Customer Reviews

The Complete Idiot's Guide to Football (2nd Edition)

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
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I'm a Chinese girl and never watched any American football games in Hong Kong until I married to an American and moved to United States one and half years ago. He is a football fan and he keeps track his team every day, not to mention especially during the regular season every Sunday.

I started to watch football games with him, and I liked it a lot. Now, I understand why so many American like football. I asked many questions while I was watching the game, because I wanted to understand it more. Therefore, I read this book last year and it gave me a lot of basic information in an easy way. More interesting is the book gives many statistics and facts that I was impressed by the football business. Anyone has no idea about football, this book can help.

Now, my husband was surprised that I knew football so well and we discussed football a lot during the regular season this year. This book helps us to have more conversation topics.

if you know NOTHING about football from lack of interest or comprehesion, and the love-of-your-life knows EVERYTHING about football from the time he could speak...this book is a great help. you come away from this book knowing more than a little SOMETHING, and it becomes an excellent referrence guide. don't let your love see it until you are done...this is such a great read...you may not get it back for a while if you allow it to leave your hands. there's no boring, classroom type format-just clear fun info.

I like the straightforwardness of the writing, and the insight into the appeal of the game. Alas, if you're an outsider hoping to learn the game from scratch, you're going to have a lot of trouble--after teaching you rudimentary terms, the writers start describing the game as if you've been watching it all your life, tossing barely-introduced jargon around all over the place. I was really disappointed that the one aspect of the game I was most interested in (the actual GAME) was so poorly rendered.

I have searched for some time to find the perfect book on football and this is it. As a former player and present coach, I have found the information to be extremely valuable. From the origination of the sport to the most complexed offensive and defensive strategies, this book has it all!!

I started reading this book with no base knowledge about football at all when I started dating a Redskins fan. It was a fantastic introduction to the sport, to fandom, and to Redskins fandom specifically (Theismann *is* a little biased). It's well-organized, giving great overviews initially and going into more depth further along. One caveat: the book is better than the index.
It's also best accompanied by a friend who already knows football and is willing to fill in the gaps. For the complete idiot, it provides not only a great look at the basics, but a good opportunity to impress friends who are fans with your knowledge of some of the nuances of the game. True story: I had opportunity to meet Derrin Horton from NFL Network after reading this book and had a completely intelligent conversation with him about rollbars on helmets -- specifically, about Theismann's refusal to have two.

I read Football for dummies and wanted something more indepth. This book met my needs. It covers how each position is supposed to function, and a number of formations. Between this and playing Madden 10 on the Wii I now have a better understanding of whats going on. I now notice where the half back, full back/tight line up, as well as the defensive alignment.
Experienced football fans will get nothing from this book, but newer fans who already have some knowledge will appreciate this book.

I love football and i know some things about this sport, but this guide gives you a complete step by step explanation.
Great for all fans

I knew a little about football to begin with so the first part of the book was helpful, but the rest of the book got too technical, completely lost me. If you know nothing of the game the first part might even be a challenge.

I became a football fan at the beginning of last year's season. I learned a lot just watching football and asking some questions of friends. This year, I wanted know more about the game and this book, even though it is several years old, was full of easy-to-understand information about the game. (I have used the Idiot's Guide books for other subjects and always like them better than other formats).

After reading just a third of the book, I was able to have meaningful conversations about a game that others watched - I'm a Monday morning quarterback! And I get respect from the guys when I comment - well, their eyes are surprised a bit at first, I'm a woman. When they came back the next week for my views on Sunday's games - I knew I'd spent my money and reading time well with this book. (And it was written by one of my sister's all-time favorite quarterbacks!)

With the arrival of the football season, large numbers of people that do not understand it will be exposed to football. This is further complicated by the fact that for many someone that they are intimate with is an avid fan, causing them to engage in a partial withdrawal into a form of hypnotic awe until the season is over. Fortunately for the people that don't understand the game, this book will aid them and assist them in including football in their relationship.
The explanations of the rules and tactics of football are clear and detailed enough so that even long-time fans will be able to learn something by reading this book. I have been following football for decades and there were a few points that I was unaware above about how the game is played. All of the explanations are simple enough that the only prerequisite is a genuine desire to learn about the sport of American football.