I’ve always been a big fan of football, but I never really knew exactly how long a football game lasted. So, I decided to find out for myself. Here’s how I did it.
First, I picked a weekend when there were a bunch of football games on TV. I sat down in front of the tube with a notebook and a pen, ready to start my time – tracking adventure.
When the first game started, I hit the stop – watch on my phone right away. I was like a little detective, watching every single play, waiting for any breaks, and jotting down all the details. The players were running around like crazy, and the coaches were yelling on the sidelines. It was so exciting!
During the game, there were a lot of pauses. There were time – outs called by the teams, reviews by the refs to check if a play was legal or not, and breaks between quarters. I was kind of surprised by how many of these breaks there were. It was like the game kept hitting the pause button every few minutes.
As the game went on, I was getting really into it. I was cheering for my favorite team, and at the same time, keeping an eye on the stop – watch. The players were making amazing catches, running like the wind, and tackling each other left and right. It was a real battle on the field.
Finally, the game ended. I stopped the stop – watch and looked at the time. It turned out that the game, from start to finish, took about three and a half hours. I was like, “Whoa! That’s way longer than I thought.”
I did this for a few more games over the weekend. Some games were a bit shorter, around three hours, and some were a bit longer, close to four hours. It seemed like the length of the game really depended on how many time – outs were called and how many reviews the refs had to do.
So, after this little experiment, I’ve got a pretty good idea of how long a football game really is. It’s not just the 60 minutes of actual playing time you hear about. There are all these other breaks that add up to make the whole thing take a few hours. And now, whenever someone asks me how long a football game is, I can tell them from my own experience!