Originally Posted by: earthman buckFootball makes far more sense as a name for the game anyway. Soccer? What the hell is that? Is it supposed to mean you should sock 'er? And why is the sport we Americans/Canadians call football called football? The foot barely comes into contact with the ball!

I think in North America, soccer be called football and football should be called "Bone Crunch Fun Time Extravaganza."

When American Football was created... a field goal was worth 6 points and a touchdown was only worth 3 points... So the main goal of the game was to get the ball in position to kick it (with your foot) through the uprights.... Since in all reality, kicking an oblonge ball 50 yards between a ~10 yard wide upright is pretty difficult! Then teams began to hire specialists who could easily kick it through everytime... So, they converted the scoring to 6 points for a touchdown and 3 points for a field goal. There you go... in a hutshell the origin of American Football... and why it is called what it is called. Maybe a canadian can explain why hockey is called hockey......... because THAT I don't understand...