I might agree with you IF you said rugby.... but you didn't. Hmmm... would you rather get hit by a white guy on skates or the average NFL player..... hmmm. A dozen? I'd like to see you name them.
This seems as good a thread as any to bring back an old favorite of mine: Andy Griffith: What is was, was football...(1953) It was back last`October, I believe it was. We was going to hold a tent service off at this college town, and we got there about dinner time on Saturday. Different ones of us thought that we ought to get us a mouthful to eat before we set up the tent. So we got off the truck and followed this little bunch of people through this small little bitty patch of woods there, and we came up on a big sign that says, "Get something to Eat Here." I went up and got me two hot dogs and a big orange drink, and before I could take a mouthful of that food, this whole raft of people come up around me and got me to where I couldn't eat nothing, up like, and I dropped my big orange drink. Well, friends, they commenced to move, and there wasn't so much that I could do but move with them. Well, we commenced to go through all kinds of doors and gates and I don't know what- all, and I looked up over one of 'em and it says, "North Gate." We kept on a-going through there, and pretty soon we come up on a young boy and he says, "Ticket, please." And I says, "Friend, I don't have a ticket; I don't even know where it is that I'm a-going!" Well, he says, "Come on out as quick as you can." And I says, "I'll do 'er; I'll turn right around the first chance I get." Well, we kept on a-moving through there, and pretty soon everybody got where it was that they was a-going, because they parted and I could see pretty good. And what I seen was this whole raft of people a-sittin' on these two banks and a-lookin at one another across this pretty little green cow pasture. Somebody had took and drawed white lines all over it and drove posts in it, and I don't know what all, and I looked down there and I seen five or six convicts a running up and down and a-blowing whistles . And then I looked down there and I seen these pretty girls wearin' these little bitty short dresses and a-dancing around, and so I thought I'd sit down and see what it was that was a-going to happen. About the time I got set down good I looked down there and I seen thirty or forty men come a-runnin' out of one end of a great big outhouse down there and everybody where I was a-settin' got up and hollered! And I asked this fella that was a sittin' beside of me, "Friend, what is it that they're a-hollerin' for? Well, he whopped me on the back and he says, "Buddy, have a drink!" I says, "Well, I believe I will have another big orange. I got it and set back down. When I got there again I seen that the men had got in two little bitty bunches down there real close together, and they voted. They elected one man apiece, and them two men come out in the middle of that cow pasture and shook hands like they hadn't seen one another in a long time. Then a convict came over to where they was a-standin', and he took out a quarter and they commenced to odd man right there! After a while I seen what it was they was odd-manning for. It was that both bunchesfull of them wanted this funny lookin little pumpkin to play with. And I know, friends, that they couldn't eat it because they kicked it the whole evenin' and it never busted. Both bunchesful wanted that thing. One bunch got it and it made the other bunch just as mad as they could be! Friends, I seen that evenin' the awfulest fight that I ever have seen in all my life !! They would run at one -another and kick one- another and throw one another down and stomp on one another and griiind their feet in one another and I don't know what- all and just as fast as one of 'em would get hurt, they'd take him off and run another one on !! Well, they done that as long as I set there, but pretty soon this boy that had said "Ticket, please." He come up to me and said, "Friend, you're gonna have to leave because it is that you don't have a ticket." And I says, "Well, all right." And I got up and left. I don't know friends, to this day, what it was that they was a doin' down there, but I have studied about it. I think it was that it's some kindly of a contest where they see which bunchful of them men can take that pumpkin and run from one end of that cow pasture to the other without gettin' knocked down or steppin' in somethin'.
I like football because it emphasizes the team over the individual superstar. You'll notice they don't have one megastar in the Pats and Cats and they aren't emphasizing one player. Instead it's the defenses of each team that is the focus on this game. Also, football is a virtual chessmatch between the coaches. Every armchair quarterback tries to guess what each team will do. Football may not be a global sport but here in USA it is King (and in Texas it's a religion).
Sorry, But I agree 100% with AntiSonic. Its just SO Boring. Every other play its just a dead play. Nothing happens, maybe a yard gain or two. I personally know like 50 people that watch it just for the commercials and the gatherings, Me included.
Then your answer to the question would be commercials and gatherings. Mine would be the excitement the game brings when viewing or when Im playing. I grew up on the game and played when I was in school. Nothing like a good ol American game of football. TD!
I live in Texas for almost 14 years now and I just have to say to football, is life down here. I like, I think it's fun to watch and going to a UT game is amazing. It's about tradition and all that stuff. As to why rugby gets away with out pads, I think it's because football equipment evovled enough over the years that the equipment just gets tougher and tougher. So now, every one is used to wearing armor that if you don't and some one with armor hits you, you can be seriously hurt. But there's also good points to this, from what I saw on espn2 every now and then, you rarely see kamikazee dives in efforts to tackle a player in rugby (fling your self hard, not try to wrap you arms around the guy and bring him down but use your body as a missle to KNOCK him down), I see it all the time in football.
What really, really got me into sports and made me a hardcore fan of both baseball and football was playing fantasy sports games on the internet. For a long time, basketball was pretty much the only sport I watched. However, once I started playing fantasy baseball and fantasy football, and got to know all of the teams and players, it didn't take long for me to become hooked. Now I'm a huge fan of baseball, football and basketball. I also love tennis, and to a lesser extent, golf. I never could get into hockey, though, which is a bit surprising considering I live in arguably the most hockey crazed province of unarguably the most hockey crazed country in the world. So I guess my point is, once you get to know the players, their personalities, styles, etc.., it's easy to get sucked in and become a fan.
MoBalls, Its great playing football, I play almost every other week barring weather, and Its almost as much fun as soccer and basketball. But Watching is a whole nother story. I cant watch soccer that much either, but playing is LIFE. I guess its like teh world cup,everyone watches those, Even non fans. And the thing about fantasy leagues is soo true, I hated baseball with a passion, and now I, Dare I say, watch astros games almost as religiously as Rockets games.
I love the Red Sox and I like the Rockets but I loooooooooove football. Maybe it's growing up in Alabama. My dad taught me to throw a spiral because he didn't want his daugher to throw like a girl. I used to really only be interested in college ball, but like someone said, playing Fantasy changed that. But nothing makes me happier than football. I'm a total football junkie. I get goosebumps during games. Every once in a while when there's nothing on TV I get out my tape of the '92 national championship game between Bama and Miami. And the superbowl is always bittersweet since it's the end of the season. It's like a funeral (but the fun kind -- like an irish wake or a nola jazz funeral) for fans... I was just at the live Sportscenter broadcast downtown -- Berman, Boomer, Irvin, Young. Fun times!
I played rugby for 4 years in college, and I can barely watch football now, and playing it is completely out of the question. Soooo slow....and you have to wait so long to touch the ball or do anything. But don't get me wrong I'll watch the super bowl.
Professional rugby has got some bad arses in it, namely anybody from the island of Samoa or any of those islands...especially this guy... http://www.jonahlomu.com/index.php People are always getting bloody knocked out in the sport, but overall, its not athleticism that wins rugby, its skill and strategy. It looks like the guys are smaller because the only people they ever really show on TV are the backs making long runs..just cause that kind of thing is purty...but the forwards are large men. It would be interesting to see some football players in the league. They might have to learn how to kick though, and if they were defenders they'd have to also do offense, and vice versa.
Sorry Nomar, but you are wrong on this one. The way players are protected these days, the helmet becomes a weapon, and more players are left with life threatening injuries. If they removed some of the pads, the players would learn how to actually tackle instead of becoming human missles.
A sports-loving girl who plays Fantasy, likes the Rockets, uses proper spelling/grammar, and can have a sensible game of catch in the backyard? You can't be real. If you mentioned that you had a PS2, I'd be inclined to propose right here over the BBS. So... Wanna go out for a bagel?
That's what I was saying but hey, I big hits. Nothing gives you more satisfication seeing some one layed out. Atleast until you find out they broke a collar bone or something, then you start feeling real bad for cheering the play before.
what are you? a girl? if you have to ask what the big deal is, then you just wouldn't 'get it' anyways
I almost hooked up with a chick who used to be the African badminton champion...that's a much faster sport than you would imagine.
