Question about Europeans and football, soccer, whatever

[Jibjabb]

I tried watching American Football on late night telly once (im in England btw). The commentators were hyper, the announcer was hyper so i thought it was a safe bet. Oh boy was i disappointed.

It was the most boring shit i have ever seen. Ref stopping the game every 5-30 seconds because the guy with the ball fell over his own feet. Timeouts for no apparent reason.
So i asked a friend if it got any faster or more entertaining and all i got was a flat 'NO'.

Football (soccer) is faster, needs more skill and even though i cba with matches outside of the Euros/World Cup, more entertaining.

American Football MIGHT have been different before the marketing execs got their pie stained hands on it and players commanded super huge pay packets for doing fuckall, but from the little i have seen and heard, it is total shit. Yes football players 'salaries' are stupidly huge too, but lets be honest that they actually have skill to somewhat back that up.

Id say about 80% of the players in a soccer match are just standing around until the ball comes their way. You go extremely long periods of the game where nothing really happens. They try and advance the ball. Stolen. Other team tries to advance the ball. Stolen. People stand around other than 2 or 3 near the ball. More standing around as they fight for the ball. Rarely do people actually shoot on the goal. This is why many Americans like myself find soccer extremely boring as opposed to the NFL.

I take offense to saying NFL players do not have skill. They are far more athletic than soccer players. Their specialties vary by what position they do but many players are extremely skilled at what they do particularly the "skill positions" like RB and WR. To say they dont have skill is just ignorant.

[Lefthandpath]

i gotta say, i think the OP is wrong. does the entire city of new york shut down when the jets play? no. does london shutdown when manchester united or arsenal play? no.

on the same side, if you live in green bay.......man things get real weird there come game day. furthermore, any college team that has little else to do in town goes bat shit nuts for their team on game day.

there are many factors, and suberbowl games are a bad gauge. most folks are going to the superbowl for the sake of the game, not the teams playing. more than half the crowd arent fans of either team playing and the game aint being held in a "hometown" most times, so i wouldnt expect superbowls to be as crazy as say....opening day at lambeau field......or kickoff for the longhorns.

yes. i know the south americans and europeans go nuts for their football. but i also know that not all of them do, some could give a rats ass. it seems that (just like here in the usa) the smaller the hometown connection, the more enthusiastic the fan.

it has little to nothing to do with the sport, OR the nation.

[Butler to Baby Sloths]

Oh for Pete's sake don't get into an effing slagging match on whose game takes more skill >.>

They are far more athletic than soccer players.

A football player (talking about association football, not american football) runs between 4 and ten miles in a 90 minute match (except the goalie, but if he is running away from his goal line for no good reason he is a bloody idiot) depending on his position, defenders and strikers running the least and midfielders running the most. Steven Gerrard covered 380 miles in the 05/06 season, 38 of which were at sprinting pace.

http://blogs.wsj.com/numbersguy/trac...ayers-run-112/

[Todgruppe]

Id say about 80% of the players in a soccer match are just standing around until the ball comes their way. You go extremely long periods of the game where nothing really happens. They try and advance the ball. Stolen. Other team tries to advance the ball. Stolen. People stand around other than 2 or 3 near the ball. More standing around as they fight for the ball. Rarely do people actually shoot on the goal. This is why many Americans like myself find soccer extremely boring as opposed to the NFL.

I take offense to saying NFL players do not have skill. They are far more athletic than soccer players. Their specialties vary by what position they do but many players are extremely skilled at what they do particularly the "skill positions" like RB and WR. To say they dont have skill is just ignorant.

Nah, linemen 300+ pound men who can lift small cars and are faster than 99% of the population. Though the "freakest" athletes are probably the DE's. Julius Peppers, Mario Williams, Von Miller types. But then there is Megatron, I think he's an alien.

[Lefthandpath]

also kivana, i gotta say...ive watched soccer (football to you) before, and it bored the living shit out of me. i didnt find it fast paced at all, in fact it seemed more like what jibjabb described.

hockey is fast paced, yes. soccer? lol, no.

also, you have to be an incredible athlete to be in the NFL. anyone the doubts that is just espousing their ignorance on the topic. meh.

[Alixie]

The NFL has been around less than 50 years.

These countries in Europe have existed for hundreds of years, often warred against each other, and have had rivalries for years. Shit's bound to get heated.

Ive always wondered why soccer was sooooo fucking popular in the rest of the world. I like this explanation, but soccer is still boring as hell for me.

[Reg]

Both sports take incredible athletes, can't we just leave it at that? While both require speed and coordination, American football requires more strength while football requires more endurance.

[Todgruppe]

Ive always wondered why soccer was sooooo fucking popular in the rest of the world. I like this explanation, but soccer is still boring as hell for me.

The cost to play is a little above 0, and simple at it's basic levels.

[Reg]

Ive always wondered why soccer was sooooo fucking popular in the rest of the world. I like this explanation, but soccer is still boring as hell for me.

I love most sports, soccer included. Then again, I am one of those crazy people who loves a pitching duel in baseball. There are finer aspects of every sport out there. The skill required to play at the top of your game in each one is truly admirable.

[Todgruppe]

I love most sports, soccer included. Then again, I am one of those crazy people who loves a pitching duel in baseball. There are finer aspects of every sport out there. The skill required to play at the top of your game in each one is truly admirable.

I wish lacrosse would get more popular in the rest of the world/US.

[Jibjabb]

Oh for Pete's sake don't get into an effing slagging match on whose game takes more skill >.>


A football player (talking about association football, not american football) runs between 4 and ten miles in a 90 minute match (except the goalie, but if he is running away from his goal line for no good reason he is a bloody idiot) depending on his position, defenders and strikers running the least and midfielders running the most. Steven Gerrard covered 380 miles in the 05/06 season, 38 of which were at sprinting pace.

http://blogs.wsj.com/numbersguy/trac...ayers-run-112/

I dont mean for it to be a debate of skill they are both very skilled at different things. Which is my point, I found someone saying NFL players dont take skill or much less skill was an very poor misinformed comment. For athleticism I believe its fairly evident that the average NFL player is more athletic, thats not to say they are more conditioned with more endurance which is what you are describing, that could very well be soccer players IDK I dont watch it enough to really know. Athleticism I mean is just how freakish some of the NFL players are with strength, burst, jumping ability things like that. They are completely different games requiring a different set of skills and body types.

[Butler to Baby Sloths]

The cost to play is a little above 0, and simple at it's basic levels.

All you need is a ball and a couple of things to mark goal posts. Coats and jumpers make good stand-in goal posts, and you can get a football for 50p from a cheap shop.

[Todgruppe]

All you need is a ball and a couple of things to mark goal posts. Coats and jumpers make good stand-in goal posts, and you can get a football for 50p from a cheap shop.

That's my point, the only cheaper sport is basketball. Find your nearest court, all you need is a ball. No court? Use milk crates or trashcans. Hockey/Lacrosse/Football (American) are all expensive to play.

[Reg]

I wish lacrosse would get more popular in the rest of the world/US.

It has started to pick up at the collegiate level. Getting athletic programs started is kind of a bitch right now though, with schools getting ready to cut the arts with budgets not passing. One day...

Lacrosse is entertaining too, it's like soccer and hockey combined lol And if there is one thing missing from soccer, it's body checking lol

[gb4200]

I tried watching American Football on late night telly once (im in England btw). The commentators were hyper, the announcer was hyper so i thought it was a safe bet. Oh boy was i disappointed.

It was the most boring shit i have ever seen. Ref stopping the game every 5-30 seconds because the guy with the ball fell over his own feet. Timeouts for no apparent reason.
So i asked a friend if it got any faster or more entertaining and all i got was a flat 'NO'.

Football (soccer) is faster, needs more skill and even though i cba with matches outside of the Euros/World Cup, more entertaining.

American Football MIGHT have been different before the marketing execs got their pie stained hands on it and players commanded super huge pay packets for doing fuckall, but from the little i have seen and heard, it is total shit. Yes football players 'salaries' are stupidly huge too, but lets be honest that they actually have skill to somewhat back that up.

Although I am the US I'd have to admit soccer is the best sport in the world, with football probably being my second favorite, so I don't really have a bias in either way because I enjoy each very much. Having played both though, you must realize that like any other sport to be a top athlete in that field you have to dedicate your life to it basically. To say football doesn't take skill is very ignorant, unless of course you are saying that without having ever played it you could figure out your way onto a top team and can back it up. If that were the case I really wonder why you wouldn't go for a " super huge pay packet for doing fuckall".

[Reg]

That's my point, the only cheaper sport is basketball. Find your nearest court, all you need is a ball. No court? Use milk crates or trashcans. Hockey/Lacrosse/Football (American) are all expensive to play.

All sports can be relatively cheap if you strip it to the bare minimum.

[Todgruppe]

All sports can be relatively cheap if you strip it to the bare minimum.

Yes, but if you want the full contact and conditioning of your body to take such hits, pads become almost necessary.

[Fuzzzie]

That's my point, the only cheaper sport is basketball. Find your nearest court, all you need is a ball. No court? Use milk crates or trashcans. Hockey/Lacrosse/Football (American) are all expensive to play.

If you want to play the actual game in a league then you'll incur higher costs, but playing with friends can be cheap.

I played street hockey for years and all I had was a plastic stick and a 2$ orange ball. We played like every day. Now if I joined a league, paid for ice time and bought all the equipment I could easily be looking at over a thousand dollars.

Football is similar. You can play touch football with your friends and all you need is a ball.

[Xanjori]

For athleticism I believe its fairly evident that the average NFL player is more athletic, thats not to say they are more conditioned with more endurance which is what you are describing, that could very well be soccer players IDK I dont watch it enough to really know. Athleticism I mean is just how freakish some of the NFL players are with strength, burst, jumping ability things like that. They are completely different games requiring a different set of skills and body types.

There are footballers that can run 100 meters in 10 seconds, thats almost quick enough to compete in the Olympics. On top of this a footballer will run about 5-7 miles a game, obviously not much of that is done at full pace, but it still requires a huge amount of stamina.

[Azgraal]

Also, vuvuzellas.

Let's all forget about that. Please!

I haven't heard that devilish sound in a while, until tonight, after Portugal's match... I didn't miss it..