I've never got football. Sure, it's an ok game to play if there's nothing else to do, but watching it? It's just guys running back and forth across a field. At least in other sports there's some kind of gimmick involved (shooting at a hoop, goal, etc.). Dare I say it, golf is on a similar excitement level. So why does the Superbowl (and the game in general) draw so much attention every year compared to other sporting events?
The commercials. It's just cool like that haha..... Maybe because it's a hard sport to play and all the guys who are no longer able to play or weren't good enough to play get an extra appreciation out of seeing it. Guess I don't really know, but the Super Bowl kicks ass.
The space is smaller and unless your name is Shaq, it can't be forced through every time. I'm not going to get into a pointless argument about which sport is better, just trying to find out what is so appealing about it.
I appreciate the teamwork. When an NFL team get it together it is a thing of beauty. The linemen blocking in unison, the RB picking up the blitz, the QB with a perfect fake handoff freesing the linebackers, the wr with a perfectly run route, the QB with a perfect throw just over the outstretched arms of the defender, the WR dragging both feet in the corner of the endzone with a defender draped all over him for the game winning score.
Well, it draws so much attention because it's been embraced as part of pop culture. You could ask the same question about why the Oscar's or Grammy's are such a big deal. Award shows seem extremely stupid to me, but they still are given alot of focus just because. Now about the actual sport of football. I guess you like sports involving placing the ball in a hole from your examples. So maybe you'd find air hockey more exciting to watch as well. Why do you find basketball or golf exciting? I like football because of the athleticism, toughness, and strategy involved.
I don't like football, but I can see the appeal. Will the quarterback get crushed? Will the running back break one? Will the reciever catch it? Will he get crushed? Loose ball! Does the coach have a plan? Is the team winning a matchup? Something *could* happen at any point in the game. Mostly, nothing happens. A lot of time expires. Big guys push each other. Bleh. When the game is moving though, it can be entertaining.
"Football is technological. Baseball is pastoral. Football is played in a stadium. Baseball in played in a park. Football is played on an enclosed grid, and every field is the same. Baseball is played on an ever-widening field with boundaries that reach to infinity, and every park has different dimensions. Football is played in a helmet; in baseball they wear a cap. Football has a two minute warning. Baseball has the seventh inning stretch. Football is rigidly timed. Baseball has no time limit--we don't know when it's going to end. Football ties go to sudden death; baseball ties go into extra innings. In football, you have blocking, hitting, clipping, kicking, the blitz, the bomb. In baseball you have the sacrifice. In football the object is to march into enemy territory and cross his goal. In baseball the object is to go home." -George Carlin
My problem is that it is so slow. The average play is three seconds long, then it's followed by thirty seconds of preparing for another three second push. If I knew anything about it, I'd say rugby is a much more interesting sport. Plus they don't need no wussy pads.
I think that's probably true of most sports. Americans complain about how boring soccer is, but watching Real and Arsenal or Brazil and Argentina can (read "should") change even the biggest soccer hater.
Worst argument ever against football. Wussy pads? If there were no pads in football, people would DIE on a regular basis. There is nothing wussy about it. If people like Owens and Ray Lewis and David Boston, etc. started playing rugby, people would die regularly also. They would probably have to start wearing pads. It's a difference in the level of athletes. Think about Owens in a championship rugby match. It would be hilarious. Nobody could catch him, and if they did he would just destroy them. That would be entertaining as all hell. I love both baseball and football. I like baseball better slightly, but football is anything but fat guys push each other. The playbooks and schemes are incredibly complex and often the big play relys on every part going off seamlessly. The right blocks must be made, the right routes run, the right reads made, etc. It's a great sport no doubt about it.
Football is americas pasttime.....ratings are always huge and will continue to be forever.....NBA right now sux..if the NBA was anythign like the NFL it would be in a lot better position than it is
I was half joking. I don't know much about the level of rugby players' athleticism, but I'd imagine comparing them to football players isn't like 10-year-olds vs. varsity. I mean, the average rugby player is a gigantic specimen. Maybe someone who follows rugby can explain whey they can get away without pads?
You don't have time for a once a year, one game winner take all exhibition of the best of the best of the roughest sport on Earth?? Football got me hooked with the strategic aspects of it and the plays they run are much more easilly identified than basketball, which is largely improvised. It's just a great show! Commercials, Britney Spears, celebrities, HOUSTON, etc I wish the NBA finals could get half the hype. Maybe a Yao/Labron finals showdown in 2008 would get the ratings up.
What draws people to watch or play any sport is the story. Not the sport itself. The brilliance of sport is that the story plays out right in front of you. You don't know what is going to happen. And yet you are attahed to one team because that is the character you have been following. That is the character you have grown up with. You've been reading about. In football the climax of the story is when you have a physical collision between two teams. That's why people love the game. The love how the story ends so dramatcally. In such a raw powerful way. Man on Man. In this particular superbowl their is not a story yet. People have no characters to latch onto. That's why it will seem boring. The game itself may draw out some characters. That is the only hope. But right now their is no Goliath. There is no David. The story just did not play out that well for anyone but New england and Carolina fans. Who right now are deeply interested in the outcome. They have an emotional stake in their character. You'll notce that the sports that market their product generate more interest. Whi is that. Because they have deloped a sotry. A reason for everyone to be interested. It goes to show the power of the media in just about anything. It's why media day is so important.
I think media has something to do with it as well. I mean, look through a paper and each and every section mentions something about the "Big Game." Commercials on TV, newscasts, television sitcoms, sales in stores, etc. I'm surprised Halmark hasn't made a card for this "holiday."
If you watch Seabiscuit you'll understand even further. The hype at that time was behind horse racing, boxing, and football. So those three sports were well loved. Everyone got behind Seabiscuit because they could relate to his story. They embraced his character. People want a great story. That's where the love of the game comes from.
