Flip over to the back pages of any US newspaper and you will find a sports section unlike any other in the world. Popular sports such as tennis, cricket and rugby are replaced by American football, ice hockey, basketball and baseball.
Here are those fab four in a little bit more detail.
No. 1 American Football
American football, a huge draw now in the UK with operators like Unibet, is a sport played by two teams of 11 players on a rectangular field with goal posts at either end. The objective of the game is to get an oval ball from one end of the field to the other, either by running or throwing, in order to score points known as a touchdown. The name of the American Football league is the National Football League (NFL), and it is the most popular sport in the US.
No. 2 Baseball
Baseball is a game of bat and ball that takes place between two teams of nine players who take turns both batting and fielding. The object of the game is to score more points than your opponent’s by scoring more runs, and a run is clocked when the runner sprints around the four bases and returns to the home plate. The sport is known as Major League Baseball (MLB).
No. 3 Basketball
Basketball is a court game that involves two opposing sides each containing five players. The objective of the game is to score more points than your opponent, and throwing the ball into a hoop that stands at each end of the court scores points. The national league is called the National Basketball Association (NBA).
No. 4 Ice Hockey
Ice hockey is a game played on an ice rink between two teams of six players, and the objective is to score more goals than the other team by shooting a puck past the goaltender and into the net. The national league is known as the National Hockey League (NHL).