The American Football Thread / The HandEgg Aficionado Topic

[ebevan91]

Since last season I've been starting to dislike college football. The media is the main reason why. It's always Ohio State, USC, the best Big 12 and best SEC team in the spotlight. And Tim Tebow, so tired of hearing about him, glad he's out of college football but I imagine I'll still hear about him during the college and NFL seasons.

[Viper5]

Media covers what the fans want.

[TheAmazingYant]

As a recent graduate of the University of Florida, I find the coverage of Tim Tebow comically excessive. Good kid, great role model, fantastic football player. Boring as all hell off the field.

I try not to watch much ESPN, since all they seem to do is cover the big market teams, especially if they have a TV deal with those teams. Their interest in corporate synergy gets in the way of covering the interesting match-ups most Saturdays. Also they insist of playing that Big and Rich song during their College Gameday broadcasts, and I'm insulted that they'd determined that every college football fan loves NASCAR and country music. It's television by focus group.

Watch the CBS broadcast of SEC games - normally you get a pretty good game, and even if Uncle Verne is getting a little old and Keith Jackson "what the hell is this guy talking about" senile, Gary Danielson is the best colorman in the business. You pay attention to what he's saying, and you'll learn a few things about the game.

Speaking of ESPN, here's one of the most surreal moments I've ever seen on TV:

YouTube Video

Mike Patrick: Pop Culture Maven



Also, because people don't seem to "get" why Americans love this sport, here's the Bluegrass Miracle:

YouTube Video

For Schadenfruede Lovers, watch the look on the face of the kid in the suit at 50 seconds

[=]H[=COEMAN]

Green Bay Packers fan

The Bears still suck!!!!!

[rangedReCon]

Football is awesome, but I wish the seasons were longer. I don't really understand why they can't play more games.

[MaxBooZe]

Originally Posted by =]H[=COEMAN

Green Bay Packers fan

The Bears still suck!!!!!

High five!

[TheAmazingYant]

What the hell is going on in College Football all of a sudden? Nebraska to the Big Ten (which now has 12 teams), Colorado to the Pac-10 (leaving the Big 12 with 10 teams), Boise State to the Mountain West, which will probably eat the rest of the Big 12 North once Texas et al leave for the Pac-10. Texas A&M and Virginia Tech are both rumored to be on the verge of going to the SEC, but it makes little sense for A&M to join a different conference than Texas.

Furthermore, rumor has it that Florida, Kentucky, South Carolina, and Georgia are colluding to keep FSU, Louisville, Clemson, and Georgia Tech from being accepted into the SEC, as that would put their rivals on more even ground due to the SEC's lucrative TV contract and giant recruiting base.

And to top it off, the NCAA grows a pair and gives Southern California the type of "slap on the wrists" punishment usually reserved for petty thieves in Medieval Persia.



In other news, the World Cup kicks off to a pair of tie games, in which a total of two goals are scored. I'm proud to follow a sport where the off-season is more interesting than the once-every-four-years world championship of other sports.

[PaveHawk]

Originally Posted by gazzthompson

Im still amazed as to how popular college football is, the size of the stadiums is amazing. My americano friend told me its because the players have more "heart", they arnt playing for huge pay checks so the game is better. True?

To a point this is true. I like College Football more because it tends to be a little more unpredictable. And High School is even more unpredictable. but the real reasons it's so popular is numbers. There are far more college teams then there are Pro (NFL) teams. In Division I FBS, the highest level of college football. There are currently 120 schools that field a football team. And that's just one division out of 6. In the NFL there is only 32. One other reason is College Football was around 42 years before the NFL was even started.

Originally Posted by anglomanii

because they deserve it.


take a spoonful of concrete and harden up.

Here's a spoonful of reality for you. How many people have died playing rugby? From everything I can find the number is 185 world wide, and about 10 professional. In comparison from 1931-2006 1,006 direct and 683 indirect fatalities resulting from participation in American Football (US only). It was so bad in 1905 there was talk of banning the sport. Here are the stats from that year 79 deaths and 554 critical injuries. School and government officials, and other prominent figures, led by President Theodore Roosevelt, demanded that the sport either be reformed or banned. As a result of this threat the American Intercollegiate Football Rules Committee was formed this group would later go on to form what is known as the NCAA (National Collegiate Athletic Association). Until this point American Football was much more like rugby then what we know as American Football today. This committee formed some of the basic rules that made American Football what is today including the forward pass which up until this point was not allowed. So let me know when your government starts threatening to ban rugby.



If people are truly willing and wanting to learn. I will be more then willing to answer any questions. I'll even get on to teamspeak or a chat program to answer questions for you during a live game. If you can't tell I'm an avid fan, former player (HS and JC) and coach. I started coaching Pop Warner/YAFL when I was in the Air Force. Once I was out I moved up to volunteer coaching at a local high school. But I have been unable to coach for the past two years due to a promotion at work.

[TheAmazingYant]

Originally Posted by rangedReCon

Football is awesome, but I wish the seasons were longer. I don't really understand why they can't play more games.

Seasons already last 4+ months as it is, and there comes a point where the season becomes less about individual players and their talents, and more about attrition. Playing 20 games in an NFL season and playoffs, as well as exhibition games, and not winding up injured at some point is damn near miraculous.

In my scant four years playing in high school I've witnessed two players who had to be air-evacuated to the hospital directly from the field of play, along with multiple broken bones, various cuts and scars, and at least a dozen concussions. Once had to help put one of our guard's arms back into its shoulder socket in the middle of a huddle on a 105 degree afternoon. Personally I've taken shots to the head so hard I couldn't see colors (my vision went straight black and white) for upwards of 20 minutes. Nothing to do for it up pick yourself off the hot, dusty ground and trot back into the huddle for the next play.

But hey, anyone with a passing familiarity with the game is knows how brutal it can be.

Originally Posted by gazzthompson

Im still amazed as to how popular college football is, the size of the stadiums is amazing. My americano friend told me its because the players have more "heart", they arnt playing for huge pay checks so the game is better. True?

The stadiums are amazing. Not only are they huge (The top 10 or so college football stadiums seat at least 90,000 people, dozens seat 80,000+), but college football stadiums and games have very deep traditions. Every program has their own little quirks, their own little cultures that make those games worth the travel to visit. Ohio State has the dotting of the "I", Ole Miss has tailgating at The Grove (side note: Most beautiful women you will ever see at any single location, ever), Texas A&M's 12th Man, Rocky Top at Tennessee - the most obnoxious fight song in all of sports-, the shear drunkeness of Madison, Wisconsin - every one of these venues is individual. It's not like stadiums in most other sports, where everything is modern and luxurious and completely lacking in character. At Ben Hill Griffin Stadium (aka "The Swamp") at the University of Florida - my Alma Mater - 90,000 people sit crammed into a space that only 50,000 could ever fit comfortably, on horrible steel bleachers in 95 degree heat. But no one minds too much, because that's just part of the experience.



Side note: In light of recent rearrangement of conferences, I would like to take this opportunity to make a bold prediction: Texas will defeat Nebraska to win the 2011 Rose Bowl Game (brought to you by Citi!). The world will then explode. You heard it hear first.

[Mj Pain]

I freakin love OKLAHOMA.

YouTube Video