For those of you who don’t know, the biggest game of football is happening this weekend. Yes, Super Bowl 51 will be played in Houston, Texas on Sunday. So prepare yourself for a great night of food, football, and friends. And if you have no idea what is going on Sunday, read this article just to get the basics.
1. The two teams that are playing are the New England Patriots and the Atlanta Falcons. So Monday will either be really awesome, or really depressing.
2. To score points the teams need to make touchdowns and field goals. Touchdowns are worth six points and after every touchdown a team can try to add an extra point by kicking the ball through the two posts to get a field goal.
3. If a team is on it’s fourth down and within 45 yards from the field goal, they usually try to make it and they can score three points this way
4. There’s also a two-point conversion that can happen after each touchdown, but you should probably get your friend to explain this if it does happen (it’s pretty rare)
5. Lady Gaga is playing the Super Bowl halftime show, Luke Bryan is singing the national anthem, and the original Schyler sisters from the musical Hamilton are singing “America the Beautiful”
6. If you want to sound knowledgeable, know these names: Tom Brady, Matt Ryan, Julio Jones, and Julian Edelman
7. Brady and Ryan are two of the best quarterbacks in the league right now, and both Jones and Edelman are wide receivers
8. The Patriots won the Super Bowl in 2015, while the Falcons haven’t won a Super Bowl ever, and this is only their second appearance
9. The head coach of the Patriots is Bill Belichick and for the Falcons it is Dan Quinn. Belichick has coached the Patriots for 16 seasons now, while Quinn has coached the Falcons for two.
10. Currently, the Falcons are favored to win the Super Bowl so if you want to root for the underdog then go for the Patriots (although are they really considered the underdog when they’ve won the most Super Bowls out of every team?).