The British take on the NFL (and American Football in general)

[falafel]

60 minutes of time keeping.

So we're talking about any sport then? Or football? I guess football only hase 60 minutes of time keeping, correct?

[Color Me Badd Fan]

In a 60 minute game, there is probably less than 10 minutes of actual game play.

There is a point that the ridiculous amounts of TV timeouts take away from the game.

But I think we need to be fair here about the amount of actual game play that takes place in basketball, soccer and football.

Football has multiple short bursts of intense action. Basketball also has even shorter bursts of intense action, but basketball bursts of action satisfy more often than football. But when football satisfies, it's much more pleasureable than when basketball satisfies. The average made shot in basketball will provide about five seconds of pleasure while a touchdown will provide maybe ten seconds with a fairly strong afterglow.

Soccer is the most hit or miss. You have few intense bursts of action but the pleaure off a made goal is more intense than anything in basketball or football. It can last for a full 15 seconds or more.

[Indy Coug]

College football has about 150 plays a game. Each play takes 4 to 8 seconds, so that would roughly equate to 150 * 6 = 900 / 60 = 15 minutes of action.

[falafel]

There is a point that the ridiculous amounts of TV timeouts take away from the game.

But I think we need to be fair here about the amount of actual game play that takes place in basketball, soccer and football.

Football has multiple short bursts of intense action. Basketball also has even shorter bursts of intense action, but basketball bursts of action satisfy more often than football. But when football satisfies, it's much more pleasureable than when basketball satisfies. The average made shot in basketball will provide about five seconds of pleasure while a touchdown will provide maybe ten seconds with a fairly strong afterglow.

Soccer is the most hit or miss. You have few intense bursts of action but the pleaure off a made goal is more intense than anything in basketball or football. It can last for a full 15 seconds or more.

You said you enjoy world cup games. I know a lot of people like you who don't really care for soccer but can get into the world cup. Why do you suppose that is?

[il Padrino Ute]

So we're talking about any sport then? Or football? I guess football only hase 60 minutes of time keeping, correct?

I was only talking about football and how slow paced it really is.

[falafel]

I was only talking about football and how slow paced it really is.

Good. So we can agree.

[Color Me Badd Fan]

You said you enjoy world cup games. I know a lot of people like you who don't really care for soccer but can get into the world cup. Why do you suppose that is?

It's the same reason why people will watch Olympic sports once every four years -- nationalism. But I do watch other national teams play besides the US. I think its a combination of the very top talent playing each other and nationalism.

[Indy Coug]

You said you enjoy world cup games. I know a lot of people like you who don't really care for soccer but can get into the world cup. Why do you suppose that is?

Because people can handle it in small doses once every 4 years, kind of like women's gymnastics and figure skating?

[il Padrino Ute]

Good. So we can agree.

Yes, we can agree about that.

[falafel]

It's the same reason why people will watch Olympic sports once every four years -- nationalism. But I do watch other national teams play besides the US. I think its a combination of the very top talent playing each other and nationalism.

Because people can handle it in small doses once every 4 years, kind of like women's gymnastics and figure skating?

I somewhat disagree. I agree that nationalism has a lot to do with it, but I don't think you can put soccer in the same category as women's gymnastics as far as appeal. Evidence: the entire WORLD outside of the U.S. is crazy about soccer. I'll accept CMBF's reasons for why soccer will not catch on here like it has world wide (i.e. all the best athletes play other sports), but I can't agree that intrinsically the sport is only palatable once every four years for a month or so. The weight of the evidence strongly suggests the exact opposite.

[MartyFunkhouser]

I think it could eventually overtake baseball. .

There is no way in hell that soccer is going to overtake baseball in this country. We aren't just talking about MLB here, we are talking about all levels of minor league baseball throughout the country. Unfortunately, football is the favorite sport in the U.S. now, but baseball is 2nd and I don't see that changing.

[Color Me Badd Fan]

There is no way in hell that soccer is going to overtake baseball in this country. We aren't just talking about MLB here, we are talking about all levels of minor league baseball throughout the country. Unfortunately, football is the favorite sport in the U.S. now, but baseball is 2nd and I don't see that changing.

Baseball is big in the Northeast, Chicago and California (well at least San Francisco and LA). Oh, I guess there's also a pocket in St. Louis that likes it. Baseball is also very low on the list for most minorities in this country, especially blacks.

The youth in this country are also increasingly bored with the game. The TV ratings for the World Series back in the 80s all the way until the 1994 strike were roughly around a 23. This decade they're around 12. They've been sliding for years. The NFL's regular season primetime games kick the shit out MLB's world series games. Hell, Fox had an 11 rating for its regular Sunday NFL broadcasts. While NFL TV ratings have remained healthy, baseball's ratings have declined. It isn't a good trend for baseball.

[falafel]

Baseball is big in the Northeast, Chicago and California (well at least San Francisco and LA). Oh, I guess there's also a pocket in St. Louis that likes it. Baseball is also very low on the list for most minorities in this country, especially blacks.

The youth in this country are also increasingly bored with the game. The TV ratings for the World Series back in the 80s all the way until the 1994 strike were roughly around a 23. This decade they're around 12. They've been sliding for years. The NFL's regular season primetime games kick the shit out MLB's world series games. Hell, Fox had an 11 rating for its regular Sunday NFL broadcasts. While NFL TV ratings have remained healthy, baseball's ratings have declined. It isn't a good trend for baseball.

To borrow an argument from Colin Cowherd, isn't baseball's problem the scheduling of the WS games? the practically start at 8 pm on the east coast. Not many kids can stay up and watch them. The NFL has two or 3 night games a week, and the rest are in the middle of the day on weekends. Baseball is played in the middle of the day during the week. I agree that NFL is more intriguing to kids, but maybe the kids don't have the same opportunity to watch baseball like they do the NFL.

[Color Me Badd Fan]

To borrow an argument from Colin Cowherd, isn't baseball's problem the scheduling of the WS games? the practically start at 8 pm on the east coast. Not many kids can stay up and watch them. The NFL has two or 3 night games a week, and the rest are in the middle of the day on weekends. Baseball is played in the middle of the day during the week. I agree that NFL is more intriguing to kids, but maybe the kids don't have the same opportunity to watch baseball like they do the NFL.

They had the same scheduling problem back in the 80s. I think the diminishment of baseball's ratings are due to several things: 1) More entertainment options on the TV than there were in the 80s; 2) Baseball games seem to be getting longer and that's a problem, they often go on for four hours; 3) A lot of people don't like the business side of baseball and the 1994 strike (and the subsequent threat back in 2002 or 2003) still has lingering effects; 4) Baseball isn't a "hip" game with kids, football and basketball are. Basketball has the reverse problem, its players turn off a lot of older people. The NBA Finals and World Series ratings are remarkably similar. However it should be noted that the Finals take place in June and the World Series in October. There's reason why the networks run reruns during June, July and August- not as many people are watching TV.

Football has withstood the "more programming" problem, baseball has not.

I think baseball is a dying sport and it's really dead amongst black youth in this country. Thankfully, Latin America and Japan are supplying plenty of talent to go along with white kids in the states. I know attendance is still good but I think that's largely a function of most of the teams having new stadiums. If you look at attendance figures, the numbers slide as the novelty wears off though the success of the team is still the largest factor in attendance in most parks.

[I.J. Reilly]

Baseball is big in the Northeast, Chicago and California (well at least San Francisco and LA). Oh, I guess there's also a pocket in St. Louis that likes it. Baseball is also very low on the list for most minorities in this country, especially blacks.

The youth in this country are also increasingly bored with the game. The TV ratings for the World Series back in the 80s all the way until the 1994 strike were roughly around a 23. This decade they're around 12. They've been sliding for years. The NFL's regular season primetime games kick the shit out MLB's world series games. Hell, Fox had an 11 rating for its regular Sunday NFL broadcasts. While NFL TV ratings have remained healthy, baseball's ratings have declined. It isn't a good trend for baseball.

Hispanics, which now happen to be the largest minority group in the US, really like baseball. Behind soccer, Hispanics probably care the most about baseball. Asians (specifically Japanese and Koreans) also pay a lot of attention to baseball. To say that baseball is low on the list of most minorities is untrue. MLB is also now making a big push to bring baseball back to urban areas. They pulled out of there for quite some time and it shows in the representation of blacks in the MLB now. My guess is that in a few years that will pick back up.

Baseball also happens to be a very regional sport, which is why you can experience lower national tv ratings (that and the fact that the game was not built for tv. too slow). However, iirc, baseball is making more money now than it ever has. Money is a pretty good sign of popularity in our economy.

And falafel, I never knew you were such a soccer defender. I may have to rethink my opinion of you