The One with the Football

"The One With the Football" is the ninth episode of season three of the television situation comedy Friends.

First aired: November 21, 1996

Plot

The girls are cooking Thanksgiving dinner, while the guys watch football. Rachel, at one point, shoves a marshmallow up Monica's nose.

Joey suggests the gang play a game of football in the park. Rachel and Phoebe think this is a great idea - even though neither of them have ever played football before. Chandler refuses at first, since he's still distraught over his breakup with Janice. Joey points out that Chandler hasn't wanted to do anything since the breakup, and this will be an excellent way to start getting over her. (Besides, if Chandler doesn't play, the teams will be uneven and everyone will be mad.)

Monica and Ross initially refuse too - they'd been banned from playing football by their parents. Every year, they used to have a touch football game called the "Geller Bowl." During Geller Bowl VI, Monica broke Ross's nose - thus spurring the banishment, and their father throwing the "trophy" in a lake. They finally decide one game couldn't hurt, and go to the park to play.

Monica and Ross name themselves team captains - Monica picks Joey and Phoebe; Ross picks Chandler and Rachel, who was upset that she was picked last. Then, she gets upset because Ross keeps telling her to "go long." It doesn't take long for the Geller siblings' rivalry to come out, and they spend the game at war with each other. Monica reveals that she fished the "Geller Cup" out of the lake - it's a troll doll nailed to a 2x4. They decide to play for the "Cup." Rachel gets even more upset when Ross "trades" her to Monica's team for Joey.

Joey and Chandler meet a pretty Dutch girl named Margha, who's in the park because her roommate is "ferschlocking" a businessman. They spend the game competing for her affections. Ross, sick of their fighting, asks her to pick one. She picks Chandler, but rescinds her choice when Chandler starts gloating.

During the last play of the game, Monica throws it to Rachel - who almost scores a touchdown. Once the gang realizes the ball is still in play, Monica and Ross dive for the ball and refuse to let go. They end up staying there most of the night, while the rest of the gang goes back to the apartment to enjoy dinner. Rachel and Phoebe had so much fun playing football, they wonder if there's a league they can join. However, when they realise that it's on Monday nights, they quit the idea on the basis that they work Monday nights.

Trivia

• When the episode was broadcast, the ending with Monica and Ross in the park fighting over the football was used during the credits. However, on the DVD version, a different ending was used during the credits: Monica and Ross toss the Geller Cup down the garbage chute - but Phoebe is at the bottom, catching it for Monica. She's about to leave when Ross walks in on her to claim it for himself.
• Throughout most of the eppisode, Phoebe is wearing a shirt saying That Girl. This is a television show that starred Marlo Thomas, who starred in previous episodes as Rachel's mother.

Additional cast

• Margha - Suzanna Voltaire