Ok then... sell it to me

Someone sell football (US) to me.

Its on tonight on our TVs at about 1:30am - someone give me a good reason to stay up and watch it?
 
I don't know if I could sell you on football or incite you to want to watch it more than you could me with a sport that I could care less about-say tennis.

I'd say just watch it and give it a shot and make your decision whether you like it or not. I personally love football but I've been watching it for 20 something years and it's pretty much tradition by now.

I'm still waiting for Superbowl Sunday to become a national calendar holiday.
 
I'll give it a go - but I want to hear what draws people to this sport?

From an outsider it looks very stop-start and doesnt flow well, seems like 100 mini games rather than 1 big one?
 
I started watching it because my grandfather did and so when I was 7, 8, and 9 we'd always root for the Cowboys (20ish so years ago). I didn't understand it back then but I really enjoyed the time spent with him curled up in front of the fire watching football; we never missed a game together. Anyway, enough down memory lane...

I never really stopped watching it then and didn't understand the complexity behind the scenes until I played in school and started really paying attention to it. There is a lot of start and stop and at times can seem to drag if there aren't any big plays. But there's nothing cooler than rooting for your team and it's the final minutes of the game and it's neck to neck on the score and could go anyway at anytime...could be a fumble, could go for a field goal, could break through the defense and sac the quarter back, could go into overtime.

Then again, there are some games you could care less about...like I'm thinking a Cleveland vs Cincinnati game would be horrid.

But yeah, you might have a couple 4, 5, and 10 yard runs and then suddenly you get a 60 yard throw to the wide receiver and then you jump up, spill your beer, and shove into your friend's face sitting next to you who is going for the other team...good stuff.
 
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Football isn't something that you can "sell" to someone. You either like to watch it or you don't.

What draws most american males to it is a combination of things. Mostly its the raw competition of the sport. One team of 11 guys trying to grind and move the ball 60-80 yards (on average) down the field to score, while 11 more guys do whatever they can (within the rules most of the time) to stop that from happening. Some of it is bred in, our fathers loved it, so do we.

There are subtleties to the sport that most casual fans don't see. The fullback coming out of the backfield to seal off the middle linebacker so the tailback can bust out a 30 yard run, the 2nd year cornerback who is matched up against the star wide reciever who covers him like white on rice, rendering him useless, the tight end who goes up for a ball in the middle of the field only to get hammered, and then still hang on to the ball.

Football is an american sport, usually bashed by soccer and rugby fans... Rightfully so, because most ignorant football fans bash rugby and soccer. Football didn't take off in europe like the people of the world league thought, so they sold it to the NFL, whose deep pockets could keep it going even if the attendance didn't. NFL Europe is still going however, so it may be taking a little bit of a hold.

We can't sell you on football. If you like it, you like it. If you don't, you don't. I do however recommend you give it a try.

Evo --- Cleveland and Cincinnati is almost as big of a rivalry as Cleveland - Pittsburgh, they step up for those games, you'd be surprised.
 
aevans410 said:
Evo --- Cleveland and Cincinnati is almost as big of a rivalry as Cleveland - Pittsburgh, they step up for those games, you'd be surprised.

Great post, bro! Def. right on bred in. Hmmm...didn't realize the rivalry aspect; I might have to give that game a watch afterall.

Evo is a Tampa Bay and New England fan. ha...gotta' love referring to yerself in 3rd person.
 
I like new england, always have, don't know why...

Im a Browns fan, will be till the day I die, even tho we suck most years.
 
aevans410 said:
I like new england, always have, don't know why...

Im a Browns fan, will be till the day I die, even tho we suck most years.

Talking of Cleveland browns, as an Aston Villa supporter - let me just say that Randy Lerner is a god for what he is doing to my soccer side :)
 
Oh and on the game I saw - I enjoyed it when it was going on, but far too long spent setting up plays - is it always like that or did I see a practice game or something?

Seemed like they were taking 15-20 seconds to setup 3 seconds of play most of the time, and why were there flags being thrown on the field all the time? Are they to mark fouls or something? (Used to the whistle aspect!)
 
Yup that's usually how it is chris.. I enjoy it also, but I used to play.

Oh and I'ma Cinci and Miami fan fellas :p
 
I enjoy watching NFL, as a rugby fan and but part player I appreciate the physical factor pads or no pads.

I just don't have time to watch a full game. Ice Hockey is similar, I enjoy watching that for similar reasons but again just don't have enough time.

There's pros and cons with American sports compared to most 'other' sports. For instance, I have never got my head around 7 game series in cup competition, although I guess they make a hell of a lot more money that way. On the flipside, the franchise system and college/draft systems in America are far superior to the European based system of 'he has most money normally wins'. It would be a bit like Wayne Rooney moving not to United as he did but to some team like Sunderland or something. I like that attempt at giving the guys who really sucked hard one year a stab at getting something good for their future.

And it tends to be less stupid sums of money involved in wages in America. Seriously, £100,000 per week some footballers are on here, and above. Thats before endorsements etc. etc.

So, yeah, salary caps are also very good things. They are implemented in rugby but I'd like to see them implemented in football, particularly the top European leagues where the salaries are so ridiculously high. But then I suppose its the British version of the 'American Dream'. Poor young kid from some god awful post-industrial dump ends up earning £130k per week.
 
Fly said:
I enjoy watching NFL, as a rugby fan and but part player I appreciate the physical factor pads or no pads.

I just don't have time to watch a full game. Ice Hockey is similar, I enjoy watching that for similar reasons but again just don't have enough time.

There's pros and cons with American sports compared to most 'other' sports. For instance, I have never got my head around 7 game series in cup competition, although I guess they make a hell of a lot more money that way. On the flipside, the franchise system and college/draft systems in America are far superior to the European based system of 'he has most money normally wins'. It would be a bit like Wayne Rooney moving not to United as he did but to some team like Sunderland or something. I like that attempt at giving the guys who really sucked hard one year a stab at getting something good for their future.

And it tends to be less stupid sums of money involved in wages in America. Seriously, £100,000 per week some footballers are on here, and above. Thats before endorsements etc. etc.

So, yeah, salary caps are also very good things. They are implemented in rugby but I'd like to see them implemented in football, particularly the top European leagues where the salaries are so ridiculously high. But then I suppose its the British version of the 'American Dream'. Poor young kid from some god awful post-industrial dump ends up earning £130k per week.

Have you found a team local to you yet?
 
Chris

The game you saw was only a pre-season game. They are not nearly as intense as regular season games because about 60% of the game is made up of the more unexperienced players to give them some experience before the season starts.
 
vandy said:
The game you saw was only a pre-season game. They are not nearly as intense as regular season games because about 60% of the game is made up of the more unexperienced players to give them some experience before the season starts.
this is so true, if you chose to watch some regular season games, monday night football is always good, the games seem to be 10 times more intense when it is monday night. another good rivalry is the seattle seahawks and oakland raiders, they used to be in the same league and division until the NFL expanded and put a team back in Houston, but this season they have a game during the pre-season, and a mondy night football game, should be intense

i am a die hard seahawks fan, and like most, i am still somewhat bitter about the super bowl, but that will go away after the season starts and the seahawks are back in the superbowl to prove who the real champions are
 
aevans410 said:
Vee, whats the latest word on Rothlesberger? Anything different than what we hear over here?


i live in philadelphia, so i've heard what u have.... im more of an eagles fan.. but rothie will be playing
 
The Ravens are looking sharp this year, but the AFC North is so tough! (except for the browns lol!).

You all think McNair still has something left in the tank?
 
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