of players. The average game is normally around ten on a team if you’re lucky. In the NFL, there is an average of about 100 players on a team. Because of these dilemmas, in street football some changes have to be made. First off, in the NFL there is a different team for offense, defense, and special teams. In Street Football, all teams are played by the same people. Sometimes there is even an all-time QB, which is a quarter back that plays all the time for each team.  In the NFL, linemen block the quarter back from being sacked by stopping the defensive line from getting through. In my version of Street Football, there are no linemen but there is a man who watches the quarter back and calls five Mississippi rush. This means that any player must count to five out loud before rushing the quarter back.  They are also aloud to call aloud one “RUSH!” during the duration of each four downs where they can just rush in without counting. In the NFL, there are many different positions on the field at one time. In Street Football, in a passing play there are only receivers and in a rare running play a running back is decided. Also in the Street Football, you don’t have to be a strict position for the whole game. Heck, you can even change to the other team if the players allow it.

From this post, I hope whoever is reading learns that street football is great for any group of friends or competitors. Rules can be made or broken and you don’t have to worry about getting a lowered pay check or a suspension. You don’t have to memorize any playbook and you can play whatever position you want. It is a whole lot of fun and all you need is some good open space and a pigskin to through around.

Next time, read about the SUPER BOWL.

Football of all sports is not easy. There will always be someone out there that is not a fan of our game and will tell us that football takes no skill at all and that anyone can play it. They are completely erroneous. It makes me sick to see people who just put up with the trash that citizens talk about football. I currently live overseas where I get it all the time. But I have learned that instead of arguing with a non-believer, you should educate them. This is what I plan to do but with a larger basis such as this website. This post is especially for them. If you have a friend or you are the one who doesn’t know so much about football, maybe it is because you are insecure or you just aren’t so good at it. This blog is to help you in the game.

The Quarterback (known as the QB) is the leader in the game of offense with profusion of importance. He decides who will get the ball next and is known as the playmaker. If you ever are picked or volunteer to play as QB in whatever situation you are in, you will have a heavy burden on your shoulders. It is important that you have a strong arm and you know where to place your fingers on the football. (You put your ring finger and pinkie finger on the end strings of the football). It is vital that you have an accurate arm which comes with practice. Accuracy takes its place normally when you try and get the ball perfectly into your receiver’s arms without the safety getting a hand on it or intercepting it. The phrase, threading the needle, is used to describe this. Finally it is essential more than anything else that the quarter back knows how to throw the ball or hand it off to the right man to get as much yardage as possible before any defense lineman comes and sacks him (tackling the quarterback before the ball is given to anyone else.) Sacks are extremely dreadful because many yards are lost and it makes that first down line look like it is a mile away. I play quarter back with my friends not because I can throw the farthest, but because I am accurate and I know what to do with the ball under pressure. If you can master that, you can master the QB position.

The quarterback may be important but he nothing without the players that are on the other end of his plays, the wide receivers. If you ever want to be a wide receiver, you first before anything else need to know how to get open for the ball, hence “Hit Me I’m Open”. Being a wide receiver is one of the most enjoyable positions to play in. This is because if the QB and receiver connect, especially a long yardage play, it is the most beautiful thing you can see were these two players become heroes (until the next commercial or when you forget about it the next time you play. The wide receiver needs to know how to juke the safety, juke meaning fake out, and fake out meaning making the defender think you’re going one way when really you surprise them by going another way. After that it is up to the QB to recognize your availability and pass it on so the receiver can use his arms, hands, chest, and body to secure it and hold it until he is tackled or stepped out of bounds. Although I don’t want it to sound simple, if you can pull this off, you could be a great receiver. As an added fact, tight ends and running backs are eligible to catch the ball in something such as a trick play. Tight ends are offensive linemen that are normally smaller than average but are qualified to catch as well. Tight ends don’t get much credit in the game but some who do their job exceptionally in the NFL are Antonio Gates, for the Chargers, and Jason Witten, for the Dallas Cowboys.

Today in Football, it is based mostly on the passing game. Before when it was all started, most plays were highlighted by the running back with rare occurrences of the pass. Now it is vice versa. Presently, running backs are used to get that extra yard, and for first downs when they are just starting off the offense. But this is not the case for some teams that have players such as Adrian Peterson or Marion Barber. Teams like these have lots of running plays were there running back is great because there are small risk chances of turnovers and high chances of making yards. A good running back needs to be fast and strong to get passed any obstacles in its way. If you want to be a running back, you need to know how to use your blockers as an advantage to make you unstoppable. As a running back, all defenses should be invisible to you and the touchdown line should be your goal, play after play. Running backs are imperative in the game of football and so if you want to play the position, you have to play it right.

In Football there are so many different positions that some positions can’t help but be shadowed by others. This is why I would like to pay special attention in this segment to the linemen, the kickers, and the special teams, the teams that play for the kickoffs only. All of these have very important roles and without them, the game would be completely different. Kickers score the field goals and extra points sometimes deciding the outcome of the whole game, linemen hike the ball to the QB, defend him, and try and tackle him, and the special teams decide how far back or forward the offense will start, sometimes even scoring a touchdown for them. Just because they are not as well known, don’t think that if you try out for these positions that you’re in for a trouble-free job. To be a kicker you obviously need a quick, strong and accurate kick. You also have to be good under pressure because the linemen are coming at you fast. All linemen are scary and bulky who scare anything and anyone because they normally end the play by bringing you to the ground. The game would be effortless without them because they are the players that make the game tough. If you want to be linemen, you need to have aggression and strength, but you also need to be cumbersome and tall. This video  shows linemen trying to stop special teams returner Devin Hester. He is the best of the best and one of the unsurpassed special teams players of all time.  Who said Special Teams couldn’t play real football?

I hope that from this blog that you can learn about football from an average guy sharing his hobby to the world. This post in particular should show how hard it really is and what you should be able to do to play any of these positions.

Next time, read about Street Football.

The Dallas Cowboys are my favorite football team ever to play on the eminent green turf of Football. They are the only team that I have ever cherished although it is not like they are the only team I am reminiscent of at all. I watch all games that are on, especially here in Qatar because there is no choice and you have to watch the games that you can catch. The Cowboys are acknowledged as the Americas team and they are the richest. They have unspoken privileges as well like always playing on Thanksgiving. They always have the most popular players and the most excitement. I’ve always loved the Cowboys because my Dad has always loved the Cowboys. And my dad has always loved them because of my grandpa who became a fan as soon as they started as the Dallas Cowboys.

The Dallas Cowboys started in 1960. Just an interesting fact I picked up on was that before they were named the Cowboys, The Dallas Steers and Dallas Rangers were questioned. There first coach was Tom Landry and the first owners of the team were Murchison and Wayne. Don Merideth was one of their first ever quarter backs. Since all the way back then, The Boys have won five Superbowls, have been conference champions 10 times, have been division champions 19 times, and have been to the playoffs an outstanding 29 times. The owner now is Jerry Jones who is doing a great job of the Big D franchise. Wade Phillips is the coach who is a bit too nice for my liking but making up for it we have most of the all-stars of the whole came. Just to name a few we have quarterback Tony Romo with Jessica Simpson on his side, Marion Barber who is the beast of all running backs, Demarcus Ware who at 262 pounds can sack anyone and anything that he puts his mind to, and Patrick Crayton, the star of all stars. 13 players from the Dallas Cowboys went to the Pro-Bowl , a game for the all-stars which is a record. After hearing that, how could you not crave to watch the Dallas Cowboys in a game. But there are many games that will benefit or determent the Cowboys even if they are not playing. As I talked in my latest blog before this one, I talked about the NFL and how there are divisions. The teams in the Dallas Cowboys division are the Redskins, Eagles, and Giants. Don’t give me research points for that one Ms. Rumford because I know them by heart. The best team from each division moves on so whenever one of those teams is playing, I always root for for the other team. When any other teams are playing that I don’t care about, I normally cheer for the underdog.

“How about dem Cowboys?” is a well known phrase that cowboy fans ask one another with a reply of a smile and a session were they start talking about the game. The Americas team is one were either you love them or you hate them. If you love them, that’s great, but when they’re going strong and you’re not a fan of them, good luck because you’re not getting anywhere. I love this team and I can’t say it anymore. GO COWBOYS!

Next time read about the Techniques of the game!

The NFL is an acronym for the National Football League. This league is the most well known in all of the United States which in my judgment hosts the best football play in the entire world. This isn’t a courageous idea though because the only other league that I am aware of is the Canadian Football League which no one gives two hoots about. The NFL was inaugurated in 1920 and it is still going sturdy now in 2009 and just like anything else in Football, it has evolved drastically.

In this league there is an AFC (the American Football Conference) and an NFC (the National Football Conference). Back in the day, these were actually two different leagues which were combined into one league. There are 32 teams in the league, 16 in the AFC and 16 in the NFC. Each conference also has 4 divisions with 4 teams in each. An NFL year consists of a Pre-season, a regular season, and the playoffs leading up to the Super bowl where the NFC champions play against the AFC champions. The Pre-Season is basically a preparation for the regular season. I have been to a few preseason games myself. If you win or lose it does not matter. Normally, the coach’s watch how there team plays and can cut people and change positions around to get the best team possible. They are not much fun to watch because the games are sloppy because the teams are playing everyone to see their range instead of the perfect team. Also is in the Pre-Season, first string, second string, third string and so on are picked. The first string is the player that is the one to play on the field and is normally the best of the strings. If he is injured, or they are saving him for a later game, the next string in line comes in. It rarely happens but once all the backups were injured so the running back took the place as the passer. It was a very interesting game. The regular season is a seventeen week period were each team plays every week unless they have a bye. A Bye is when the team has a break for the week. Every team has one of these throughout the regular season. Each team plays every one in their division twice and the rest are mostly random. By the end of the season every team in each division with most wins move on. There are also two teams that have a wild card shot in each Conference to move on to the playoffs.

 This is the graph showing where each teams play. It is a basic elimination moving onto the quarter finals (NFC or AFC Championships) all the way to the Superbowl. The Superbowl is a spectacular game to watch with half time shows and fireworks. It is what all football players want to be in and it is the most watched show on television. A commercial for one minute cost $2,000,000. This is what the NFL is famous for.

The NFL is played from September to January and on those weekends you won’t be seeing me because I’ll be watching the game. The saddest part about it is that the rest of the world wont join me. It is only America that truly stays true to the came. No one else will give them a chance. My goal is to share footbal with the rest of the world so they can share the same joys as I. Next week, read about my biggest joy, the Dallas Cowboys.

American Football is the sport of running, throwing, catching, and kicking. Although it is not popular in the world, I believe that it is the best sport ever made. The first signs of football played as a professional sport was in 1892 with William “Pudge” Heffelfinger’s $500 contract to play in a game for the Allegheny Athletic Association, one of the original leagues in football history. Over the years, football and its players have evolved physically but also as a game with new rules added every year. This blog will be about the basics of American Football.

The object of Football is to get more points than the other team. Most people compare it to rugby but there are many differences that people get confused with. In rugby, a player has to get to the end zone and touch the ball to the ground. In American Football, you score by running into the end zone and as soon as you are passed the line it is a touchdown. A touchdown awards you 6 points, 7 if you can make the extra point through the field goal. The field goals are positioned at each end of the field and other than the extra point, they can help a team get 3 points by them kicking the ball in between the posts from anywhere on the field. But don’t get too excited because you can’t just walk through the field and score touchdowns and field goals. There is a lot more to it and some rules I don’t even know. This is why I will only go through the basics. It starts off with a kickoff from one team to another depending on a coin toss. A kickoff is where the first team kicks to the other from the opposite side of the field, giving them a chance to get some yardage before the start the process of the downs. (Don’t worry, I’ll get there.) If the ball is kicked out of bounds (on the sidelines of the field) the receiving team will get to start at the 40 yard line.There are 100 yards on the field so starting at the 40 is an advantage because it is almost half way across the field. This is one of the biggest penalties in football although there are so many of them. On the field there are referees in striped uniforms that look out for any penalties. There are many punishments but most affect the yardage.

Each team has four attempts to continue throughout their possession. Once they start, every ten yards there is a first down line which will basically “reset” them, giving them 4 more downs to continue until the next first down. If they can’t get to the first down line in three downs they have the option to kickoff to the other team. If they decide to continue because they think that they are close enough to the first down line or if they think that they can make a field goal, they will take the fourth down. But when you take the fourth down and you don’t achieve your goal, there is a turnover. This means that the other team will switch from defense to offense, the team with the ball. Turnovers can happen in many different ways. If someone on the offense fumbles the ball (drops it unintentionally) and the other team recovers it, it is a turnover. If the quarter back, the person that starts with the ball and is the one that throws it, throws it to a wide receiver, a player that catches the ball, and it gets intercepted by a safety, the player that prevents the wide receiver from catching the ball, it is also a turnover. As you could see, it would have been impossible explaining plays in the game without telling you some of the key players. These are only some of the main positions played in the game of football.

Football can be very confusing and can even be confusing to write about. There are so many details that can be brought up thoroughly and I haven’t even begun talking about actually being in a stadium rutting your team on or actually even playing the game, but I think this is enough for one blog. Next time, read about the NFL, or the National Football League.