Okay, so, I went down this rabbit hole the other day about how long school football games actually last. It’s not as straightforward as you’d think!
I started digging around because my nephew’s got a game coming up, and I was trying to figure out my schedule. I first went straight to looking up how long an NFL game was, that was a mistake.
At first, I was thinking it’s probably around an hour, maybe an hour and a half, tops, right? So I went and checked online, and boy, was I off!
Turns out, there’s a lot more to it. For example, the NFL has more stringent rules on breaks. I did not know this at first. I just wanted to watch a good football game with my nephew, but it turns out that high school and college football are quite different! There are also differences in the rules, as well as breaks. There are a lot of things to consider.
- Quarters: You’ve got four quarters, each one is 12 minutes of actual playtime. But that’s just the start.
- Half-time: Then there’s the halftime show, which is a whole thing. I found it’s usually around 10-20 minutes. More, if it’s a big game, they might have some special performances.
- Timeouts: Teams get timeouts, and those add up.
- Injuries and other delays: Of course, players can get hurt, the ball can go out of bounds, and any number of things can happen to slow things down.
So, I started reading up on all these forums and blogs. People were saying that a typical high school game can stretch out to 2, even 2.5, or 3 hours. Seriously! I was surprised, too. It’s crazy how all those little breaks and stuff add up.
And then there’s the whole pre-game stuff – the warm-ups, the national anthem, all of that. So you gotta factor that in, too.
My takeaway?
I need to block off a good chunk of my evening for my nephew’s game. It’s not just a quick in-and-out thing. I’m thinking I’ll get there a bit early to catch the pre-game vibe, and I won’t make any plans for immediately after. Better to be safe than sorry, right? I can’t wait to see my nephew’s high school football match! I have cleared up my schedule, and made time to relax and watch.
Anyway, it was a whole learning experience. Who knew there was so much to think about with the length of a football game? Not me, that’s for sure!
