This will be a humorous pool just for fun. Being American and watching the world all in a frenzy about the recent World Cup "football" and here in my little City today beginning its yearly 5 days of events of craziness with the Pro Football Hall of Fame inductions down the road taking place and the entire country flooding into town, i have a silly question. What is more exciting and entertaining? I already know what the winner will be, but something simply silly for once.
Interesting question and a bit of fun - good on you. I assume you mean Soccer in USA parlance? I’m not exactly a fan of East Atlantic football but can’t say I’ve ever watched an American Football game. I do know it’s getting quite popular in the U.K. among certain cognisenti We did start to watch the World Cup with increasing interest as the final section progressed. That can make it quite interesting. As a UK ignoramus about American Football, do you have a similar short knockout competition. My take, more than likely wrong, is that the road to the Super Bowl is a little slower? I did happen to be on holiday where there were lots of Yanks on Super Bowl day and the whole thing was unbelievable!!!
I find American football really tedious. When I've been in the States it's been wall to wall American football on the TV. In the bars four or five matches showing simultaneously. Even from all those games at once there's nothing interesting to watch. European football is okay as long as it's not Spain and they're tippy-tappy football style. I find that really boring to watch as well. I prefer cricket really. But baseball - that's another one that holds no interest at all.
As a Brit who spends quite a bit of time in the States (and has done for many years) I feel qualified to give an opinion on this (not that it's ever stopped me before mind you). FOOTBALL (aka soccer) is better. No argument, no discussion. It just is. American football is stop:start, stop:start, video replay and five minutes of headscratching then a referee's decision... stop:start, commercial break, stop:start... even longer commercial break... now we go back the other way... the defending team attacks and the attacking team defends... stop:start, stop:start... video replay... etc. There's just no ebb and flow to the game. You may see individual skills and moments of brilliance from a couple of players during a game, but most of it is an anonymous melee, most of the time. Games last all bloody afternoon. Even the most die-hard fans are losing the will to live by the end. Helmets, padding etc... ugh... it's more like an episode of "It's a knockout" than a sport (apologies to those who don't know what that is). Scripted set-plays learned from a book... really? Yes we have those in proper football too, but they are 20% of a match, if that. The rest of it (the vast majority) is improvised... created on the fly... creative... there's so much more scope for individual skill, flair and teamwork. It's not just everyone following a pre-learned set of instructions (boring). I will admit even proper football can be a dour affair, (but at least it's only for an hour and a half) and sometimes can be tough to watch (tiki-taka is definitely not for everyone, nor is the Allardyce hoof-it-long and pile-in style). But when it''s good, it's sublime. and even bad games are better to watch than most "good" NFL games. I am totally biased on this topic I will freely admit, but for your delectation I give you "Why Aye 5-0" OK they don't want it embedded...www.youtube.com/watch?v=ofK3WwdUZHo
Cricket is loads better than baseball for many of the same reasons... stop:start... too many pauses with not enough action in between... not enough scope for individual brilliance, etc. I've never once felt genuine tension or excitement during a baseball or NFL game. I've never (or at least very rarely) NOT felt those things watching football/cricket.
@Cuckster i disagree on pretty much every point lol! I guess it’s what you are more familiar with. I would rather watch Olympic curling than a soccer match. The field is so long and wide that it’s 90% running around from one end to the other. Even the announcers go crazy with GOOOOAL!!! Because they are so excited something actually occurred! The flopping for penalties makes it seem like professional wrestling instead of an actual sport, I’m surprised someone doesn’t bring a chair in to hit someone when the ref isn’t looking. American football has some issues, I’m not a fan of all the penalties for roughness, and some of the calls that can change an outcome of the game. The replay does interrupt the game but it has been improved and limits have been put in place. I’m also not a fan of jazz so impromptu running around doesn’t impress me, and prefer well drawn and executed plays. So I guess I vote American football, with all its start and stop, high impact, high excitement, and end of game clock management. There is a small amount of actual playing, but the playing is more bang for the buck in my opinion.
I’ve been told I should be an honary Canadian as I say neither, as I prefer Ice Hockey. As a long time Washington Capitals fan I’m very happy. As my team finally won the Stanley Cup and did it convincenly. That said if forced I’ll take American football over soccer as IMHO even watching professional fishing is more interesting than soccer. Sorry to my non American friends but I have never liked soccer and if you look up the video of Kyle Petty and his comments on the World Cup from about 8 years ago or so I fully agree with them.
I DON'T think it's just "what you're more familiar with" though. As I said I've spent plenty of time in the States over many years. I've definitely watched my share of NFL, and I played varsity football in high school. Interesting you mentioned pitch size too, as they are actually rather similar. As for the announcers (commentators) I don't think you can seriously say they are worse in one sport than the other! Spanish/South American & Italian commentators (because football is really an international sport as opposed to NFL) are famously OTT, but you can't judge the whole sport on just those examples Not sure what you mean by "floppingfor penalties", but you can't seriously suggest real football is more like wrestling than NFL... 90% of an NFL game looks like an orgy! writhing masses of lintertwined imbs and players lying on top of one another practically shagging each other! all the grabbingand holding and feeling each other up they do! Come on thats like 10 wrestling bouts all going on at the same time! You get none of that in football. Professional wrestling also is all scripted and choreographed in advance, much more like NFL than real football... Sorry, there's just no objective merit in that argument whatsoever. Real football wins hands down.
I will agree with you that it does win hands down...in one category...if I really need a nap and am having trouble sleeping, a few minutes of watching the ball get kicked all over an open field does the trick!
You'd be better off editing the action sequences from any NFL gane end-to-end and just watching those. That way you'd still see the game without missing a single thing, and have 5-6 hours left over for a proper nap. It's no coincidence everybody knows the most important part of the superbowl final is the half time show.
What ever we watch as long as we enjoy it and stay safely locked away (especially if our partners aren't there!) Then all is good as far as I'm concerned! Anyway England v India in the test match at the moment, 5 days of ups, downs and all sorts. And a 20/20 game at my local county club as well! Hope you all enjoy your chosen sport as much as I do! Wonder if they'll ever have male chastity marathon at the Olympics!! Instead of every 4 years, they could actually make it last 4 years!! Then unlock and who ever lasts the longest when played with wins!
Thanks for posing the question Lifer_worm. I played American football for a number of years and soccer for 2 Summers. Both are fun and interesting to me. Both have their own chess-like/gamesmanship qualities. But I have to admit, I don’t follow either much anymore. My sports following now is generally via newspapers, on-line sites, and sports talk radio.
I love both! Being german I obviously have a love for soccer (despite this year’s World Cup), but 4 years ago me and a friend travelled to the southern states of America and became fans of the New Orleans Saints, even though they were far from being good at that time. We watched American Football every night on tv during our three week trip and it grew on us. I’ve followed the nfl ever since. Funny enough, my city in Germany has two rivalling American football teams and these amateur games here are so much faster than in the NFL, because the breaks are much shorter. That being said, both Soccer and AF can have exciting games and boring games.
I am guessing the games in your hometown are going faster as there are no commercial breaks. The purpose of the NFL is to make money for the owners and the League.
That’s exactly what I meant, no commercial breaks. When my friends and I went to our first game in our hometown we were surprised that it was over in 90 minutes just like a soccer game.