Watching football is a popular part of American culture, and in today's marketplace, there are plenty of alternative viewing options available if you can't catch your favorite team on your television at home. The Internet provides viewing opportunities that allow users to watch streaming games live online. Be it college football or the National Football League, learning how to watch football online is an easy way to keep up with all the action on the go.

Are you a fan of the San Francisco 49ers or Dallas Cowboys, but live in Miami, Florida, or another out-of-market location? Maybe you are such a huge football fan that you want to watch as many of the games each week as possible. Either way, the Internet provides additional viewing options for fans who cannot catch the games on their televisions.

Not all viewing options are equal, with many claiming to offer the service free. The vast majority of these third-party viewing sources such as UStream, Justin.tv and Sopcast often offer games live, but illegally. To catch NFL games online legally, subscribing to NFL Sunday Ticket is required.

Before you are able to watch streaming National Football League games online, you must first make sure your computer meets the minimum viewing requirements. These are:

Windows

• Operating system: Windows XP or Vista
• Connection: Cable, DSL or satellite
• Browser: Firefox or Internet Explorer 6.0 or higher
• Screen resolution: 1024x768
• Hard drive: 20 GB or more
• Memory: 512 MB

Apple

• Operating system: Mac OS X 10.2 Jaguar or higher
• Connection: DSL, cable or satellite
• Browser: Firefox or Safari 1.3.2 or higher
• Screen resolution: 1024x768
• Hard drive: 20 GB or more
• Memory: 128 to 256 MB

Ordering the NFL Sunday Ticket is the only legal way to watch the NFL online. The National Football League has teamed with DirecTv to offer the NFL Sunday Ticket package, which grants you access to all Sunday football games, no matter where you live.http://www.nfl.com/promotions/directv/sundayticket Other features include:

1. Player trackerhttp://www.nfl.com/promotions/directv/sundayticket
2. NFL scoreshttp://www.nfl.com/promotions/directv/sundayticket
3. Team stats and scoring playshttp://www.nfl.com/promotions/directv/sundayticket
4. Player statshttp://www.nfl.com/promotions/directv/sundayticket
5. NFL triviahttp://www.nfl.com/promotions/directv/sundayticket
6. Standingshttp://www.nfl.com/promotions/directv/sundayticket

• Pricing for NFL Sunday Ticket will vary based on current promotions and package deals. For the 2010 season, DirecTV offered the NFL Sunday Ticket with basic satellite TV service for five payments of $59.99. The deal includes access to games online, on your mobile phone and on DirecTV.http://www.directv.com/DTVAPP/content/sports/nfl

If you are unable to spend the money to purchase NFL Sunday Ticket, there are other options. First, you can always get video highlights after the game on numerous websites, including the official NFL site, CBS Sports, ESPN, Yahoo! Sports and many more. If you are determined to actually catch a streaming game, your only other option is to find sites online that are streaming it, most likely illegally. Not only are these sites not authorized to air the games, but often the sites are run by hackers that get into your system once you sign in or begin viewing. Then, they attempt to access your personal information. If you do decide to search for these sites, do so with caution.

During the 2009 season, the NFL began cracking down on illegal viewing sites, so if you do find one airing your favorite team, do not be surprised if it is shut down during the game.