So i have ( for an unknown reason ) been reading and watching quite a bit of American Football related Fiction ( Bleachers and Playing for Pizza by John Grisham and Friday Night Lights, Remember the Titans and Varsity Blues mainly )and a few questions have popped up: 1: What does being an All American mean? 2: When Teams win a State title, doe they then go on to a competition between the other State title winners to find the best in the country? 3: why are the plays so scripted, can they not make it up on the fly? 4: In "Varsity Blues" the QB gets the clock to stop by throwing the ball at the opposing teams mascot, who is out of bounds, why does this: a) Get the clock to stop? not become a foul or something? 5: I understand why there is a Offense team and a Defense team, but what is the "Special Team" ( or whatever its called ) for? thats all for now i think.

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1. This means the Player is talented enough to be voted onto the "All-American" team, which is quite an Honour.
2. Nope. Some Sports have a "head to Head" National Championship, but Football is not one of them.
3. Structured plays are the way to go, although as you develop some experience with the game, and depending on the 'starting formation' of the Offense, some plays do have options. The Wishbone is often run to provide a Quarterback who has running ability to make the best use of that skill. The quarterback receives the 'snap' and begins a 'sweep' to the right side. The Guard may 'pull' to that direction in order to supply some blocking. If the defense gets too close, then the Quarterback has an outlet by laterally passing the ball to a Halfback who is also 'sweeping' outside with the Quarterback. The Fullback may or may not also be sweeping, but typically would be running a different pattern to either block for the quarterback or to provide a decoy for the intended play.
4.a. The ball out of bounds stops the clock to allow the Officials to 're-set' the ball to the point of origin.
b. the Quarterback should have a receiver in the general area and make it appear to be a 'faulty' pass or a Delay of Game penalty would apply.
5. Special Teams are those who are involved with Punts, Kick-offs, and other 'special' cases. Some Teams will have a Special Team for short yardages, etc.

I am not an American, but am answering this reply as an observer of American Football. My choice is the Canadian Football League where the Rules of Football have not yet been altered to provide a better Television Experience. Canadian Football is played with a Wider field, 3 downs only, Deeper End-zones, 12 players on the field (1 more than American), Motion allowed in the backfield towards the 'line', etcetara.
Truly a better game...

 

 

 

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1: All-American is an award given to a player who has excelled in their position in all college football, best example would be a running back who has ran for 1000+ yard, scored 20+ touchdowns, 0 to few fumbles, and of course overall team player.

2. In high school football a state title means that they have beaten every team that state has (usually AA teams), and like NFL high school football has a playoff system and so the winner of each game moves on to the championship game. Also high school games have their own pro bowl as well meaning they take the best of the best and put them on a team to take on someone else. We have that with Vermont and New Hampshire.

3. Its not so much scripted its more like a guessing game, as you have to figure out what what the other side is doing in order to make a play successful on offensive, and prevent a play on defense. As for the reason why they are scripted is simple enough because if you pick the right play that works again the defense or offense you either score a big time touchdown, or score a big time sack, fumble, interception.

4. Well that would be intentional grounding, but anyways anytime a player who has the ball or if a pass goes out of bounds or is drop the clock stops. As for the reason I not to sure and I been watching football for years, but I would say that because of the time it takes to retrieve a ball, or move a team down the field.

5. Special Teams main focus is to kick the ball or block the ball from getting kicked, meaning that they only have to worry about a few formations while the offense and the defense have to set up many different plays in a given time. Another way to look at it is that special teams are used for quick points or if they are behind by just a couple of points and all they need to do is score a field to win the game that makes them special.

These are just general observations as I don't know the rules and the reason why because then it doesn't make it fun and hate the ref's even more when they call a bad play .

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Not to mention that American football is a spinoff of Canadian football; they just chipped off 10 yards and a player and threw in a down so that the game would be easier. (Or at least that's what my health textbook tells me. I have yet to see the truth.)

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1: it means that you are on a all american team....a real honor, just like getting a nobel prize, expect its for sports, and its a team thing.

2: yes.
3: Beacuse if they were to make up plays during the game, is beasuse the other players won't know it at all.

4: a)he gets to stop the clock beacuse of
1)time out
2)because in regular if he throw it out of bound, then it wouldn't stop the clock but since he did hit the mascot they did stop it to probably chech if he okay. and no it won't become of a personal foul unless he throw it at the mascot just to stop the clock, or but porpose.

5: sorry i couldm't answer this question.

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1. All American is about the best of the players against each other (cant really explain that, not sure what i was talking about)
2. And yes
3. not sure what you mean?
4. That is intentional grounding and is punishable but not sure about collage.
5. Special Teams is a group of people that kick the ball, receive the ball, field goal and or block field goals, they also do punts and punt blocks. They are the special teams and that is about all they do.

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1. I believe sports reporters vote on the best high school players. The best are named to an imaginary All American Team. College scouts will be sure to check out these players, increasing their chances of receiving college scholarships.

2. The U.S. doesn't have a national high school playoff system.

3. The offensive line (blockers) don't have eyes behind their heads, so they can't see where the ball is. The blockers need to know where the ball is going to be so they can block in that direction. If it's a run to the left, the blockers form a line running left. If it's a run straight ahead, the blockers run forward. Blockers cannot run forward on a pass play, so they need to know if it's is a running play or a pass play.

4. He threw the ball out of bounds to stop the clock. Hitting the mascot was just for fun!

5. The fastest players on offense and defense combine on the punting special teams/ receiving. On kickoffs the fastest players are combined on both the kicking and receiving teams.

Bear in mind that sports like rugby, soccer, and even basketball are centered around players attacking the ball. In Canadian and U.S. football, the game is centered around players attacking other players, especially whichever player has the ball.

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