Gridiron, a term used to describe a football field. This comes from the fact that the field has had many marking lines that resemble a grid.

If you already knew that then I have some tougher ones for you, but if you didn’t know it and especially if you are female you need this new book I picked up the other day titled “Talk Football” by Alice Nicholas. It claims that it is “written by a woman for women who want to speak America’s gridiron language.”

And I love it!

This book is the perfect stocking stuffer for any mom who has sons who play football or a significant other that they have to watch football with.

All cheerleader sponsors should get a copy with their UCAA rules and regulations and teach their squad information from it.

Basically I think everyone who lives in the South needs a copy.

Thanks to having a husband who always watched football, a son who played football and two daughters who have been cheerleaders, you can usually find me at Friday night football or watching it on TV.

I am pretty proud of the fact that for the most part I know what is going on.

Then I read this book and I figured out that there was a lot I don’t know about football and neither does a lot of the public.

One of my favorite sections has pictures of the officials and their hand signals, hopefully this will keep me from tapping the guy in front of me at Ole Miss games and asking five times “what was the call?”

Fortunately on TV they usually tell me so I don’t have to just sit there and wonder, or worse, ask my son.

I did know that only certain positions wear certain number groups such as, the wide receivers are numbers 11 through 19 and the running backs are 20 through 49.

I didn’t know where all the positions stood on the field or exactly what they did.

Face it, here in the South football is more than a school activity.

For males of every age, and for some girls, it is practically a religion.

My daughter Holly used to get in trouble cheering in high school because she would stop in the middle of a cheer, watch the game and yell to the field.

The first thing I taught my junior high cheerleaders when I was a sponsor was the difference between the defense and the offense.

And my son, well, there are no words for what football and his coaches meant to Matthew.

Do yourself a favor, get the book and study up.

We are in the middle of football season and you still have time to learn what’s going on.

I know the guy who sits in front of me at Ole Miss is glad I got mine.

Christina Hall can be reached by e-mail at christina.hall@natchezdemocrat.com