So You Think You Know Football?: The Armchair Ref's Guide to the Official Rules

by Ben Austro

So You Think You Know Football? is the motherlode of NFL rules and their interpretations. Whether you know everything about on- and off-field rules or are a true novice, Austro deftly illustrates the ins and outs of the NFL rulebook using examples from actual games. Test your inner referee with questions about the correct call and how slight changes might affect the ruling. Do you know why spiking the ball immediately to stop the clock is not considered intentional grounding, while hesitating a few seconds then spiking the ball is? See if you would have made the right call in a game played between the Chicago Bears and Oakland Raiders on November 27, 2011—with additional quiz questions from other games involving similar controversies. Keep this book right next to your favorite football-watching chair to consult during the game and visit ThinkYouKnowFootball.com to stay updated on interpretations affected by rule modifications.

Genres: Football

240 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 2015

Reviews

[BigJohn · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book took me a long time to get through. It’s not really a serial novel or anything of the sort; it’s more akin to a reference book. As such, it does not have gripping cliffhangers or a natural and complete progression. It’s information, distilled into real-life examples. And as such, it’s wonderful.

This book is about five years old, so some of the recent rule changes are not up-to-date, but a lot of the examples that are used are from recent enough games to elicit, “Oh yeah, I remember that!”

The author is not a football official, but he is a fan of officiating and runs an officiating appreciation website, where you can find all kinds of interesting “you make the call” type quizzes, as well as reviews and examples of new rulings and interpretations. As a supplement to the book, it provides the complete package.

The book is very easy to read, though the content may be dry if you are not really into this kind of information dump. And as a point of clarification, this is not a rule-by-rule interpolation of the NFL rulebook; it is an exploration of some of the basics, as well as some of the more complex and/or confusing rules.

All in all, I highly recommend this book if you are at all interested in the 33rd team of the NFL, the officiating team.

[Toni · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pay attention to the title: this is a book for people who think they know a bit about football and not for a newcomer to the sport. You won't find basic explanations or the primary rules of the game here. You need to have an intermediate knowledge of the workings of the game, play calls, penalties, and positions, in order to follow along.

Having said that, with that knowledge in hand, I found this book very interesting. It's dense and requires a bit of attention in order to envision the plays being described, but the content is good and it's presented in a good way, with examples and test cases offered. Unfortunately, the book is five years old now, so a few rules have changed, but not so many to make the experience of reading this less than worthwhile for a serious football fan.

[Timothy · Rating 3 out of 5]

The books OK

More of a QA than a book of the rules of the game. If you are looking for knowledge of some of the more obscure rules, this may not be the best choice.

[Paul · Rating 4 out of 5]

Definitely, a must read for any football fan.

This book was a good one in terms of understanding rules and plays. Wish there was some illustrations or pictures. However, some parts could be quite dense. Definitely gives an insight to the inner workings of the game.

[Jbussen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am having so much fun with this book from my library. I am reading it for the second time. I may just buy it. I like the q&A style. Okay this is the situation, now how do the refs rule?

[Jennifer · Rating 1 out of 5]

Stopped reading. Not really what I was looking for.