Today I actually got to spend the morning watching American football on television. It kind of sucked. It was kind of exciting.

(Note: This is the violent chess version of football, not the game known as “kickball” in which men in short pants run around and occasionally fall down as if they’ve been shot even though no one is near them.)

Every January 3rd Japan hosts the Rice Bowl which is the national championship of American football in Japan. It features the top Japanese university team versus the top corporate sponsored team.

This year it was the Kwansei Gakuin University Fighters versus the Fujitsu Corporation Frontiers. Although Kwansei had already lost four Rice Bowls, including the last three in a row and were technically the underdogs and it’s very American to support the underdogs (at least until they start to suck), I decided to cheer for Fujitsu because my smartphone was made by Fujitsu.

The teams, especially the corporate team, are a mix of Japanese and foreign players. The rules tend to follow US university rules (if you fall after catching a pass you are down even if no one touches you) and only one foot in-bounds is required for a catch or a touchdown. The style and level of play remind me a lot of Division 1 AA teams in the USA. There are moments of incredibly crappy play broken up by truly brilliant moments. They also do lots of strange shifting BS before a kick off as if they’re about to do a free kick in the kickball version of football. There are also lots of trick plays.

Kwansei, for example, on second down and only inches (more than ten centimeters) from the goal line, opted to have a player run toward the line and then jump up as if he were about to hurdle the pile. Instead he tossed a lob/shovel pass to the tight end who was bolting to the back of the end zone. Unfortunately for Kwansei, the pass was off and although the tight end got his fingers on it, he couldn’t pull it in. The next play they ran the the same play but forgot to tell the tight end and the ball sailed out the endzone. The very next play, fourth down, they finally tried to muscle the ball through on the ground and got stuffed for a loss. Fujitsu got the ball.

(Note: I am aware there are European readers who did not understand anything the previous paragraph. Sorry.)

However, the very next play a freshman intercepted a long pass and Kwansei was finally able to score.

Unfortunately for Kwansei, Fujitsu had an excellent kicker and an excellent American running back and they are now five time losers.

I had a great time watching the game, though. I also had fun trying to explain the rules to my in-laws.