I Love America Analysis
America: land of the free, home of the brave. Named after Amerigo Vespucci, an Italian merchant and cartographer who explored large parts of what is now South America, this country historically always had an enormous attraction on immigrants. Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these homeless, tempest- tost to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door. This famous part of a poem written on a plaque on the inner wall of the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty sums up perfectly what the United States is all about.
It doesn’t matter who you are and where you’re from, Lady Liberty welcomes you.
I love America. Even with its faults, it still has an enormous …show more content…
attraction on me. I love everything about America; its wide-open spaces, its “can do” attitude and its never dying believe in the American dream.
But there is one thing I love the most about America; American Football
Football, as it’s known in the United States, has its origins in a sport that Americans call soccer. But, like Rugby, most plays in American Football involve throwing the ball rather than moving the ball across the field by foot.
In all fairness, to a first time spectator, the game of football would most likely make very little sense. Heavily padded guys, running around on the field, trying to hit their opponents. “Football is war!” Rinus Michels, a famous Dutch soccer coach once said. This is even more so true for American Football. Two teams, trying to beat each other, to advance across the field. With the head coaches standing on the sideline, shouting plays to their men. Trying to get to the “end zone” of their adversary. Using not only physical strength, but also strategy. Football is more like chess than you would think.
The first game of Football was played by two college teams.
Rutgers University and Princeton University played each other on November 6, 1869. Rutgers won this game by a score of six to four. This game, however, was still played by the English Football Association rules, which meant that players were only allowed to kick the ball and each side had twenty- five players. Almost six years later; in 1875, Harvard University and Tufts University played a game of Football that had more recognizable aspects of modern day Football, like; having eleven players per side on the field, picking up the ball, and running with it and stopping the ball carrier by tackling him. Players, however, had virtually no protection and serious injury’s and even deaths were not uncommon. In 1905 alone, eighteen players died as a result of playing Football. This led to several important colleges banning Football as a sport. In 1910 reforms led to the creation of the National Collegiate Athletic Association or NCAA for short. To this day still, the NCAA is the main governing body for all collegiate sports events. On a professional level there were two conferences. The American Professional Football Association was founded in 1920 at a car dealership in Ohio. The American Football League (AFL) started in 1960 by a team owner whose team was refused entry to the existing league. The two conferences merged into the National Football League (NFL) in
1966. In its present form American Football knows eleven players on the field per side. A game is divided in four quarters, each fifteen minutes long. These fifteen minutes are pure playing time. That means that those fifteen minutes of playing time take about forty-five minutes to an hour. So a full game takes between three and four hours. To ensure the safety of the players on the field, five referees oversee every move, throwing their yellow flags when penalties occur. These rules and regulations are updated each year to make sure that the restrictions develop alongside the game. There are 112 1-A (The highest division in the NCAA) college football programs divided over twelve conferences and 32 professional teams in the NFL. College Football and professional football have slightly different rules, but I won’t go into too much detail.
Every Sunday in the fall, football games are played. This brings with it an American phenomenon: tailgating.
Football is a family sport. Whole families go to games. When you go to a game, it’s a full day event. Of course during the day you get hungry, so what do you do? Americans drive their SUVs (Sports Utility Vehicles) to the parking lot of the Football Stadium where the game is played. Then they open up the backdoors of their cars (the “Tailgate”) and they start getting out lawn chairs, barbeques, food, drinks and sometimes even TV- sets to watch coverage of the early games played. Tailgating has evolved into something more than just eating and or drinking before a football game. It has become a social gathering for like- minded individuals. There is a real “tailgating community”.
Football is also a big part of college life. There are three professional football teams (NFL) in the state of Florida. The Miami Dolphins, The Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Jacksonville Jaguars. But there are seven division 1-A Football programs: The Florida Gators, the Florida State Seminoles, the Miami Hurricanes, the University of Central Florida Black Knights, the University of South Florida Bulls, the Florida Atlantic Owls, and the Florida International Golden Panthers. The University of Florida in Gainesville, the school I went to as a part of my exchange program has a very good football program. The “Florida Gators” actually won the national championship in 2007. The University of Florida is the second largest university in the United States with over 50,000 students and a campus measuring two kilometers long by three kilometers wide. Going to class, a lot of students wear clothing with the university logo on it or with the university colors (orange and blue).
On a game day public life just stops, and everything revolves around the game. Let me illustrate this by sharing something that actually happened to me. In my first week in Gainesville, I was riding my brand new bike, just bought at a local Wal- Mart department store, around campus. There were “Stop” signs at every junction, but as any veteran cyclist, especially one from Amsterdam. I ran multiple of these signs, thinking they were just for cars. I was wrong. I got pulled over by a very friendly, but strict, police officer riding his own, very high tech, mountain bike. This officer, I remember his name; it was Williams, told me I just ran a stop sign, and that the fine would be $90 or spending a full day in “bicycle traffic safety school”. After a futile attempt pleading for lenience, I decided to opt for the less costly option of the bicycle course. I called the police station for an appointment, and the next available date was on a home- game of the Gators football team.
I reported for the course, which was held on a Saturday, around nine in the morning. It was suppose to last all day, but the teaching officer made it very clear that the game started at twelve and she wanted to be there when it did. Police officers and sheriffs department officers can attend the games for free you know. So we rushed through a program, intended to last all day, in about an hour and a half. We even got a certificate indicating we passed the course and now were fully aware of bicycle laws in the state of Florida. I still have this certificate, hanging on a wall in the bedroom of my apartment, complete with typing error. Even after I spelled my name four or five times they still spelled my last name with a D instead of a B, but that’s part of the charm.
Naturally after this whole ordeal I rushed across campus to the stadium, which seats 90,000 people (in comparison the “Amsterdam Arena” seats about 51.000). Can you imagine 90,000 people all dressed in orange and blue? (The University of Florida’s colors) It’s an awesome sight. I didn’t have a ticket for the game, and on game- day tickets are always sold out. But frequently people who have extra tickets, for instance because someone didn’t show up, will sell their extra tickets at face value or even give them away. After talking to a man for a while about where I was from and about Amsterdam and the Netherlands, he gave me a ticket he had extra. He didn’t want any money from me. People come from around the state to see the Gators play. They Tailgate, eat, drink, laugh and throw footballs around before the game starts. There is really a sense of unity in football. Not just on the field, but also around it.
It doesn’t matter who you are and where you’re from, Lady Liberty welcomes you.
I love America. Even with its faults, it still has an enormous …show more content…
attraction on me. I love everything about America; its wide-open spaces, its “can do” attitude and its never dying believe in the American dream.
But there is one thing I love the most about America; American Football
Football, as it’s known in the United States, has its origins in a sport that Americans call soccer. But, like Rugby, most plays in American Football involve throwing the ball rather than moving the ball across the field by foot.
In all fairness, to a first time spectator, the game of football would most likely make very little sense. Heavily padded guys, running around on the field, trying to hit their opponents. “Football is war!” Rinus Michels, a famous Dutch soccer coach once said. This is even more so true for American Football. Two teams, trying to beat each other, to advance across the field. With the head coaches standing on the sideline, shouting plays to their men. Trying to get to the “end zone” of their adversary. Using not only physical strength, but also strategy. Football is more like chess than you would think.
The first game of Football was played by two college teams.
Rutgers University and Princeton University played each other on November 6, 1869. Rutgers won this game by a score of six to four. This game, however, was still played by the English Football Association rules, which meant that players were only allowed to kick the ball and each side had twenty- five players. Almost six years later; in 1875, Harvard University and Tufts University played a game of Football that had more recognizable aspects of modern day Football, like; having eleven players per side on the field, picking up the ball, and running with it and stopping the ball carrier by tackling him. Players, however, had virtually no protection and serious injury’s and even deaths were not uncommon. In 1905 alone, eighteen players died as a result of playing Football. This led to several important colleges banning Football as a sport. In 1910 reforms led to the creation of the National Collegiate Athletic Association or NCAA for short. To this day still, the NCAA is the main governing body for all collegiate sports events. On a professional level there were two conferences. The American Professional Football Association was founded in 1920 at a car dealership in Ohio. The American Football League (AFL) started in 1960 by a team owner whose team was refused entry to the existing league. The two conferences merged into the National Football League (NFL) in
1966. In its present form American Football knows eleven players on the field per side. A game is divided in four quarters, each fifteen minutes long. These fifteen minutes are pure playing time. That means that those fifteen minutes of playing time take about forty-five minutes to an hour. So a full game takes between three and four hours. To ensure the safety of the players on the field, five referees oversee every move, throwing their yellow flags when penalties occur. These rules and regulations are updated each year to make sure that the restrictions develop alongside the game. There are 112 1-A (The highest division in the NCAA) college football programs divided over twelve conferences and 32 professional teams in the NFL. College Football and professional football have slightly different rules, but I won’t go into too much detail.
Every Sunday in the fall, football games are played. This brings with it an American phenomenon: tailgating.
Football is a family sport. Whole families go to games. When you go to a game, it’s a full day event. Of course during the day you get hungry, so what do you do? Americans drive their SUVs (Sports Utility Vehicles) to the parking lot of the Football Stadium where the game is played. Then they open up the backdoors of their cars (the “Tailgate”) and they start getting out lawn chairs, barbeques, food, drinks and sometimes even TV- sets to watch coverage of the early games played. Tailgating has evolved into something more than just eating and or drinking before a football game. It has become a social gathering for like- minded individuals. There is a real “tailgating community”.
Football is also a big part of college life. There are three professional football teams (NFL) in the state of Florida. The Miami Dolphins, The Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Jacksonville Jaguars. But there are seven division 1-A Football programs: The Florida Gators, the Florida State Seminoles, the Miami Hurricanes, the University of Central Florida Black Knights, the University of South Florida Bulls, the Florida Atlantic Owls, and the Florida International Golden Panthers. The University of Florida in Gainesville, the school I went to as a part of my exchange program has a very good football program. The “Florida Gators” actually won the national championship in 2007. The University of Florida is the second largest university in the United States with over 50,000 students and a campus measuring two kilometers long by three kilometers wide. Going to class, a lot of students wear clothing with the university logo on it or with the university colors (orange and blue).
On a game day public life just stops, and everything revolves around the game. Let me illustrate this by sharing something that actually happened to me. In my first week in Gainesville, I was riding my brand new bike, just bought at a local Wal- Mart department store, around campus. There were “Stop” signs at every junction, but as any veteran cyclist, especially one from Amsterdam. I ran multiple of these signs, thinking they were just for cars. I was wrong. I got pulled over by a very friendly, but strict, police officer riding his own, very high tech, mountain bike. This officer, I remember his name; it was Williams, told me I just ran a stop sign, and that the fine would be $90 or spending a full day in “bicycle traffic safety school”. After a futile attempt pleading for lenience, I decided to opt for the less costly option of the bicycle course. I called the police station for an appointment, and the next available date was on a home- game of the Gators football team.
I reported for the course, which was held on a Saturday, around nine in the morning. It was suppose to last all day, but the teaching officer made it very clear that the game started at twelve and she wanted to be there when it did. Police officers and sheriffs department officers can attend the games for free you know. So we rushed through a program, intended to last all day, in about an hour and a half. We even got a certificate indicating we passed the course and now were fully aware of bicycle laws in the state of Florida. I still have this certificate, hanging on a wall in the bedroom of my apartment, complete with typing error. Even after I spelled my name four or five times they still spelled my last name with a D instead of a B, but that’s part of the charm.
Naturally after this whole ordeal I rushed across campus to the stadium, which seats 90,000 people (in comparison the “Amsterdam Arena” seats about 51.000). Can you imagine 90,000 people all dressed in orange and blue? (The University of Florida’s colors) It’s an awesome sight. I didn’t have a ticket for the game, and on game- day tickets are always sold out. But frequently people who have extra tickets, for instance because someone didn’t show up, will sell their extra tickets at face value or even give them away. After talking to a man for a while about where I was from and about Amsterdam and the Netherlands, he gave me a ticket he had extra. He didn’t want any money from me. People come from around the state to see the Gators play. They Tailgate, eat, drink, laugh and throw footballs around before the game starts. There is really a sense of unity in football. Not just on the field, but also around it.