Yeah, it's anecdotal, obviously. Most of the people I talk sports with are really into baseball, are well versed in statistics, and obviously that has a lot to do with it. But knowing the basic formations is pretty superficial knowledge, and as you say, beyond that, it usually devolves into ranting about intangibles, leadership, toughness and "knowing how to win". And maybe some quasi-knowledgeable bitching about rules/penalties. At football viewing parties I've been to, there's typically a small handful of knowledgeable fans, and a much larger contingent who root hard, but who need the few to explain anything not completely obvious to them. i don't know a single person like this in real life...i know a few who are smart enough to easily grasp that sort of thing if i explain it to them, but that's about it. nobody who even knows half as much as the average poster here does.