wonderbread Posted April 30, 2009 Report Share Posted April 30, 2009 Hockey, Baseball, and Basketball, and Soccer all have teams which play for their countries. These players put their $$ behind their love for the country and "play the game" If Football was more of international sport would they play for a True world championship and/or would the athletes skoff at the idea? sorry for all the gramatical errors. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FearTheReaper Posted May 1, 2009 Report Share Posted May 1, 2009 I cant imagine the likes of TO and Micheal Vick playing for free. Just for the love of the game. And anyway,there would only be one team. The USA. about 80 percent of the players in the NFL are american. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
X. Benedict Posted May 1, 2009 Report Share Posted May 1, 2009 Hockey, Baseball, and Basketball, and Soccer all have teams which play for their countries. These players put their $$ behind their love for the country and "play the game" If Football was more of international sport would they play for a True world championship and/or would the athletes skoff at the idea? sorry for all the gramatical errors. The world has rugby. And it's a much better football game than gridiron. The US Rugby team does play for the love of the game. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wonderbread Posted May 1, 2009 Author Report Share Posted May 1, 2009 The world has rugby. And it's a much better football game than gridiron. The US Rugby team does play for the love of the game. Cheers to that mate! :beer: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimiVbaby Posted May 1, 2009 Report Share Posted May 1, 2009 The world has rugby. And it's a much better football game than gridiron. The US Rugby team does play for the love of the game. Sometimes I really wonder how the NFL is so big.. It's gotta be ease of betting and fantasy sports. The game all right I guess, but it can be ploddingly so at times and more annoying to watch than Home Alone. I've grown up watching hockey, play in beer leagues, and even play NHL '09 when I'm bored of talking about hockey so I may be biased. But the game is so much more fluid and takes so much more skill than two fat guys running into each other while the skinny guy runs away. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carpandean Posted May 1, 2009 Report Share Posted May 1, 2009 Sometimes I really wonder how the NFL is so big.. It's gotta be ease of betting and fantasy sports. The game all right I guess, but it can be ploddingly so at times and more annoying to watch than Home Alone. I've grown up watching hockey, play in beer leagues, and even play NHL '09 when I'm bored of talking about hockey so I may be biased. But the game is so much more fluid and takes so much more skill than two fat guys running into each other while the skinny guy runs away. The real question is how did baseball become America's pastime? Talk about a slow, boring game to watch. Note: Before anyone gets their panties in a bunch, I played varsity baseball in high school. It's OK to play, but it's still boring to watch. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mercury Posted May 1, 2009 Report Share Posted May 1, 2009 The real question is how did baseball become America's pastime? Talk about a slow, boring game to watch. Indeed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SwampD Posted May 1, 2009 Report Share Posted May 1, 2009 The real question is how did baseball become America's pastime? Talk about a slow, boring game to watch. It became popular because of radio. It's made for radio. They can talk and talk and talk about what just happened, or what might happen,... but NOTHING EVER HAPPENS. I think football is so popular because as a spectator, it is the most social of the sports. If you are with a group of people, you can talk and still not miss anything. Talk, watch a play, talk, watch a play... I find it really hard to watch hockey with other people. For me it's too intense and I just don't care what they have to say when the game is on. And unlike football, there are not enough breaks in the action to have a meaningful conversation AND watch the game. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carpandean Posted May 1, 2009 Report Share Posted May 1, 2009 I think football is so popular because as a spectator, it is the most social of the sports. If you are with a group of people, you can talk and still not miss anything. Talk, watch a play, talk, watch a play... I find it really hard to watch hockey with other people. For me it's too intense and I just don't care what they have to say when the game is on. And unlike football, there are not enough breaks in the action to have a meaningful conversation AND watch the game. So true! My girlfriend gets frustrated trying to talk to me when a Sabres game is on (hurt fault for talking to me when a Sabres game is on, if you ask me.) I give a lot of one word answers and "wait, what?" responses when she tries. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wonderbread Posted May 1, 2009 Author Report Share Posted May 1, 2009 So true! My girlfriend gets frustrated trying to talk to me when a Sabres game is on (hurt fault for talking to me when a Sabres game is on, if you ask me.) I give a lot of one word answers and "wait, what?" responses when she tries. one rule in my house... 1) Don't disturb me during a Sabres game. any other time is fair game. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eleven Posted May 1, 2009 Report Share Posted May 1, 2009 It became popular because of radio. It's made for radio. They can talk and talk and talk about what just happened, or what might happen,... but NOTHING EVER HAPPENS. Sorry, Swamp; it became popular well before there was radio. In the years leading up to the Civil War, baseball and cricket were equally popular in the States. Baseball dominated in New York, while cricket was more popular in Philadelphia. (Philadelphians had not yet discovered their true calling, goonery.) Soldiers played both games during the war, but baseball was more popular. The industrial revolution meant more time for leisure activities. The end of the war meant a need for cultural unification. Enter baseball, which was "our" game and not some Tory stuff from across the pond. A game can be completed in a few hours, not a few days (there wasn't THAT much leisure time). It wasn't so rough as to provoke outcries about safety, as early football did. It doesn't require a frozen surface, and basketball hadn't been invented yet. So, baseball it was. There's a good book about it here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SwampD Posted May 1, 2009 Report Share Posted May 1, 2009 Sorry, Swamp; it became popular well before there was radio. In the years leading up to the Civil War, baseball and cricket were equally popular in the States. Baseball dominated in New York, while cricket was more popular in Philadelphia. (Philadelphians had not yet discovered their true calling, goonery.) Soldiers played both games during the war, but baseball was more popular. The industrial revolution meant more time for leisure activities. The end of the war meant a need for cultural unification. Enter baseball, which was "our" game and not some Tory stuff from across the pond. A game can be completed in a few hours, not a few days (there wasn't THAT much leisure time). It wasn't so rough as to provoke outcries about safety, as early football did. It doesn't require a frozen surface, and basketball hadn't been invented yet. So, baseball it was. There's a good book about it here. Wow! I can't believe it's that old. If you ask me, it's run it's course and it's time to go. Can you tell I'm not a big fan? It may have been popular before radio, but radio sure didn't hurt it. With the other sports, you hardly ever get [radio]coverage during the off season. There's a bump when camp starts or the draft...then nothing. Baseball is the only sport where I actually think coverage and interest increases during the off season. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eleven Posted May 1, 2009 Report Share Posted May 1, 2009 Wow! I can't believe it's that old. If you ask me, it's run it's course and it's time to go. Can you tell I'm not a big fan? It may have been popular before radio, but radio sure didn't hurt it. With the other sports, you hardly ever get [radio]coverage during the off season. There's a bump when camp starts or the draft...then nothing. Baseball is the only sport where I actually think coverage and interest increases during the off season. The lack of revenue sharing and salary cap is killing that game. Still, there is nothing quite like being at the ballpark. I even get over to Pilot Field (or whatever it's called this week) a couple of times a year. Radio definitely didn't hurt baseball--and baseball sure didn't hurt radio. Especially since broadcasters could recreate games by reading a tickertape and acting as if they were there (this was common). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MattPie Posted May 1, 2009 Report Share Posted May 1, 2009 Sometimes I really wonder how the NFL is so big.. It's gotta be ease of betting and fantasy sports. The game all right I guess, but it can be ploddingly so at times and more annoying to watch than Home Alone. I've grown up watching hockey, play in beer leagues, and even play NHL '09 when I'm bored of talking about hockey so I may be biased. But the game is so much more fluid and takes so much more skill than two fat guys running into each other while the skinny guy runs away. My pet theory is that 'Americans' (I'm painting with a really broad brush, here) can't handle sports that don't primarily involve American players. Look at the most popular sports in the US: Football, Baseball, and NASCAR (yeah, not a sport). All those are only seriously played in North America with American players). Baseball even seems to be losing out to football, perhaps because non-US players are becoming a larger part of the sport. Indycar used to be popular but when European drivers started to come over, Indy's ratings went into the tank too. It's probably all coincidence... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shrader Posted May 1, 2009 Report Share Posted May 1, 2009 Those players at the worlds are playing for their next contracts and endorsement dollars just as much as they are during the regular season. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wonderbread Posted May 1, 2009 Author Report Share Posted May 1, 2009 Those players at the worlds are playing for their next contracts and endorsement dollars just as much as they are during the regular season. Good point on the endorsements but I personally doubt that goals at worlds equate to goals during the season in $$ figures. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eleven Posted May 2, 2009 Report Share Posted May 2, 2009 My pet theory is that 'Americans' (I'm painting with a really broad brush, here) can't handle sports that don't primarily involve American players. Look at the most popular sports in the US: Football, Baseball, and NASCAR (yeah, not a sport). All those are only seriously played in North America with American players). Baseball even seems to be losing out to football, perhaps because non-US players are becoming a larger part of the sport. Indycar used to be popular but when European drivers started to come over, Indy's ratings went into the tank too. It's probably all coincidence... Well, except basketball seems to be going strong, and there are more, not fewer, international players in the NBA. Racing: Any oval racing is just boring to me. I can live with the grand prix stuff, though. Silly that we "on top of the world" Americans can't/won't compete at the top level of racing, IMO. The international element has helped, not hurt, baseball on the West Coast and in Florida. Baseball is losing to football because while there's a lack of action in each (an NFL game has less than ten minutes of action in 3 hours and 30 minutes), only baseball makes it particularly impossible for 75% of the league to compete. And, the NFL has less than 10% of the regular season games. LESS than. Every Sunday means something, if you like football. Every Sunday means relatively nothing, if you like baseball, unless it's a nice day and you're at the ballpark. Some non-team sports, and I recognize the difference, actually benefit from the international element--look at tennis and golf. And some really don't, like boxing. I don't think it has a thing to do with international players in baseball, basketball, football, or hockey, and it just might in racing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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