NFL - what's the infatuation?

If I take a few liberties with statistics, please forgive me because I'm too lazy to look up the real numbers.

The average NFL game lasts about 190 minutes. There are about 60-70 rushes and passes per team, maybe 5 punts, 5 kickoffs, and 5-10 penalties per team. So at the high end, there are about 180 plays per game.

Each play can be anywhere from 6-18 seconds in length if you only count from the snap of the ball. If you use 15 seconds as the average, which may be high, that comes to 45 minutes of action per game.

That equates to actual football being played for less than 25% of the time you are watching the game. Admittedly, much of the action is controlled mayhem for those 15 seconds at a time, but I think I've lost my desire to sit there for over 3 hours when 75% of the time nothing is happening.

I've been scratching my head about my lack of patience in watching an NFL game for awhile and now that I've made some calculations, I realize why. I'm sure I am in the minority with my feelings about football, but I was wondering if anyone else felt the same way ... or is it heresy to speak of the NFL like this.
:3d footy:

 

RE: NFL - what

Agreed. This is precisely why I now feel watching soccer is more entertaining.

 

RE: NFL - what

The trend is getting worse (less actual playing time versus length of coverage). I'm far more into college football, where there is a better ecomony of time, games are more valuable (12 games seasons mean that one loss hurts alot) and more purity in effort (no contract years, no holdouts, no give me the damn ball).

The college football environment is also the most parallel to European soccer that we have in America, in terms of size and participation of crowds, tradition, and pageantry.

 

I like soccer as much as the next guy (well, the next FUSA poster anyway), but it's nice to be able to get up and go to the bathroom (or what have you) without missing anything.

 

Just 'hit' the pause button, works great. ;-)

 

Amen to that.

I also love to argue the basis of American 'football' being named football and that it seemingly makes no sense. The ball is punted, kicked off and used for extra points. So players on average kick the ball less than 1% of the time in a given game. Another shameful ploy was to actually steal the name of another sport. Football around the world preceded American football by what... 50-70 years?

 

I quote George Will -- "Football represents two of the worst traits of the American character -- spasms of violence mixed with committee meetings"

:lol:

 

Originally the only way to advance the ball forward in football was by kicking it. That's why it is called football. It developed at the same time football was being developed in England as well, at least as a professional sport (football in England I mean).

The name isn't changing, so lets not hate on it. Europeans who say the same thing just don't know what they're talking about. So please don't follow along with their silly arguments.

 

Lyle, I by no means meant to jump on the Euro bandwagon of bashing American football. Soccer (football) began at Cambridge in the mid 1850's and then expanded to the professional ranks by the late 19th century while the American style of football didn't come along until roughly 1890.

American football originally began as a combination of rugby and soccer then developed into the game we have today. So, to take the name of an already established sport was and is a bit odd, but I know the game title of the sport won't be changing anytime soon.

Anyways... back on topic. My apologies for getting off track.

 

Don't get me wrong, I will always love the Steelers, but I get tired of having the commercials 90 seconds after the other. And I thought the George Will quote was good for a laugh.

 

Still love the NFL!

 

I also still love the NFL. Fulham is my second favorite professional team. I am a Redskins fan first and foremost. Although I will admit that it is getting harder for me to watch an NFL game that doesn't involve the Redskins, where I can sit down and watch Aston Villa play Everton and enjoy every minute. I still love college football also. Let's Go Mountaineers.

Whenever I get to a Redskins game, I love the atmosphere. 91,000 people screaming at the top of their lungs when the Skins are on defense, singing Hail to the Redskins when they score. To me, the crowds make sense. Like in soccer they sing the whole time, which I love, but if you are Chelsea and you play at home, the crowd is singing the whole game as is the visitors. Then if you play at Man U, both crowds are singing. It doesn't seem that home field should be that important, but of course it is. It just doesn't seem like it should affect your performance. Where in American Football, 91,000 people making as much noice as possible, while you are trying to call plays and audibles and snap the ball, causes a team to change the way they play. The have to change how they call audibles and also go on a silent count. I don't know sorry to ramble, I just love both Soccer and American Football.

 

I know when both sports were started. I was referring to when football professionalized in England, which was about the same time the first college football games were being played in America; the first being in 1869 (before Fulham or the Team of Carraghers even kicked a ball). So, actually, the organized versions of both sports developed pretty much at the same time.

Football (soccer) simply wasn't established enough in the United States for it to be a distinguishable sport. The two countries were world's apart and weren't on top of what each other were doing. Therefore, the name of football for the American game doesn't derive from the English game of football. It simply comes from the early rules allowing the teams to kick the ball to move the ball forward. It was a mish mash of rugby and soccer, like you say though. Rugby was also originally known as "rugby football", because you also kick the ball in rugby. There's also Gaelic football and Australian Rules football. All being called football cause you can kick the ball with your foot. Football in England was also not just called football, but Association Football, which we all know is where the word "soccer" comes from. So soccer, ironically, is actually named after what the English called their own game at the time... Association Football (groups of teams playing under the rules promulgated by the Football Association organized in 1863).

My main point is that what looks very clear today, wasn't clear at all back in the 1860's and 1870's. So I think it is inaccurate to say the name for football was taken from an already established sport... because it wasn't established in the US and was just becoming established in England as a professional sport (Association Football). It looks odd today, but back then not so much.

 

Bringing back ToC is like a mother scolding a child saying the first, middle and last name. I'm hurt. By no means meant to offend you in the discussion. Just took a different perspective to the time and situation than you did.

Since neither ToM or Lyle was kicking a soccer ball at that time I will agree to disagree to some extent at this time. You've made a valid argument and have changed my perspective of the development of professional football in America.

 

ToM, actually there's a small but significant point missing in your argument, besides the error of assigning the birth of american collegiate football to the introduction of the forward pass.

That is, it's all England's fault! Not really, but the precursor to the FA was in a dither about WHICH kicking game had the rights to the term 'Football'. Thus the origin of the term Soccer - IN ENGLAND, used to differentiate it from Rugby!
This occurred about the early 1870's. Americans thought it was silly and kept using the term Football for their version of Rugby, while the FA was making their 'decision'.

The time a game takes is indeed an issue needing to be dealt with but let's not get into the old useless discussion leading to the American game having to change its name.

 

College football will always be my first passion. NFL is falling behind quickly. I can't stand the commercial breaks and I really can't sit through an entire game anymore. I have to record it and come in and skip commercials. As a sports fan, I'm not sure how anyone can not like watching college football. It has the most passionate fans in the world, competition is still important to these guys. Taking the politics of BCS/Non-BCS out of it, I just can't get enough. In fact the other night, flipping channels, the replay of Ole Miss/Auburn was on from 2003. I actually watched the entires second half. I still can't believe that guy from Auburn drops the pass. Still. My wife thinks I'm crazy because I still get mad about it. Anyway, I'm done rambling.

 

Re: RE: NFL - what

Very true. But when most people think of college football, I suspect what comes to mind is the SEC, PAC 10, etc - big time football. My favorite college football is, believe it or not, the Ivy League. I go to Brown games occasionally and they have a great old stadium with a gorgeous natural grass surface. The fans have fun, the bands are humorous, they have great tail-gating, there are no time outs for commercials, and they play wide open football. I'm sure there is something to be said for going to a game in South Bend, Happy Valley, or Knoxville, but I totally enjoy my local version.

 

RE: Re: RE: NFL - what

Best American football stadiums you've visited?

I've only been to Notre Dame Stadium, The Big House, Memorial Stadium (Indiana's and Nebraska's) and Soldier Field.

 

American football is pretty much unwatchable for me. I was a huge Green Bay Packers fan when I was a kid, but the extreme parity and boring games has really turned me off. Play for 10 seconds, stand around deciding what to do next for a minute, play for 10 more secons, stand around, repeat for hours. Bleh.