![](\"http:\/\/cyber.law.harvard.edu\/blogs\/static\/dowbrigade\/nflbasics.gif\")
Against
\n his better judgment, the Dowbrigade has agreed to attempt one of the
\n toughest tasks he has tackled in his entire teaching career – explaining
\n NFL Football to a class of foreign college students who don’t know a
\n forward pass from an actionable offense. We tried to avoid it, having
\n ventured there before, but they begged. <\/p>\n
The job, from a didactic point of view, is somewhat akin to teaching It is not that the subject matter is THAT complicated, although on this The problem is that their old Professor here tends to go off on wild When we come to our senses, the students are staring at us like we’ve But not this time! We’re going to keep it simple this time, stick playfootball.com<\/a><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Against his better judgment, the Dowbrigade has agreed to attempt one of the toughest tasks he has tackled in his entire teaching career – explaining NFL Football to a class of foreign college students who don’t know a forward pass … Continue reading
\n quantum mechanics<\/a> to a school
\n of fish. And, of course, they need to know it by Sunday.<\/p>\n
\n New Hampshire Primary night it is appropriate to note that Sen. Eugene
\n McCarthy once said "Being in politics is like coaching Professional Football
\n – you need to be smart enough to understand the game and dumb enough
\n to think it matters." This is not the problem; all of my students (3
\n Japanese, a Korean, 2 Thais, a Brazilian and a Saudi) are smart and well-educated.
\n But not a one of them has ever seen a single play of a single game, in
\n person or on television.<\/p>\n
\n tangents when addressing the subject of Pro Football. One minute
\n we are explaining the line of scrimmage, and the next we’re waxing lyrical
\n about
\n Football
\n as a Metaphor for Post-Industrial Cultural Domination, or decrying the
\n racial inequity in football upper management, or obsessively spouting
\n obscure statistics like points scored off of turnovers or average yards
\n per penalty.<\/p>\n
\n started foaming at the mouth, and are no closer to understanding the
\n intricacies of the Great American Game than they were before we began.
\n Believe us, we’ve been there before.<\/p>\n
\n to the basics, maintain distance and decorum. To that end, we have
\n discovered an entertaining site, Football Basics, from the NFL
\n for Kids web site<\/a>. It explains everything! With funny
\n animated cartoon players demonstrating the different positions, the equipment,
\n the rules
\n of the game. Now if we can only remember to avoid the topic of instant
\n replay entirely. And the tuck rule. And the point spread…..<\/p>\n