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The main idea behind most sports is easy and natural to judge. In soccer the main idea is the team to get the ball in the other goal the most times wins. Basketball is the same but with hoops instead of goals. In tennis and volleyball the main idea is to propel the ball to a place the opponent cannot get to it in time.
One exception to this is American football. There is no main idea that is natural to judge. The game is played according to a system of complex rules that one needs to understand in order to know what is going on. One might say that the main idea of football is to get the most touchdowns. But what is a touchdown? A touchdown is when you bring the ball into the opposing side's goal within 5 downs (5 being a completely arbitrary number that has no natural or intuitive basis). What is a down? A down is when the team with the ball is given the opportunity to get into position, and the down ends when the person with the ball is tackled. And then there are other rules essential essential to understanding the game, like only the quarterback is allowed to throw the ball forward, and what is designated a "dropped ball" (i.e. a fumble) can be stolen by the other team whereas what is designated a "missed catch" cannot.
To complicate things even further, there is this concept of a "field goal", where the team can get some lesser amount of points than a touchdown by kicking the ball through this random yellow structure. A complete non sequitur to the rest of the rules of the game.
Given that Americans are people who enjoy following pointless and arbitrary rules, I think it makes sense that they would enjoy a game like American football.
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