Americans love sports. It is built into usfrom a young age. Every child participates in many sports as they grow up andoften our hero’sare sport athletes.

美国人热衷运动，大部分人从小就被各种运动所吸引，每个孩子都会在课后参加各种运动训练， 因为他们长大后都想成为有名的运动员。

Of all the sports inAmerica,Football (American football) is one of the most misunderstood by outsiders. It’s complex, violent andfull of strange rules. It’s also incredibly fun and oneof the most popular things to do every Sunday for millions of Americans.

在美国，橄榄球／美式足球（在美国本土只称football）是所有运动中最容易被外界误解的。这项运动看起来比较复杂，暴力，规则诡异；但比赛过程却是乐趣无穷。所以，在橄榄球比赛季节期间，很多美国人最流行的周日安排就是看看橄榄球赛。

To understand Football, is to understand American culture.

了解美式足球，就是了解美国文化。

Let me talk about my experiences with thegames.

今天，我想跟大家分享一下我的个人经历。

I started loving football at a young agewhile watching the games with my father. I didn’t totally understand the small detailsof every play, but when my team scored we cheered. Football was on Sundays,usually in the afternoon. We made a lot of food, the men always had beer andthe women always told the men to not drink so much beer and be quieter. Thekids sometimes watched and sometimes played.

从小到大，我会跟我的爸爸观看每季的每一场橄榄球赛。那个时候我还对细节的比赛规则不太清楚，但是每当我们队进球得分时，我们都兴奋的欢呼雀跃。比赛往往是在周日下午，我们会准备很多零食，大人们喝啤酒，女人们在一边唠叨着不要喝太多，不要太吵，小孩子们是时而看时而玩。

（图：足球美食）

(图：大家在家里看比赛)

Football came around as fall began. In New England where I grew up, this meant the changing ofseasons. The leaves turned beautiful colors of red, orange, pink, yellow andbrown. The air became cooler and hot apple cider was a welcomed evening drink.School had started and the nights got darker a lot faster. Football was alwaysa sign that summer had ended and the American holidays for Halloween,Thanks giving and Christmas were not far away. Of course, neither was the snow.

比赛季节往往是在刚刚进入秋天时开始，我来自美国的“东北”，又称新英格兰。秋天是我的最爱，很多树叶开始变色，红色，橙色，粉红色，黄色，棕色等等，空气开始变得凉爽，热苹果酒是这个季节最受欢迎的饮品。学校往往在这一段时间左右开学，天黑的较早。足球季节象征着夏天的结束；也象征着各个节日的开始：万圣节，感恩节和我们最爱的圣诞节；当然，还有寒冷而乐趣无穷的雪天。

(图：缅因州的秋天)

(图：缅因州的秋天)

InAmerica, the College Football isalso very popular. Many popular boys in college like to participate in footballclub or be on the football team. Many university have football stadium thatcontains hundreds thousands of seats, and often sold out for each game. Evenhigh school football game can be very popular in some places, and have morethan ten thousands of fans at a game. In many American little towns, havingcollege or high school football game, accompanying with music band andcheerleaders performance can be an important local cultural characteristic.

在美国，大学足球赛也十分流行， 一般美国的学校里最受欢迎的男学生参与社团都为美式足球队。一些大学的球场拥有超过十万个座位，而且经常售罄所有门票。就算是高中学校的球赛也经常有吸引超过一万名观众入场。而在许多美国的小城市，秋季每周所举办的的大学与高中美式足球赛事以及伴随一起的乐仪队与拉拉队表演都已经成为当地重要文化特色之一。

（图：橄榄球拉拉队）

（图：橄榄球拉拉队）

(图：大学的橄榄球拉拉队)

Football was invented in 1869 however therules were very different than today’s. The first professional league was established in1922. The game is simple in its concept, but incredibly complex in the actions(plays) on the field.

美式足球发明于1869年，不过当时的比赛规则跟现在比完全不同了。第一个职业联赛成立于1922年，比赛看起来虽然简单，但是规则却很繁琐复杂。

The game last 60 minutes divided into 4quarters,15minutes each quarter with a half time after the 2ndquarter. The game is played on a 100 yards field. There are two teams, andmaximum 11 players on the field for each team at a time. The goal is to bringthe football to your side of the field by running or throwing it. Every timeyou enter your scoring area, called the ‘End Zone’, you gain 6 points. If you cannot enter the area, but are closeenough to it you could try kicking the ball through a metal U-shaped post. Thisgives you 3 points. There are also options for 1 and 2 points extra, but onlyafter scoring 6.

一场标准的比赛是60分钟，分为4个环节，每个环节15分钟，第二个环节后是中场休息。比赛场地是个百码场（也就是在两个得分线之间有100个码）。 两个战队每次只能有11个队员在场上。目标是带着橄榄球跑进／扔进对手底线区内，又称达阵。这样的得分是6分。以这种方式得分后，你还可以有1分或2分的加分机会。如果你离对手底线很近，但无法带着球跑进去或扔进去的话，你可以把球踢进去，这样的得分是3分。

Each team has a separate offense anddefense. The coach will design and call plays based on who is on the field atthe time. Side note: for many football fans, the most interesting part of thegame is the “play”. Each team’s coaches has a playbook and it’s a play war for them eachgame. This is the hard to understand part of the game, and very complex. Manyformer professional football players later became lawyers and TV announcers -said play football was much more difficult than their studies at University.

每个队都有自己的进攻分队和防守分队。教练会根据对对方选手的了解安排基本战术，怎么进攻或防守。注：对很多美式足球的球迷来说，最吸引他们的地方就是比赛双方教练团在场上的斗智。每一队都有一本兵书. 战术也许就是橄榄球赛中最难理解，最复杂的一个环节了。 很多专业球员退休后会去当选这个行业的律师或节目解说员－很多人说学习橄榄球的战术比大学的学科还难。

How did I learn most of the little partsof the game? Honestly, by playing video games. It’s hard to see the different running,kicking, passing, defending and trick plays without spending time on a videogame console.

这么复杂的比赛规则，我是怎么了解这些细节的呢？坦然的告诉大家吧，是通过打电子游戏，因为看比赛很难看到一些细节，比如说跑，踢，传，防守等的不同技巧和涉及到的策略，但自己通过打游戏亲自体验一下就印象比较深刻了。

If you ever get a chance to visitAmerican, try to find a football game to attend. It could be a college orprofessional level game. You will find passionate fans, friend food and coldbeer, lots of noise and laughter and an exciting sport to watch - even if you don’t fully understand what’s happening.

如果你有机会来访美国，我建议你去看一场橄榄球赛，是看大学比赛或专业比赛都无所谓。就算你看不懂，也要去体验一下橄榄球赛的疯狂球迷，零食，冰镇啤酒，呐喊声，笑声….

作者： 安美国际首席国际房产经纪人

MR . Heath Clendenning