Football is a fantastic sport...particularly the NFL. It has been my favorite spectator sport since I was a little girl, sitting on my Dad's lap watching his favorite team play. There is something so great (especially if you have a favorite team) about listening to the thousands of people in the stadium cheer, or sometimes boo, when a touchdown is scored or the defense intercepts the ball. OK, I know if you're reading this you are probably a girl wanting to know more about the sport, so what I just said may not make much sense to you. But, have no fear! I am here to give you a short guide to football so you can impress your boyfriend, or to have more fun hanging out with your husband on a Sunday afternoon while he's watching the game.

This knowledge comes from 40 years of watching football, and although I never played (I WAS a cheerleader for many years and that's as close as we girls can get), I have earned the respect of many a man by knowing my stuff about football. I'm also way more obsessed about my favorite team than most men I know!

#1 - The object of the game is to outscore the opponent by advancing the football into your end zone scoring as many touchdowns as possible. This is done by the OFFENSE. Meanwhile, the DEFENSE tries with all their might to stop the offense from scoring a touchdown.

There are 2 end zones on the playing field - 1 for each team. They are located at each end of the field where the goal posts are located (hopefully no explanation needed here).

A TOUCHDOWN is worth 6 points and is scored when a player catches or carries the ball into their end zone. After scoring a touchdown, an attempt to kick an extra point through the goal posts is made. If successful, it is worth 1 point and makes it a total of 7 points scored in that series.

Another way to score is called a FIELD GOAL. If a team thinks they won't be able to make it in the end zone for a touchdown (for various reasons), they might attempt to score by kicking a field goal, and it is worth 3 points.

#2. - Stay with me here. Each team has a series of DOWNS in order to get the ball to their end of the field to score. A team has to take the ball 10 yards each time to be able to advance, and they have 4 attempts to do so. For example, the team starts the series with the ball on the 20 yard line. They run the ball for 3 yards and get tackled (see, you're learning the lingo!). They still have 7 yards to go to make the FIRST DOWN. Let's say the next play they go 9 yards, this means they not only get a FIRST DOWN, they get to start over with what is called a 1ST AND 10....which means another first down and 10 yards to go to get another 1ST AND 10, and so on. If the team does not make the 10 yards within the 4 attempts, they have to kick the ball to the other team. It's actually a little more involved then this, but I'm just trying to give you the very basics!

#3 - While the OFFENSE is trying to score a TOUCHDOWN by passing and/or running the ball toward their end zone, the DEFENSE is trying to stop the other team from advancing! This is done by TACKLING the OFFENSIVE players, trying to SACK THE QUARTERBACK, or trying to INTERCEPT the ball while it is being thrown. This is also more complicated than described, but the more you watch the more you'll catch on!

#4 - In the NFL, a game is made up of 4 QUARTERS. Each QUARTER is 15:00 minutes long (I'm sure you'll notice that it's not actually 15 minutes in real-time). It goes like this; 1ST QUARTER, 2ND QUARTER, HALFTIME, 3RD QUARTER and 4TH QUARTER. If, when the game is over and there is a tie, it will go into OVERTIME and the first team to score will win.

Well, this is a very basic and broad description of the game of football. I hope it's a start toward you feeling comfortable with watching a game! Most of the girls I know that don't like football, simply have no clue to what the sport is about, much less know any of the facts or lingo. I really feel that if they had a little more knowledge about the game, they might find it exciting to watch...plus a lot of guys think a football-watching girl is a sexy thing!

By the way, if you don't have a favorite team and want to pick one to "amp" up the whole experience, please don't pick one based on their colors. That's way too "girly"!