Organized sports, what do you prefer?

997 Views 17 Replies 12 Participants Last post by speedholes, Jan 31, 2009

enrico vespa

Discussion Starter · Jan 30, 2009

This really isn't a poll, but more of a discussion. A discussion between pro sports and amateur/school sports.

When I see these pro football games, I don't see the crazy tackles where someone gets flipped into mid air like I did when I was a kid. Yes I know why it's not as physical now.

Seems that once someone becomes a pro, their hunger/drive disapears. You don't see them as competitive as they were when in highschool.

I'm not all that into sports. Personally, I would rather prefer to watch a school game than pro football.

Same with Boxing, go to an amateur match, that's a big difference than some top billed has been boxers fighting eachother.

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Whatever Dude

· #2 · Jan 30, 2009

enrico vespa said:
This really isn't a poll, but more of a discussion. A discussion between pro sports and amateur/school sports.

When I see these pro football games, I don't see the crazy tackles where someone gets flipped into mid air like I did when I was a kid. Yes I know why it's not as physical now.

Seems that once someone becomes a pro, their hunger/drive disapears. You don't see them as competitive as they were when in highschool.

I'm not all that into sports. Personally, I would rather prefer to watch a school game than pro football.

Same with Boxing, go to an amateur match, that's a big difference than some top billed has been boxers fighting eachother.

I dont think the crazy flips are lack of drive. Pro's know (or should know by now) that you lose all your power when you leave your feet, and leaving your feet is what causes the helicopter tackles. I recall Sage Rosenfels did it this year (QB...what does he know about running), and lost the game cause of it. Also John Elway did it to dazzling effect in Super Bowl 32 (i think it was that game anyway).

I think what you're seeing is more evenly matched events, which takes away the individual effort that you seem to yearn for. Except perhaps for NBA games, which are more individual than College B-ball.

jameswing

· #3 · Jan 30, 2009

enrico vespa said:
When I see these pro football games, I don't see the crazy tackles where someone gets flipped into mid air like I did when I was a kid. Yes I know why it's not as physical now.

There were several of those tackles this year, as well as some hurdling.

But yeah I would go to College and HS games if I wasn't working Friday nights and Saturdays. That will have to change when my kid get bigger (not necessarily football, but whatever sport(s) he decides to do).

BKK Jack

· #4 · Jan 30, 2009

The only American sport I can even watch is baseball. Football and basketball have been completely ruined by over-commercialization. At least baseball still proceeds at its intended (although sometimes too leisurely) pace.

Does anyone really know how many time-outs each team gets in a basketball game? Add that to all the stoppages for TV commercials, and trying to watch one is just brutal.

It's the same for football. Commercial time-outs are come along far too frequently. And why do they still have the 2:00 warning? Is there a single soul who doesn't know exactly how much time is left?

I do like hockey, but it's hard to follow the puck on TV. It's much better to see the games live.

Basically, the only two sports I watch on TV are golf and rugby union. I tape the golf, so I can zip through all the fluff. I can watch a 3 hour broadcast in about 1 1/2 hours. Rugby union is the god of team sports. It has 2 40 minute halves with a 10 minute half time. The single referee controls the clock and the only stoppages are for injury or to sort out a difficult situation (typically a fight). No commercials between whistles, and the entire game is done in about 1 1/2 hours, real-time.

Shameless plug: The Six Nations starts next weekend. Get to an Irish or English bar in your area Saturday or Sunday morning (yes, they will be open) to see how a real sport is played. If you don't know anything about it, just ask the drunk guy next to you to explain. You will be hooked.

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Whatever Dude

· #5 · Jan 30, 2009

2:00 Warning. I wasnt aware of this:

This event dates from the days in the NFL when the official game time was kept by a member of the officiating crew, with the stadium clock being unofficial (as is still the case with international soccer, for example). Its purpose was a checkpoint to ensure that the teams knew how much time remained in the game. Since the late 1960s the NFL stadium clock has been official, but by then television was an important factor in the NFL. So the two-minute warning was retained as a commercial break and to serve as "tension building" time, and thus has become an important part of the game's flow.

Nimijneb

· #6 · Jan 30, 2009

Hockey all the way. I cant stand football or basketball, and baseball is just too slow and boring.

GO AVALANCHE!!!

nyc rugby

· #7 · Jan 30, 2009

BKK Jack said:
Shameless plug: The Six Nations starts next weekend. Get to an Irish or English bar in your area Saturday or Sunday morning (yes, they will be open) to see how a real sport is played. If you don't know anything about it, just ask the drunk guy next to you to explain. You will be hooked.

Obviously I'll have to agree with you on the Rugby but I also like to follow hockey, football, and baseball. I probably got to 10-15 NHL games a year, an NFL game or 2, and at least 5 or so MLB games/year, but other than reading box scores and articles that's about it for me. I have very little interest in watching most sports outside of rugby on TV (basically because it's so hard to see any quality rugby in person without some serious travelling. That said, since my vacation plans blew up I'm thinking about heading over for a weekend in Europe in a few weeks for a 6 Nations match. I want to watch a match in Ireland but it looks like England or Wales may be easier to get tickets to at this point. I've already got a line on tickets for Ireland @ Wales but they may be too expensive for me to justify it.

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SDRider

· #8 · Jan 30, 2009

I love pro football. Go Cards!!!

My favorite sport is Formula One racing though.

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Whatever Dude

· #9 · Jan 30, 2009

Baseball: Boring on TV. Decent to sit and watch at Fenway.
Golf: Love to watch and play
Football: Love to watch on TV or live, but mostly just the Packers games. Do not follow rest of league closely.
Basketball: Do not watch, play 2X per week in summer
Tennis: Do not watch. Play 1X per week year round
Raquetball: Play 2X per week.

BKK Jack

· #10 · Jan 30, 2009

nyc rugby said:
Obviously I'll have to agree with you on the Rugby but I also like to follow hockey, football, and baseball. I probably got to 10-15 NHL games a year, an NFL game or 2, and at least 5 or so MLB games/year, but other than reading box scores and articles that's about it for me. I have very little interest in watching most sports outside of rugby on TV (basically because it's so hard to see any quality rugby in person without some serious travelling. That said, since my vacation plans blew up I'm thinking about heading over for a weekend in Europe in a few weeks for a 6 Nations match. I want to watch a match in Ireland but it looks like England or Wales may be easier to get tickets to at this point. I've already got a line on tickets for Ireland @ Wales but they may be too expensive for me to justify it.

I just blew (well not really) a bunch of frequent flyer miles, but hopefully, I'll have enough for a similar trip next year. Ireland, Wales, or Scotland would be epic (if the Scots manage to pick their game up a bit), but probably not England, I really hate their their game kit.

nyc rugby

· #11 · Jan 30, 2009

BKK Jack said:
I just blew (well not really) a bunch of frequent flyer miles, but hopefully, I'll have enough for a similar trip next year. Ireland, Wales, or Scotland would be epic (if the Scots manage to pick their game up a bit), but probably not England, I really hate their their game kit.

I would watch the English play at home solely to root for whomever they are playing that day. Pretty sure that I could make a few friends in the stands among the opposition's supporters.

I did a few days inFrance for the last WC and the Hong Kong 7s when they hosted the 7s World Cup, international rugby matches are by far the most exciting sporting events that I've been to.

Nexus242

· #12 · Jan 30, 2009

I'm watching Nadal and Verdasco in the Aussie Open semifinals right now. Tennis is about the only sport I really want to watch on TV when it's on. Downhill skiing, track and field, ice skating, the Olympics and the tour of France are after that.

J-Dog

· #13 · Jan 30, 2009

Any kind of auto or moto racing. I don't care what it is. Though, the upper echelons of NASCAR have lost their luster in the past decade, the lower levels, that saturday night short tracks, are still the battlegrounds of the days of yore.

And paintball. I. Love. Paintball. I don't care if people say it's not a sport. It's got tournaments, and more than a couple national leagues. It's close enough. I played basketball, football and did a fair share of auto racing, but paintball is the only thing that's been constant for the past 12 years or so.

BKK Jack

· #14 · Jan 30, 2009

I heard the paintball championships are coming up on ESPN 8, "The Ocho!"

J-Dog

· #15 · Jan 31, 2009

Ha! That's what someone said. I don't know what sanctioning body they are going to air though. If it's SPPL, XBall or NPPL, then I'll watch. If it happens to be the GPL series.... Hell, you may just see me and my team there.

Trambo

· #16 · Jan 31, 2009

All motorsports. F1, IRL, NASCAR, NHRA, WRC, all of it.

I'm a Cubs fan. (Go on. Lots of jokes here.)

Football? Basketball? Etc... could care less. Somebody said the Superbowl is this weekend... had NO clue. Of course, they probably didn't know the 24 hours of Daytona was last weekend, either... LOL

tlc4diving

· #17 · Jan 31, 2009

College football as long as it's not notre dame that I'm having to watch. Then college basketball. Next for me would be pro football.

speedholes

· #18 · Jan 31, 2009

enrico vespa said:
This really isn't a poll, but more of a discussion. A discussion between pro sports and amateur/school sports.

When I see these pro football games, I don't see the crazy tackles where someone gets flipped into mid air like I did when I was a kid. Yes I know why it's not as physical now.

Seems that once someone becomes a pro, their hunger/drive disapears. You don't see them as competitive as they were when in highschool.

I'm not all that into sports. Personally, I would rather prefer to watch a school game than pro football.

Same with Boxing, go to an amateur match, that's a big difference than some top billed has been boxers fighting eachother.

You forget that when you go pro, you have a career to worry about. It is not worth getting injured and losing a few million. When you are amateur, you are doing everything you can to GET that pro deal. If you don't go all out, you don't look as good. If you do and get injured, you still don't get the deal.

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