runners aren't famous like NFL players wrote:
Drew Breese goes into Walmart in New Orleans and most people are all over him, " can l have an autograph Drew" " can you take a picture with me and my wife Drew", but the only people that will approach Kipchoge at the same Walmart will be the person at the door asking, " can l see your receipt". To most folks at that store he is just a skinny black dude.
American Football is something like rugby but a little different, right ?
I once saw Juma Ikanga in Filene’s Basement.
euro dude wrote:
runners aren't famous like NFL players wrote:
Drew Breese goes into Walmart in New Orleans and most people are all over him, " can l have an autograph Drew" " can you take a picture with me and my wife Drew", but the only people that will approach Kipchoge at the same Walmart will be the person at the door asking, " can l see your receipt". To most folks at that store he is just a skinny black dude.
American Football is something like rugby but a little different, right ?
American Football in a nutshell...
The game is non-continuous and broken up into "plays." Every play starts from where the last play ended which is an invisible line across the field known as the "line of scrimmage". Both teams line up and are set and stopped before a play starts and one player on the offensive team "snaps' the ball (toss or handoff between the legs) to the Quarterback. Following the snap, the team on offense can choose to run the ball forwards or choose to throw the ball from behind the "line of scrimmage." The offensive team can only throw the ball forwards one time however, and cannot throw the ball one they have advanced past the "line of scrimmage." A play ends when a ball carrier's knee elbow or back touches the ground, a forward pass hits the ground, or a player runs out of bounds.
In order to keep the ball the offensive team must advance 10 yards in 4 plays. Once the gain 10 yards (on any of the 4 chances) it resets and the have 4 more tries. If a team does not advance after 4 plays the defending teams offense gets the football at that spot on the field. Because of this most teams choose to punt on the 4th play if they have not gained 10 yards, in order to push the other teams offense further back on the field.
The defending team can win the ball back for their own offense before the 4th chance or a punt by recovering a fumbled ball (player loses the ball before a knee, elbow or back touches the ground) or a by a defensive player catching a forward pass (known as an interception)
There are a few ways to score, most notably a touchdown. A touchdown is worth 6 points and occurs when a team advances the ball across the goal line and into the "end zone", which is basically the block of the field at either end of the 120 yard field. This can occur from either a runner advancing the ball or a forward pass, as well as a defensive player who recovers a fumble or intercepts a forward pass. Touchdowns are followed by either an "extra point" where a kicker must kick the ball between goalposts (this is worth 1 point), or a single snap and play where the offensive team must advance the ball across the goal line from 2 yards away (this is worth 2 points).
Teams can also score from a "field goal", which is where an offensive team chooses to kick the ball through the goal posts on one of the 4 chances at advancing the ball 10 yards. A "field goal" is worth 3 points. This usually only happens when a team is on their 4th chance and close to the goalposts which are located at the back of the endzone. The only other common way a team can score is if the defensive team tackles the offense in wrong endzone. This occurrence would result in 2 points.
I live in the USA. Drew Brees could be standing next to me at Wal Mart and I'd have no idea. Aside from Tom Brady and maybe Joe Montana or Brett Favre, I have no idea who any NFL players are. We watch 3~4 games per year.
Yea so what? Do you wish runners were famous?
Paul bunyan wrote:
I can picture the cashier at Wal Mart saing something like
"Heyyyyy......Aren't you the guy who got his ass handed to him by Kenny B for 6 years, and then pogo-sticked his way to a sub 2 hour marathon that nobody thinks is legit??"
And then as Kipchoge walks away to leave the store
"Boing boing boing!!"
I wanted to point out that this post was hilarious!
Here's what I really wanted to say. Most of the Board seems to suggest that sports stars aren't famous and runners least of all. Well, Ryan Hall wrote a book chronicling his build-up for Boston 2010. He gets stopped a few times during the months covered, especially in Boston. He's asked for an autograph on the side of a road where the fan may have parked unsafely.
By the way, soccer isn't popular worldwide. It's popular in South America and Europe. Asia doesn't care about it. South Asia is obsessed with cricket. East Asia, well, running is as popular as anything. Basketball and baseball bigger than soccer. If China, Mongolia, India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Nepal, Bhutan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgistan, Uzbekistan, and DPRK don't care about it, the world doesn't care about it. That's half the people. Half the world's population who wouldn't recognize Messi or Ronaldo.
It's just like American football. Where it's big, it's huge. Unknown elsewhere. By the way, the United States and Canada could have been on that list. Maybe Australia, NewZealand, Japan, and South Korea. Truly 3/4 of the world's population is not obsessed with soccer and wouldn't recognize its biggest stars in Wal Mart. Ditto NFL, NBA, NHL, WNBA.
Oopside wrote:Proper football (association) is the global sport with many recognisable stars, and probably has the biggest stars (Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi would be recognised around most of the world). Tiger Woods is sports star who transcends his sport. There have been many boxers (heavyweight usually) who've been globally recognisable - Muhammed Ali, Mike Tyson.
This was one reason why many footballers loved having the World Cup in the USA back in 1994. Other than a few (Beckham?) global stars, most could go out places and not be mobbed by the masses of people trying to get close to them as in America no one knew who they were.
Back at the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona John Stockton was the point guard on the US basketball team. Being in Europe, and also only 6'1", he could throw on a hat and sunglasses and go around town with his wife and kids without anyone recognizing him. Once while they were out they saw a poster with the US basketball team with photos of all the team members on it. One of John's kids ran up to the poster and pointed at it and said, "it's Daddy!". Only then did people around him realize who he was. Otherwise he just looked like a normal guy out with his family.
I went to see the movie Purple Rain in Pittsburgh,PA after the LA Olympics in 1984. I was the only person in the the movie who recognized local resident Roger Kingdom who had just won the Olympic Gold Medal in the 110mHH in a huge upset over Greg Foster. As the years past and his fame grew even larger people began to recognize him more and more.
Hall Pass wrote:
By the way, soccer isn't popular worldwide. It's popular in South America and Europe. Asia doesn't care about it. South Asia is obsessed with cricket. East Asia, well, running is as popular as anything. Basketball and baseball bigger than soccer. If China, Mongolia, India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Nepal, Bhutan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgistan, Uzbekistan, and DPRK don't care about it, the world doesn't care about it. That's half the people. Half the world's population who wouldn't recognize Messi or Ronaldo.
It's just like American football. Where it's big, it's huge. Unknown elsewhere. By the way, the United States and Canada could have been on that list. Maybe Australia, NewZealand, Japan, and South Korea. Truly 3/4 of the world's population is not obsessed with soccer and wouldn't recognize its biggest stars in Wal Mart. Ditto NFL, NBA, NHL, WNBA.
Soccer and baseball are the two post popular sports in Japan and South Korea. And soccer is more popular than baseball among the younger (under 40) people.
Yeah, Osako is more recognized in Japan than Rupp is in the US. But he pales in comparison to the top baseball and soccer stars. Takahashi right after her gold medal was the only runner in Japan who became a true household name. (Well, that's two decades ago, so she is probably not that famous among young people today.)
Give me a name of the store. Then we go from there.
Who's Drew Breese?
He wouldn't be ignored. Security would be following him wherever he went in the store.
Les wrote:
He wouldn't be ignored. Security would be following him wherever he went in the store.
Yes, lol, probably because they are following him to see if he takes suff.??
People are right when they say this forum is cancer.
Actual running topics get ignored, whilst this racist topic gains multiple replies...
euro dude wrote:
runners aren't famous like NFL players wrote:
Drew Breese goes into Walmart in New Orleans and most people are all over him, " can l have an autograph Drew" " can you take a picture with me and my wife Drew", but the only people that will approach Kipchoge at the same Walmart will be the person at the door asking, " can l see your receipt". To most folks at that store he is just a skinny black dude.
American Football is something like rugby but a little different, right ?
Rugby with lots of dressing up to stop them getting hurt.
You would not think to look at him but he was famous long ago
For running the sub-2 hour marathon on desolation row
runners aren't famous like NFL players wrote:
Drew Breese goes into Walmart in New Orleans and most people are all over him, " can l have an autograph Drew" " can you take a picture with me and my wife Drew", but the only people that will approach Kipchoge at the same Walmart will be the person at the door asking, " can l see your receipt". To most folks at that store he is just a skinny black dude.
Broken records, dude. This news is as old as air. Everyone knows that revenue sports are more popular than non-revenue sports. You're not filling Michigan stadium for Ohio State vs Michigan track meet. But the BIG house is typically overflowing when they play their annual FB game. And, you can bet a large portion of Michigan's track athletes are in the seats, screaming.
runners aren't famous like NFL players wrote:
tycobb wrote:
So you are saying the NFL is more popular than distance running?
Exactly!
Bold claim. Do you have any facts to support this wild speculation?
CaptainPhillips wrote:
I live in the USA. Drew Brees could be standing next to me at Wal Mart and I'd have no idea. Aside from Tom Brady and maybe Joe Montana or Brett Favre, I have no idea who any NFL players are. We watch 3~4 games per year.
I assume he would be tall and quarterbackishly handsome, probably noticeable as physical specimen, but otherwise I couldn't pick him out of a lineup of other quarterback-sized men.