Does anyone else

[Guest Smues]

The only major thing I dislike about NFL is when they have double headers and cut away away from the 1st game refusing to show the final minutes of the game to show the begining of the 2nd game.  I would rather watch the ending of the game than the opening minutes of another....you would think the league learned its lesson from the Heidi incident.

 

Another would be the realignment from 3 divisions (West, Central, East) to the current watered down 4 (West, North, South, East).  Now you have teams with 8-8 records making it to the playoffs.

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The only time the NFL does that as far as cutting away is when the game is out of reach and the 2nd game involves a team in one of the local markets. I believe its in the TV contracts that if you are in the Dallas market (as an example) and the second-game is Cowboys-Redskins they will cut away from 49ers-Vikings for it. More people would rather watch the local game anyway and would be more pissed if they missed the first few minutes.

 

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I don't watch near as much NFL as I used to so maybe they've changed their ways, but I know they didn't use to only switch if the game was out of reach. Not caring about the local team (Seahawks) there's been many a game where it was really close and the winner wasn't decided yet but they'd cut away to the Seahawks game.

[Guest MikeSC]

To anybody griping that .500 teams make the NFL's playoffs --- MLB is facing the chance that a SUB-.500 team might be making the playoffs in the NL.

[Slayer 0]

I don't know a single fucking offensive lineman for the Bears, or ANY football team

Yeah, but neither does anyone else, really

 

O-Lineman is the no-name and no-love position not just in football, but in any of the big four, period.

 

To anybody griping that .500 teams make the NFL's playoffs --- MLB is facing the chance that a SUB-.500 team might be making the playoffs in the NL.

To anybody griping about a sub-.500 team making the playoffs in baseball, that's one time in... ever.

 

Compare that with the NBA or NHL where sub-.500 teams regularly make the postseason.

[Vern Gagne 0]

Whoa whoa. College football moves way faster than the NFL. Sure, they might stop the clock a little bit more during the game, but they don't have TV timeouts after punts, kickoffs, and all the other ridiculous excuses that the networks use to cram in as many commercials as humanly possible. Also, the play clock's a huge factor. NFL teams routinely run the play clock all the way down, and it's 20 seconds longer. That means that there's nearly twice as much time where they sit around and fondle each other's balls instead of playing football. The fact that some people don't notice this amazes me.

 

I never said the NFL moved at a lightning pace. Just that I wish college football games were quicker.

[The Czech Republic 0]

I don't know a single fucking offensive lineman for the Bears, or ANY football team

Yeah, but neither does anyone else, really

 

O-Lineman is the no-name and no-love position not just in football, but in any of the big four, period.

I can't think of a less illustrious Big 4 sports position than Fat Guy That Bumps Into Other Fat Guy. Even the punter can get some recognition

To anybody griping that .500 teams make the NFL's playoffs --- MLB is facing the chance that a SUB-.500 team might be making the playoffs in the NL.

To anybody griping about a sub-.500 team making the playoffs in baseball, that's one time in... ever.

 

Compare that with the NBA or NHL where sub-.500 teams regularly make the postseason.

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I know in the past, teams have made it in with 7-9. NY Giants I think?

[USC Wuz Robbed! 0]

I don't know a single fucking offensive lineman for the Bears, or ANY football team

 

Not even Olin Kreutz?

[Guest Fishyswa]

Football is fun to play but I can't watch it.

 

I love the story in sports, the drama, and when at least 70% of the games I watch end with one team "taking a knee" or in realistic terms, "no longer trying", I rarely find myself saying "man I want to see that again".

 

I love baseball so the pace isn't any kind of problem, I just wish there a bit more drama when it came down to it.

[nl5xsk1 0]

I don't know a single fucking offensive lineman for the Bears, or ANY football team

Yeah, but neither does anyone else, really

 

O-Lineman is the no-name and no-love position not just in football, but in any of the big four, period.

 

To anybody griping that .500 teams make the NFL's playoffs --- MLB is facing the chance that a SUB-.500 team might be making the playoffs in the NL.

To anybody griping about a sub-.500 team making the playoffs in baseball, that's one time in... ever.

 

Compare that with the NBA or NHL where sub-.500 teams regularly make the postseason.

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Having a losing record but making the playoffs as a #8 seed in a league where over half the teams make the playoffs is a lot different than having a losing record and yet winning your division. The NBA & NHL teams with losing records are recognized as being middle of the pack ... not for being a division champion.

[Slayer 0]

Having a losing record but making the playoffs as a #8 seed in a league where over half the teams make the playoffs is a lot different than having a losing record and yet winning your division. 

That argument may have held some ground when the NBA and NHL still had two divisions per conference and thus you were guaranteed to have good teams as division winners, but with the split from 2 to 3 in '98 for the NHL and last year in the NBA, the situation has now arisen where you can have weak division winners getting the 3 seed ahead of teams with better records.

 

Notable examples of this would be the Southeast division in the NHL pretty much since it was formed in '98, and the Celtics winning the Atlantic in the NBA this year... yeah, they did wind up with a decent record, but remember for a good portion of the season everyone in that division had a losing record and it had become a joke in the sports media.

 

Before this year, even with three divisions, the only time MLB ever came close to having a sub-.500 team in the playoffs was the Rangers in '94, but that season was a black hole anyway so forget that

[Guest Ether]

That's the one thing I don't like about college football. The slow pace. The games are 3 1/2 hours long. They need to chance the rule that the clock stops on every first down. Make it the final three minutes of each half.

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I forget the specifics, but the reason the rule is in place is because with many of the smaller teams and stadiums, the technology is not there to move the chains quickly enough and not lose excessive amounts of time. In contrast, the NFL does not have that problem.

 

The rule, if it is not already, should probably be relaxed when the game is clearly out of reach.

[Guest Vitamin X]

The hell you need technology for to move the chains? I don't buy that excuse.

[Guest Ether]

Oh, and to answer the original question, I just think it depends for the most part on where you live and the subsequent media coverage, and whether you're able to go to the games.

 

Growing up in Pittsburgh, I was more inclined to follow the NFL, since the Steelers (who I didn't like at all until I moved away) and the NFL always received more coverage, no matter what, that Pitt (whom I always cheered for) and college football as a whole.

 

Moving to what is essentially a college town (I live across the river from Huntington, WV) the college teams - mainly Marshall, but also WVU, Ohio State, and Kentucky - receive most of the coverage. That, combined with attending Pitt games (and not being able to watch NFL games during the 4+ hour drive back from Pittsburgh) was pushed my interests more to college football.

 

Most of the reasons for liking either pro over college or vise versa have already been listed, but I'll give one that hasn't been given yet: students. While they are often fairweather, what is generally the youngest fans in attendence are also the loudest fans at the college games, addking a great deal to the atmosphere. The worst thing about my Pitt seats is that we're at the opposite end from the students; we seem to be stuck with old fossils that sit on their hands all game. NFL fans at games, IMO, are more likely to be older and end up being more refined (since they have more money which enables them go afford the tickets many younger fans simply can't afford), leading to a quieter crowd. I know the NHL has experience this issue as tickets prices climbed out of range of the blue collar fan.

[CanadianChris 0]

And I think the complaint about blowouts is completely invalid. Sure, if you only follow one team, you might see less exciting games for them, but if you're a fan of football in general, there are tons of great games. Notre Dame/Michigan State and Miami/Clemson were both more entertaining than any NFL game last weekend. Both featured big comebacks in front of a raucous crowd, culminating in real overtimes, where both offenses and defenses get to decide the game, not kickers and the flip of a coin. Virginia/Syracuse, Oregon/Fresno State, TCU/Utah, and UTEP/Houston were all exciting televised games that would make you stop what you were doing to watch the ending. In fact, I'd say that the way the NFL contract's set up, it's actually easier to find a close, exciting NCAA game then it is to find one find one from the NFL.

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Wait, you mean a football league with four times as many games has more close games?? SHOCKING!!

 

And the overtime rule in college isn't real football. Much like the new shootout rule in the NHL isn't real hockey.

[Guest Agent of Oblivion]

I enjoy both College and the NFL, but for entirely different reasons. The NFL becoming the new national pasttime doesn't bother me one bit mainly because of the aggressiveness of the sport, its cerebral nature, and the speed of the game.

[Sass 0]

I like watching the football pros play as opposed to underpaid amateurs. That's it. This is also the reason why I don't care about college b-ball either. I want to see if the boys can hang with the men and become men themselves.

 

I don't care about drama because that can be found in *anything* you enjoy watching.

 

Anyone who complains about the speed of any sport, as a reason for not liking it, is not a real sport's fan. I like baseball and golf and could care less about how long it takes for the event to be over. I'm just thankful they're playing.

[The Czech Republic 0]

And the overtime rule in college isn't real football.

The fuck? "We won the coin toss, we will now just get to the 25 or so and kick" isn't real competition. How can an overtime be fair if the other team's offense doesn't get to even take the field? Both teams should be guaranteed at least one possession, or do it like innings, where each possession is matched until they turn it over.

[USC Wuz Robbed! 0]

And the overtime rule in college isn't real football.

The fuck? "We won the coin toss, we will now just get to the 25 or so and kick" isn't real competition. How can an overtime be fair if the other team's offense doesn't get to even take the field? Both teams should be guaranteed at least one possession, or do it like innings, where each possession is matched until they turn it over.

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Exactly.

[Guest Vitamin X]

In regards to overtime, I'm more in favor of touchdowns-only rule. More dramatic that way.

[CanadianChris 0]

And the overtime rule in college isn't real football.

The fuck? "We won the coin toss, we will now just get to the 25 or so and kick" isn't real competition. How can an overtime be fair if the other team's offense doesn't get to even take the field? Both teams should be guaranteed at least one possession, or do it like innings, where each possession is matched until they turn it over.

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Exactly.

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That's exactly what they should do. But make them earn it; don't just put them at the 25. The overtime as it is now is a contrivance. Sure, the overtimes are more exciting, but it's not real football.

[Black Lushus 0]

put me down as a non-fan of the college football OT rule...if your defense was worth a shit, they'd be able to keep the other team from scoring and if your offense was worth a shit, they'd be able to take advantage of the defense making the stop...to me, there's more drama in knowing the game can be over just like that than there is knowing your team still has a chance to win it after fucking up on defense...

[JHawk 0]

I would honestly just tell them to play a full quarter and hope to hell you've got the lead at the end of it. But they won't do that because because "nobody wants to sit through that much football" or some lame excuse like that.

[sfaJack 0]

There is at least something to that whole "too much football" argument. Some NFL games drag long enough as it is; automatically adding another full quarter to that for overtime could get a little tedious. And if you think people bitch about TV cutting away from a game early to show a late game now, wait until they miss an entire overtime period.

 

I'm with Lushus on the sudden death thing. Knowing that the game could end at any time is pretty dramatic to me. Plus, you've already had 60 minutes to win the game--if not now, when?

[Slayer 0]

And the overtime rule in college isn't real football.

The fuck? "We won the coin toss, we will now just get to the 25 or so and kick" isn't real competition. How can an overtime be fair if the other team's offense doesn't get to even take the field?

A couple years ago when people were bitching about that "problem" in the NFL, statistics were brought out that showed it was about 50-50 in terms of whether the first team on offense scores right away or whether the other team gets a chance, so the "only one team gets a chance" argument is bullshit.

 

Essentially, if you lose the toss, don't give up the deep ball

 

Or, even better, you could win the toss and then kick with the wind...

[nl5xsk1 0]

I don't mind the college rules, but I dislike how close they start to the other team's end-zone ... keep it with the existing premise (team a gets their shot to score, then team b gets their shot, etc) but each team starts their drive at their own 25 yard line. This would force them to actually move the ball a minimum of (roughly) 45 yards or so to even have a chance at a FG.

[cabbageboy 0]

College football is nowhere near the level of the NFL. The level of play isn't as good, nor is the talent for obvious reasons (they aren't pros), but as someone who follows a team that until recently wasn't in the BCS (Louisville) I can tell you the inherent pointlessness of college football. Last year my team went 11-1 and the lone loss was a last min. affair at Miami. By year's end we were truly awesome and if there was a real tourney who knows what we could have done. But since we had that 1 loss and weren't in a BCS league, we didn't even get to a notable bowl game...just a pat on the head and sent down to Memphis for the god damn Liberty Bowl as usual.

 

How about Utah and Auburn? Those teams both went undefeated and yet neither even got a shot at winning the national title...in favor of seeing Oklahoma tank a major bowl game. I don't know if either team could have beaten USC, but I'd like to think either could have stayed within 35 points.

 

College football is the only sport where teams can go undefeated and not have shit to show for it. It's the single most political, arbitrary, BS filled sport.

[Guest Fishyswa]

I prefer the college OT rule, I don't like the whole FG thing to begin with, so because it plays so prominently in OT, I'd rather see two teams trying to get across the goal line than 1 team trying to get to the 30 yd line.

[The Czech Republic 0]

Okay, just determine tie games with an all-out brawl. Last man standing wins it for his team.

[Guest MikeSC]

I don't know a single fucking offensive lineman for the Bears, or ANY football team

Yeah, but neither does anyone else, really

 

O-Lineman is the no-name and no-love position not just in football, but in any of the big four, period.

 

To anybody griping that .500 teams make the NFL's playoffs --- MLB is facing the chance that a SUB-.500 team might be making the playoffs in the NL.

To anybody griping about a sub-.500 team making the playoffs in baseball, that's one time in... ever.

 

Compare that with the NBA or NHL where sub-.500 teams regularly make the postseason.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

NHL playoffs are a joke, but they are, at best, a non-entity.

 

And this isn't the first time this happened. In the strike year of 1994, a sub-.500 team would have almost definitely won the AL West.

 

And sub.500 over 162 games is different than sub-.500 over 82.

[razazteca 0]

The only major thing I dislike about NFL is when they have double headers and cut away away from the 1st game refusing to show the final minutes of the game to show the begining of the 2nd game.  I would rather watch the ending of the game than the opening minutes of another....you would think the league learned its lesson from the Heidi incident.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

 

The only time the NFL does that as far as cutting away is when the game is out of reach and the 2nd game involves a team in one of the local markets. I believe its in the TV contracts that if you are in the Dallas market (as an example) and the second-game is Cowboys-Redskins they will cut away from 49ers-Vikings for it. More people would rather watch the local game anyway and would be more pissed if they missed the first few minutes.

 

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

 

I don't watch near as much NFL as I used to so maybe they've changed their ways, but I know they didn't use to only switch if the game was out of reach. Not caring about the local team (Seahawks) there's been many a game where it was really close and the winner wasn't decided yet but they'd cut away to the Seahawks game.

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FOX has been doing this for years because the Cowboys fans need to see the FUCKING COIN FLIP. It does not matter if Game 1 is in the 4th Quarter with less than a minute left and one team is ready to win the game with a fieldgoal. If the Saints are suppose to be "America's Team" why could'nt I see them finish the game?

[Guest Vitamin X]

All you had to do was switch to ESPN2.