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Hut, hut–it's football season, and fans are eagerly flocking to living rooms, bars, parking lots, and stadiums to enjoy the popular pastime. While professional American football may be the most-watched sport in the United States, it also might be the most complicated. Luckily, we've prepared this guide, highlighting everything you need to know about the sport. THE BASICS Professional American football is played in four 15-minute quarters with a halftime intermission. Over the 60 minutes of game time, two teams compete on a rectangular, 100-yard grass or turf field with a leather, oval-shaped ball. At each end of the field is an end zone that teams try to cross into to score. The game's goal is simple: stop the other team from scoring points, and score as many as you can. THE OBJECTIVE The game begins with a coin toss. The team that wins the coin toss can choose to have the ball kicked to them by their opponent and play on offense, or kick the ball and start on defense. After the opening kickoff, the defensive team must attempt to tackle the player with the ball and prevent them from scoring. If that player is tackled before scoring, the offense has four tries (called downs) to move the ball ten or more yards forward until they reach their end zone. Each attempt starts with players lined up opposite each other with the ball in between them, creating the line of scrimmage. When the offense successfully gains ten or more yards, they get a new set of four downs. This continues until a team gets the following: • Touchdown (6 points): An offensive player runs or passes the ball into their end zone. • Extra Point (1 point): A team's kicker kicks the ball through a goalpost behind their end zone after a touchdown. • Field Goal (3 points): A kicker kicks the football through their goalpost from wherever the last play ended. • Safety (2 points): A player gets tackled inside their own end zone. 101 Learn All About football. FOOTBALL 14 COMING HOME MAGAZINE