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Explain Grid Iron to me

Saint Frankenstein

Wanderer From Afar
Premium Member
Guys. In the spirit of learning about different cultures
I want my American friends explain to me the game of grid iron.
In Australia I have to keep track of at least 3 different codes of football. Australian Football league (AFL) which is a variation of Gaelic Football mixed with an Aboriginal football game variant (possibly) National Rugby League (NRL) and the international Rugby Union. Soccer is optional
Each with their own rules and quirks.
I want to learn another
Explain Grid Iron to me
Don't ask me. I tried to understand it but never did. I rather despise football because of the way it's shoved down everyone's throat here, due to this dump's idol worship of college football.
 

Father Heathen

Veteran Member
Don't ask me. I tried to understand it but never did. I rather despise football because of the way it's shoved down everyone's throat here, due to this dump's idol worship of college football.
Right? Our country has an excessive obsession with sports. It's like "calm down everyone, it's just a bunch of grown men chasing balls around."
 

Father Heathen

Veteran Member
Yeah, but you're talking about AMERICANS playing football...just sayin':D:eek::oops::rolleyes:;)
They should do something less embarrassing like prance and flop around on a soccer field. :D
tenor.gif
 

Stevicus

Veteran Member
Staff member
Premium Member
This was one of my favorite bits from Andy Griffith, where he's playing a role of someone who attends a football game who never heard of football before.

 

lewisnotmiller

Grand Hat
Staff member
Premium Member
Guys. In the spirit of learning about different cultures
I want my American friends explain to me the game of grid iron.
In Australia I have to keep track of at least 3 different codes of football. Australian Football league (AFL) which is a variation of Gaelic Football mixed with an Aboriginal football game variant (possibly) National Rugby League (NRL) and the international Rugby Union. Soccer is optional
Each with their own rules and quirks.
I want to learn another
Explain Grid Iron to me

I follow the sport, so if you need someone NOT from America to explain it, let me know.
But which footy code are you most familiar with currently? Might be a useful point of reference.
I always chuckle when our North American friends start comparing NFL to Rugby as if that's what we commonly think of as 'footy'.
 

Saint Frankenstein

Wanderer From Afar
Premium Member
Right? Our country has an excessive obsession with sports. It's like "calm down everyone, it's just a bunch of grown men chasing balls around."
There are sports I enjoy watching or playing (or did enjoy playing when I was a kid), but the global obsession with sports is disgusting to me and quite useless. It's all about money. I also can't stand that schools focus so much on sports but have gutted arts education. At least art enriches the world and makes it more beautiful. These sports just wreck you physically and you have to retire by the time you're 40. I would never allow my child to play football, if I had one.
 

SigurdReginson

Grēne Mann
Premium Member
Hmmm... I guess I look at Rugby as a sport that focuses on athleticism and American Football as a sport that focuses on strategy. They both have both of these things, but the main focus is different between the two.
 

SomeRandom

Still learning to be wise
Staff member
Premium Member
I follow the sport, so if you need someone NOT from America to explain it, let me know.
But which footy code are you most familiar with currently? Might be a useful point of reference.
I always chuckle when our North American friends start comparing NFL to Rugby as if that's what we commonly think of as 'footy'.
NRL and AFL.
 

SomeRandom

Still learning to be wise
Staff member
Premium Member
Don't ask me. I tried to understand it but never did. I rather despise football because of the way it's shoved down everyone's throat here, due to this dump's idol worship of college football.
Mate, I can sympathise. It’s everywhere here too. Especially when an “event” is happening
For example QLD and NSW have an NRL event called State Of Origin. Whereby the code picks out two teams of representatives for their respective states to play a three game series for bragging rights. (Each games is spaced 3 weeks apart.) No one here seems to outwardly care about NRL and then suddenly that’s all you see everywhere you go when the event happens.
 
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Kooky

Freedom from Sanity
Why do they even call it "grid iron" in the first place?
The playing field doesn't appear to be laid out as a grid, and so far I haven't been able to locate any iron on it, either.
 

RestlessSoul

Well-Known Member
I tried watching it, in the 90s when there was a US football show on Sundays in the UK. Presenters tried to explain it. I tried to understand it. But it was always 14 down and 10 on the 49ers 23 or some such gibberish. Wtaf?

Besides, football is played with the feet. Hence the name.
 

Father Heathen

Veteran Member
There are sports I enjoy watching or playing (or did enjoy playing when I was a kid), but the global obsession with sports is disgusting to me and quite useless. It's all about money. I also can't stand that schools focus so much on sports but have gutted arts education. At least art enriches the world and makes it more beautiful. These sports just wreck you physically and you have to retire by the time you're 40. I would never allow my child to play football, if I had one.
Schools place too much emphasis and focus on sports despite it being a frivolous distraction from actual academics. Students get preferential treatment just for chasing balls around.
 

Father Heathen

Veteran Member
I tried watching it, in the 90s when there was a US football show on Sundays in the UK. Presenters tried to explain it. I tried to understand it. But it was always 14 down and 10 on the 49ers 23 or some such gibberish. Wtaf?

Besides, football is played with the feet. Hence the name.

Apparently, the term football means it's played on foot rather than on horseback.
 

Stevicus

Veteran Member
Staff member
Premium Member
I tried watching it, in the 90s when there was a US football show on Sundays in the UK. Presenters tried to explain it. I tried to understand it. But it was always 14 down and 10 on the 49ers 23 or some such gibberish. Wtaf?

Besides, football is played with the feet. Hence the name.

I gradually lost interest in sports over time, at least professional sports. I have nothing against sports and athletics in principle, but I think what did it for me was when they cancelled the World Series back in 1994 due to a baseball players strike.

As a sport, I still like football, but that doesn't mean I like the NFL or the NCAA. But it's kind of exciting when you're young.

DY6UB6AXUAAXKoP.jpg
 

SomeRandom

Still learning to be wise
Staff member
Premium Member
I gradually lost interest in sports over time, at least professional sports. I have nothing against sports and athletics in principle, but I think what did it for me was when they cancelled the World Series back in 1994 due to a baseball players strike.

As a sport, I still like football, but that doesn't mean I like the NFL or the NCAA. But it's kind of exciting when you're young.

DY6UB6AXUAAXKoP.jpg
Aww Charlie Brown trying to teach empathy. That’s actually quite adorable
 

lewisnotmiller

Grand Hat
Staff member
Premium Member
NRL and AFL.

Right. So in terms of mindset, think of NFL a little more like cricket. The play is stop-start in nature, and that introduces a play-by-play tactical element to it. Seeing NFL like Aussie Rules (for example) just leads to frustration with the amount of play stoppages there are.

So...cricket mindset.

Next, the whole point of the offense is to gain 10 yards. They get 4 chances to do that (downs), and you'll often hear people talk about 'First and Ten', or 'Second and Three.
The first number is the down they are upto. The second is the number of yards they still need to get.
First and Ten means they are on their first down (chance) and have ten yards to go.
Second and Three means second down (chance) and three yards to go.

If they get to the 10 yards gained, they get a fresh set of downs, and start at First and Ten again. Those big pileups that happen in the middle of the field make more sense when you realise that sometimes (eg. Third and One) the offensive team is just trying to get one yard up the field so they can get a fresh set of downs.

They'll meander down the field, trying to do this over and over again, until eventually they get the ball over the end line, and score. (They can kick a field goal, somewhat similar to Rugby, which is worth less than a touchdown).

That's about it, really. They can only throw the ball forwards once in a play. Typically, that's the Quarterback heaving it to some receivers, but you'll see trick plays where they have others throw it, etc.
And of course, they can run the ball instead. They're also free to pass backwards whenever they want, but they won't typically flick it around like they do in Rugby. Turnovers are killers in NFL.

Oh...and if you throw it forwards to someone and they drop it, it's an incomplete play. The play is dead.

Because it's stop start in nature, the coaches are very heavily involved. Every play is basically a set play, and the quarterback yelling out numbers is him telling the rest of the offence what the play call is, and therefore where they should run/block, etc. The defense is then trying to read and react to that.
 
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