Why do so many people like the NFL

[Guest Vern Gagne]

The NFL is hands down the most popular sport. Why do people like the NFL so much? Is it because the game for alot of rubes is pretty easy to understand, where Baseball is a little bit more complex. For some the labor problems in Baseball play a part. People tend to think Football has this great salary cap. However some people including myself think it's hurting the quality of the league, and making it for teams like the Cowboys from the 90's to be non-existent. The ratings were better when Dallas and San Fran. dominated. Looking at the last year's games, it seems like there was only about 2 good games a week.

[Guest bob_barron]

I used to hate football but to be honest-

Baseball is boring.

 

Football is just a fun way to spend a sunday afternoon from 1-7 watching games and stuff.

 

Baseball you know pretty much know whose gonna make the playoffs come April.

 

But in football did anyone pick the Pats to win? No.

That's what makes football fun.

 

I hated football in the mid 90s cause it all it was was 49ers and Cowboys, blah blah blah which got really boring.

 

2/3 last Super Bowls have been awesome (I was there live for one!) which is much better then from 93-98 when they were just boring squash matches.

 

The salary cap has been great for football because I love parity and don't like dynasties.

[Guest redbaron51]

NFL=Boring

 

CFL=Exciting

 

Football aka soccer=greatest sport ever existed

[Guest bob_barron]

I've been to two CFL games and it is a very exciting fast spaced sport but the quality of the NFL is better which is why I like it more

[Guest MaxPower27]

I HATE FOOTBALL! That's all anyone's talking about down here in FLA, is the Dolphins and their new back Randy Williams (or whatever his name is), and how the Bucs signed Jeff Gordon or some shit as thier coach. I hate football with a passion and am praying that MLB doesn't go on strike, so that I can watch MLB until the season is over, and then watch hockey.

[Guest Choken One]

Football does not shoot itself in the foot every over week.

 

MLB has a huge crisis meltdown occuring in more ways then one, Steroids, Labor Issues, Contraction. Etc.

 

Football players aren't grossly overpaid like Baseball players.

 

Football is "Tougher" sport. Which isn't a good arguement. I played each sport for 4 years and Baseball was more strenous over the years...

 

Football appeals to Blue Collar americans...While Baseball appeals to Upper Middle Class america.

 

Regardless, Baseball will ALWAYS be America's sport.

[Guest bob_barron]

Football does not shoot itself in the foot every over week.

 

MLB has a huge crisis meltdown occuring in more ways then one, Steroids, Labor Issues, Contraction. Etc.

 

Football players aren't grossly overpaid like Baseball players.

 

Football is "Tougher" sport. Which isn't a good arguement. I played each sport for 4 years and Baseball was more strenous over the years...

 

Football appeals to Blue Collar americans...While Baseball appeals to Upper Middle Class america.

 

Regardless, Baseball will ALWAYS be America's sport.

Choken is right- if baseball was to quote Kurt Angle: crisp and clean with no caffeine then I would probably like baseball a lot more.

 

But until a Super Bowl is cancelled due to labor issues- I'm gonna like football a lot more.

 

And the sad thing- my favourite team in football absolutely sucks and my favourite baseball team has the best record

[Guest Choken One]

At least you don't put up with Cincy...Medroicity Central. Yeah...Reds make a run every other 2 years and Bengals threaten for 6 wins but that's it. When we're bad, we're ugly...when we good...it's not good enough.

[Guest hardyz1]

Oh yeah? I like the Cubs.

 

But I like the 49ers too, so that almost evens out.

 

Football = totally reeks of awesomeness

[Guest Grenouille]

Sometimes things do come together nicely though. As a Red Sox fan losing is nothing new, as we speak, they are collapsing out of wild card contention. Anyway last year's Pats were awesome to watch after the first 3 games when Drew whathisname played. After years of 1-15 years and being taunted by friends that were 49er or Cowboy fans last year was damned great. Who knows who this year's breakthrough team is? My pick is the Bengals, just something about them probably a 9-7 finish. As for my Pats, I guess I'm pessimistic, 8-8.

[Guest kkktookmybabyaway]

I don't consider myself a George Carlin fan, but he pretty much sums up my feelings about this topic:

 

http://www.baseball-almanac.com/humor7.shtml

 

Baseball is different from any other sport, very different. For instance, in most sports you score points or goals; in baseball you score runs. In most sports the ball, or object, is put in play by the offensive team; in baseball the defensive team puts the ball in play, and only the defense is allowed to touch the ball. In fact, in baseball if an offensive player touches the ball intentionally, he's out; sometimes unintentionally, he's out.

 

Also: in football,basketball, soccer, volleyball, and all sports played with a ball, you score with the ball and in baseball the ball prevents you from scoring.

 

In most sports the team is run by a coach; in baseball the team is run by a manager. And only in baseball does the manager or coach wear the same clothing the players do. If you'd ever seen John Madden in his Oakland Raiders uniform,you'd know the reason for this custom.

 

Now, I've mentioned football. Baseball & football are the two most popular spectator sports in this country. And as such, it seems they ought to be able to tell us something about ourselves and our values.

 

I enjoy comparing baseball and football:

 

Baseball is a nineteenth-century pastoral game.

 

Football is a twentieth-century technological struggle.

 

Baseball is played on a diamond, in a park.The baseball park!

 

Football is played on a gridiron, in a stadium, sometimes called Soldier Field or War Memorial Stadium.

 

Baseball begins in the spring, the season of new life.

 

Football begins in the fall, when everything's dying.

 

In football you wear a helmet.

 

In baseball you wear a cap.

 

Football is concerned with downs - what down is it?

 

Baseball is concerned with ups - who's up?

 

In football you receive a penalty.

 

In baseball you make an error.

 

In football the specialist comes in to kick.

 

In baseball the specialist comes in to relieve somebody.

 

Football has hitting, clipping, spearing, piling on, personal fouls, late hitting and unnecessary roughness.

 

Baseball has the sacrifice.

 

Football is played in any kind of weather: rain, snow, sleet, hail, fog...

 

In baseball, if it rains, we don't go out to play.

 

Baseball has the seventh inning stretch.

 

Football has the two minute warning.

 

Baseball has no time limit: we don't know when it's gonna end - might have extra innings.

 

Football is rigidly timed, and it will end even if we've got to go to sudden death.

 

In baseball, during the game, in the stands, there's kind of a picnic feeling; emotions may run high or low, but there's not too much unpleasantness.

 

In football, during the game in the stands, you can be sure that at least twenty-seven times you're capable of taking the life of a fellow human being.

 

And finally, the objectives of the two games are completely different:

 

In football the object is for the quarterback, also known as the field general, to be on target with his aerial assault, riddling the defense by hitting his receivers with deadly accuracy in spite of the blitz, even if he has to use shotgun. With short bullet passes and long bombs, he marches his troops into enemy territory, balancing this aerial assault with a sustained ground attack that punches holes in the forward wall of the enemy's defensive line.

 

In baseball the object is to go home! And to be safe! - I hope I'll be safe at home!

[Guest Hogan Made Wrestling]

I hate the way the salary cap operates in football, I like to know more than a half-dozen guys that will be on my team's roster at the start of each year.

[Guest razazteca]

For some the labor problems in Baseball play a part

I tried to watch baseball but it seems like every year either the owners or the player try to call a bluff which results into no World Series.

 

so the Texas Rangers paid Alex Rodguiz $300 million for his services, yet the team still loses because they have no pitchers.

 

And then there is Jerry Jones of the Dallas Cowboys who basically did the same thing but waisting the whole salary cap on 3 players who were not even on the teams active roster.

 

sports management in Texas is an oxymoron

[Guest pinnacleofallthingsmanly]

I would love to see coaches wear the same uniforms as players.

[Guest Kahran Ramsus]

However some people including myself think it's hurting the quality of the league, and making it for teams like the Cowboys from the 90's to be non-existent. The ratings were better when Dallas and San Fran. dominated. Looking at the last year's games, it seems like there was only about 2 good games a week.

 

Its still possible. The Rams have the talent, and should be in the middle of a dynasty right now, if not for Mike Martz being an idiot. You just have to know how to manage the cap. Learn from the 49ers, not from the Ravens or Jaguars.

[Guest danielisthor]

Football rules because if your team is smart with its salary cap, they can run a consistent string of years together without putting themselves into trouble. IE: My Miami Dolphins. Shula put them in serious cap trouble, Jimmie got us out of it and Dave has put together a solid team.

San Francisco same thing. Dallas is just getting back, its going to take Baltimore a good 2 to 3 years to get back from their cap mistakes.

 

In baseball, every year you can pretty much take 12 teams and put NO CHANCE in the standings. A handfull that has what it takes to actually win the series and the rest are playoff hopefulls.

[Guest Strike Force!]

Well, the thing I like about NFL and football in general is that unlike MLB, NBA, NHL, MLS, etc........

 

 

 

EVERY GAME MEANS SOMETHING.

 

Yes, it IS that simple.

[Guest alkeiper]

EVERY GAME MEANS SOMETHING.

 

Even the Monday Night Games in December between two 4-11 teams?

[Guest Rabbi_wilson13]

I love baseball and football, but NFL is just a ton better. It's right up there with college basketball and football for me.

 

In the NFL, you have the whole "Sunday afternoon doing nothing but watching football" vibe. Every team has a chance, albeit a small one, but everyone knew at the beginning of this season the D-Rays and Brewers and Tigers and Royals would not be in the playoffs. In baseball, if your a bad team, if you make .500 and finish 20 games out of the wild card, you get a pat on the back.

 

alkeiper, I don't know if they decided on adopting the new system, but that won't happen anymore if they go with where they pick the games in December. I'm not sure if they approved that or not, but it would set it up so CBS, FOX, ESPN and ABC all had an important, big-time game the last few weeks of the season.

 

Baseball's a great game, but its appeal isn't quite as broad and the fact we may not have a postseason sucks pretty hard.

 

The NFL season is short, sweet and they have the best system for the playoffs. Baseball takes too few and hockey/NBA take way too many. In the NFL, you don't usually have a "This team deserved to make it, but didn't" and "How'd this team get here?" arguments, for the most part at least.

 

In baseball this year, only the BoSox, Angels or A's will make it to the postseason, and they all deserve it. In the NL, only two out of the Giants, Dodgers, Reds, Astros and Cards are going, when they all should.

 

NFL just does a lot of things right, baseball does a lot of things wrong.

 

Soccer? It's gonna be like figure-skating and bobsledding in the US:

 

People care once every four years.

[Guest El Satanico]

MLB will have a salary cap before long too.

 

The salary cap screwed up teams for the first few years but NFL Dynasties will return. The majority of teams have figured the cap out and now know how to operate within it and keep a good team.

 

The key in the age of salary cap in the NFL is drafting well. If you draft well every year you will be able to have a dynasty. It's best if you have a good draft every year, but teams could probably survive a bad draft as long as it's not two in a row.

 

I don't really know why i love NFL but i do. I think it's just because i was raised watching it and now it's part of me.

 

Personally I don't understand why fans of MLB like the sport. I can't stand the sport and it bores me to tears. It isn't nearly as bad in person but watching it on tv is just horrible. But i don't have to get whats good about it because they do and they love it so oh well.

[Guest alkeiper]

In baseball this year, only the BoSox, Angels or A's will make it to the postseason, and they all deserve it. In the NL, only two out of the Giants, Dodgers, Reds, Astros and Cards are going, when they all should.

 

No problem with that. It gives us a reason to watch the regular season. The playoffs shouldn't be automatic. If it doesn't take effort to make the playoffs, then what's the point? It's particularly important for baseball, which has the longest season by far of any sport. Problem is, once you expand the MLB playoffs again, you'll have 16 teams, and a system where over 50% of the teams make the playoffs.

 

Baseball needs a long season because the more games you play, the better chance that the best teams will rise to the top. How much of the competitive balance and unpredictability of the NFL is really just the short schedule? In baseball, the Devil Rays could beat the Yankees on any given night, and no one bats an eye. (Except of course when they aren't scheduled to play).

 

Baseball's a great game, but its appeal isn't quite as broad and the fact we may not have a postseason sucks pretty hard.

 

Given the vast network of minor league teams, and leagues in Japan and Latin America, not to mention Little League, I'd say baseball's appeal is fairly broad.

 

Personally I don't understand why fans of MLB like the sport.

 

I think it appeals to me because I have a mathematical slant. Its also one of those things where you can just up and decide you want to see a game. In football, you have to plan well in advance to watch a game. And given that I work on Sundays, I can't watch most football games anyway. Just my view.

[Guest nl5xsk1]

I think that the baseball season is just too damn long.

 

Let's see, 162 baseball games compared to 16 football games. So if an NFL team starts of 0-2, it's the baseball equivalent of an 0-20 start. When you view it that way, it's kind of tough to be concerned about a team suffering a 5 game losing streak; it's the equivalent of a football team having a losing HALF of a game.

[Guest Some Guy]

I think that the baseball season is just too damn long.  

 

Let's see, 162 baseball games compared to 16 football games.  So if an NFL team starts of 0-2, it's the baseball equivalent of an 0-20 start.   When you view it that way, it's kind of tough to be concerned about a team suffering a 5 game losing streak; it's the equivalent of a football team having a losing HALF of a game.

Not really, because you see 14-0 runs in Football a lot more than Baseball. The Pats won about 10 games in row to finish the season, teams in Football have gone 16-0 no team in MLB has ever gone 162-0. Football's schedule is a lot less stremuous, they have an entire week to get healthy and prepared for their opponents, and the game had less action than a Baseball game. An NFL game is scheduled to take 1 hour, yet seldom takes less than three. That's at least 2 hours of non-activity. In Baseball you get about 45 minutes of nothing happening in any given game.

I jumped on the Pats bandwagon last year and will go to a few games this year, but Football bores me. It's all stop and go, there's *WAY* too many penalties, instant replay, clock stopage, etc.. to keep my interest for 3 hours.

[Guest NoCalMike]

I like baseball and football. Baseball is having major problems now though. They need a salary cap, and FAST.

 

Football is exciting because there are only 16 games, so every game puts you on the edge of your seat and can either make you happy or sad for the next 6 days. Baseball's season is so long that it is hard to get THAT into it the first month or two, but if your team is in the hunt around August, then it is pure excitement for the last month.

[Guest Some Guy]

I don't understand how it's hard to get into "your team" at the beginning of the season. If they're your team then you should be excited that they are playing, unless they lose the first 10 games and fall out of contention by the end of April.

[Guest nl5xsk1]

Football's schedule is a lot less stremuous, they have an entire week to get healthy and prepared for their opponents, and the game had less action than a Baseball game. An NFL game is scheduled to take 1 hour, yet seldom takes less than three. That's at least 2 hours of non-activity. In Baseball you get about 45 minutes of nothing happening in any given game.

How can you say a sport where a guy went on the DL because he was in a TANNING BED for too long is more strenuous than football? Football is only played once a week because the human body couldn't take the strain of playing much more often than that; it's why teams bitch about the short week on Thanksgiving. Basketball and hockey are less physical than football, so they can be played 2-3 times a week, but very rarely on two consecutive days. Baseball is the least strenuous, so can be played almost daily, up to 4-5 days a week.

 

And in terms of non-activity, how can you imply that baseball only has 45 minutes of non-activity in it's 3+ hour game duration? Does that not include the time between innings, batters, time that a reliever gets his 10 warm-up tosses, etc? All sports take too long, but to say that football has more time with non-activity than baseball is ludicrous.

[Guest Rabbi_wilson13]

From "The Life of Reilly", SI, analyzing the A's/Yankees playoff game a few years back.

 

Time of this A's-Yankees game: 3 hours, 15 minutes

 

Time the baseball was actually in play, including pitches, batted balls, foul balls, pickoff attempts, relays, throws to bases and anything else even Bob Costas might consider actual sporting activity (And I was being generous with the stopwatch): 12 minutes, 22 seconds

 

Percentage of time ball wasn't in play: 94

[Guest bob_barron]

I don't understand how it's hard to get into "your team" at the beginning of the season. If they're your team then you should be excited that they are playing, unless they lose the first 10 games and fall out of contention by the end of April.

Most baseball teams are out of contention by February

[Guest Strike Force!]

EVERY GAME MEANS SOMETHING.

 

Even the Monday Night Games in December between two 4-11 teams?

You're right. What was I thinking. In no way is that as entertaining as a Nuggets/Heat game in March or a Devil Rays/Orioles game in August. What am I thinking?

[Guest Strike Force!]

The NFL is hands down the most popular sport. Why do people like the NFL so much? Is it because the game for alot of rubes is pretty easy to understand, where Baseball is a little bit more complex. For some the labor problems in Baseball play a part. People tend to think Football has this great salary cap. However some people including myself think it's hurting the quality of the league, and making it for teams like the Cowboys from the 90's to be non-existent. The ratings were better when Dallas and San Fran. dominated. Looking at the last year's games, it seems like there was only about 2 good games a week.

Well, some of us "rubes", while not crazy about the salary cap and not crazy about having a different team win the Super Bowl every year, will gladly take that over:

 

All Yankees all the time

All Barry Bonds all the time

"Will Barry Bonds hit his 603rd home run...lead story tonight on SportsCenter" ::yawn::

Donald Fehr

Bud Selig

All Diamondbacks all the time

All Mets all the time (even if they're 20 games out of first)