Football vs American Football

[gunslingingbird]

Soccer has had a hard time breaking into U.S. television because of the lack of commercial opportunities. Broadcast networks can't cram their commercials in like they can throughout NFL games (the 2 minute warning, for example, nothing more than GUARANTEEING EYEBALLS GLUED TO THE SCREEN FOR ADS!!)

That wouldn't be a problem if they did what just about every soccer team in the world does: wearing the sponsors' logo right on their jerseys. I've seen many team jerseys where you may not be able to find the name of the team or the player on it, but you sure as hell know who the corporation that pays for the jersey is!

 

[titsrock]

That may be part of it. But I think, mostly, American sports fans demand the best. Our top sports leagues have the best talent the world has to offer. However, this is not true when it comes to football(soccer). MLS is like a retirement league for washed up footballers. It isn't even in the top 5 most talented leagues in the world.

MLS didn't start out to be the best in the world. It started out to put fannies in stadium seats and on couches glued to the tube.

We would need a "Fix MLS" thread to discuss the smartest way to grow MLS into a top league. One way to do it, which our European friends would NOT want to see, is for the American owners of Premiership teams right now (the owners of Man U/Liverpool/Aston Villa/Stan Kroenke's Arsenal Influence) to somehow make MLS teams be "Minor Leagues" for the Premiership clubs. So we see the "stars of tomorrow" at Liverpool/Man U/Arsenal/Aston Villa now while they can't break into the big parent club's starting lineup. That's one idea to raise the quality of MLS. The EPL season doesn't sync up with MLS's season though...so that idea needs major tweaking to even become possible. MLS has to operate during NFL/College football downtime.

What we need to focus on is getting American Joe Six Pack Fan to even care about soccer. We still have a long way to go there.

 

[titsrock]

That wouldn't be a problem if they did what just about every soccer team in the world does: wearing the sponsors' logo right on their jerseys. I've seen many team jerseys where you may not be able to find the name of the team or the player on it, but you sure as hell know who the corporation that pays for the jersey is!

That is a problem for most teams. True. I wish I could buy a soccer jersey without that damn logo. I don't want to pay to advertise "Fly Emirates" for example. The hell with that.

 

[Johan]

The thing I don't like in (US) Football is that each time one team lose the bal to the other, the games stops, everyone gets back to his position and the ones who made a mistake can have another try.
The game's not fluid...
What is fun in games like Soccer or Rugby is that, if the opponement get takes the ball while you were attacking, you're in trouble 'cause the counter-attack can be very dangerous.

 

[HeyFellas]

The thing I don't like in (US) Football is that each time one team lose the bal to the other, the games stops, everyone gets back to his position and the ones who made a mistake can have another try.
The game's not fluid...
What is fun in games like Soccer or Rugby is that, if the opponement get takes the ball while you were attacking, you're in trouble 'cause the counter-attack can be very dangerous.

Actually, this can and does happen, it's called an "interception" and is a very unexpected and exciting play.

I have to disagree with people who say soccer is very taxing, when I was a fan I would play for five or six hours on a roasting summer day, if it was that hard I wouldn't have been able to do this as I'm not in great shape.

However, I do feel a lot of these points are, well, pointless. If you want hard tackles and tough players, watch UFC or something, just because a sport is not athletic does not mean it is a poor sport, things like Darts, Curling, Chess and Snooker can be great entertainment.

I am actually partial to the occasional American LaCrosse game, I don't really understand the game or the rules, but the atmosphere is great and commentary, as usual with U.S sport, is informative and fun. :wave2:

 

[hedonis]

But this thread is for flaming the other, and arguing about which sport is the real football and best spectator sport.

This bodes well, eh?

Threads that announce they are for flaming almost always have a really long life, don't they?

Honestly, why can't people watch the sport they want to. I'm pretty sure both can exist.

H

 

[Plastique]

Honestly, why can't people watch the sport they want to. I'm pretty sure both can exist.

H

I like to watch topless darts, but is looses translatation when it migrated from the radio

 

[om3ga]

Another "Footy v American Football" thread.....:crash:

"Say it ain't so"

Folks - it's simple:

• If you like Football: good for you!
• If you prefer American Football instead: ditto!
• If you like both: fine and dandy!

 

[BlueBalls]

I like to watch topless darts, but is looses translatation when it migrated from the radio

Ahhh yes topless darts, those were the days, when men were men, women were women, and you could watch mostly attractive (some were a big no NO) women playing darts topless.

 

[dick van cock]

Why is European football an Olympic event and American Football isn't...?

Maybe is has something to do with global appeal... :dunno:

 

[gunslingingbird]

Why is European football an Olympic event and American Football isn't...?

Maybe is has something to do with global appeal... :dunno:

Or maybe with the fact that there aren't enough coked out, steroid monstrosities with criminal records in other countries to put together a whole team. :1orglaugh

 

[titsrock]

Or maybe with the fact that there aren't enough coked out, steroid monstrosities with criminal records in other countries to put together a whole team. :1orglaugh

:bowdownOTW Nominee:bowdown:

I think Rugby used to be an Olympic sport. It's not now. American Tackle Football is too violent and taxing to play in a compact timeframe like the Olympics. We would need a month long tourney atleast to settle a championship.

One change I would like the NFL to adopt is the SINGLE TABLE ARRANGEMENT--like WOrld Football uses. The 6 regional conference alignment is stupid. A single table is far more fairer and exciting for a Pro league.

 

[Sherlock_Holmes]

A sport where faking injuries seems to be accepted as the norm isn't something I care to watch. And I don't really care if someone can run up and down a field back and forth, back and forth as they lull me to sleep. The physical specimen to me is the running back who plows through 300 lb men (who bench that with ease) to score a touchdown versus the 150 lb guy running up and down the field until he is barely nudged and falls screaming in agony like he got hit by a car.
That being said it's a debate that will never be won by one side, here in the US soccer will NEVER be big and everywhere else it will be huge, that's how it goes. It's all about what you grew up with.

 

[titsrock]

That being said it's a debate that will never be won by one side, here in the US soccer will NEVER be big and everywhere else it will be huge, that's how it goes. It's all about what you grew up with.

It will be big in the U.S. You might be one of the last to recognize the day when it happens. But it will happen because our country is an immigrant country and they will bring interest AND too many kids grow up playing it continue to have their children play it.

Nobody is arguing that Soccer will takedown the NFL as the U.S.'s #1 sport. That will never happen. Soccer should be the 4th most popular sport in the U.S. certainly ahead of Hockey/Poker/Nascar....

 

[Modulor]

As a european i prefer soccer.It is ridiculous that 6 european teams in the so called "NFL Europe" (5 german teams an 1 team from Amsterdam) are mixed up with a handful of real europeans and the rest of b-or c-class US players.
In germany the Super Bowl is the biggest NFL event on TV and it`s mostly watched by teens and young twens who doesn`t have to work on Monday morning (it`s broadcast live in the middle of the night from sunday to monday)...

 

[Sherlock_Holmes]

It will be big in the U.S. You might be one of the last to recognize the day when it happens. But it will happen because our country is an immigrant country and they will bring interest AND too many kids grow up playing it continue to have their children play it.

Nobody is arguing that Soccer will takedown the NFL as the U.S.'s #1 sport. That will never happen. Soccer should be the 4th most popular sport in the U.S. certainly ahead of Hockey/Poker/Nascar....

They have been saying it will be big in the US for decades, not going to happen in my opinion. I grew up playing soccer 30 years ago as did most kids I know, a fun recreational sports that KIDS in the US play and move onto other sports once they are older.

Pretty much everyone I know is a sports fan, but not one of them appears to be excited about our new MLS team here in Seattle, as a matter of fact it gets lower interest than the WNBA team here. If Soccer ever becomes big in this country I have no problems with that, but the odds are I will win the lottery before that happens.

If Soccer replaces Hockey as the 4th sport that would be a big deal, but you do remember no one caring when Hockey last went on strike don't you? It was talked about all over the sports networks that most people weren't even aware a strike was going on. I cannot stand either unless it's playing them on the 360 which I do.

 

[Moe_Fuzz]

Real football is spelled with three letters: N-F-L.

 

[Synthmesc_Droog]

^ you need a dictionary, mate.

It's easy to fall in love with both games, as I have. Football is highly skilled, as is American Football. The plays in both sports, when pulled off, are often outstanding to watch, send chills down a spine and completely boggle my already tipsy mind. However as I no longer live in the US I find it easier to talk to people about Football and they find it easier to relate than me harping on about some game they never have and most likely never will become immersed in. Football has just got more global appeal than the NFL comp. I do see some people on my commute to the city with NFL style pads and helmets; I think there is a small comp within Sydney. Maybe if it wasn't called American Football people would be more accepting and willing to play it? :dunno: Just a thought.

 

[E-Ann-Hilden]

As a "reformed" American Sports Fan--someone who used to love the NFL and College Football above everything else but now favors SOCCER/WORLD FOOTBALL above NFL, even I won't go far to call the Professional American Football player a terrible athlete. Randy Moss, Reggie Bush, Adrian Peterson, Champ Bailey, Jeremy Shockey...if these athletes picked up a soccer ball at age 10 instead of a Nerf football...America would PWN! World Football. We are a nation blessed with amazing athletes.

I did not play American Football growing up. I wanted to. My parents thought I was too small and would get hurt. I played soccer instead. However I know many, many high school "My problem with American Tackle Football is there is no "free-flowing" play. Everything is scripted and usually only good or bad things happen if some player fucks up and forgets his responsibility on a playheroes" and former Div 1 football players and they all say that true RUGBY is a far more physically taxing sport than American Tackle Football.

. That's kind of a lame concept for a sport, if you think about it. How do you know if a player TRULY is talented if he already knows what he's going to do before he has to do it? Isn't it more accurate test of skill, like soccer, to see who the players are when they have to perform ON THE SPOT, in the middle of the action, rather than one team controlling when a play begins and ends?

There is much, much more running in soccer than American football. That's quite obvious just from watching. You don't have to combine strength and speed in Soccer like you do in American Football. The most running of any organized sport I've watched or played is Indoor Soccer. If you've never played that before, you'll be puking your guts out before the first half ends...

For any fan of the NFL today to bitch and moan about "diving" in Soccer...better shut your yaps with all the instant replays, missed calls, holding, and dropped passes that WRs try to "pretend" they caught...Diving is annoying, for sure, but it's a part of the game and soccer allows for one team to get a little retaliation back to the diver with a nice hard foul too....outlaw justice baby. Soccer has it.

I guess you did not watch the Giants win the Superbowl with a amazing unscripted play or seen Favre or Montana or Flute play.

There is allot of freelancing once things break down, that is what make NFL or college football my favorite...

Again there is no correct answer, you like what you like!

 

[E-Ann-Hilden]

If only Barry Sanders was the norm for NFL runningbacks--you're right--it'd be a hell of a lot more exciting. Sadly, he's a rare Hall of Famer, rather than a typical NFL RB (not Hall of Famer). It is too scripted, Spartan. QBs don't even call plays anymore. They are told the play and a backup play in case the Defense is in the "wrong" defense... C'mon...put the game calling into the QB and let's see who really is an "on field General" and not just a trained monkey:thefinger
NFL football wasn't always like this. Money and Corporate sponsorship and Television dictate a lot of the modern rule changes which are contributing to a dumbing-down, boring product.

Soccer has had a hard time breaking into U.S. television because of the lack of commercial opportunities. Broadcast networks can't cram their commercials in like they can throughout NFL games (the 2 minute warning, for example, nothing more than GUARANTEEING EYEBALLS GLUED TO THE SCREEN FOR ADS!!)

Soccer rewards the informed viewer. The soccer announcers don't bother telling every little thing that happens. They let you soak in the action. How different than, say, when Devin Hester returns a kick and the announcers SCREAMS -- "HE'S AT THE 50! THE 45! THE 40! THE 35! THE 30! THE 25! THE 20! THE 15! THE 10! THE 5! TOUCHDOWN!!!!)

Don't you want to say--NO SHIT I can see him running??? I don't need that screamed out for me! Let it happen on screen...let me soak in the crowd noise too!

Well many NFL fans are very informed viewers and really dont need a play by play. There is so many types of defense's QB's must deal with 4-3, 3-4, blitz, cover 2, etc and top of dealing with a bad WR run route or a missed blitz pickup... There is sometimes up to 5 reads that a QB most sort out in 10-15 seconds with a line of 7 defensive players with 4.6 speed and 280 + pounds trying to take there head off. Manning for example is a field general in my book!

Again I have no problem with Football (soccer), it is a completely different sport and requires vastly diffrent skill sets. Ronaldo cant QB and Manning cant be a striker.... Both are amazing atheletes...