Puffball mushrooms follow the same life cycle but look different than the typical mushroom with which you might be familiar. They are a mushroom of pastures, meadows and other grasslands and are globular or dome-shaped, lacking typical narrow stems and cap of other common fungi. They are often found in early fall, which corresponds with the opening of football and grouse seasons. Most puffball species are 3-8 inches in diameter, composed of compact white flesh with varying textures. The giant puffball may grow to 15 inches in diameter and weigh more than four pounds.
Puffballs are good to eat as long as the flesh is white, dry and compact.
As this fungi matures, it turns brown and spores mature within a sac, compared to other typical mushrooms where spores form within gills on the underside of the cap. Maybe it's not the association with football, but some other innate characteristic we are born with. Whatever the case, little harm is likely done by aiding a puffball in passing on its heritage. Photo by Harold Umber Shown below is what remains of a once-white puffball mushroom. The entire mushroom turns a brownish color as the spores mature.