All things sporting

Well congrats Eldo, congrats Ravens. A stellar near comeback by the Niners, awesome play by Flacco. 2 bogus no calls at the end there, PI on Crabtree on second down (or was it third?) and holding on 4th. I'm not bitter or anything, I mean who'd be bitter? Ravens really deserved the win after that first half though

Jim Harbaugh is an egotistical douche though. Next Bill Belichick anyone?

Yeah, 9ers were on fire in the third quarter. You guys have a ton of talent and I'm sure you'll continue to be a contender for years to come. Ravens on the other hand I'm not so sure. While I'm happy that we won, it feels a bit like the Giants last year in that I'm not sure we were really the best team in the league so much as we just got good at the right time.

Also, I feel bad for Alex Smith.

So do I Eldo, if there's one famous person I look up to more than anyone else, its Alex Smith. The way he handled himself throughout his career with the Niners, especially after his most recent demotion, has been so classy. I had really wanted his tenure with the Niners to (most likely) end with a ring after all the crap Niners fans, sports analysts (*cough *cough Stephen A. Smith *cough), Mike Nolan, Mike Singletary, and Jim Harbaugh, have put him through.

wow I just read about this game! the power went I see also, i didn't know the two trainers were brothers, that's kind a cool

No enough bile and hatred or me- barely seems like sport at all

Hell Norc I cant even work out which team these American hobbits support- they seem to pick a different one depending who is playing, instead of the proper sporting attitude of 'I'd rather chew my own limbs off than cheer for another team."
Quite frankly the lack of hatred and violence quite clearly proves Americans just don't take their sport seriously.

As the famous football (real version) quote goes- "Football is not life and death. Its much more important than that!"

well, don't talk to me about choosing team, i am as woobly and uncertain as a mosqitou. if that is spelled correctly.

Yup that's definitely how you spell wobbly.

mosqituou!

Yes its mis-spelt. mosquito

mosquito. i got it. you know when you write something so badly spelled even autocorrect is like "I've got nothing, Man" and you're just like "what the hell, jesus take the wheel!"

Sadly I know that feeling all too well!

I've developed the hypothesis that Europeans, especially Brits, react so vehemently to US football culture because they don't like being reminded that it's possible to watch and enjoy professional sports without acting like a fucking five year old. It's like you guys are an entire Continent of Philadelphia fans.

THAT'S NOT TRUE!!! *wails and throws toy car at you then runs to mom to tell what you did*

Well I think even the American more laid back emotions are still nonsense. Why should I give a fig about a bunch of guys paid ridiculous amounts to chase a ball around? They're not even local publicly supported clubs, they're imports done by private associations. People jump up and down like it matters who wins.

Now if people over here went total ape-shit berserk just for the fun of it instead of getting depressed if their team loses, I'd understand. There's something called the Society of Creative Anachronisms here, which does tongue in cheek recreations of the middle ages. Each year in the Northeast two huge regions get together and have a fight with padded weapons. Big picnics, taunting insults....

...the loser gets Pittsburg.

Then next year whoever has Pittsburg declares war on the other side in hopes of getting rid of Pittsburg.

That's the proper attitude to have towards sports.

Now Eldo its not our fault.

For all we know american football might even be a good game- its impossible to tell as you seemed to have designed it around commmercial breaks so it never gets going long enough to find out before it stops again.
And its all too, well, frankly, American- cheerleaders, bands, halftime shows- hell at times it seems more people watch the superbowl for the halftime show than the game.
Thats not sport- you are not supposed to go to a match to enjoy yourself. You go there to get drunk and scream blue murder at everyone- opposition fans, both teams, the ref and all the linesmen. To let the crabbit out.

American football is like a game for children in comparison, a bit silly and over the top and stop start.
But then you are the nation who elevated gentle girls game rounders into the national sport of baseball- hard not to laugh everytime I see grown men playing it an treating it like a real sport.

Halfwise- see the bit above about releasing crabbit- very important function sport serves- a well as teaching how to survive a riot.

Baseball isn't the national sport, and the stop-start nature of football predates TV broadcasts. But I know you don't really care about any of that.

You're right that a lot of people watch the Super Bowl for something other than the game, because it's basically a national holiday at this point, but that's unique to the SB. There's not so much extra stuff during the rest of the season (not that I mind the extra stuff personally).

the stop-start nature of football predates TV broadcasts- Eldo

So its just a lazy game then? Or is it the famous American attention span coming into play?

Baseball isn't the national sport

How come its got a World Series then? (That the rest of the word dont play in )

And its still funny seeing a game played by girls in the playground treated as a real sport.

Oh it's fine to use sports to get the crabbit out, Petty, so long as you realize that's all you're doing. But people actually have mood swings depending on who wins. That's when it gets silly.

Women's roller derby. They make up funny names for themselves and put on costumes and everyone comes in and screams and nobody much cares who wins (the other teams not playing often dress up as cheerleaders for a random team). The fans get to shout and watch young women crash into each other. They all go out drinking together afterwards. That's what a sport should be.

And at which point does the fighting start?

Pettytyrant101 wrote:So its just a lazy game then? Or is it the famous American attention span coming into play?

It was part of a number of rules changes in the late 1800s that was supposed to increase scoring and reform the game. It didn't entirely work out as planned but continued tinkering with the rules over the next several decades did result in making American football a fairly high-scoring game (some of the time) and also distanced the sport from its rugby origins.

How come its got a World Series then? (That the rest of the word dont play in )

And its still funny seeing a game played by girls in the playground treated as a real sport.

The term "World Series" -- just like the term "world championship" when applied to the Super Bowl -- started out as basically a marketing term for a competition between two rival leagues that had been completely separate up until that point. The modern versions of both MLB and the NFL started when two separate leagues came together to form a single championship. In the case of baseball they tried a few different names before deciding that World Series was the one they liked best.

And there are plenty of Americans who share your feelings about the "real sport" status of baseball.

pettytyrant wrote: At which point does the fighting start?

The whole game is a fight! Body count right and left. Better yet, it's a girl fight. All the men watching wouldn't dare distract themselves by taking a swing at their neighbor.

The term "World Series" -- just like the term "world championship" when applied to the Super Bowl -- started out as basically a marketing term- Eldo

I think this sort of thing, psychologically, doesnt do the US any favours with the rest of the world.
It might be a marketing wheeze but it looks like arogance- only Amercians play these games but as America is the most important country in the world we will call them world events.

there are plenty of Americans who share your feelings about the "real sport" status of baseball.- Eldo

Do girls play rounders in the US? I assume not or it would be even harder to watch the professional version with a straight face.

Football in Scotland is basically what we do instead of clan warfare these days.
You put on your colours, hurl abuse at anyone in a different colour, and go along with an attitude simialr to going to war, in the hope your side annihalates the opposition in as humilating and convincing a manner as possible.
As a fan your job is push your team forward with support and silence and taunt the opposition fans, ideally into silence. Its this last bit occasionaly turns into physical intimidation and taunting- and thats where you get the outbreaks of violence that occasionally occur.

When I see a baseball match what I am actually seeing in my head is closer to this-



A bunch of lassies trying to play a game, bless 'em.