Why American's Love NFL Football and dislike Soccer.

Well an NFL Franchise in London would be worth close to $1 Billion.

The Patriots are worth that and revenues for Team Logo Clothing and Hats would be outstanding as Londoner's would flock to buy a London NFL Team's Jacket, Jersey and Hat.

They should call themselves something like the....London....

Knights
Beef Eaters
Blitz
Thames

You think of some! LOL!!

AboveAlpha

 

Well....you certainly are entitled to your opinion....as misguided as it might be.

The vast majority of American's absolutely LOVE NFL FOOTBALL and are die hard fans.

AboveAlpha

 

There is no sport anywhere played with the speed and violence of American football. The collisions are amazing compared to rugby on any continent. I venture to say there would be no game without those pads.

 

Correct.

Given the size, weight and speed of NFL Players....without pads there would be players dying on the gridiron.

Of that I have no doubt.

Even with pads many players get life threatening injuries.

Back in 2001 Patriots Quarterback Drew Bledsoe was hit so hard an artery in his chest was ripped open and he almost bled to death internally.

Bledsoe is 6 foot 6 inches tall and all muscle and was wearing pads yet he had to go into emergency surgery just from having his body impacted by the body of another player.

No pads = DEATH.

AboveAlpha

 

Hmmm....A number of my family members have been in soccer leagues (football leagues to be correct) since they were children. My older sister signed them up, and being athletic herself, she trained to be a ref and coach so that she could participate with her children throughout their careers. Her oldest daughter was the 11th top women's collegiate soccer player while at LSU, and now has gone on to coach and manage a soccer club for adolescents in SC. My sister's youngest son played with a number of men who went from college matches the World Cup; two of whom now play for English leagues. My nephew takes a lot of crap from other men who believe soccer is for ..... less than manly men. They have no idea the amount of talent, dedication, and fitness it takes to actually run for 45 minutes instead of knocking a few guys to the ground and then taking a lengthy commercial break in which beer and sex is sold.

European football (also played in practically every country in the world except the US for many years) was misrepresented by the media in the US. It has taken on some form that is not true football, but is making a comeback as the sport it was originally intended to be. Heaven forbid that anything should compete financially with those who bet on and promote American football, and who have control over the money it engenders. Of course, nothing is untouchable where betting is concerned, but now that the controlling powers that be have discovered the global implications of the sport, and the amount of publicity and money that can be controlled through its fans, it has now been accepted in the US.

CassFox

 

I used to play soccer.

But although skill is necessary and certainly a great deal of physical conditioning....it is like Checkers and NFL Football is like Chess.

AboveAlpha

 

Please expand on this fascinating comparison.

 

OK....in Soccer...as the name FOOTBALL existed first to describe American Football played in Colleges in the early 1800's.....

In Soccer there maybe a certain number of set attacks or defensive set up's....like Checkers....but in Football there are 10,000's of them.

It is a highly structured game with a list of rules just for an individual players position as each player is specialized like on a Chess Board you have Pawns and Knights and Rooks and a Queen and King...etc....all with specialized abilities.

But even a Chess game does not have 1 Millionth the possible offensive, defensive and special teams possible moves that a NFL Football Game has.

Strategy is paramount and plays are practiced to extreme perfection and I am talking about 1000's of plays.

Soccer has a much more unstructured regiment about it and the ball can bounce with much less structure.

Plus the level of strength, endurance, speed in the NFL as per a players function is unparalleled in sports.

When you have 6 foot 7 inch 245 lbs men running at close to Olympic Track Sprinters who an bench press 400 lbs or more......well....that's why they need pads and helmets.

Without them...they would KILL each other on the gridiron.

AboveAlpha

 

Auto racing, nothing is more dangerous.

The most dangerous single event however, is the Isle of Man motorcycle race.

242 deaths in roughly 108 years of existence

 

Well actually the most dangerous and deadly sports are two that I do for fun and for work on occasion.....SCUBA Diving and jumping out of a perfectly good aircraft.

But none of these that I or you have mentioned are a true team sport.

AboveAlpha

 

I believe that endurance for long distance running as an important difference between the sports. Big guys who can only sprint short distances and then take a nice long break? I see strategy in soccer as well; at the highest level of the sport. Also, the footwork takes skill.

Although you say football depends upon strategy I generally see the guy carrying the ball fun straight up the middle of the field right into a large group of defenders and then get stopped and often pushed right back where he started. Strategy only seems to be trying the quarterback trying to figure out who's open and can catch and carry the ball; any receiver will do in some instances.

I prefer cricket...a game no one understands, is slow, boring, and relaxing!

 

I have often wondered why this event is not broadcasted live here in the USA and all those deaths is likely the reason why.

 

NFL Football Players have endurance levels far beyond any Soccer player.

Why?

Because they must use not only speed but strength and take physically traumatic impacts and hits by other players on each play.

Each player is specialized and many have the same speed as world champion sprinters.

It's one thing to run around and kick a ball for 90 minutes.....but try doing that while being hit by 300 to 400 lbs lineman?

AboveAlpha

 

It is, on the velocity channel.

 

Can't find it live online anywhere - do you have a link ?


all I find is this:


http://www.velocity.com/


but no live stream

 

I just watch the channel on tv, I don't watch it online.

 

I have played both sports and I run to this day every day 6 miles one day and 11 miles the next and I do at least one 20 Km a month.

I can tell you the amount of energy and calories expended on the Football....not soccer field to be double.

It required 100% Physical Output on every play and includes strength of the entire body.

In soccer a player can pace themselves.

AA

 

There are those that argue the exact opposite would occur because the "pads" are often behind the violent impacts. Players would adjust their playing style if they didn't have the pads resulting in a less violent form of football. Of course both arguments are speculative and we can't say one is true while the other is false. What we probably could agree on is that the designs of the helmet, that has improved over time, does prevent injury to a significant degree but the helmet still has a long ways to go before it becomes truly effective in preventing head injuries.

Back to the point. The reason Americans prefer our form of football is because it's far more exciting to watch than soccer. Soccer is a relatively boring sport when compared to American football.

Of interest back in the early 1970's, at a Los Angeles Rams game, during half-time they had an exhibition "Australian Rules Football" game which was similar to American football, unlike soccer, but without the pads, helmets and downs. It was very exciting non-stop action and many of us wanted to continue to watch it as opposed returning to the second-half of the Rams game.

 

American football is 1000 times deeper and more sophisticated than a bunch of guys running around kicking a ball into a net. American football has found the sweet spot when it comes to scoring. Soccer doesn't score enough with many games being 1-0 or 2-1 etc. Basketball is on the other end where they are scoring every few seconds so they become meaningless after awhile like watching a lap in NASCAR. You could skip all but the last few minutes of a game and not miss anything important. Just about every play in a football game is important especially when it comes to getting first downs and once you get into the red zone EVERY play is critical.

Soccer also has the stupidest time system I have ever seen in a sport.

Football has by far the most exciting plays to watch with holy rollers, hail marys, fakes, onside kicks and so on that are high risk but when they work......holy (*)(*)(*)(*) they put a smile on even the ugliest orphans who no one wants to adopt. The only form of non-American football I enjoy watching is Australian rules football which is also far superior to standard soccer when it comes to scoring and plays. I love how they just clothesline each other while running at full speed.

Oh and we aren't constantly having NFL players and refs killed by deranged fans or other players and refs.

 

Running the ball is mostly used to keep the other team off balance, its a strategy in itself. Defending against passes versus rushes is different and so if you are a passing QB you still need to run the ball once in a while to keep the other team guessing what you will do. Its the same reason that they switch up plays because if the defense knows what you are going to do they have a much higher chance of blitzing or just stopping your advance. Of course some teams are built around running the ball and so instead of advancing by throwing passes they do it by the "thousand little cuts" strategy where they get a few downs here and there. So long as they average at least 2.5 yards a run they can just keep moving down the field. Its also safer if you can pull it off because then you don't have to worry about an interception or incomplete pass although fumbles can still occur.

 

I appreciate your explanation, and it makes more sense in the way you have explained this thought process! I don't believe anyone has ever quite explained it in this manner to me. In the end, the goal of both European and American football is to get the ball across a goal line. I suppose rugby has the same goal, and differences lie in the rules, regulations, and techniques applied. All of them require effort, practice, and skill. I enjoy all sports. My hesitancy with American football is all the stoppage time and interference from commercial advertisements.

 

Even the stoppage time is a strategy. My team for example practices "no huddle" offense where they immediately line up after each play to move onto the next one. The upside is that it prevents the defense from resting (it is more taxing on defensive players than offensive players when it comes to exhaustion setting in) and keeps them from adjusting to quickly to the offense. The downside is that all the plays are generally scripted ahead of time so there is less ability for the QB to adapt on the fly.

We probably both agree on penalty flags being used to much.

Surprisingly I was not into any sports outside of rally cross and red bull air races until a few years ago. Then I had roommates that loved football and so ended up watching games with them by default. Over time I learned the basics and after awhile the things that annoyed me started to make sense like the stoppage. That is the point where they essentially set the board like a chess game and yes I know that analogy is used a lot but it fits. Is the defense going to blitz? Is the offense going to run the ball or pass and which players will be involved if someone needs to be double covered? Every time they get to the line all those questions come into play again so its like having a bunch of little mini-games inside of a larger game.

I still find baseball and basketball to be incredibly boring as hell. As I mentioned in the other post the only other sport I watch is Australian rules which I still have no clue what their rules are but in that case its half the fun.

 

You got it.

Before a play develops the fan's...and the other team....are trying to guess what play the offense will use.

It is very similar to looking at a Chess Match and seeing defenses and offensive moves.

But instead of wood or ceramic Human Beings are being used.

AA