In all major sports I would be a fan of a reduction in preseason games and an increase in regular season games.

Yeah, especially in the NFL. Preseason is pointless, the fans hate it, and they make season-ticket holders buy all 4 preseason games as well, which few of them want.

Why do people root so hard for sports teams? You get absolutely crushed when they lose, and all teams but one will lose. And the likelihood that your team will win is small. So why put so much into something that will almost all of the time just make you horribly disappointed?

 

I don't really follow American football but I would have thought that a lot of fans don't expect their team to win the Super Bowl? Like depending on which team you support it might already be a success if they don't get relegated.

The only thing NFL is soft for is lack of games, they play about 10 a season whereas Hockey is practically every other day

 

It's 16 games actually, but I actually prefer it to say baseball, hockey and basketball in that respect, where there are hundreds of games in a season. To lose a few games in baseball has an incredibly slight impact in the stream of things, whereas three losses in football is sometimes enough to keep you out of the playoffs. I also like that the playoffs are one game each round instead of 4 out of 7. A bit more exciting, no second chances. Not there isn't something to be said for the way other sports operate...

The number of games in the NFL....

 

Mini-camp in the spring: they play other members of their team but they normally play 2 to 3 games.

 

Training camp: Starts in July. They play other members of their team but they normally play 2 to 3 gaes.

 

Pre-season: 4 games. That number includes the HOF game and any overseas games. (These games are to get the players ready and to weed out any player who the coach thinks is not right for the team).

 

Regular season: 16 games per season.

 

Post-season: up to 5 games (there are 3 playoff games possible, the SB, and the Pro Bowl for any athlete who gets voted to go to the Pro Bowl).

 

Is this a game of endurance? Yes. In reality, all sports are a matter of endurance. It is so easy to sit in a chair and think that playing any sport is easy and that it does not require much effort. Unless you have trained your body to perform at the level that many of these athlete perform at, then you really don't know what it's like to perform at high levels and perform through pain. This is not to say that there are no athlete who take performance enhancement drugs because some do, but there are many who do not take drugs to perform at those high levels.

Look on the bright side, if you were across the pond you could be a Newcastle United supporter.

I first became a NFL fan at Super Bowl 36. I watched the St. Louis Rams play the New England Patriots. At the time, I was 9 years old. I decided to root for the Patriots because I liked their uniforms better. They went on to win Super Bowl 36. Then Super Bowl 38. Then Super Bowl 39. And all with class, dignity, and great humble players.

 

Start of last season. Patriots are looking strong. A huge win in week one, serious Super Bowl potential. Then comes "Spygate". It is revealed that the Patriots had been cheating for some time, using a camera man to steal signals. I was devastated. I stayed a Pats fan due to their class and dignity, now that was taken away. I had always hated Bill Belichik (their coach), but now I was just beyond fed up. I decided and told anyone who listened, that I would continue to root for the Pats for the rest of the season, but at the end of the season, I would leave therm behind and become a full-time Arizona Cardinals fan (they had been my second favorite team since drafting my favorite college player, Matt Leinart).

 

So I continued to half-root for the Pats. They go undefeated, make it to the Super Bowl. Then they lose that Super Bowl in the most historic collapse ever. I was hurt and disappointed, but I told myself, "It's okay, because at least now I can leave them behind and become a full-time Cards fan!"

 

This season comes and goes. I root hard for the Cards. I take crap form Pats fans after their destruction of the Cards in week 16. I tell everyone to wait and be proved wrong come playoff time.

 

Playoffs come, Cards win every game necessary and make it to the Super Bowl. My luck couldn't be better. I leave behind a potential Super Bowl team (the Pats) and get behind a team that hadn't won a playoff game in over 60 years (the Cards), and that team ends up making the Super Bowl.

 

A great game, back and forth, I am so pumped and nervous in the last few minutes. Just like the Pats did last year, the Cards come back and take a lead with only a few minutes to go. I am on top of the world.

 

But then...for the first time in my history of sports-watching...history repeats itself. Just like the Giants did to the Pats last year, the Steelers come back down the field, and with seconds left in the game, score a ridiculously unlikely touchdown to crush me and my excitement.

 

And just like the Pats last year, the Cards make a failed final attempt to be miraculous. For the second straight year, but with a completely different team, I watch as my favorite team loses in the two greatest collapses in Super Bowl history.

 

Now, I am not one to get too worked up over a sports team. I have accepted that the Pats and Cards both lost. I am fine with that.

 

But I am someone who believes in signs. I am not blind to things, and if something really obscure happens for some reason, I try to use it to change something about myself. Oddsmakers: What is the likelihood that a Pats fan decides to leave behind a juggernaut team, starts rooting for the Cardinals of all teams, and witnesses the two most crushing defeats in Super Bowl history, two years in a row?

 

I am guessing that was not very likely.

 

So I have decided that it is not worth getting stressed over a game if this happens to me. I might be the only person in America who this happened to.

 

Why do people root so hard for sports teams? You get absolutely crushed when they lose, and all teams but one will lose. And the likelihood that your team will win is small. So why put so much into something that will almost all of the time just make you horribly disappointed?

 

As for me, I have learned that there are far more important things to get worked up over. So for me, football, baseball, and hockey are now no more than a small part of my life. I may watch the Super Bowl, but from now on, I root for the halftime performer.

 

Go Springsteen.

Yeah, I wish there were more games.

 

Yes, because there's not enough football on TV already. :rolleyes:

 

Second, to all the people who claim football is an "endurance" sport: I suppose you're right. It requires a lot of stamina just to be able to stand up for 30 minutes at a time when you weigh as much as these guys do. ;)

 

And I still don't get the emotional attachment to teams. Like I said, I can understand liking a PLAYER, and wishing him well, but not a team.

 

The other funny thing about football (and the same could be said for baseball, probably to a greater degree) is the insane amount of statistics fans of the sport imbibe. Looking at the history of a team is almost like researching the performance of a mutual fund.

 

EDIT:

 

It is so easy to sit in a chair and think that playing any sport is easy and that it does not require much effort. Unless you have trained your body to perform at the level that many of these athlete perform at, then you really don't know what it's like to perform at high levels and perform through pain

 

Ok here's the other major problem I have with the sport. It is irrational to continue playing after you've been injured, and it sends a bad message to kids who play. At the point when you are sacrificing your well-being just to prove a point, you're being indisputably stupid. Celebrating stupidity is not something you should teach your kids.

 

And the whole bit about football being a thing where fathers and sons can bond - that's overrated. More often than not I've heard stories where sons are forced into football by their dads even though they're not interested.

Ok here's the other major problem I have with the sport. It is irrational to continue playing after you've been injured, and it sends a bad message to kids who play. At the point when you are sacrificing your well-being just to prove a point, you're being indisputably stupid. Celebrating stupidity is not something you should teach your kids.

 

And the whole bit about football being a thing where fathers and sons can bond - that's overrated. More often than not I've heard stories where sons are forced into football by their dads even though they're not interested.

 

Well, I don't know about the bonding issue but I guess it's because fathers play and teach their sons, while mothers don't.

 

As for playing with pain....that is in every sport. Yeah, it's stupide to celebrate stupidity but that's what our society likes to celebrate.

And I still don't get the emotional attachment to teams. Like I said, I can understand liking a PLAYER, and wishing him well, but not a team.

 

The other funny thing about football (and the same could be said for baseball, probably to a greater degree) is the insane amount of statistics fans of the sport imbibe. Looking at the history of a team is almost like researching the performance of a mutual fund.

 

I actually tend to root more for teams based on players. Many fans wouldn't leave behind a team like I left behind the patriots. But I won't root for a team with a bunch of players I hate just because of the logo. That just seems dumb. I became a Cards fan because my favorite college player was drafted by them and I thought he'd be starting by now.

 

And I don't get too into stats, it just seems like a waste of time. I watch the games, pick up whatever important stats they mention, but I don't go online every night just to check a player's day by day average...I agree with you, that it kinda pointless.

Yes, because there's not enough football on TV already. :rolleyes:

 

Second, to all the people who claim football is an "endurance" sport: I suppose you're right. It requires a lot of stamina just to be able to stand up for 30 minutes at a time when you weigh as much as these guys do. ;)

 

And I still don't get the emotional attachment to teams. Like I said, I can understand liking a PLAYER, and wishing him well, but not a team.

 

The other funny thing about football (and the same could be said for baseball, probably to a greater degree) is the insane amount of statistics fans of the sport imbibe. Looking at the history of a team is almost like researching the performance of a mutual fund.

 

EDIT:

 

 

 

Ok here's the other major problem I have with the sport. It is irrational to continue playing after you've been injured, and it sends a bad message to kids who play. At the point when you are sacrificing your well-being just to prove a point, you're being indisputably stupid. Celebrating stupidity is not something you should teach your kids.

 

And the whole bit about football being a thing where fathers and sons can bond - that's overrated. More often than not I've heard stories where sons are forced into football by their dads even though they're not interested.

 

So about the endurance:

What? Not all the players are 300+ pounds.

 

And how can you tell me that the bonding thing is overrated? Sure there are kids forced into sports, but there are also alot of kids who like the game. And being a 20 year old football IS something that is a bonding thing between me and my father. How can you say that is overrated?

Your arguments are about as pointless as Marks.

^all very good points

So about the endurance:

What? Not all the players are 300+ pounds.

 

And how can you tell me that the bonding thing is overrated? Sure there are kids forced into sports, but there are also alot of kids who like the game. And being a 20 year old football IS something that is a bonding thing between me and my father. How can you say that is overrated?

Your arguments are about as pointless as Marks.

 

You're only saying that as you're obsessively biased.;)

my problem here is not that you disagree with me saffire, it's that you really believe your opinion is right.

POINT 1:my favorite player osi umenyiora weighs 260, tell me he doesn't need endurance and strenght to get by those 50-75 pounds heavier. cuz you'd be wrong.

 

Maybe with a little bit of "help".:rolleyes:

 

POINT 2: what's wrong with following statistics?

 

It's about the same as being a trainspotter.:P

Maybe with a little bit of "help".:rolleyes:

 

 

 

It's about the same as being a trainspotter.:P

 

You're only saying that as you're obsessively biased.;)

Mark, no offense, but you know nothing about American football.

 

You really shouldn't be talking about it as if you know all about it because your views are so wrong. And my decision to become a much more casual fan and not get worked up over it was not an invite for you to come and trash talk about a sport you don't understand.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rugby_football

 

According to this, the English invented football and the Americans adapted it. Mark is English, isn't he? Ergo, he knows more about football than any of us! ;)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rugby_football

 

According to this, the English invented football and the Americans adapted it.

 

I think you mean ruined it by turning it into some form of showbiz!!:P

 

Mark is English, isn't he? Ergo, he knows more about football than any of us! ;)

 

As there's actually only one "football", you're probably right!!:smug:

Lol. The impression I've always had is that Soccer, Rugby, and American Football all had the same roots, but were adapted differently in the different places it went. That is to say, the same animal evolved differently in America and England and Australia based on the conditions and rule peferences exhibited by the people living in those areas of the world.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rugby_football

 

According to this, the English invented football and the Americans adapted it. Mark is English, isn't he? Ergo, he knows more about football than any of us! ;)

No offense, but that's just about the stupidest thing I've ever heard.

You're only saying that as you're obsessively biased.;)

 

Sure I love football. And I know that you think its pointless. But still I'm not pulling stuff out of my ass like you are. If you don't have anything good to say don't say anything at all.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rugby_football

 

According to this, the English invented football and the Americans adapted it. Mark is English, isn't he? Ergo, he knows more about football than any of us! ;)

 

And with this logic he knows more than any North Americans since the British colonized over here!

Lol. The impression I've always had is that Soccer, Rugby, and American Football all had the same roots, but were adapted differently in the different places it went. That is to say, the same animal evolved differently in America and England and Australia based on the conditions and rule peferences exhibited by the people living in those areas of the world.

 

Definitely not. Rugby and football emerged in England at around the same time, then somewhere along the line somebody decided to dress up guys in daft-looking "costumes" for what became known as "gridiron".:rolleyes:

Sure I love football. And I know that you think its pointless. But still I'm not pulling stuff out of my ass like you are. If you don't have anything good to say don't say anything at all.

 

The reason I don't have anything good to say about it is because it isn't a good game full stop!!:lol:

And with this logic he knows more than any North Americans since the British colonized over here!

 

Of course. That goes without saying!!:P

Very Ignorant Person

Very Ignorant Person

 

Are you??:stunned:

The reason I don't have anything good to say about it is because it isn't a good game full stop!!:lol:

 

Please. Just leave.