American Sports

[Cactus Drags]

Using the World Cup, an event which pretty much everyone agreed was atrocious, isn't really going to help you.

[Liam]

Anybody who criticizes the game of football (American) because of the use of pads and the breaks, you have no right to talk until you actually play the sport and practice in it and actually get a feeling as to why there's so many breaks. Let's face it, there's a physical demand in every sport, but the breaks used in american football after every play have to do with the fact that it is one of the most physically demanding sports out there and it uses a lot of strategy that you wouldn't be able to provide without the break. I'm a diehard football fan and played it for four years in high school and to a point, it is an aquired taste, but with some effort, you could probably get into it a lot.

I don't overly care about the breaks and why they are there, or the padding, I just think it is a joke to suggest that the game is more physically demanding than Rugby, just via looking at what each bloke has to do throughout the course of a game. I like both, but I still think it is a joke to think American Football is "tougher" than Rugby.

Using the World Cup, an event which pretty much everyone agreed was atrocious, isn't really going to help you.

But the World Cup should be the epitomy of skill, the very best football in the world, and isntead it was a fucking dive-fest, with many games ruined by shite refereeing and even shiter playacting and pussying around. And the constant harrassing of referees, which is happening increasingly often in the home game, is simply unacceptable. you don't get away with that for very long in any other sport.

The World Cup failed not because the sport is going to shit, but because FIFA seem to want to promote equality, which is a nice idea in theory. However, in practice it means you get shit referees as they choose referees from around the world to have a good selection of countries represented rather than the actual best referees. Thus, the referees suck, and the decisions suck.

[Cactus Drags]

But the diving and all is seen throughout all the major competitions, not just the World Cup. I can't think of another sport where such behaviour is generally accepted.

[Liam]

It has been discussed before, but that is because there are no other sports were you can realistically gain an advantage by diving.

[jase12881]

I won't argue about the rugby vs american football thing because frankly, i don't care if rugby players are tougher or (some might argue) dumber or whatever.

I also won't argue American football vs soccer based on excitement because being that I could never get into soccer, I would be quite biased.

But I will say that those breaks that everyone complains about in American football serve multiple purposes. Firstly, it allows the players to be faster after the ball is snapped because they aren't tired from running back and forth all day. Secondly, and more importantly, it allows for more precise plays as every play comes back to a standstill position. Plays are run with a good amount of precision and every player has a role on the field in just about every play (which isn't always true of other sports). There tends to be more players on the field at a time than other American sports as well so this helps sort them out some. In addition, possibly one of the most important reasons for the stoppages in play is positional strategy. It allows the game to be more mental...almost like a chess match.

In my opinion, the most exciting thing about American football (and I'm a HUGE NFL fan. In spite of the fact that the team I root for, the Lions, are perennial bottom dwellers.) is that there's a feeling that anything can happen on any play. Momentum plays a huge factor in the game (it seems to me like more so than other American sports) and the entire game can shift on a single play. In addition with only 16 games in the NFL season, each play in each game is important. The players go out there and play their hearts out each and every game. I feel like in some of the sports with longer seasons the players phone it in on occasion when they don't feel up to playing.

But the fact is, everyone has different taste in most things and sports are no different. I recommend you learn about a sport, and watch it a bit...preferrably with someone who knows about it and can explain some of the intricacies before deciding which to choose, and feel free to watch them all. Just because you love hockey doesn't mean you can't also love football or baseball or whatever.

I for one, love hockey and football...and like baseball and basketball.

[Lowerdeck]

Anyways, why isn't lacrosse televised more? I mean, that is an actual American sport. And it's clearly the best sport to come out of America.

Lacrosse is only a niche sport in America really. And by niche, I mean it's only found from Boston to DC corridor and some in upstate New York. From what I understand, it also takes a lot of money to play it... hence only being found in middle and upper class parts of the Northeast.

Plus, isn't the game either French or Canadian?

[Guest Bosstown Boy]

I'd say go with the NFL. It's funner for people that don't like baseball due to it's faster pace and less stat-based manner.

[gunnar hendershow]

Anyways, why isn't lacrosse televised more? I mean, that is an actual American sport. And it's clearly the best sport to come out of America.

Lacrosse is only a niche sport in America really. And by niche, I mean it's only found from Boston to DC corridor and some in upstate New York. From what I understand, it also takes a lot of money to play it... hence only being found in middle and upper class parts of the Northeast.

Plus, isn't the game either French or Canadian?

It's the national sport of Canada. Surprisingly.

Lacrosse is growing on a rapid pace, it's the most popular sport at University of Virginia now, and is gaining popularity all over the country. But for years it was just a sport played in Maryland, New Jersey, and New York. Hence why many of the major programs with history (Hopkins, Maryland, Syracuse, Cornell, Rutgers, Princeton) are in this region. It used to be a silver spoon sport, but recently the sport has left the upper suburbs and come to be a popular sport in more lower class suburbs. It's becoming cheaper and cheaper to play.

The game is actually Native American.

[crazedfan]

NCAA Lacrosse is absolutely huge back East. They drew something like 40,000+ for the finals, and get very good attendances for all their games really. The professional league, I think it's just MLL (Major League Lacrosse), nobody really gives a damn about.

[Guest muddatrucker]

Anyone who brings up the "rugby with pads" argument is fucking retarded and automatically disqualified from further discussion, because you clearly have no idea what you're talking about. Scrums and scrimmages are entirely different, Rugby is nowhere near as fast as American Football, thus there's less impact in the collisions (on average), and that's why they where the pads. And Rugby players ahve started wearing those beehive honeycomb hat things and flak jackets, so the padding thing is bollocks anyway. And why are their shorts and shrits getting smaller and tighter?

Only the recievers, the quarterback and the running backs really get targetted in NFL for big hits, and in 60 minutes a lot of them won't be on the pitch for even half that time.

And I still love Dragsys "more happens in a quarter of NFL than in a football match" comment.

Yeah, I love watching a series of small runs for short yardage and then maybe, just maybe a decent pass in there, that's if the chance isn't thrown away.

I know there are games different to that, but there are games different to the boring games of football you single out.

You don't think two 300 pound linemen clashing every play is a big hit? EVERYONE gets hit hard, every game. Sure, some of it isn't wild collisions like an open-field hit, but it's still tough.

Fuck all happens in football. Honestly. And I enjoy watching football (international more so than league). Diving has completely ruined the itnegrity of the sport though, it's laughable now. What's ridiculous is the constant time wasting - taking the ball into the corner flag, taking ages to set up kicks and whatnot - there's no sort of pride in your own ability to beat the other team. AF, the closest thing is taking a knee, but that's usually when the scoreline is unsurmountable, it's more of a sign of respect than anything, like "yeah, we beat you, we aren't going to humiliate you further."

I guess it's personal preference, but there's far greater strategy and that involved in AF, which is why I prefer it. In football, if you're inferior, you just get eleven men behind the ball, stop any attack and hoof the ball as far as you can. If you're superior you pelt the net till it goes in.

And don't use the generalisation counter-argument. We're all going to be generalising, because it'd take too long to describe every fucking game we've ever seen.

By the way, have any Rugby/Football players ever broken a leg in-game, had it taped up - no painkillers, and played on and had a storming game? Jack youngblood did for the Rams in a Superbowl. I know there was that 'kepeer who broke his neck.

[gunnar hendershow]

NCAA Lacrosse is absolutely huge back East. They drew something like 40,000+ for the finals, and get very good attendances for all their games really. The professional league, I think it's just MLL (Major League Lacrosse), nobody really gives a damn about.

There were 55,000 or something in Lincoln Financial Field this year when I went. It comes back to Baltimore next year, which I'm definitely going to. It's growing by a couple thousand attendees each year, it's amazing. A few years ago attendance never got over 10,000.