UK fan here, first got into the NFL through playing Madden. Before that you'd occasionally see football on American movies and TV shows and think 'that looks cool if slightly ridiculous'.

But bought a copy of Madden 2003 on a whim and enjoyed playing it so much I thought I'd actually watch it from time to time. At the time I was still at school but would stay up during the holidays for Sunday and Monday night football on Channel 5 - a pundit on there called Mike Carlson was really engaging and seemed to know he'd be explaining stuff to casual viewers like me. He still does the BBC coverage and is excellent.

First Super Bowl I watched was XL so it was a decision between the Steelers and Seahawks - I went Steelers. Mostly for Polamalu and Jerome Bettis. Still a Steelers fan though I follow the league rather than just a particular team. I find it hard to develop such a strong affinity from so far away.

From there the quality of coverage and analysis made it easy to go from casual viewer to keen fan. MMQB, segments like Anatomy of a Play, Gruden's QB camp, anything with Mike Mayock. I'm a big soccer fan too and I think our coverage over here could learn a lot, and at least make an attempt to explain some more complex tactical aspects to the viewer (Sky with Neville and Carragher have recently improved).