Football is better than soccer

[btownmeggy]

has anyone watched much australian football?

Just wondering what you think of it and how it rates compared to the code you follow most

This also inspires the question:

Football/soccer fanatics: Have you ever watched, really watched and tried to understand, entire American football game?

American football fanatics: Have you ever watched, really watched and tried to understand, entire soccer game?

[suggs]

Whats really exciting about American football is the way the game stops every two mins. Just as it gets exciting, oh lets stop it for a few mins, lets break up the flow, start again then stop, start , stop.
How exciting

[Timminz]

This also inspires the question:

Football/soccer fanatics: Have you ever watched, really watched and tried to understand, entire American football game?

American football fanatics: Have you ever watched, really watched and tried to understand, entire soccer game?

I wouldn't call myself a "fanatic" of either sport. I'll watch World Cup, and Euro Cup as much I possibly can, while I generally will only watch the superbowl.

here's a thought....You'll never see an NFL'er playing soccer, but you will see former pro soccer players in the NFL.

[Ruben Cassar]

What is soccer? That word does not exist in my vocabulary.

I only know about football which is aptly named since it's played using your feet.

[Neoteny]

Whats really exciting about American football is the way the game stops every two mins. Just as it gets exciting, oh lets stop it for a few mins, lets break up the flow, start again then stop, start , stop.
How exciting

If it were really about stopping and starting, Europeans would love NASCAR, and hate tennis. Come on, now.

[Neoteny]

What is soccer? That word does not exist in my vocabulary.

I only know about football which is aptly named since it's played using your feet.

You clearly have not read the thread, and, as such, do not possess a valid opinion.

[kletka]

Football/soccer fanatics: Have you ever watched, really watched and tried to understand, entire American football game?

I watched several American football games in a stadium and I try watch superbowl every year. It is a great action but with an average non-interrupted action of 20 seconds, it just does not have enough tactical variety as the real football. It is like if the real football were to consist only of corners and penalties...

Low scoring is a problem... for americans but this is what makes the outcome unpredictable and goals so desiring. I personally play football and basketball. My best scoring game of basketball was 37 points but this fades completely to a game of football when I scored 2. Maths is not everything!!!

[Ruben Cassar]

What is soccer? That word does not exist in my vocabulary.

I only know about football which is aptly named since it's played using your feet.

You clearly have not read the thread, and, as such, do not possess a valid opinion.

I prefer the only football that I know of.

[Neoteny]

Football/soccer fanatics: Have you ever watched, really watched and tried to understand, entire American football game?

I watched several American football games in a stadium and I try watch superbowl every year. It is a great action but with an average non-interrupted action of 20 seconds, it just does not have enough tactical variety as the real football. It is like if the real football were to consist only of corners and penalties...

Low scoring is a problem... for americans but this is what makes the outcome unpredictable and goals so desiring. I personally play football and basketball. My best scoring game of basketball was 37 points but this fades completely to a game of football when I scored 2. Maths is not everything!!!

Of course, there is almost no strategy being devised between plays in football.

[got tonkaed]

One of the things that i have always questioned when discussing the differences between the sports is the transferability of the skill sets. As someone who played american football growing up, ive always thought it was more skill specific. This isnt to say that footballers couldnt transition to the american version, but that i dont think you can really succeed in our version of football, without a very specifically trained body for it. Certainly anyone can play a pickup game, but i frequently was frustrated by one of my roommates who seemed to think none of us could play his sport at all, while he could play ours and be better than we were.

I actually have some reservations about tactically giving an advantage to one sport over the other. While one is certainly a more dynamic game with a lot of its own tactics, i think because of the less fluid more information based style of american football, you cannot pick up the game as easily. Even a relatively simple playbook is going to require more memorization of material, and material of players around you in all likelyhood, to be picked up very quickly by someone who doesnt have a pretty good understanding of the game. While its quite possible the required skill of football is higher than the american version, i think the tactical issue is much more debatable in praxis than most would argue.

I actually think at the end of the day it might be slightly more difficult to succeed in the american version, but not by very much.

[jiminski]

I agree football is better than soccer.... soccer just sounds so.. so American!

that's fine but it doesn't have the same universal resonance as :

futebol
fotbal
fútbol
futbol

football!

[Juan_Bottom]

Of course, there is almost no strategy being devised between plays in football.

I know that you are not talking about American Football.


Anyway everyone, I figured out a way to settle this. Lets have the Oakland Raiders and the SK Rapid Wien fight it out. In a steel cage.

[Gypsys Kiss]

Of course, there is almost no strategy being devised between plays in football.

I know that you are not talking about American Football.


Anyway everyone, I figured out a way to settle this. Lets have the Oakland Raiders and the SK Rapid Wien fight it out. In a steel cage.

Are you sure the Oakland Raiders could find the cage without a playbook.

Anyway, how can you compare to totaly diferent sports. There is not a shred of common ground. I have never called it soccer and aslong as it is Stockport County Football Club, I never will. That is not being elitist, it is being factual.

[muy_thaiguy]

Not 100% sure on this, but I think the Japanese also call soccer, soccer.

Anyways, in football (American version), you need different skills for different positions. Like strength and size for linemen, speed and agility for receivers, quick, accurate throws and rapid thinking for the QB, strong yet accurate kicks for the kicker, and tight ends need to be quick, be able to block, catch, etc. In soccer, it is a bit well, not as limited. Other then goalies, the skills needed really aren't all that different in soccer (European football).

[heavycola]

But goals come from teamwork, passing, movement, creating space... there is so much more to football than just scoring. Holland have scored plenty of goals in Euro 08 but watching them move the ball around has been a joy, too.

Duh, same can be said for American football (where scoring is still less common than in basketball or baseball), but get real: You don't scream the same way during a great pass as you do during a great goal.

I try never to scream. It's more of a squeal really. Basically we grew up with football, you lot grew up with american football. That's all it is. To appreciate the finer points of each game requires, i would assume, a deeper knowledge of the sport than I have about AF and, I am guessing, many yanks have about football.
So to many of us in the UK, AF looks like nothing more than a bunch of padded pituitary retards running into one another, the same way football looks boring to you. Both opinions are only really true in a culturally relative sense. If anyone wants to start an AF appreciation thread for newcomers to the sport, perhaps based on an actual game, that would be welcomed and worthwhile i think.

[muy_thaiguy]

But goals come from teamwork, passing, movement, creating space... there is so much more to football than just scoring. Holland have scored plenty of goals in Euro 08 but watching them move the ball around has been a joy, too.

Duh, same can be said for American football (where scoring is still less common than in basketball or baseball), but get real: You don't scream the same way during a great pass as you do during a great goal.

I try never to scream. It's more of a squeal really. Basically we grew up with football, you lot grew up with american football. That's all it is. To appreciate the finer points of each game requires, i would assume, a deeper knowledge of the sport than I have about AF and, I am guessing, many yanks have about football.
So to many of us in the UK, AF looks like nothing more than a bunch of padded pituitary retards running into one another, the same way football looks boring to you. Both opinions are only really true in a culturally relative sense. If anyone wants to start an AF appreciation thread for newcomers to the sport, perhaps based on an actual game, that would be welcomed and worthwhile i think.

Actually, in my town, soccer is actually more popular to do then football. Granted we do have peewees league for football, most kids grow up here playing soccer, even into Junior High and sometimes High School. Though for grade school through Junior High, the team that most soccer players want to get on is Blizzards, the "elite" team you could say. I got an invitation, but my knees were already giving me problems so I couldn't join.

And yes, I have watched professional soccer teams from say, Mexico and such, but I honestly found AF more exciting.

[sam_levi_11]

if you werent so sh*te at it and had good skill level like the premier league/la liga, then u might like it.

Well, I will NEVER be at the premier league level. Maybe la liga, if I really apply myself.

i wasnt saying you, but america. you have a rubbish league and rubbish skills levels with not one world class american player.

[got tonkaed]

if you werent so sh*te at it and had good skill level like the premier league/la liga, then u might like it.

Well, I will NEVER be at the premier league level. Maybe la liga, if I really apply myself.

i wasnt saying you, but america. you have a rubbish league and rubbish skills levels with not one world class american player.

its a good thing England has all those world class players, otherwise they wouldnt be able to qualify for international competitions like the Euros.

[Juan_Bottom]

if you werent so sh*te at it and had good skill level like the premier league/la liga, then u might like it.

Well, I will NEVER be at the premier league level. Maybe la liga, if I really apply myself.

i wasnt saying you, but america. you have a rubbish league and rubbish skills levels with not one world class american player.

That's cuz the largest portion of Americans find soccer to be dull. Nobody wants to play it; I don't know of a single Englishman who rules at U.S. football, for the same reason. But! America does have a lock-down on basketball!

[icedagger]

Not 100% sure on this, but I think the Japanese also call soccer, soccer.

Anyways, in football (American version), you need different skills for different positions. Like strength and size for linemen, speed and agility for receivers, quick, accurate throws and rapid thinking for the QB, strong yet accurate kicks for the kicker, and tight ends need to be quick, be able to block, catch, etc. In soccer, it is a bit well, not as limited. Other then goalies, the skills needed really aren't all that different in soccer (European football).

Tell that to Eboue. Midfielder my arse..

[kletka]

I claim to be equally knowledgable of both games I went to college in US and I live in UK for quite a few years now. Being equally knowledgable and fond of both games, I repeat (european) football is more interesting, both to play and to watch. Look up my post above...

America does have a lock-down on basketball!

When did USofA win anything internationally, world cup or olympics I love NBA but this is really a circus. Even americans love NCAA torunament much more. Have you ever heard of office polls on NBA tournament. The real thing is around in corner, in august in Beijing

[Pedronicus]

Q; How many miles does a football player run in a game?
In: Football - American

1-2 miles


Q; How many kilometers soccer players run in the highest lever games?

In an average soccer game you run about 6 miles.

then i found this (good for a laugh all you fellow Europeans!!!!)

Q; What can be done to increase the popularity of soccer in America?

I’ve read many opinions and some of the ideas/suggestions are:

* Create more timeouts and game stoppage situations so television producers can sell more advertisements and be more motivated to put soccer matches on television. Since soccer has so few time-outs and break times for commercial advertisements, television producers cannot make much profit in televising soccer. A typical American football game may have 45 minutes of TV advertisements. It seems soccer has only a few minutes for TV advertisements. Soccer is successful all over the world, but maybe the economics are different in America.

* Reduce the size of the soccer field to something similar to American football fields. This way soccer matches could be played in the largest football stadiums in America, instead of smaller soccer-specific stadiums.

* Create more scoring. 20 - 17 soccer scores? Americans may prefer higher scoring games. The National Hockey League is trying to increase scoring to increase public interest. Some possible suggestions for soccer:

* Reduce the size of the field.
* Increase the height or width of the goal.
* Eliminate the goalie completely, except on penalty kicks or shootouts.
* More points for scoring from further out on the field.
* Reduce the number of players on the field to increase scoring.

* Allow more substitutions or unlimited substitutions during stoppages. This keeps the players fresh and may increase scoring and level of play.

* Bring better players to America from around the world (Pele, David Beckham, etc.) to allow Americans to feel they are watching the best in the world.

[got tonkaed]

I claim to be equally knowledgable of both games I went to college in US and I live in UK for quite a few years now. Being equally knowledgable and fond of both games, I repeat (european) football is more interesting, both to play and to watch. Look up my post above...

America does have a lock-down on basketball!

When did USofA win anything internationally, world cup or olympics I love NBA but this is really a circus. Even americans love NCAA torunament much more. Have you ever heard of office polls on NBA tournament. The real thing is around in corner, in august in Beijing

you sir are being ridiculous. Im pretty sure there are approximately 0 americans who care more about how the US team does than the NBA, especially among people who watch basketball.

[btownmeggy]

AF looks like nothing more than a bunch of padded pituitary retards running into one another

Yes! Because this is so, I had a natural aversion to football for most of my life, despite growing up in honest-to-goodness football country. The first time I ever actually sat down and watched an entire football game was when my partner's family took me to an Oregon v. Cal game. It was very very cold and rainy. I had on a very charming green and yellow skirt suit with yellow stockings and green shoes that I had to cover up with a blanket because of the inclemency!, so I was from the start ill-disposed to the occasion. For about the first half of the game, my partner simply tried to explain to me what a "down" was. But when it finally clicked, everything changed. Every play became a gamble, a bet, a dare! I was smitten by the quarterback, a wee boy with skinny minnie legs, struggling in one of his first major games. Finally, the game went into overtime, and tell the glory Oregon, the Ducks won!

I'm still no football fan, but I understand the game and can enjoy it, at least when played at the college level.

The wee boy, of course, is my darling Dennis Dixon.

[Juan_Bottom]

I claim to be equally knowledgable of both games I went to college in US and I live in UK for quite a few years now. Being equally knowledgable and fond of both games, I repeat (european) football is more interesting, both to play and to watch. Look up my post above...

America does have a lock-down on basketball!

When did USofA win anything internationally, world cup or olympics I love NBA but this is really a circus. Even americans love NCAA torunament much more. Have you ever heard of office polls on NBA tournament. The real thing is around in corner, in august in Beijing

you sir are being ridiculous. Im pretty sure there are approximately 0 americans who care more about how the US team does than the NBA, especially among people who watch basketball.

Yup. Our best players don't even play on a world stage, because they might get hurt. But other nations best players dream of making it to the NBA.