It’s a question I get asked incessantly. Many struggle to understand why an Australian can be passionate about a sport which does not exist locally. It’s because American football is the ultimate team sport.
As a sports enthusiast who has grown up in Melbourne predominantly around Australian football and cricket, American football has not always been a passion.
Growing up it was all about AFL. If you don’t know it, you don’t know how to play it and you didn’t support a team, you would be sitting in the corner of the playground feeding bread crusts to pigeons.
Towards the end of high school the NFL caught my attention when Ben Graham moved from the AFL to the NFL as a punter. As a Geelong fan, Graham was my favourite player and I was curious to see why he would give up the club captaincy to move to the US at the age of 31.
His booming left boot was his most dangerous weapon. It’s what made him so dangerous in the AFL.
A year after Graham left he earned a contract with the New York Jets to become the oldest rookie ever in the NFL. Shortly after, that record was broken by Sav Rocca, who earned a contract with the Philadelphia Eagles as a punter after leaving North Melbourne.
In New York Graham was a mediocre punter but he developed into the league’s best after he moved to Arizona. By the age of 35, Graham was the punter of the Arizona Cardinals who met the Philadelphia Eagles in the 2009 NFC Championship game. Graham was facing Rocca and the winner would be the first ever Australian to play in a Superbowl.
Arizona won that game but fell in the Superbowl to the Pittsburgh Steelers in an epic encounter which saw the Steelers pinch victory in the final minute of the game.
By then I was hooked. I’d watched two full games of American football and the sport itself was riveting.
Four years later I was in America studying at a football school.
Fans of other sports often knock American football because of its stop-start nature and the amount of padding the players wear for protections. Australian football and rugby players wear no padding and in Australia are considered tougher sports due to the athleticism required to play the games.
I’m not here to knock the Australian codes, but equal if not more athleticism is required in the NFL, dependent on a player’s position. I also consider the sport to be more dangerous.
Taking a look at the most appealing elements of the sport, one of my favourite is the effect on the game which linemen have. At first glance these guys look fat, lazy and get paid to eat pizza and drink coke. While that may be the case, linemen are silent achievers who do not receive praise by the media, nor on the statistics sheet.
Linemen, however, are given the task of protecting their quarterback and make blocks for their backs.
Blocking is one of the toughest skills in the NFL because it requires strength, alternates and acceleration. The most intriguing aspect of it is that if a players misses his block, their quarterback can get seriously injured. ‘The Blind Side’ is an excellent movie which shows the importance of laying what some would call a simple block.
Speed and strength are combined requirements of skill position players. Wide receivers and running backs need to be quick and strong enough to break tackles and run over people. They also get tackled more than any other players on the field, often with force.
Defenders usually run up to gather momentum before crunching the player with the ball.
The AFL has outlawed the bump, but in any given game of NFL there are dozens of head-high bumps which are legal because players wear helmets.
Receivers jump to catch balls only to find themselves spear tackled out of bounds when they hit the ground. There are more big hits in an NFL game than AFL and I like this. It makes for entertainment much better than that WWE stuff.
Probably the best element of American football, though, is the play calling. It’s stop-start nature allow organised plays to be called on every single play and coaches can control the game more so than any other sport.
The intricacies of play calling mean that every player on the field has an assignment for the play to work. If one guy fails his assignment, the entire play can break down.
This is the antithesis of teamwork.
Players get injured when their team mates fail their assignments.
I do not take pleasure in seeing players injured, but for a team sport, this is the ultimate show of faith which makes American football the ultimate team sport and why it’s worth waking up at 3am to watch live.
ThelmaWrites
Guest
Speaking of atmosphere, I find very moving the practice at Notre Dame where, after a win, the players face the students in the stands and everyone sings a melacholic song as the sun marches down the sky. This will date me but never mind: In the late 80s, Don Lane on ABC used to host NFL games at some ungodly hour like midnight. Well, I wrote ABC and asked that they also air college football and they did! No need for pay TV then.
ThelmaWrites
Guest
Thanks for that, JJ, very funny. I catch myself from time to time repreating in my head: "Baseball is played in p-a-r-k-s. Football is played in sta-di-ums with names like Soldier Field and War Memorial...."
mushi
Roar Guru
I noticed that on another ad any ones with a Foxtel ad says "brought to you by foxtel"
Tim
Guest
http://cdn.bleacherreport.net/images_root/slides/photos/000/656/008/terrence-cody-weigh-in_display_image.jpg?1295627643 Not an ounce of fat on this bloke!
mushi
Roar Guru
Immune from criticism? You've got AI circling the wagons, ordering pitch forks and throwing babies overboard at the mere suggestion that they may actually be athletes.
mushi
Roar Guru
I do love you deriding a culture for excessive superficial boorishness
mushi
Roar Guru
sounds like a sports "fan" who is 99% ignorance 1% envy...
mushi
Roar Guru
Most will actually have calorie intakes they need to meet in order to stay at playing weight which is essentially the maximum they think you can weigh before you sacrifice agility.
Seriously, Who says Oi?
Guest
The amount of native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders is nearing a million. I think it's because they've been there now for generations multiplying in many cases. Polynesians tend to be seen exclusively in sports where weighing a lot is considered an asset. That's Rugby, NRL and American Football or even the show that is pro wrestling. I know they're over represented in Rugby, but I'm guessing the same would be probable for NRL. In the NFL, they're over represented relative to their race's population, but they're generally not the most prominent players. I think almost all Polynesian players that have ever played in the league are linemen (particularly on offense) noticed for being such gargantuan people.
Seriously, Who says Oi?
Guest
All the games have tremendous atmosphere. The games before Bowl season are the regular season, so it means everything to all the fans and the team alike. Also, most teams play to crowds about twice their school's enrollment. It's more of an entire community supporting them. It's almost the entire city or town showing up to games, often much more than that.
Dave S
Guest
Guys want to be on the football team because its a status thing. For historical reasons, its the marquee sport in high school. The quarterback traditionally dates the prom queen or the prettiest girl in school. A few really good players go on to college or the pros. Few people actually ever play it recreationally in their whole life, at least not with the full outfit. Its primarily a spectator sport.
p.Tah
Guest
'this article is brought to you by Foxtel Sport' and then an ad below advertising Foxtel NFL coverage? Was this an advertorial? If it is the Roar need to disclose it. If it isn't the Roar need to be more selective with their ads because it gives the impression that this is a paid article.
mushi
Roar Guru
and yet they could still out run your ass
WhatUsername
Roar Rookie
Awesome article, and the last 4 paragraphs pretty much describe the Cowboys season. Did anyone even see the game today? Disgusting
Minz
Guest
I lived in North America for two years and watched a lot of NFL, and a lot of the linesmen are genuinely carrying a lot of fat. To be fair though, the fat is probably necessary to provide cushioning for their organs (no, really!) and enough mass to compete. They are seriously powerful men. As for the sports science, well, I've also seen what they feed those guys at training camp, and I'm mildly dubious that it's scientific - piles and piles of bacon, hash browns, eggs and other fried goodies, all-you-can-eat for the big fellas. Plus, the medical treatment these guys get seems somewhat... amateurish at times (I've been following the concussion debates through North America news services). Ultimately, with what I've seen, I'm curious as to how much tradition has to do with how players get treated and how much of it is genuinely scientific.
Minz
Guest
I enjoy the american footy, but IMO it's better on TV in a bar full of supporters than it is live! The beer's expensive, stadiums are cold and the game really does drag... last time I went, even the guy next to me was complaining about how many breaks it had, and he'd been a season ticket holder since the 1970s! Then again, maybe he was just getting a bit old :) Canadian football's heaps better to watch live, (it's both faster and played mostly in summer, and tickets are cheaper! :D)
Dingo
Guest
C'mon Chris, keep up, it's a pizza and coke gut. ;)
Steve
Guest
Tigranes has got it: you need a lot of infrastructure and equipment to get a game going. It's not just Somalia- a high school in Sydney or, I don't know, Rome, might fancy setting up a programme, but they're going to look at the gear they'd have to buy, and all the specialised knowledge they'd have to import, and go for something more accessible. It works in the states because the pool of knowledge, the infrastructure etc, grew as the game evolved. Starting from scratch would require phenomenal dedication and expense, and as all the resources are right there for, say, Rugby/ Soccer it makes no sense for other countries to go for American Football. Unfortunately.
Steve
Guest
I like American Football a lot, but as far as put-downs of the sport go, that's a valid and interesting one. I quite like the fact that it's a chess game between (ultimately) two coaches, but it seems like a singularly unappealing sport to actually play, certain positions excepted. Is it the opposite of the much used line about Rugby Union being a dull game for spectators but a joy for players?
Jimbo
Guest
Apples and oranges. Of course, an NFL lineman wouldn't last aerobically in a game of union or league, but if any (and I do mean any) player of either code lined up against them on an opposing line, they would get absolutely belted.