I grew up watching and playing the real football and that's why I find it the most exciting and universally loved sport in the world. The only individual sport I like is Tennis, but I am mainly into team sport.
The only american sport I love is Basketball, it has a lot similarities with football. In NFL I think you get to watch more advertisement than the actual sport. In europe sport means a lot more to people than in the US, where it really sometimes feels like performance.
I hate the whole franchise thing in american sports, takes the whole emotional connection and passion out of supporting a team, if they can just move around willy-nilly.