Presentation on American Football, or just football in the US

Thèmes abordés

American football, gidiron, NFL, turnover, sack, superbowl, quarterback, block flag first down

Résumé du document

American football, or just football in the US and in the presentation, is not very famous in France whereas it is one of the most popular sport overseas. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to introduce you to a sport I enjoy playing and watching. I hope you will enjoy it and find yourself interested in it.

Extraits

[...] Usually, for safety purposes, the offensive team will perform a punt on fourth down to kick the ball as far as possible from their end zone, making sure the other team does not retrieve the ball where the fourth down was played if the team doesn't get 10 yards, or what is still to be won. At the beginning of the play, the offensive team's quarterback passes the ball to a teammate. The other players are then forming a block to protect the ball-owner, pushing their opponents. Note they can't hold them or kick them: only pushes are allowed. The team that defends can catch the ball if the pass is badly thrown. When it's dropped or loose, it is called a fumble. If a defensive player then retrieves the football, a turnover occurs. [...]

[...] Furthermore, the separation between football and rugby was not really clear. The sport played was thus a kind of hybrid game until football asserted itself in the last quarter of the 19th century. The Massasoit convention was hold on November in Springfield, Massachusetts. Representatives of Ivy League Institutions Harvard, Yale, Princeton, and Columbia established common and standardized rules for every college football game. Nevertheless, they were still very close to the ones of rugby excepted that scoring was given more reward: a touchdown, a player entering the end zone with the ball, was given more points than a field goal, kicking the football between the goal posts. [...]

[...] The NFL, the National Football League, was created in 1920. Football became more and more famous. It was broadcasted across the United States and particularly in the South. The Southeastern Conference was formed in 1932 and interstate competitions were then held, such as the Big Ten championship, won five times by The University of Minnesota between 1934 and 1941. In 1958, the entire NFL season for broadcasted for the first time on TV. This archieved the supremacy of professional games over college football at the national level. [...]

[...] At the half time (which lasts exceptionally for 30 minutes), a very famous singer or band performs. In 2002, U2 played on a stage displaying all the names of the victims of Sept terrorist attacks. In 2004 Justin Timberlake and Janet Jackson's performance raised controversy when the latter's breast non-intentionally showed for a few seconds, what the artists eventually famously called a wardrobe malfunction Finally, American folklore is such that football is closely associated with Thanksgiving day. The tradition wants everybody, from amateurs to NFL professionals, to play on that particular day. [...]

[...] with the football, or catches a pass in the end zone. This looks like rugby though ball doesn't have to be grounded. Following a touchdown, the team attempts a PAT for Point After Touchdown, kicking the football between the goal posts. If successful, it's worth 1 extra point. Like the drop in rugby, one player can try a field goal. Usually on fourth down instead of a punt, and if in the field goal range, i.e. usually 30 yards or closer to the end zone, a player called place kicker will attempt a field goal. [...]