Can I be the first person to make the inevitable point that what Americans call Basketball and Baseball, we call netball and rounders, and are played by little girls at school.
American 'football' meanwhile, is glorified Rugby, which elsewhere in the world is played by men without the aid of helmets and heavy padding.
Seriously tho', I quite like to watch a game of football if I'm in front of a TV on my own, but I don't seem to get anything out of the whole male bonding with beer in front of the big game thing.