turnovers killed us

[blackhawk]

Steeler fans don't cry tonight...we'll be back next year.

[ridexbuilder]

Could that be a game of rugby 'cept it's played by girlies with padding and tights? Then call it World Series, even though there's only one place in the World that's really interested/can decipher the actual rules.


[Sour grapes, 'cos Scotland got beat by a tails-up France - good game though. Sometimes the Auld Alliance just doesn't come into it.]

[niallb]

Why do they call it football? Football is where your foot connects with a ball, surely the American version of rugby should be called Handegg like it shows here

[ridexbuilder]

"Soccer" has become a farce.
Was originally a non-contact sport, where the emphasis was on foot (occasionally head) skills, not tugging, barging, swan-diving etc.
It's supposed to be a team game but individuals get 'purchased' for sums of money that would pull small nations out of poverty, or improve health care/research. Then clubs complain that their coffers are diminished and some see bankruptcy. Go figure.
Bring back local players for local teams and the resultant pride from the surrounding community (same could be said of other games).

[blackhawk]

Thanks for the lesson ridex but really...soccer? I have trouble with that sport. I have a hard time trying to stay "excited about 2 teams who take alllll day to score a single goal. At least in hockey and AMERICAN football they can enjoy the little in betweens of crushing / tackling their opponents because they know they own them. Why so much roaring and exciting is in soccer players falling on their knees or running laps when it took them all day to score a goal?" My reaction as a professional soccer athlete would "its about time!!! I practically missed breakfast, lunch and dinner!!"

If you guys want to get excited about something, wait until the steelers come back next year. It's revenge!

[met00]

In the US there are really two major spectator sports (lot's of minor ones, but two major ones).

These are baseball and football. And like the other major participatory "sport" they are as different as that is, that being politics.

Consider the two major parties in the US. The Democrats and the Republicans. (you can substitute Labour/Tory in the UK)

Democrats, want things to be "level" financially (as in a "level playing field") so that it becomes an issue of personal skill and perseverance.
Republicans believe in the survival of the fittest.

When it comes to money, both sports get most of their money from the rights for television for showing the games to the spectators.

Here is where the difference between the two sports shows up. In Baseball each team is responsible for selling their rights. Thus a team in a large market like New York can sell their rights for much more than a team in say, Pittsburg PA. This allows the team owners of the New York team to have more money to spend on players/talent. Which may explain why, at the beginning of Baseball season you can pencil in the New York Yankees to be in the playoffs, and you can cross out the Pittsburg Pirates. Survival of the fitest starts when you get the money... Truly Republican.

In Football the league negotiates the TV rights and then splits that money evenly among the teams. This creates parity within the league and means that at the beginning of the season there is no way to know that two teams from minor markets will be in the final game. Truly Democratic.

The key thing that has always bothered me was that there is a rule in the Football league that states that all teams must have owners. There is one exception to this rule, and that is that one team is in the league that is a non-profit corporation with no single "owner" (grandfathered in). Today it would NOT be possible for some people to create a non-profit corporation, sell stock in it and then create a Football team in the league. That one team, which is the best example of a Democratic team in a Democratic league is... The Green Bay Packers.

Now, when given a choice, spectators have made it clear that they prefer to watch one sport over the other. If you add up all the TV viewers for all the playoff games and the World Series in Baseball (and that is a bunch of best out of seven games) and then match that tally to the number of spectators to the Superbow (not the whole post season, just that one game) Football wins the spectator ward, hands down (and has for many years).

So, while many may refer to Baseball as America's sport, the reality is that Football is by far America's sport in that it is more democratic (and Democratic) and has a far greater impact (more spectators).

[ridexbuilder]

I gave up on watching (UK) football 20yrs ago, much preferring the intensity of rugby. In fact Gaelic comes next in the list. Oz Rules... well that's just mad!

Motorsport, well that's another story. Round & around & around, zzz (NASCAR); Rules, rules, rules and team orders, zzz (F1).
MotoGP any day and I support riders from around the world. :-p

[blackhawk]

Why do they call it football? Football is where your foot connects with a ball, surely the American version of rugby should be called Handegg like it shows here

niallb that picture did make an attempt to humor but I think it truly backfired. Notice on the left how skinny the players legs are. and notice on the right who bulky and brute emit smith's arms are. Who would you want to come at you straight on? Exactly. So perhaps the author of that photo meant fairy-leg ball and American Football.

hahahahaha

[wkdwich]

heheh I am going to drive in here and comment on my behalf of my household

Super bowl? um who played tthis year.. and better yet who won?
big ten east? what sport does that one?

in this house we do auto racing, mostly stock car (thats nascar and its many derivitives) but we have been known to watch an open wheel or even one of the baja road races. If it goes fast turns left we're on it..

Just so happens the seaon started with the pre race stuff last night.

There is oh so much more to it than just going in circles for 3 hours. Yea sometimes even we nod off at home and even ocassionally at the track.. but the sactioning body (that would be nascar) keeps tweaking the rules and last year was the best racing we have seen in 10 years..

dont diss my nascar EJ hahahaaaa

[niallb]

You dont need fat legs to be a sportsman, or are you saying Sumo wrestlers are the epitome of sporting excellence? I probably did drop a bit of a boob in that the footballer in the pic is one of the most over-paid and over-rated of the lot, and he plies his trade in the US these days.
I have to agree with Ridex in that football isnt the game it used to be, I prefer Stuart Pearce-types to some of the fairies playing in the "Premier" League these days. Give me a local bloke who loves the game more than the money any day.