Well, from a guy's point of view, the concealing body armor is a big plus. After you see our offensive lines, you'd agree. They are truly offensive. A "small" offensivelinesman is over 300 pounds, but can sprint 40 yards in about 5.5 seconds. So, yeah, there's a lot of weight, but a lot of speed, too. (The small fast guys used to run a "4-4-40", which means 40 yards in 4.4 seconds. Fast guys now supposedly break the 4-second barrier.)
The place where the offense and defense meet it called the line of scrimmage. (Probably from the rugby scrum, I'd guess.) This is where the 300+ pound sweaty offensive monsters push the puny 280+ pound defensive linesmen out of the way, so the scrawny little 225 pound runner can slip between them to get downfield, where a 240+ pound linebacker collides with him at full speed. All this starts in the heat of early fall, but it continues through early January. So they sweat buckets.
You can see what the armor is for. I can't recall seeing a game without an injury that put someone out of action for the rest of the game. Most games have two strecher carts with back boards and neck braces (in case one is in use).
This is the game the forms a good portion of the analogies in our political discourse. When we say "get the ball over the goal line," we are thinking of putting in the 275 pound short-yardage back to hit the pileup at the goalline line of scrimmage at full speed and seeing if the mass of flesh will move.
It's glorious. For what it is worth, my Northern Irish wife is a football fanatic now.
Chris
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