All things sporting [2]

Well every time I watch American football the commentators are always going on about stealing yardage- and if thats not just  a game metaphor for nicking land I dont know what is.  

(Soccer for example is very British- its about finding a way to penetrate behind the enemy lines to implement a surgical strike to hurt them before quickly withdrawing to your own land again.)

Well that's because the game moves in such short increments. Each down is only a few seconds long and you either move forwards or backwards on it. Soccer (or basketball, or hockey, or...) are much more fluid and fast-paced so there isn't time to discuss all the minute changes in direction that the ball makes. Also, because there is no scrum/scrimmage, you see more one on one plays and the ball can be passed backwards (which in football only happens in crazy situations where players lateral the ball around as time runs out).

Each down is only a few seconds long and you either move forwards or backwards on it.- Eldo

And you know how far because they have painted great big lines on the pitch so you can see exactly how much land you've stolen or lost in the last play. You prove my point!   

Eldo, which team had the worst odds (that is to say, which team gives the most money) before the match began? Me and a friend here placed a bet, but we can't remember on what team

We figured it out, we placed our bet on the Seahawks

Well that was the most lopsided Super Bowl I've ever seen. Really, the last time there was a Super Bowl that one-sided I was still several months away from being born.

Kinda glad I missed the game.

I don't think a Super Bowl loss necessarily invalidates Manning from consideration as one of the all-time great QBs, but this win (and the preceding season) should secure the Seahawks for consideration as one of the greatest modern defenses, if not ranking among the greatest of all time.

bungobaggins wrote:Kinda glad I missed the game.

Well it was pretty entertaining to watch. And I enjoyed many of the commercials and liked the halftime show.

The thing about the Halftime show is the sheer scale of the thing. For me it overwhelms the actual game.
Halftime should just be for buying a pie and a bovril and having a piss.   

Really? The halftime show is only like 10-15 minutes long and even if you want to watch it, there's commercials and commentary during halftime that you can skip to head to the bathroom. But as a football fan I've always found the game to be the main attraction; maybe it's just cause I'm used to big shows at the Super Bowl.

Out of curiosity, what did you think of the actual game, Petty? I was really hoping for a great showdown between "an unstoppable force and an immovable object", but the Broncos were just misfiring on almost every level. The defense managed to make a couple of stands in the red zone early on but by the end they were flubbing tackles and failing just as hard as Denver's offense, which couldn't hold onto the ball long enough to put together any meaningful drives.

Well my brother is gutted, he called it a 'collapse;.
The Broncos started ok, oddly it was all a bit like watching Scotland yesterday play Ireland in the Rugby, a hopeful start, some initial good defence and then total collapse and no bite at all in attack.
Seemed much the same watching the Superbowl game.

I didnt mean the length of the halftime show- I mean the literal scale of the thing. The half-time show seems to get more pumped and more razzmatazz than the game got. Maybe it doesnt seem that way so much if the game is very exciting an closely fought.

Pettytyrant101 wrote:Does anyone watch or care about the actual game bit?- or is that just there to give people time to talk about the ads?

That game wasn't worth much attention. The worst in a long time.

I have to say I have never enjoyed an entire US Football game. I have enjoyed and appreciated parts and bits of games, but never the whole thing start to finish.

In real football among my favourite games are some with no goals at all, nil-nil draws.
But they were nail biting, edge of your seat affairs with brilliant attacking football only thwarted by equally brilliant defensive football.
US football is to bity, to start stop for me, it breaks the flow, just when I am getting into the match and getting involved they stop the bloody thing.   

Yeah, too many penalties and too much regulation.

 

Sports is a lot like religion. You're used to what you grow up with. You most likely root for the team you grew up watching, unless you convert. A European not understanding why American football has so many rules and regulations is like an evangelical Christian not understanding why a Jew won't eat pork. There really is no logical answer, it's just the way it is.

Georgia personal injury lawyer's local ad from the Super Bowl.

Eldorion wrote:Georgia personal injury lawyer's local ad from the Super Bowl.

  

All I could think of was Saul Goodman.

If you were watching the advertisement Eldo, you would apparently have heard a song by a fjordlandian artist. Chevrolet ad apparently.

http://www.nrk.no/kultur/ane-brun-lat-brukt-under-super-bowl-1.11515387

This powerful ad didn't make it to the Super Bowl.

that says a lot Bungo, says a lot !  

That was very well done and powerful. It's hard for me to comment objectively on Washington since I'm a Cowboys fan, but I do think they should change the name.

bungobaggins wrote: 

Sports is a lot like religion. You're used to what you grow up with. You most likely root for the team you grew up watching, unless you convert. A European not understanding why American football has so many rules and regulations is like an evangelical Christian not understanding why a Jew won't eat pork. There really is no logical answer, it's just the way it is.

I don't go in for all that religious mumbo jumbo. We Ozhobbits invented Australian Rules because all those Gods you superstitionists believe in are false Gods. We decided to make a game that was very exciting, very realistic, and very manly - that's hu-manly, of course.