How did you get into American football?

So, having just joined the forum and also got through my second season following my 'rookie' year as a proper NFL fan, I thought I'd put this to you guys as were now in the off season!

What are your earliest memories as an American football fan and how did you come to be engrossed in the game?

I wouldn't say that I truly understood the sport until 2007. Although the 49ers were my team from the start, it was A.D that got me into it (Adrian Peterson) Some of the stuff he did his rookie year astounded me and so I made sure I caught every Vikings game I could as long as it didn't clash with the 49ers. And then CJ2K came along with DeSean Jackson in 2008 and that was the first time I'd watch any game on sky whether it had teams I like or not. After that season, I was actually able to analyse players on every team and critique tactics, it made me the expert I am today really........

Madden years back

Welcome aboard.

I'm not sure if its my earliest actual memory of the NFL, but I got hooked by Madden NFL 2000 (maybe 2001) which my cousin had bought on the cheap for the PS1 in 2002... I ended up with the Packers via the random team function on that game!
After playing that with him one summer, I took up following the real stuff next season and have continued ever since.

I think the earliest specific thing I remember is the Manning Colts comeback in early 2003 against the Buccaneers on Monday night football via Channel 5... particularly the "leaping" penalty that gave the Colts a second attempt at a FG that Mike Vanderjact had just missed

Not sure which came first - either the C4 show or the Panini sticker album which lead to me picking the Patriots solely on the fact I thought their logo was the best (this was the old Pat Patriot not the Flying Elvis) but ever since my first Super Bowl (XXIII, which is probably showing my age) I've loved the game. Dipped in and out but for the last 6 years, with regular coverage here on ESPN, I've got right back into it. Went to my first Wembley game last year, and have tickets for the 49ers Jags game this year.

I always played the games on the computer but never truly got into watching the sport until 2002 when my then girlfriend got me into it, she was from California but her mum had moved over here after meeting an Englishman. I was hooked from then and I blame them for me following the Raiders :p

Unfortunately although not the first game I watched, my earliest NFL memory is of that disastrous Superbowl hammering from tampa Bay

2006 I picked up a cheap copy of NFL 2k5 on xbox when I was 16 and really got into the sport on Sky. The first Super Bowl I watched was the Bears-Colts and then next season in 2007 my Dad, a Dolphins fan after seeing highlights of the 72 team on US Forces tv in Berlin, took me to the first IS game. That and winning Super Bowl 42 made me a Giants fan.

I got into it from the old highlights programme on Channel 4 in the 80s.

There used to be a market stall in my town that sold all NFL stuff like book, stickers, notepads, pencils... I still have a few 49ers stuff. I also had an NFL bedspread. If had a giant NFL logo on the quilt and a map of the US on the pillow with all the teams on like the Hiuston Oiler, LA Rams, LA Raiders and Baltimore Colts.

I also went to the old Wembley one year to see the 49ers vs Dolphins.

That said, I wasn't that much into it from the mid- 90s up until recently though when I got back into it through the fantasy leagues on the NFL website and the old BBC 606.

Like mikey, i started watching it on Channel 4 in the 80's (in the days when there was next to no sport on TV, apart from Bullseye).

The internet and Sky Sports make it alot easier nowadays...

Crack

Same here C4 presented by Nicky Horne, SB 19 49ers-Dolphins was my first season,just started watching it on a Sunday evening and listening on a short wave radio on the AFRTS to live games. The Spanish opera singer coming in over the top of the radio broadcast on the early games, the snorting C4 emblem and Holding Out for a Hero,I saw the Bears and Cowboys at Wembley in August 1986 £20 a ticket for a sideline seat!

I got into it the year Brady got injured (2008?)

I picked the Patriots as my team because they had "England" in there name

Mine was well i supported the Blackhawks and Bulls anyway and the BBC had the Packers/Bears NFC game on the 5 live radio and yes Cutler was injuied and Haine played but dont mean i was not backing them for the win and well as they say is Cheese History =(

My first game was the Saints-Colts super bowl. That game got me hooked, I choose the Packers for the upcoming season and have loved it since.

Was watching a football game (think it was Chelsea vs somebody) on Sky got bored turned over and stumbled onto the NFL, first games were a Cleveland vs Cincinnatti game and San Diego vs somebody, so it was between Browns and Chargers ended up picking my Browns.