An NFL game in London

[TheTaxidermist]

I would like to get the opinion of the UK people on the board. As you may know, the Miami Dolphins and New York Giants played an NFL game in Wembley stadium. Did anybody here watch the game? Did anybody even care that an NFL (non-NFL Europe league) game was played overseas?

I was just interested to see the response and opinion of people in the UK.

[Garcian Smith]

I watched the highlights of the game on the BBC, and it did nothing to increase my interest of the game.

If I'm going to be honest, I see American Football as nothing more that a watered-down, over-dramatic, ego-driven version of Rugby.

[Wasabi]

And I see Rugby as nothing more than a way for grown men to vent their homo-erotic fantasies.

[Manbearpig]

Zing!

[Not_My_Style]

And I see Rugby as nothing more than a way for grown men to vent their homo-erotic fantasies.

I second that.

[TheTaxidermist]

Now wait, I don't see anything wrong with rugby. If you are going to call rugby homo-erotic, then I guess you gotta call football that as well. While rugby and football have many similarities, they also have many differences as well that make them two unique games.

I can understand the lack of interest from the highlights. From what I saw it wasn't a very exciting game. Now, if you had the Denver Broncos and Green Bay Packers play their game at Wembley, it would probably have generated more interest.

As regards the Dolphins/Giants, that game is not a showcase of what the NFL really can be.

[jambo]

Anyone watch the AFL exhibition matches they have in London?

[NavMan]

AFL...now there's some action!

[Psyborg]

Sports are dumb, unless they're made of polygons.

[jambo]

What an intelligent and thought provoking comment :dry:

[Mike]

I watched the highlights of the game on the BBC, and it did nothing to increase my interest of the game.

If I'm going to be honest, I see American Football as nothing more that a watered-down, over-dramatic, ego-driven version of Rugby.

Actually the two sports really are nothing alike. =]

And I see Rugby as nothing more than a way for grown men to vent their homo-erotic fantasies.

Hah. Troll much?

[rtanger]

Trying to raise interest in American football in the UK seemed to be about as successful as the UK maybe trying to raise interest in Cricket in Texas and Oklahoma.

Add that to the fact that so many Europeans in general (at least from my internet experiences) seem ready to vehemently disparage anything that appears to be remotely American in any way and dismiss it readily, so that doesn't help much. (Don't take offense at this if you disagree, it's just my impression of European opinion on anything American from what I read around the 'net.)

I'm not from the UK, but when I first heard the news that they were going to generate interest in the UK market, the only thing I could think was "no chance in Hell." Can't fault them for trying, though.

Want to talk about an exciting game that should have been there? Since the Pats/Colts game was about the most exciting thing to happen to football in years, and was already billed "Super Bowl 41.5," they should have taken THAT game to neutral territory. What a match-up it was as well.

[TheTaxidermist]

I wouldn't say Europeans dis anything American. Many things such as football (for the most part) and baseball they do. However, there are many things that both share a liking for... such as porn. We can all agree that porn is great. And seeing as a lot of porn is made in America, they can at least appreciate that.

On a more serious note, there are places that do appreciate american football. Germany would be one.

[flame]

The game annoyed me slightly, it destroyed wembley. I think it was because the grass was too short to play American football on and it just tore up. Also, it seemed a lot less exciting to watch than rugby. I think i'll stick to that :)

[Brendon]

You guys certainly got the better deal in the NFL-Beckham swap.

[TheTaxidermist]

NFL > Old, washed up, has-been?

[YukoAsho]

Yeah, send the crappy Dolphins and the crappy Giants and go impress the foreigners. What they saw was the purest garbage imaginable.

Note to Commissioner Goddell: Next time, send the Pats and the Colts.

[hoboman725]

0-11 for the win, right?

wait, no, exactly the opposite

[JTower]

Lol Beckham, lol soccer.

[jambo]

lol ignorance.

[TheTaxidermist]

Maybe the Patriots and the Steelers should head over to good ole Wembley Stadium and show you bunch how a real football game is played. None of this dolphins/giants crap. God damn how did they think that was a good idea?

[rtanger]

"Hey, let's pit a winless and tragically defunct team against a a generally average team! I bet that'll get the ratings!"

[YukoAsho]

Well I can't imagine they'd expected the Dolphins to be THIS bad.

Seriously, 0-12?

[Disc0]

It's still hard for the folks across the pond to suddenly become interested in a game they never grew up with and don't know the rules to. And the ambiguity as to who I'm talking about is intentional; it works both ways. Our set of sports are deeply rooted in our culture, and it'll take a lot more to change things around than a few games here and there to test the waters.

[TheTaxidermist]

All the NFL fans or people that would show any interest in it over there already watch football anyway.

[bluseychris]

I second that.
If that's true, and Grid Iron is watered down rugby, then The NFL is populated by frigid puffs.

It's still hard for the folks across the pond to suddenly become interested in a game they never grew up with and don't know the rules to. And the ambiguity as to who I'm talking about is intentional; it works both ways. Our set of sports are deeply rooted in our culture, and it'll take a lot more to change things around than a few games here and there to test the waters.

Not true, there's plenty of support for Ice Hockey and basketball and those aren't native sports. The problem with Grid Iron is that it's too drawn out and gets plain boring for the type of sport it is.

If I go to see Rugby I get 40 minutes of action each way with a break in the middle, 45 each way for a Football game. I get to see 5 minutes extra/stoppage time at the most. That's what I go to see, a flowing game with plenty of action. Problem with Gridiron comes when play stops. It stops every couple of minutes, at which point the clock is stopped. That's not a problem with something like fencing where a match won't last more 9 minutes total play time. But when you've got a sixty minute playtime and the play stops every two minutes for two, that's an extra hour plus half time. Add to that almost unlimited substitutions and mandatory stops after certain plays.

I don't want to watch bursts of action over a three hour period, I want good solid energized play. If I want something that last three hours I'll watch something laid back, cricket being a prime example. Personally I'd love to see Gridiron players try and cut it on a rugby pitch just to see if they can keep up.

[Kaze]

I don't really tend to watch sports. If I'm not playing, it's generally too boring for me.

The Superbowl, however, is a great excuse to get hammered.

[P-Thunder.]

The superbowl is being aired in england as well, i just watched about 5 minutes of it, but i coduln't really get into it. The only sports i can watch is boxing.

[cowfish13]

Football is really a strategic sport and not just in plays. 2 or 1 bonus points? Go for 1st down or kick on a 4th down? The broken up speed of playing and stopping just makes it more appealing. The problem with ordinary sports is that there is only one option of playing the game.

Giants wins is awesomeness btw.

[ninjalegend]

Yay, the pats go down.

[bluseychris]

Football is really a strategic sport and not just in plays. 2 or 1 bonus points? Go for 1st down or kick on a 4th down? The broken up speed of playing and stopping just makes it more appealing. The problem with ordinary sports is that there is only one option of playing the game.

Giants wins is awesomeness btw.

Not true, it just says that Grid Iron has no capacity for thought during play. After two minutes, if left on it's own, would just descend into a brawl, hence why you have constant stoppages, so someone who isn't on the pitch can work out what should happen next. In rugby and football all the tactics unfurl on the pitch, the manager may shout something from the sideline, say something at half time or he may bollock the team after the match. Aside from that everything is done on the move. Pleanty of tactic in rugby and football, only our players have brains :P

[Kaze]

The superbowl is being aired in england as well, i just watched about 5 minutes of it, but i coduln't really get into it. The only sports i can watch is boxing.

The superbowl this year was really boring and was a low scoring game.

Personally I'd love to see Gridiron players try and cut it on a rugby pitch just to see if they can keep up.

Maybe you haven't seen Devin Hester...

[TheTaxidermist]

The superbowl this year was really boring and was a low scoring game.

Yeah it was low scoring but you can't tell me that this wasn't exciting:
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[bluseychris]

That was crap, barely anything happened. They were standing around for way more time than they spent doing anything. It seemed more like throw the ball anywhere and punch someone random.

Wales vs France Six Nations 2006 Highlights

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Fiji vs Japan World Cup 2007 Highlight

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Italy vs France Six Nations 2007 Highlights

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Way more fun :D

This is from the USA 7s Rugby Internationals Tournament.
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More of an action clips thingy next

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And finally a brief explanation of basic rugby rules. Although they don't actually say, a knock on is equivocal to a forward pass.

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[teh_watchererer]

I wouldn't say Europeans dis anything American. Many things such as football (for the most part) and baseball they do. However, there are many things that both share a liking for... such as porn. We can all agree that porn is great. And seeing as a lot of porn is made in America, they can at least appreciate that.

On a more serious note, there are places that do appreciate american football. Germany would be one.


It's also made more in the asian states.

[P-Thunder.]

Personally, i just see american football as our rubgy, yeah i know there two different games completely, but most of us dont care about it. Not in a bad way, its just the majorty of us dont know much about it.

[Kaze]

That was crap, barely anything happened. They were standing around for way more time than they spent doing anything. It seemed more like throw the ball anywhere and punch someone random.

Wales vs France Six Nations 2006 Highlights

C62WIWnS_xQ
jIrPm_PE6Ow

Fiji vs Japan World Cup 2007 Highlight

XbS5-yFwMLk

Italy vs France Six Nations 2007 Highlights

BgS2eBABDgE

Way more fun :D

This is from the USA 7s Rugby Internationals Tournament.
odBhjElGaBY

More of an action clips thingy next

XaA80QDH4c4

And finally a brief explanation of basic rugby rules. Although they don't actually say, a knock on is equivocal to a forward pass.

IEQyCcageGg

Looks like a huge bore to me.

[jambo]

Aussie Rules is still better than all of them so :tongue:

[ninjalegend]

Not true, it just says that Grid Iron has no capacity for thought during play. After two minutes, if left on it's own, would just descend into a brawl, hence why you have constant stoppages, so someone who isn't on the pitch can work out what should happen next. In rugby and football all the tactics unfurl on the pitch, the manager may shout something from the sideline, say something at half time or he may bollock the team after the match. Aside from that everything is done on the move. Pleanty of tactic in rugby and football, only our players have brains :P

Sorry you think that. In between plays may go something like this.

Coach
To receiver right: run 12 yards, hook left, center field full stop.
To receiver left: Run crossing route. You are the bait.
To tight end: Run quick bank turn in case the pocket collapses.
To running back: hang back and draw the linebackers.
To full back: Your job is to break receiver right free.

And if the quarterback does not like what he sees on the field, he may change the play to one of dozens as complex as that one. And every player on the field must have those all memorized.

Soccer is a snore, but rugby is alright. It is what football would be if it was mindless and the players were all on methamphetamines. It is exciting. But I do not see the strategy. It seems more like an endurance test. Much like soccer, but not boring, due to the violence. How come the violence in soccer happens not on the field, but in the stands?

[Kester]

You see, I don't watch sports for the violence. I also think you are totally missing the strategy or a sport that is done totally on the fly. It's not just throw a ball to the next person down the line and hope.

[rtanger]

Moral of the story is-- a sport is exciting only a long as you have some sort of clue about what's actually going on.

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