The rest of the world already does pal, its called Rugby...
The rest of the world already does pal, its called Rugby...
rugby and american football aren't the same at all, sorry
you play american football without pads and you will get killed
In all honesty, I think the cut had nothing to do with steroids. I think the IOC originally wanted to cut softball b/c the U.S. is really the only country that has been playing the sport long enough. Face facts, the U.S. softball team dominates the world right now (they beat many teams in the Olympics by the mercy rule). However, the IOC could not just cut Softball; a male event had to go. So the male-equivalent of softball was also cut.
I don't understand all the hating on soccer or football. There is something very simple you can do -- change the channel.
Rubbish, its man on man, there is no difference, take a look ata Rugby Forward, usually 18 stone, hard as nails and athletic, in other words built like a heavyweight boxer, speed is just as forceful as weight, I'd rather get hit by a slow fat man than fast muscle bound 18 stoner...
ha wrote:
rugby and american football aren't the same at all, sorry
you play american football without pads and you will get killed
You wouldnt play American Football the same without pads becuase players wouldnt be flying around as if they were indestructible and those huge linemen would be playing paddy-cake with each other rather than full on bashing-heads. They put all that shit on to allow the sport to be played as "hard" as you think it is. For as many "hard" hits as you see in Am.Football, with guys leading with their helmets to other players shoulders or even chopping them (shins are the only exposed part of the body right?), rugby has much much harder hits.
I don't think you would want to get hit by Ray Lewis or Brian Dawkins in the open field. Neither of them are fat and are very well known for their hard hitting.
right, but take that 18 stone guy and have him running full speed at you and hit you square on the head, and you'll probably die.
i'm not saying that rugby isn't a tough sport, i've played it a few times and it is...it probably requires more endurance than american football
but the physical punishment in american fotball is greater. and the way players specialize makes your chance of injury that much greater
I would have to say american footballers are the most embarrassing 'athletes' on the face of the planet (I use 'athletes' because I am yet to see an overall FIT football player). I had no idea coming here that those guys could be such pussies. With little prior knowledge of the game I assumed it would be a fairly hardcore yet respectable contact sport. Needless to say I was disappointed. Those jocks act so fuc*en macho, yet they walk around in pounds of protective armor totally juiced, they wear tights and proceed to grope each other. They have a rest between plays so that they won't get tired. They need cheerleaders because the sport has such a minimal culture of its own and offers no inspiration to the crowd. Lastly, as soon as a remotely good play is performed those fools dance around taunting each other. That my friends is why the rest of the world hates football. It sums up everything that is wrong with the your society.
Comparing that to a much bigger global sport that has a lot more respect....rugby. Those guys have basically no safety equipment. Rugby players are fitter (a combination of endurance, power/strength) than any american footballers. Then there's the crowds and the passion that comes with the game. Having been to both NFL and college football matches and also England, Aussie and All Blacks test matches I would say there is no comparison when it comes to interest and support between the games. Any one that watched the Lions play the All Blacks at Wellington on fox will understand American Football is a joke. The atmosphere there dwarfed any superbowl.
why everyone hates footbal.... wrote:
Comparing that to a much bigger global sport that has a lot more respect....rugby. Those guys have basically no safety equipment. Rugby players are fitter (a combination of endurance, power/strength) than any american footballers. Then there's the crowds and the passion that comes with the game. Having been to both NFL and college football matches and also England, Aussie and All Blacks test matches I would say there is no comparison when it comes to interest and support between the games. Any one that watched the Lions play the All Blacks at Wellington on fox will understand American Football is a joke. The atmosphere there dwarfed any superbowl.
I cannot comment on rugby vs. football having never played rugby. I too have been to Aus. vs NZ rugby matches and to NFL games. I have to say that I felt the opposite. The rugby crowd, for as loud a game as they talked in the pubs, were timid and tame compared to my experiences. Granted, I am used to Philadelphia Eagles games where the fans are rabid, so maybe my standards were too high.
this post was funny
Passion froman American football crowd? A Bunch of 300 lb freaks who look like they are wearing fat suits, stuffing their faces with 18 hotdogs per quarter and sodas the size of an oil drum. They can't shout encoragement because their mouths are full of food, they can't get up and cheer becasue their asses are so big they'll knock the guy sat behind them over... 'Rabid' my ass.
How can you enjoy a game which has more stops than starts, there is no flow to the game, everything is over hyped, over sized and plainly dull.
Go to a good football match, I mean real football and teh hairs on teh back of your neck will stand on end, the pace of the game will never slow or stop for long periods, the crowd are animated, its nota soap opera, its not made for TV....
as oppossed to drunken brits aand euros setting cars on fire and smashing store windows in
billy wrote:
Olympics is about sports which are universal, hell in the uk we could introduce polo or croquet or tiddlywinks, but we don't asthey are not 'global' sports. the thing is Baseball is your home sport and you still never win it!
1. If it is about sports being unversal why are water polo and modern pentathlon in? How universal are they? Cycling is not all that universal. Few Africans are riding professionally (some RSA folks); few Asians except on the track. A few from Latin America here and there but not many anymore.
2. If you want universal, ignore the Winter Olympics!
3. Doesn't it support baseball as being in that the US does not win it every time? Baseball is an international game, take some time to look at the countries on MLB rosters.
The argument that baseball does not send its best athletes--or at least that they are not available--is a little lame when you consider that soccer does not send its best men either. Soccer at the Olympics is an under23 sport with a couple of exemptions for older players, but few of the biggest names play. Also, the World Cup is bigger than the Olympic soccer (although I was pulling for Iraq in 2004!).
That said, I am not disappointed that baseball is out. A little that softball is though since it did a lot for the women's game.
I can remember when rugby players were nothing more than beer guzzling drunks who played in the mud; rugby has just started to be a truly professional sport with the athletes looking at conditioning. A friend of mine just went to work for Australia's Rugby Federation and he notes the change in attitude over the recent past.
Define fitness. I would say running backs, wide receivers and some QBs would qualify under any circumstances. Even someone as big as Jerome Bettis can move pretty well. Can they run a 10K fast? Doubt it, but there are other measures of fitness.
The SuperBowl is not a fair comparison as would be a Cowboys-Redskins game. The Super Bowl is held at a neutral site with most of the tickets going to corporate sponsors and the league. Few fans of either team are at the game. Packers-Bears games are a blast.
Try college football. Go to Ann Arbor or Columbus, OH for the Ohio State-Michigan game, or Auburn-Alabama, or Georgia-Florida. Much better atmosphere and much more applicable.
In the end, you do not like football so just do not watch it. I usually think of this discussions as being between people who are insecure about liking their sport. (I have no insecurity about liking baseball or football. Heck I watch track on TV and also poker! However I do think that ignorance needs to be stamped out.)
billy ben wrote:
Go to a good football match, I mean real football and teh hairs on teh back of your neck will stand on end, the pace of the game will never slow or stop for long periods, the crowd are animated, its nota soap opera, its not made for TV....
Soccer never slows? I watched every World Cup in 1998 that was on US TV. There was plenty of time with little going on.
METERS wrote:
Baseball is now at a all-time low. Without international Olympic interest the game is a failure. Even water polo is now a more important international game.
.
Actually baseball is at an all-time high....both In the US and internationally. Attendance this year in the MLB is the highever EVER. Not to mention the interesting in MLB has skyrocketed across the world compared to previous years. American Baseball cards in Japan are bigger there then they are here now. They may want to take it out of the olympics, but it's not at an all time low. It's booming like never before.
sorry cricket is # two
Oh bloody hell. Stop arguing about SPECTATOR sports. Do you want to DO something or watch SOMEONE ELSE do something? I swear, America is turning into the biggest bunch of arm-chair quarterback losers in the universe. All we do is watch OTHER people do stuff instead of doing it OURSELVES, and then we have the gonads to CRITIQUE it. We are fast becoming a land of incompetents. No wonder porn is so popular these days. Effing Americans can't even f*ck for themselves. They gotta watch SOMEBODY ELSE do it in order to get off. Ridiculous.
Go RUN, damn it!
1. Baseball has only been a full Olympic sport since 1992, it was an exhibition sport in 1988. Baseball will be fine. The best athletes in the sport don't play in the Olympics. It's the bastard cousin of cricket.
2. American Football is played....in America. There's American Football in Europe, but that's basically a developmental league for the NFL and it's played by...Americans. It's a USA only club and will never be played in the Olympics.
3. Football, called soccer on this side of the big pond, is played all over the world. In terms of participation it has to be played by the most people the world over from third world countries to the highlands of Scotland to our American yuppie backyards.
4. Pentathlon is still in the Olympics because of it's historic significance. Bonus question: Why is the pentathlon a historic event? Answer that and you know why it's still in the Olympics.
Alan
Interesting reading. As a side note, not everyone here may be aware that Jack Daniels (jtupper) was an Olympic medalist in modern pentathlon.