Talk:American football

Wrong Wrong Wrong

American football is NOT referred to as "Gridiron" -- not anywhere in the U.S., anyway. Whoever entered that reference in the main article either must not be from this country or has no interest in or knowledge of the game. The gridiron is another name for the FIELD on which the game is played, a holdover from the early days when, in addition to the 5 or 10 yard stripes, lines were also laid down from end zone to endzone, running perpendicular to the yard stripes, thus forming a grid. References are sometimes made to play "on the gridiron," yes, but is the sport ever referred to as Gridiron? That is a distinct and hearty "no way." 138.207.186.136 (talk) 13:26, 16 October 2023 (UTC)

In the U.K. it is routinely called gridiron football.Jeff in CA (talk) 21:50, 17 October 2023 (UTC)

A few people in the UK may refer to it as this but not routinely. This because in the UK American football doesn't even rank as a minor sport. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 93.204.186.108 (talk) 16:30, 10 November 2023 (UTC)

This term is not used in the U.S. when referring to the game. However, it is correct in its use as a differentiator from other firms of football (Association-, Australian Rules-, Rugby-, etc.), even if it IS only derivative. For that purpose, it's important that it be left unchanged.

More to the point, any semi-knowledgeable fan of the sport understands exactly what you mean when you say gridiron football. Ploobus (talk) 13:28, 15 December 2023 (UTC)

There's no one who says "We're going to play gridiron this weekend." That doesn't happen. Sure it can be used as a differentiator but only in a context were a differentiation is the point. Other than that, it's just football for any regular player (or spectator) of the game. "We're going to play football this weekend." 2601:C4:C601:9850:FFC9:D778:2151:2565 (talk) 14:45, 17 January 2025 (UTC)

Decimals over fractions?

In the field and equipment section I see a TON of fractions that make it a bit harsh on the eyes. I know in general Wiki prefers to use of decimals to fractions and I'm think that this is a section that would benefit from that change. Lindsey40186 (talk) 19:45, 19 April 2024 (UTC)

The rules define them by fractions, not decimals, and since American units don't really use decimals it's the most natural way to use them, imo. AFAIK, only SI units are supposed to 100% use decimals here. Toa Nidhiki05 19:48, 19 April 2024 (UTC)

Fair enough :) Lindsey40186 (talk) 18:28, 13 May 2024 (UTC)

Semi-protected edit request on 13 May 2024

BennettDT (talk) 15:17, 13 May 2024 (UTC)

File:Red information icon with gradient background.svg Not done: this is not the right page to request additional user rights. You may reopen this request with the specific changes to be made and someone may add them for you, or if you have an account, you can wait until you are autoconfirmed and edit the page yourself. Myrealnamm-alt (talk) 15:27, 13 May 2024 (UTC)

For a project

"Team" twice in the first sentence

I've been trying to address the duplicative use of the word "team" in the first sentence, but I've now been reverted twice without any attempt at presenting a better idea. If anyone else would like to take a swing, have at it. Ed ^{[talk] [OMT]} 06:53, 22 September 2024 (UTC)

I mean, it's this way because the article needs to define what type of sport this is (a team sport), how many teams there are (two), and how many players there on each team there are (11). Your edits remove stuff that needs to be there, to solve a problem that really doesn't exist? Toa Nidhiki05 14:00, 22 September 2024 (UTC)

The phrase "two teams of eleven players" already tells readers that American football is a team sport. Including "team sport" is entirely redundant. Moreover, that concept does not need to be linked; we can certainly assume that our readers have heard of team sports. Ed ^{[talk] [OMT]} 20:39, 22 September 2024 (UTC)

I don't see how it's redundant, especially when team sport is an important definition. Just off a five-second search both association football and basketball use similar wordings. Toa Nidhiki05 00:07, 23 September 2024 (UTC)

That another articles does similar things doesn't mean it's good writing. Repeating "team" twice in five words is a clear and obvious redundancy no matter what article we're talking about.

American football being a team sport is indeed important, which is why the article defines the topic as being "two teams of eleven players". We don't need to repeat that for readers, nor do we need to link to a topic that is "understood by most readers in context". This is basic User:Tony1/How to improve your writing-level stuff. Ed ^{[talk] [OMT]} 03:02, 23 September 2024 (UTC)

Requires prior knowledge of American Football.

This article is written in such a way that it is impossible to understand unless you already have prior knowledge of American Football. It is littered with terms that are meaningless to people outside the USA (snap? scrimmage?!?) that should be defined when they are first used (or have sections defining them). If this is supposed to be an introduction to American Football then really it should include an introduction to the terms used in the game. 83.104.248.238 (talk) 23:03, 3 February 2025 (UTC)

See Glossary of American football terms. BilCat (talk) 23:15, 3 February 2025 (UTC)