[commanderkai]

Meh, I'll watch the Superbowl and the occasional game if I have to, which is the same policy with every other sport other than soccer, which is so incredibly boring I have to find something else to do.

[bootlegga]

The NFL isn't bad, but I have a hard time supporting a team I will never see play a game live. At least with the NHL and CFL, I can go to a game and see them in action live. Unless I'm willing to shell out a small fortune, I'll never see an NFL game live.

If I do watch a game, it's only one with two teams that like to throw the ball. I have ZERO interest in watching a game that is composed largely of rushing.

[bootlegga]

desertdude desertdude:

No need the whole world does it call it football only you N.muricans call it football and football soccer.

I tried watching a game of lets toss the oval shaped bladder around once. Couldn't take it. Played for, 10 secs then someone fell down then an hour of people roaming around the field, played for 10 secs more, rinse and repeat until utter boredom followed by death

Funny, that's exactly what I think when I watch soccer.

Most of the 'players' stand around unless the ball comes their way and when it does, one of them invariably falls down like he was shot like a sniper. Then after the other guy - who usually did nothing wrong - gets a red/yellow card of some sort, the diver gets up and runs off like nothing happened.

desertdude desertdude:

Nah mate, football is nonstop action, some teams are boring to watch but most professional arn't. "football" as you call it has fast paced action, for minute bursts at a time interupted by long periods of players standing on the field doing nothing but scratching their balls. How long does a goddam game last anyways I think I gave up after an hour or so and still the end was no where in sight. I think it was one of those superbowl thingys and the local tv channel at the time thought it would be a good idea to broadcast it live here. Needless to say it was the first and the last time that ever happened.

I guess your definition of non-stop action and mine is different.

All I ever see (when I have made the mistake of watching a game) is the ball bouncing around in the middle of the field, back and forth from team to team. If I'm lucky, shots on goal happen once every 5 or 10 minutes and a high-scoring affair is 3-2.

From my POV, soccer is about as interesting to watch as paint drying.

[jj2424]

PluggyRug PluggyRug:

In England we called the NFL girls rugby.

Football is missing the "magic sponge". It helps little girly man get up off the pitch after taking a tumble.

[ShepherdsDog]

$1:

Funny, that's exactly what I think when I watch soccer.

Exactly. Until recently, soccer was seen as a game just for children in North America.

[commanderkai]

ShepherdsDog ShepherdsDog:

$1:

Funny, that's exactly what I think when I watch soccer.

Exactly. Until recently, soccer was seen as a game just for children in North America.

When did this change?

[Lemmy]

Football is a metaphor for everything wrong with America: violence punctuated by committee meetings. And it's division of labour to the extreme (you can make a living in the NFL as a 3rd and long blocking back).

The 60:00 game of football (which takes 3 and a half hours to play) has about 4 minutes of action. The rest of it is waiting around for something to happen, which makes it the most boring of all sports, IMO. People criticize baseball for a lack of action, but there's about 100 times the amount of actual on-field action in a baseball game as there is in a football game. Soccer may be boring (well, it is boring) but at least there's constant movement rather than watching 100 guys stand around sucking water.

Then there's the broadcasts. Flash graphics and moronic banter between geeky know-it-alls and concussed, nearly-drooling former players. Games start at 1:00pm, but the flash begins promptly at 7:00am and runs all day long.

Lastly, the rules. There are just too many goddamn rules in NFL football. Illegal procedure? Illegal shift? Are you kidding me? What the hell does it matter if there's an extra body on the line of scrimmage or two bodies moving before the snap? And holding? There's 10 holding infractions on EVERY play, but somehow the ref finds one hold on one team every 10th play or so? Give me a break.

So why's the NFL so popular? Gambling, beer, and brand marketing.

[PluggyRug]

Lemmy Lemmy:

Football is a metaphor for everything wrong with America: violence punctuated by committee meetings. And it's division of labour to the extreme (you can make a living in the NFL as a 3rd and long blocking back).

The 60:00 game of football (which takes 3 and a half hours to play) has about 4 minutes of action. The rest of it is waiting around for something to happen, which makes it the most boring of all sports, IMO. People criticize baseball for a lack of action, but there's about 100 times the amount of actual on-field action in a baseball game as there is in a football game. Soccer may be boring (well, it is boring) but at least there's constant movement rather than watching 100 guys stand around sucking water.

Then there's the broadcasts. Flash graphics and moronic banter between geeky know-it-alls and concussed, nearly-drooling former players. Games start at 1:00pm, but the flash begins promptly at 7:00am and runs all day long.

Lastly, the rules. There are just too many goddamn rules in NFL football. Illegal procedure? Illegal shift? Are you kidding me? What the hell does it matter if there's an extra body on the line of scrimmage or two bodies moving before the snap? And holding? There's 10 holding infractions on EVERY play, but somehow the ref finds one hold on one team every 10th play or so? Give me a break.

So why's the NFL so popular? Gambling, beer, and brand marketing.

True that.

Also a game designed for TV, tailored to fit an exact number of commercial breaks.

It's not a sport but a commercial spectacle.

If you want to see real action watch an international rugby union game.

[Robair]

Who has the time?? I try to watch every Riders game, have to PVR most of the time. Then I watch the highlights reel on CFL.com for any other games I'm interested in... ...the NFL would require me giving my kids up for adoption I think.

[desertdude]

Its funny people hatin' on football aka soccer to you folk, the most popular game in the world which has been played for centuries in various forms and while hardly anyone outside of N.America really gives a rats arse as per the OP about American Football.

And most ironic of all is American football has its roots in rugby which has is roots in football. Just made a good game shitty instead of improving it.

And excellent post lenny

[Lemmy]

desertdude desertdude:

And excellent post lenny

Lenny:



Lemmy:

[DanSC]

commanderkai commanderkai:

ShepherdsDog ShepherdsDog:

$1:

Funny, that's exactly what I think when I watch soccer.

Exactly. Until recently, soccer was seen as a game just for children in North America.

When did this change?

Around the time the US Women won the World Cup.

[Jonny_C]

desertdude desertdude:

rinse and repeat until utter boredom followed by death

All major league team sports can basically be described that way. Repetitive.

ANY major spectator sport is an acquired taste.

Soccer (football to non-Canadians/Americans) to me is deadly boring. Guys kicking a ball around a huge field, and there might not be a single score in an entire game.

Hockey and basketball at least have the virtue of being fast-paced.

Baseball is so slow that you don't have to wait for commercials to get up and make a snack, take a bathroom break, wash the car, etc. Tons of statistics and background, and every once in a while someone hits a ball.

NFL/CFL footall is a game of strategy and it's complicated. More than any other it's a thinking man's sport. The players are like chess pieces on a board. If you don't enjoy the complexity then it's less fun to watch.

The NFL has a LARGE following in Canada, part of the reason why the CFL struggles with its status as a backwater league. The rise of NFL fantasy football leagues has created a huge extra layer of interest in the sport, in Canada as well as the USA.

As far as "overpaid prima donnas" are concerned, all major league sports have them. If that's a reason not to watch a sport, it's a reason not to watch any of them.

[desertdude]

Oops sorry Lemmy and baseball is actually a more fun sport. Although I wished the shots were more calculated as to where the bats man want them to land in the field. ala cricket. Kinda hard to do with a baseball bat.

[Thanos]

ShepherdsDog ShepherdsDog:

$1:

Funny, that's exactly what I think when I watch soccer.

Exactly. Until recently, soccer was seen as a game just for gay children in North America.

Accuratized for accuracy.