Futebol Americano

Guilherme Sulz Dantas

EN 121

September 25, 2015

(1262 words)

Things That Can Make American Football an Interesting Sport

American football is a sport that is based on speed, agility, brute force and tactical ability of his players. These work in teams pushing, blocking or chasing opponents so that the ball can move up to the scoring zone. The game consists of several short plays that extend across the total time. A negative point is, the game could be really long, and it can be boring for some people. Also, there are many injuries during the game. On the other hand, positive points like really rousing fans that can touch even who does not know about the game, a lot of strategy, cheerleaders and unpredictable results can make American football a really interesting sport.

A negative point of American football it is the time of the game. The games are really long. The playing time it is just one hour divided at 4 times of fifteen minutes each. Every time that the ball stops the clock stop to. For this reason the average time of the game is about 3 hours. During this time just a few minutes it is with the ball in movement. According to Wall Street Journal: “According to a Wall Street Journal study of four recent broadcasts, and similar estimates by researchers, the average amount of time the ball is in play on the field during an NFL game is about 11 minutes.” (Biderman).In addition, for who watch the game on TV could be equally boring. It is because there are many brakes and a lot of advertisements. The web site Quartz says: “The average NFL game includes 20 commercial breaks containing more than 100 ads. The Journal’s analysis found that commercials took up about an hour, or one-third, of the game.”("An Average NFL Game: More than 100 Commercials and Just 11 Minutes of Play.") For these reasons, American Football could be long and boring for some people.

This point could be negative or positive, it depends of the point of view. Many injuries happen in the NFL, some very serious and, for some players, the bruises are just another opportunity to overcome. For everybody who plays football, or any contact sport, bear the pain is normal. But there are people beyond: even in this season, a quarterback (offensive position in American football) fractured the rib and had punctured lung, but still came back to help the team turn the tide. In the 70s, a defender played three games with a broken leg.

Beautiful girls and short clothes, the cheerleaders are a traditional element in football games. With shows and with appearances during transmission, they are only part of grand spectacle that is an NFL game. After all, always expect something good seeing beautiful girls revolving micro clothes with the colors of their team.

American football has a lot of rousing fans. People who loves this sport are really crazy about their teams. Anyone who has a neighbor NFL fan knows that. It is common during the games scream and jump the couch with the development of a move. It is not unusual moments that take your breath away and change the course of the match. The attendance by NFL games it is enormous. According to Statist: “Home games of the Dallas Cowboys had an average attendance of 90,069 people” (NFL Teams Ranked by Average Attendance 2014). Also, Super Bowl is a game of the championship of the NFL, the main football league in the United States, which decides the season champion. It is also an event that presents the most expensive television advertising; disburse small fortunes sponsors to showcase their advertisements at the break. The Super Bowl is also the day which has the second largest food consumption in the United States, behind only Thanksgiving Day. The Super Bowl is the most watched sporting event in the United States and worldwide, is the second in audience, berrind nly to the final of the UEFA Champions League. In conclusion, this sport has fans that really love the game and their teams.

Another thing that helps American football be an interesting game is the strategies. The 11 players in each field team have very defined and specific roles within the complex elaborate strategies. Substitutions are allowed between every play, making the highly tactical and strategic game. It is a mistake to think that football is only violence. The game is approaching so much a chess match as a war. American football is far from being just a contact sport. Using tactics and techniques worthy of a military training, each player has a defined position and target drawn on the pitch. It's all about the strategy, to know how to attack, not forgetting to defend, as in a chess game. In addition, the military tactics are also used at the time to motivate and prepare the teams for the "war". There are offensive and defensive coordinators and a multitude of formations available to them. Knowing that move use in that situation and know well manage time is key to victory.