0_Wizard
I love to watch American football, though we just call it football here.  What about you?
American football, referred to as football in the United States and Canada, and also known as gridiron football or simply gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end.
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American football
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Early history of American football
The early history of American football can be traced to early versions of rugby football and association football. Both games have their origin in varieties of football played in Britain in the mid–19th century, in which a football is kicked at a goal or run over a line, which in turn were based on the varieties of English public school football games. American football resulted from several major divergences from association football and rugby football, most notably the rule changes instituted by Walter Camp, a Yale University and Hopkins School graduate considered to be the "father of gridiron football".
American football
American football, referred to as football in the United States and Canada, and also known as gridiron football or simply gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, which is the team controlling the oval-shaped football, attempts to advance down the field by running with or passing the ball, while the defense, which is the team without control of the ball, aims to stop the offense's advance and aims to take control of the ball for themselves. The offense must advance at least ten yards in four downs, or plays, and otherwise they turn over the football to the defense; if the offense succeeds in advancing ten yards or more, they are given a new set of four downs.
Comparison of American football and rugby union
A comparison of American football and rugby union is possible because of the games' shared origins, despite their dissimilarities. In the event of a tackle in rugby the player may pass the ball behind him provided he is not on the ground. If the tackled player is on the ground, the ball must be released, allowing any other player (including the opposition) to pick up the ball (usually a ruck forms) and the play continues. In the event of a tackle in American Football the play is concluded and the team on offense maintains possession usually if either the ball was advanced past the first down marker (resulting in a first down and a renewal of the down count) or else the down count advances (although if the play was the fourth down play and the ball is not advanced past the first down marker then the defensive team would gain possession).
History of American football
The history of American football can be traced to early versions of rugby football and association football. Both games have their origin in varieties of football played in Britain in the mid-19th century, in which a football is kicked at a goal or kicked over a line, which in turn were based on the varieties of English public school football games. American football resulted from several major divergences from association football and rugby football, most notably the rule changes instituted by Walter Camp, a Yale University and Hopkins School graduate who is considered to be the "Father of American Football".
Comparison of American and Canadian football
American and Canadian football are gridiron codes of football that are very similar. Both have their origins in rugby football. There are, however, some key differences. Football was introduced to North America in Canada by the British Army garrison in Montreal, which played a series of games with McGill University. In 1874, the U.S. Harvard University hosted Canada's McGill University to play the new game derived from rugby football in a home-and-home series. When the Canadians arrived several days early, to take advantage of the trip to see Boston and the surrounding areas, they held daily practices.
United Kingdom–United States relations
British–American relations, also referred to as Anglo-American relations, encompass many complex relations ranging from two early wars to competition for world markets. Since 1940 they have been close military allies enjoying the Special Relationship built as wartime allies, and NATO partners. The two nations are bound together by shared history, an overlap in religion and a common language and legal system, and kinship ties that reach back hundreds of years, including kindred, ancestral lines among English Americans, Scottish Americans, Welsh Americans, Scotch-Irish Americans and American Britons respectively.
College football
College football is American football played by teams of student athletes fielded by American universities, colleges, and military academies, or Canadian football played by teams of student athletes fielded by Canadian universities. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most other sports in North America, no minor league farm organizations exist in American or Canadian football. Therefore, college football is generally considered to be the second tier of American football in the United States and Canadian football in Canada; one step ahead of high school competition, and one step below professional competition.
1_Apprentice
We just call it football here too. I'm not a huge sports fan, but I will watch the Super Bowl once in a while.
0_Wizard
The Super Bowl is great and a lot of people watch it for the commercials.  It is quite a phenomenon now they are called Super Bowl ads.
The U.S. television broadcast of the Super Bowl – the championship game of the National Football League (NFL) – features many high-profile television commercials, colloquially known as Super Bowl ads.
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Super Bowl commercials
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Super Bowl commercials
The U.S. television broadcast of the Super Bowl – the championship game of the National Football League (NFL) – features many high-profile television commercials, colloquially known as Super Bowl ads. The phenomenon is a result of the game's extremely high viewership and wide demographics: Super Bowl games have frequently been among the United States' most watched television broadcasts, with Nielsen having estimated that Super Bowl XLIX in 2015 was seen by at least 114.4 million viewers in the United States, surpassing the previous year's Super Bowl as the highest-rated television broadcast in U.S. history.
Super Bowl XL
Super Bowl XL was an American football game between the National Football Conference (NFC) champion Seattle Seahawks and the American Football Conference (AFC) champion Pittsburgh Steelers to decide the National Football League (NFL) champion for the 2005 season. The Steelers defeated the Seahawks by the score of 21–10. The game was played on February 5, 2006, at Ford Field in Detroit, Michigan. With the win, the Steelers joined the San Francisco 49ers and the Dallas Cowboys as the only franchises to have won five Super Bowls. The Steelers' victory was their first Super Bowl victory since Super Bowl XIV.
Super Bowl XLII
Super Bowl XLII was an American football game between the National Football Conference (NFC) champion New York Giants and the American Football Conference (AFC) champion New England Patriots to decide the National Football League (NFL) champion for the 2007 season. The Giants defeated the Patriots by the score of 17–14. The game was played on February 3, 2008, at University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Arizona. The game is regarded as one of the biggest upsets in the history of professional sports, as well as one of the finest Super Bowl games. The Patriots entered the game as 12-point favorites after becoming the first team to complete a perfect regular season since the 1972 Miami Dolphins, and the only one since the league expanded to a 16-game regular season schedule in 1978.
Super Bowl
The Super Bowl is the annual championship game of the National Football League (NFL). The game is the culmination to a regular season that begins in the late summer of the previous calendar year. Normally, Roman numerals are used to identify each game, rather than the year in which it is held. For example, Super Bowl I was played on January 15, 1967, following the 1966 regular season. The sole exception to this naming convention tradition occurred with Super Bowl 50, which was played on February 7, 2016, following the 2015 regular season, and the following year, the nomenclature returned to Roman numerals for Super Bowl LI, following the 2016 regular season.
Super Bowl XLI
Super Bowl XLI was an American football game between the American Football Conference (AFC) champion Indianapolis Colts and the National Football Conference (NFC) champion Chicago Bears to decide the National Football League (NFL) champion for the 2006 season. The Colts defeated the Bears by the score of 29–17. The game was played on February 4, 2007, at Dolphin Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida. This game featured two teams ending long Super Bowl appearance droughts. The Colts, who finished with a 12–4 regular season record, were making their first Super Bowl appearance since winning Super Bowl V in the 1970 season during the team's tenure in Baltimore; they had moved to Indianapolis in 1984.
Super Bowl XLIV
Super Bowl XLIV was an American football game between the National Football Conference (NFC) champion New Orleans Saints and the American Football Conference (AFC) champion Indianapolis Colts to decide the National Football League (NFL) champion for the 2009 season. The Saints defeated the Colts by a score of 31–17, earning their first Super Bowl win. The game was played at Hard Rock Stadium (the formerly-named-Joe Robbie Stadium) in Miami Gardens, Florida for the fifth time (and in South Florida for the tenth time), on February 7, 2010, the latest calendar date for a Super Bowl yet. This was the Saints' first Super Bowl appearance and the fourth for the Colts franchise, their second appearance in four seasons.
Super Bowl XXIX
Super Bowl XXIX was an American football game between the American Football Conference (AFC) champion San Diego Chargers and the National Football Conference (NFC) champion San Francisco 49ers to decide the National Football League (NFL) champion for the 1994 season. The 49ers defeated the Chargers by the score of 49–26, becoming the first team to win five Super Bowl championships. The game was played on January 29, 1995 at Joe Robbie Stadium in Miami, Florida (now part of the suburb of Miami Gardens, which became a separate city in 2003). This game is regarded as 49ers quarterback Steve Young's final leap out of the shadow of his predecessor, Joe Montana, who had won four Super Bowls with the 49ers (in 1981, 1984, 1988, and 1989), two with Young as the backup quarterback.
1_Apprentice
That's my favorite part of watching the Super Bowl actually. That, and the food.
0_Wizard
Yeah in 2015 Nielsen estimated 114.4 million viewers watched it just in the United States and thats not including the rest of the world!
The phenomenon is a result of the game's extremely high viewership and wide demographics: Super Bowl games have frequently been among the United States' most watched television broadcasts, with Nielsen having estimated that Super Bowl XLIX in 2015 was seen by at least 114.4 million viewers in the United States, surpassing the previous year's Super Bowl as the highest-rated television broadcast in U.S. history.
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Super Bowl commercials
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List of most watched television broadcasts
The following content contains the tentative list of the most watched television broadcasts around the world in selected countries, with the corresponding peak viewership (or ratings share) records, the corresponding year of such broadcast, and the mentioned media research organizations tallying nationwide viewership records. However, the most watched television broadcast in any of the following nations can also be broadcast simultaneously in other countries and rank among their most watched television broadcasts as well. On 20 July 1969, an estimated 530 million people watched the live global broadcast of the first ever humans walk on the surface of the moon (this constituted around 14% of total population of the world at the time), despite the fact that the first moonwalk took place in the middle of the night in Europe (at 02:56 in Ireland, Portugal and the United Kingdom and 03:56 in France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Spain) and it was not broadcast in the Eastern Bloc except Socialist Republic of Romania and Polish People's Republic.
NFL on CBS
The NFL on CBS is the branding used for broadcasts of National Football League (NFL) games that are produced by CBS Sports, the sports division of the CBS television network in the United States. The network has aired NFL game telecasts since 1956 (with exception of a break from 1994 to 1997). Since 2014, CBS has also broadcast "Thursday Night Football" games during the first half of the NFL season, through a production partnership with NFL Network. In August 1956, the DuMont Television Network, the NFL's primary television partner, ended network operations after years of decline. DuMont had already sold the rights to the NFL Championship to NBC in 1955, and when DuMont ended its regular season coverage, CBS acquired the rights.
Super Bowl commercials
The U.S. television broadcast of the Super Bowl – the championship game of the National Football League (NFL) – features many high-profile television commercials, colloquially known as Super Bowl ads. The phenomenon is a result of the game's extremely high viewership and wide demographics: Super Bowl games have frequently been among the United States' most watched television broadcasts, with Nielsen having estimated that Super Bowl XLIX in 2015 was seen by at least 114.4 million viewers in the United States, surpassing the previous year's Super Bowl as the highest-rated television broadcast in U.S. history.
NFL on NBC
The NFL on NBC is the branding used for broadcasts of National Football League (NFL) games that are produced by NBC Sports, and televised on the NBC television network in the United States. NBC, as of the 2017 NFL season, holds two contracts to carry NFL games, an exclusive contract to carry "Sunday Night Football" and shared rights to "Thursday Night Football". NBC had sporadically carried NFL games as early as 1939, including the championship and Pro Bowl through the 1950s and early 1960s. Beginning in 1965, NBC signed an agreement to carry the American Football League's telecasts, which carried over with the American Football Conference (AFC) when the AFL merged with the NFL.
American Idol
American Idol is an American singing competition television series created by Simon Fuller, produced by FremantleMedia North America and 19 Entertainment, and distributed by FremantleMedia North America. It began airing on Fox on June 11, 2002, and ended its first run on April 7, 2016. On March 11, 2018, the show will make its debut on ABC. It started off as an addition to the "Idols" format based on the British series "Pop Idol", and became one of the most successful shows in the history of American television. The concept of the series involves discovering recording stars from unsigned singing talents, with the winner determined by the viewers in America through telephones, Internet, and SMS text voting.
United States presidential debates, 2016
The 2016 United States presidential election debates were a series of debates held for the 2016 U.S. presidential general election. The Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD), a bipartisan organization formed in 1987, organized three debates among the major presidential candidates. The first presidential debate for the 2016 election took place on September 26, 2016, and set the record as the most-watched debate in American history, with 84 million viewers. The only vice-presidential debate was held on October 4. The second presidential debate took place on October 9, and the final debate took place on October 19.
Soccer in the United States
Soccer in the United States is governed by the United States Soccer Federation. The organization governs most levels of soccer in the country, including the national teams, professional leagues, and the amateur game with the exception of colleges and high schools. , over 24.4 million people play soccer in the United States. In 2012, the U.S. Census Bureau reported that soccer was the third-most played team sport in the U.S., behind only basketball and baseball. The popularity of the sport in the U.S. has been growing since the 1960s and 1970s, and received a significant boost when the United States hosted the 1994 FIFA World Cup and 1999 FIFA Women's World Cup.
1_Apprentice
That is an insane amount of people! I didn't realize how popular football really is!
0_Wizard
The number one most watched is July 20th, 1969.  530 million people watched the moonwalk, I was not alive for that one!
On 20 July 1969, an estimated 530 million people watched the live global broadcast of the first ever humans walk on the surface of the moon (this constituted around 14% of total population of the world at the time), despite the fact that the first moonwalk took place in the middle of the night in Europe (at 02:56 in Ireland, Portugal and the United Kingdom and 03:56 in France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Spain) and it was not broadcast in the Eastern Bloc except Socialist Republic of Romania and Polish People's Republic.
self_List_of_most_watched_television_broadcasts_2
List of most watched television broadcasts
self_0_List_of_most_watched_television_broadcasts
List of most watched television broadcasts
The following content contains the tentative list of the most watched television broadcasts around the world in selected countries, with the corresponding peak viewership (or ratings share) records, the corresponding year of such broadcast, and the mentioned media research organizations tallying nationwide viewership records. However, the most watched television broadcast in any of the following nations can also be broadcast simultaneously in other countries and rank among their most watched television broadcasts as well. On 20 July 1969, an estimated 530 million people watched the live global broadcast of the first ever humans walk on the surface of the moon (this constituted around 14% of total population of the world at the time), despite the fact that the first moonwalk took place in the middle of the night in Europe (at 02:56 in Ireland, Portugal and the United Kingdom and 03:56 in France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Spain) and it was not broadcast in the Eastern Bloc except Socialist Republic of Romania and Polish People's Republic.
Michael Jackson
Michael Joseph Jackson (August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009) was an American singer, songwriter, and dancer. Dubbed the "King of Pop", he was one of the most popular entertainers in the world, and was the best-selling music artist during the year of his death. Jackson's contributions to music, dance, and fashion along with his publicized personal life made him a global figure in popular culture for over four decades. The eighth child of the Jackson family, Michael made his professional debut in 1964 with his elder brothers Jackie, Tito, Jermaine, and Marlon as a member of the Jackson 5. He began his solo career in 1971 while at Motown Records.
Billie Jean
"Billie Jean" is a song by American singer Michael Jackson, released in January 1983 as the second single from his sixth album "Thriller" (1982). It was written and composed by Jackson and produced by Quincy Jones and Jackson. "Billie Jean" was one of the best-selling singles of 1983, was the biggest-selling single for Jackson as a solo artist, and remains one of the best-selling singles worldwide. It helped propel "Thriller" to the status of best-selling album of all time. In the United States, the song stayed at number one on the "Billboard" Hot 100 for seven weeks. It also reached number one in the United Kingdom and several other European countries, and reached the top-ten in many other countries.
Moonwalk One
Moonwalk One is a feature-length documentary film about the flight of Apollo 11, which landed the first humans on the moon. Besides portraying the massive technological achievement of that event, the film places it in some historical context, and tries to capture the mood and feel of the people on Earth at the time when man first walked on another world. After the film was completed in 1969 there was not much interest in it because the general public had been saturated with the US space program, especially with several other lunar missions which followed Apollo 11 over the next three years. NASA gave the film a screening in New York City for possible distributors, but it was considered to be too long, and subsequently failed to be picked up.
Moonwalk (dance)
The moonwalk is a dance move in which the dancer moves backwards while seemingly walking forwards. A popping move, it became popular around the world after Michael Jackson performed the dance move during a performance of "Billie Jean" on "" on March 25, 1983. This special was broadcast May 16, 1983. It subsequently became his signature move. An illusion is involved in creating the appearance of the dancer gliding backwards. Initially, the front foot is held flat on the ground, while the back foot is in a tiptoe position. The flat front foot remains on the ground but is slid lightly and smoothly backward past the tip-toe back foot.
SMAP
SMAP was a Japanese boy band, composed of Masahiro Nakai, Takuya Kimura, Goro Inagaki, Tsuyoshi Kusanagi, and Shingo Katori. The group was created in 1988 by music producer Johnny Kitagawa, founder of Johnny & Associates, originally as a six-piece with Katsuyuki Mori, until his departure from the band in 1996. After making their debut in 1991, the group took the Japanese entertainment industry by storm, becoming the most successful boy band in Japanese history and the bestselling band in Asia, often referred to as a "national treasure" and a "fortune and property of the country" in Japan. SMAP was regarded as an iconic figure in Japan, after achieving an unprecedented level of success in numerous genres in the entertainment industry, including music, television, film, radio, and theater, as a group and individually.
Culture of the United Kingdom
The culture of the United Kingdom is influenced by the UK's history as a developed island country, a liberal democracy and a major power; its predominantly Christian religious life; and its composition of four countries—England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland—each of which has distinct customs, cultures and symbolism. The wider culture of Europe has also influenced British culture, and Humanism, Protestantism and representative democracy developed from broader Western culture. British literature, music, cinema, art, theatre, comedy, media, television, philosophy, architecture and education are important aspects of British culture.
1_Apprentice
I wasn't either unfortunately! Would have been something to see for sure!
0_Wizard
Yes that wa 14% of the total population on the planet and it wasn't even broadcasted in the Eastern Bloc because the USSR was obviously in competition with the US.
On 20 July 1969, an estimated 530 million people watched the live global broadcast of the first ever humans walk on the surface of the moon (this constituted around 14% of total population of the world at the time), despite the fact that the first moonwalk took place in the middle of the night in Europe (at 02:56 in Ireland, Portugal and the United Kingdom and 03:56 in France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Spain) and it was not broadcast in the Eastern Bloc except Socialist Republic of Romania and Polish People's Republic.
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List of most watched television broadcasts
self_0_List_of_most_watched_television_broadcasts
Eastern Bloc
The Eastern Bloc was the group of socialist states of Central and Eastern Europe, generally the Soviet Union and the countries of the Warsaw Pact. The terms Communist Bloc and Soviet Bloc were also used to denote groupings of states aligned with the Soviet Union, although these terms might include states outside. Use of the term "Eastern Bloc" generally refers to the "communist states of eastern Europe." Sometimes, more generally, they are referred to as "the countries of Eastern Europe under communism". Many sources consider Yugoslavia to be a member of the Eastern Bloc. Others consider Yugoslavia not to be a member after it broke with Soviet policy in the 1948 Tito–Stalin split.
Eastern Bloc politics
Eastern Bloc politics followed the Red Army's occupation of much of eastern Europe at the end of World War II and the Soviet Union's installation of Soviet-controlled Stalinist or Marxist–Leninist governments in the Eastern Bloc through a process of "bloc politics" and repression. The resulting governments contained vestiges of western democracies to initially conceal the process. Once in power, each country's Soviet-controlled communist party took permanent control of the administration, political organs, police, societal organizations and economic structures to ensure that no effective opposition could arise and to control socioeconomic and political life therein.
Cold War
The Cold War was a state of geopolitical tension after World War II between powers in the Eastern Bloc (the Soviet Union and its satellite states) and powers in the Western Bloc (the United States, its NATO allies and others). Historians do not fully agree on the dates, but a common timeframe is the period between 1947, the year the Truman Doctrine, a U.S. foreign policy pledging to aid nations threatened by Soviet expansionism, was announced, and either 1989, when communism fell in Eastern Europe, or 1991, when the Soviet Union collapsed. The term "cold" is used because there was no large-scale fighting directly between the two sides, but they each supported major regional wars known as proxy wars.
Eastern Bloc emigration and defection
Eastern Bloc emigration and defection was a point of controversy during the Cold War. After World War II, emigration restrictions were imposed by countries in the Eastern Bloc, which consisted of the Soviet Union and its satellite states in Central and Eastern Europe. Legal emigration was in most cases only possible in order to reunite families or to allow members of minority ethnic groups to return to their homelands. Eastern Bloc governments argued that strict limits to emigration were necessary to prevent a brain drain. The United States and Western European governments argued that they represented a violation of human rights.
Eastern Bloc media and propaganda
Eastern Bloc media and propaganda was controlled directly by each country's Communist party, which controlled the state media, censorship and propaganda organs. State and party ownership of print, television and radio media served as an important manner in which to control information and society in light of Eastern Bloc leaderships viewing even marginal groups of opposition intellectuals as a potential threat to the bases underlying Communist power therein. Circumvention of dissemination controls occurred to some degree through samizdat and limited reception of western radio and television broadcasts.
Marshall Plan
The Marshall Plan (officially the European Recovery Program, ERP) was an American initiative to aid Western Europe, in which the United States gave over $13,000,000,000 (nearly $140 billion in current dollar value as of September 2017) in economic assistance to help rebuild Western European economies after the end of World War II. The plan was in operation for four years beginning on April 8, 1948. The goals of the United States were to rebuild war-torn regions, remove trade barriers, modernise industry, make Europe prosperous once more, and prevent the spread of Communism. The Marshall Plan required a lessening of interstate barriers, a dropping of many regulations, and encouraged an increase in productivity, trade union membership, as well as the adoption of modern business procedures.
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union (), officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (), abbreviated as the USSR (), was a socialist state in Eurasia that existed from 1922 to 1991. Nominally a union of multiple national Soviet republics, its government and economy were highly centralized. The country was a one-party state, governed by the Communist Party with Moscow as its capital in its largest republic, the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic. The Russian nation had constitutionally equal status among the many nations of the union but exerted de facto dominance in various respects. Other major urban centres were Leningrad, Kiev, Minsk, Alma-Ata and Novosibirsk.