[Raymond Luxury Yacht]

Ahhh, football season is here again. I realize those of you across the pond could care less, but I love it. Tonight's game, Miami vs Florida State, was one of the best college football games I've seen in a long time. It was brutal, exciting, and great fun.

Saturday will be another great college game. My favorite team, #1 Ohio State, takes on #3 Texas, with the winner likely to play for the national championship. Love it. To prove I am not the kind of fan who always roots for the #1 team, my favorite pro team is the Packers, who will likely suck this year. Go Brett Favre.

If you have never watched any american football, try out a few games. You might like it. I watched the world cup, and came away with a new appreciation of soccer. Football is like a chess match played with 300 pound pieces running into each other at 30 miles per hour.

Also, there are some great names in college football this year. So far I've seen a Boobie, Smelly, Suckup, and Fagg. It makes for some interesting play by play.

[Sir Thursday]

I'm afraid I'm more into Rugby myself...when I lived in the US I watched a few games, and I can see what you mean about the strategy...it just seems like it stops too much to ever allow you to get into a flow while watching it. Plus they all wear body armour (but then I like cricket so I suppose I can't complain)...

So while I understand American football to a certain extent, I'm not sure I could cultivate an interest in watching it. And I'm still not sure why they make such a fuss about college sports in the US...I'd far prefer to watch the best guys do it.

Sir Thursday

[Raymond Luxury Yacht]

Sir Thursday;111920 said:

I'm afraid I'm more into Rugby myself...when I lived in the US I watched a few games, and I can see what you mean about the strategy...it just seems like it stops too much to ever allow you to get into a flow while watching it. Plus they all wear body armour (but then I like cricket so I suppose I can't complain)...

So while I understand American football to a certain extent, I'm not sure I could cultivate an interest in watching it. And I'm still not sure why they make such a fuss about college sports in the US...I'd far prefer to watch the best guys do it.

Sir Thursday

Rugby is a good time. I played for a year on my college club team. I sucked, being too damn slow, but it was fun. Aboot the football though, the body armour is a good thing, it allows much harder hitting, which is fun. It appeals to america'a inherent violent tendencies, in a nice legal televised way.

There are a few reasons why college football is popular. One is that these guys show real passion. Sometimes in pro sports it seems like the athletes are just going for the paycheck. Another is the tradition. Some of the great college rivalries have amazing stories behind them, such as tonight's game.

Another reason why college football is so interesting is the way the ranking system is set up, a team most of the time needs to go undefeated to play for the championship. In pro football, a team can get into the playoffs by winning 10 or eleven of 16 games to get to the playoffs. IN college, even a game between mismatched opponents is good, because if the upset happens, it ruin any hope of a title for the good team.

Also, most of the televised games of the traditionally good teams are full of guys only a year or so away from hitting the pros, so the skill level is there, and you can see the future of the pros.

Here's a question - do any europeans watch NFL europe, or is pretty much just americans living in europe who watch it?

[Folken]

pft...NFL...why don't just call it for what it is...RUGBY...grr...and I do not understand why in Gods name its called Football...the ball rarely touches the foot! and what in the world does Soccer mean...*runs around screaming*
*sigh* - end rant

[Loki]

When I was NZ i met an american college footballer named Duncan...it's true, they are as dumb as they look

[Kage-za]

Despite having studied in NZ and now living in soccer/football crazed Japan (and yes, they were AWFUL against Australia, which made watching their WC matchup in a Tokyo bar one of the most painful 2 hours of my life to date...), I still would have to choose American Football as the most exciting of the three sports to watch. Even though the action starts and stops, each play has so much potential for excitement that it is just mesmerizing. Plus they have the televising of football games down to an art form.

Of course, I'd rather play Ultimate Frisbee than either of the above mentioned 3, though they are all fun.

@Jen - Supposedly, the word soccer was originally a slangy way of referring to Football Association. The story goes that some guy was asked, "Are you a rugger (rugby player)?" and he cheekily responded, "No, I'm a soccer." And yes, I learned that from Wikipedia (some time ago...not for the sake of answering your question).

@Raymond - Living in Japan, I have seen all of two college games in the last 4 years or so. Nothing like staying up and watching the 1pm EST NFL games at 3am Monday morning, local time. Coming from New England, with my dad from Pittsburgh, I've had to take the morning off from work to watch the Superbowl, each of the last 4 years.
From what the internet tells me, the FSU-Miami game featured a lot of poor offensive execution, rather than good defense, but to hear you say it, that's not the case...
Do you play fantasy football? I was looking for an owner to join in my draft last night. Too bad...

[Demon X]

What you need to watch is G.A.A Hurling - the fastest field sport in the world. And they dont wuss out by armour padding themselves up either!!!! LOL

[McLovin]

raymondluxuryyacht;111913 said:

My favorite team, #1 Ohio State, takes on #3 Texas, with the winner likely to play for the national championship. Love it.

Ah, I get to be in the stands for this one. TEXAS FIGHT!

[Aptorian]

Like that whole pokerworld tour craze that hid us a few years ago, American Football is drawing a young crowd here in Denmark. During Football season highlights and two games are shown full length... with commercial time edited. The Super Bowl is always hell because it gets shown live but something between 00 and 04 at night. With a stomach full of beer and hotdogs I've yet to stay awake through the entire thing.

Oh and european AF gets no publicity, really. There might a small section devoted to it in the newspapers a couple times a year. I have a friend that plays... or played?... for the Danish national team in the scandinavian tounament, we seldom get far when we play the rest of the european teams.

[Darkwatch]

CFL all the way. Bigger fields, more teamwork, and less budweiser and over mediated bullsh*t.

[Oceao]

go Pats

[caladanbrood]

Jen said:

pft...NFL...why don't just call it for what it is...RUGBY...grr...and I do not understand why in Gods name its called Football...the ball rarely touches the foot! and what in the world does Soccer mean...*runs around screaming*
*sigh* - end rant

How dare you defame the name of rugby?:outta:

[RodeoRanch]

Darkwatch;112001 said:

CFL all the way. Bigger fields, more teamwork, and less budweiser and over mediated bullsh*t.

Hell yeah.

Go Riders!

[Raymond Luxury Yacht]

Kage-za;111961 said:

From what the internet tells me, the FSU-Miami game featured a lot of poor offensive execution, rather than good defense, but to hear you say it, that's not the case...
Do you play fantasy football? I was looking for an owner to join in my draft last night. Too bad...

It was a bit of both, but when helmets are going flying on a regular basis, there's some good hitting going on. I don't play fantasy football. It seems like a lot of work that would actually detract from my enjoyment of the game.

[Kage-za]

It's annoying when you need a player to do well against your favorite team... and you find yourself rationalizing like, "well, if the final score is 42-35, that would be ok..."

[Obdigore]

i dont like college football. there is generally no chance for an underdog to win.

[Raymond Luxury Yacht]

Obdigore;112576 said:

i dont like college football. there is generally no chance for an underdog to win.

It's rare, true enough, but when it happens it's a lot of fun to watch. There are upsets every year in college football.

[Raymond Luxury Yacht]

Niko III;112637 said:

American "Football" is Rugby for homosexuals and violent maniacs / both.
I have actually played both, so I know what I'm talking about.
(Yeah, I've played on two teams )
In Rugby, you get a much more fluid game, while in AF, it stops before you even notice it's started.

Wow, gay bashing on the forums. What an intelligent way to make your point.