Predict the NFL Super Bowl Champ. Win Big, Big Prizes*!

@Seed,

Well--I might be a fool but it's not because I don't know that sports teams practice before they go out there and do what they do. I know they practice themselves silly. One of your teams the other week was said to have a 300 odd page file of plays. It is the shortness of the plays and hands being safer than feet at controlling a ball that gives rise to that inevitable outcome. And the players are stuck with that outcome and have to practice a lot to learn to execute them. Hopefully. And the team which practices most, all other things being equal, which a lot of them are, wins. And winning means $$$$$$s. So it's a job. Not like a lot of safe jobs. A player is either good enough or out.

And I have practiced myself, watched others practice and organised practices. I am fully aware of how good the players are at anything where the money is good. Within the limitations of the rules and evolving in response to them just as the rules evolve to take account of the responses.

To make disparaging remarks about how our footballers go down writhing and screaming at the slightest touch is to show a misunderstanding of professional team sport at that level which attracts wide media coverage. They are not bothered whether anybody thinks they are soft. They are made of sterner stuff than that. Some are actually injured of course. Others are up to no good in the service of the money. If there's no screaming and writhing the ref won't stop the game and award a free kick or even a penalty. And nobody gets a drink. In NFL those tactics are unnecessary.

They think that being hurt and being stoical about it to demonstrate how tough one is is ridiculous. Perverted even.

It wasn't the point. When does sport turn into business. One might get good at something by doing it for fun. Shooting at cans on a wall say.

Has anyone here ever practiced seriously.

2 Replies

@spendius,

spendius wrote:

... If there's no screaming and writhing the ref won't stop the game and award a free kick or even a penalty.

Yes, screaming and writhing is an essential part of the professional soccer game.

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... In NFL those tactics are unnecessary.

Quite right.

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Has anyone here ever practiced seriously.

Of course.

1 Reply

@spendius,

Quote:

They think that being hurt and being stoical about it to demonstrate how tough one is is ridiculous. Perverted even.

Yeah, that's a common thought that wussies have.

Cycloptichorn

1 Reply

@Cycloptichorn,

Well Cyclo- you might have to hold your hand over a candle flame at some point. To prove you're not a wussie.

I've seen it done. What about A Man Called Horse? It was supposed to be an authentic custom of the natives to win the hand of a fair lady in the old days.

1 Reply

@spendius,

spendius wrote:

Well Cyclo- you might have to hold your hand over a candle flame at some point. To prove you're not a wussie.

I've seen it done. What about A Man Called Horse? It was supposed to be an authentic custom of the natives to win the hand of a fair lady in the old days.

I suspect that those who play pro ball have nothing to prove to anyone at all - they are just tough guys who are excellent athletes.

Cycloptichorn

1 Reply

@Cycloptichorn,

As long as you know that tough, excellent and wussie are relative terms I can agree with you. The WWE Smackdowners are tough, excellent athletes and highly skilled and don't look like wussies.

I did see a baseball star sobbing about something and nothing.

Of course the football players have something to prove. They couldn't do it at the pitch required otherwise.

1 Reply

@Ticomaya,

I enjoyed the video Tico. I'm used to those scenes though.

When you said "Quite right" about NFL not using that tactic you should know that they would do if their side could gain an advantage from it. The rules of the game prevent the possibility as I explained. Are you suggesting the rules were made to cause that effect or that your footballers are less professional than our's and would rather be thought decent and honest sportsmen than win the game.

Dream on.

1 Reply

@spendius,

spendius wrote:

As long as you know that tough, excellent and wussie are relative terms I can agree with you. The WWE Smackdowners are tough, excellent athletes and highly skilled and don't look like wussies.

Good one!

I'm truly enjoying the macho exchange.

In this side of the world, the minority of American football players and fans often use the phrase "soccer faggot" (derogatively using "soccer" and not "futbol", as normal people say in Spanish) to refer to on-the-field whiners.
And the infimal minority of rugby players and fans say that players of American football are the real "faggots" with their helmets and protective gear.
But we all agree over here that the real men are the free wrestlers (AAA, not WWE faggots, mind you!) Wink

.

1 Reply

@fbaezer,

fbaezer wrote:

spendius wrote:

As long as you know that tough, excellent and wussie are relative terms I can agree with you. The WWE Smackdowners are tough, excellent athletes and highly skilled and don't look like wussies.

Good one!

I'm truly enjoying the macho exchange.

In this side of the world, the minority of American football players and fans often use the phrase "soccer faggot" (derogatively using "soccer" and not "futbol", as normal people say in Spanish) to refer to on-the-field whiners.
And the infimal minority of rugby players and fans say that players of American football are the real "faggots" with their helmets and protective gear.
But we all agree over here that the real men are the free wrestlers (AAA, not WWE faggots, mind you!).

The protective gear is not a symbol of weakness but rather one of strength. It allows players to utilize their full power with much less chance of injuring either themselves or their opponents. You might as well knock Boxers for wearing gloves Rolling Eyes

I don't refer to anyone as a 'faggot,' personally, because that's a pretty disparaging term for a gay person, and this has nothing to do with sexuality at all.

Cycloptichorn

1 Reply

@Cycloptichorn,

Cyclo.
I think all this amusing discussion comes down as to who is the manly man, the American footballer or the Brit.
Of course neither is a "wussie" or a "fairy" or whatever derogatory concept anyone may come up with.
And seriously, all pros are superb athletes. Some sports are more of a show than others, but that's perfectly OK.

1 Reply

@fbaezer,

fbaezer wrote:

Cyclo.
I think all this amusing discussion comes down as to who is the manly man, the American footballer or the Brit.
Of course neither is a "wussie" or a "fairy" or whatever derogatory concept anyone may come up with.
And seriously, all pros are superb athletes. Some sports are more of a show than others, but that's perfectly OK.

It isn't that I don't think Soccer players are athletes - anyone who can run for that long is an athlete. But, so are American football players, which seems to be what Spendi was denying.

Cycloptichorn

1 Reply

@spendius,

spendius wrote:

I enjoyed the video Tico. I'm used to those scenes though.

I know you are.

spendius wrote:

When you said "Quite right" about NFL not using that tactic you should know that they would do if their side could gain an advantage from it. The rules of the game prevent the possibility as I explained. Are you suggesting the rules were made to cause that effect or that your footballers are less professional than our's and would rather be thought decent and honest sportsmen than win the game.

Of course I know the rules of the NFL game prevent it. What I'm suggesting is that the rules of soccer encourage this pretend falling and clutching, and moaning. Surely even you can admit this is a flaw that the NFL does not have.

2 Replies

@Ticomaya,

Actually, the NFL used to have that exact problem, with players feigning injuries to save clock time at the end of games. That is why the rules were changed to require a mandatory time runoff if a team with no remaining timeouts had an injured player in the last two minutes.

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I didn't know that, Cowdoc. But there is a lot about football I don't know.

I meant to ask you. You said something, Cowdoc, about "a local charity fantasy league." Something like that. How does that work?
Sidewalks often empty when I walk down the street. People know I am going to hit them up for a donation. This might be a new gambit I could use.

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@Ticomaya,

Quote:

Of course I know the rules of the NFL game prevent it.

Yes I know Tico. But was it deliberate or just an unforseen effect at the time the rules were framed?

Quote:

What I'm suggesting is that the rules of soccer encourage this pretend falling and clutching, and moaning. Surely even you can admit this is a flaw that the NFL does not have.

I don't agree that the rules of our football (I hate the word you use so much I can't bring myself to type it) encourage the tactic. The authorities are doing something about it recently. The extra time added at the end of games is being increased. 5 and 6 minutes are being added now regularly and that was rare a couple of years ago.

What causes it is the desire to win whatever it takes and I like that. And it provides for controversy and argument which is always a good thing I feel. I hate standing in the pub agreeing with everybody. That's what wussies do.

The basic flaw of NFL seems to me to be non saleabilty in export markets. There are a number of reasons I could suggest for that.

And there are genuine injuries. There was one last season that they wouldn't show the replay of because it showed a players shin go L shaped. I myself saw a game where a centre-forward was carried off and we woke up next day to find he had had his leg amputated. Chelsea's goalkeeper plays now in a skull cap as a result of having his head kicked in.

On athleticism I think top tennis players are "up there". And I don't care for watching that game.

Anybody who belittles cricket seriously rather than just for fun doesn't know all that much about pro-sport. Or anything for that matter. I'm not disparaging NFL. I enjoyed every game I watched as I marched in triumph to the top of rjb's table of experts. I might even try a Domino pizza soon.

But acting tough is a bit ativistic if they are actually tough. It sends out messages a bit inappropriate in our feminised PC world I'm inclined to think.

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@spendius,

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What causes it is the desire to win whatever it takes and I like that. And it provides for controversy and argument which is always a good thing I feel. I hate standing in the pub agreeing with everybody. That's what wussies do.

So, 'desire to win' is a good reason, in your mind, to engage in lying and cheating? Not very sportsmanlike.

Quote:

The basic flaw of NFL seems to me to be non saleabilty in export markets. There are a number of reasons I could suggest for that.

Football is probably the most expensive team sport in the world to play, in terms of equipment needed to play. Soccer, on the other hand, is the cheapest. You don't even need shoes. You don't even need a ball, if there's a pig's bladder lying around.

This is why every pissant country in the world loves it and competes in it. It's not an indication of superiority; it's like a lowest common denominator sport.

Cycloptichorn

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@Cycloptichorn,

Quote:

It isn't that I don't think Soccer players are athletes - anyone who can run for that long is an athlete. But, so are American football players, which seems to be what Spendi was denying.

I don't think their stamina is tested. If it is they haven't much of it. I'm going to get a stopwatch and time them.

There must be hundreds of turnovers in one of our football matches and 0-0 is usually about third favourite score in the betting. An NFL team is expected to score when it gets possession. Here it's a hoped for and rare possibility. So, in that respect, NFL is more like basketball which even a hungry cat wouldn't watch if mice were playing it.

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@Cycloptichorn,

I was in Guatemala as part of a trip two other friends and I took back in, I dunno, guessing, 1972. I brought back some stuff for family from the central mercado in Guatemala City, including a futbol. I remember the look of confusion on my cousins' sons' faces and am sure it was shortly in the goodwill bag, no matter how much I raved from what little I knew about the game. (I remember my own confusion as I hadn't looked around about whatever was going on there before we went, and there were a lot of soldiers with guns. I learned more later on.)

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@spendius,

spendius wrote:

Quote:
It isn't that I don't think Soccer players are athletes - anyone who can run for that long is an athlete. But, so are American football players, which seems to be what Spendi was denying.

I don't think their stamina is tested.

Let's see you try and keep your stamina up, performing ANY of the positions on the field. Any of them. You don't seem to realize that they are essentially engaging in a series of dozens of sprints, at full velocity, while getting hit as hard as humanly possible.

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If it is they haven't much of it. I'm going to get a stopwatch and time them.

Our speed position players - Defensive back, corner, wide receiver, running back - are as fast if not faster in sprints than anyone in Soccer, I guarantee you.

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There must be hundreds of turnovers in one of our football matches and 0-0 is usually about third favourite score in the betting.

That's the sign of a crappy sport, there.

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An NFL team is expected to score when it gets possession

This is incorrect. Offenses are only expected to score a limited number of times per game, and some games, not much at all.

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Here it's a hoped for and rare possibility. So, in that respect, NFL is more like basketball which even a hungry cat wouldn't watch if mice were playing it.

I agree about basketball, it's boring. Not so for the NFL, a sport in which the myriad numbers of plays which can occur are incalculable, certainly far more than other sports, including soccer.

Cycloptichorn

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@Cycloptichorn,

Quote:

So, 'desire to win' is a good reason, in your mind, to engage in lying and cheating? Not very sportsmanlike.

We are talking about pro-sport for big money Cyclo.

Bombing with drones might be said to be a bit unsporting so let's have less of the vicarage afternoon with the ladies homilies. Two rugby players here have been suspended for eye gouging. There are millions of folding money at stake and a player's career can be ended in the next game. They don't do "after you Madam". If they did there would be no need for referees and umpires.

1 Reply

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