Nikke-

Im from Finland and I often check the match results from NFL. I think that NFL is very high quality league just like NHL. I also watch Superbowl every year. I think there are some people interested about NFL in Europe, but MLB is not so popular. (Sry for bad english)

SwaT

Why is it that you have the need to flame every thread? You do realize that you are infringing upon the unwritten behavioral code that this site has and that repeated actions as such can result in a ban?

zipe

I'm disgusted by the name of the sport, American Football. More like armpitball. Whoever came up with that name is really stupid. As far as I'm concerned the sport can exist but change the name for crying out loud. It has nothing to do with feet, except running but in which sport you dont run? (No need to be a wiseass here).
Both sports must be great entertainment since they gather so much audience, sure, but theyre not something I would follow. Ice hockey ftw

SwaT

It's never refered to as American football. It's named as football and always has been. The only reason we sometimes add the word American is because people confuse it with soccer

zipe

LDO SwaT. I live in a different continent so its natural that I call it American football, to avoid being confused to REAL football which you call soccer. Still, it shouldnt be referred to as football.

zipe

They use their feet and legs to move around on the tennis court and you dont hear the word "foot" in tennis. Like I said earlier, more like armpitball. They carry the ball around in their armpits, feet are nearly unnecessary. Wow one extra point for kicking the ball through a giantic "goal" or whatever. In FOOTBALL they PLAY with their feet, control the ball, pass it further, shoot the ball. And youre not allowed to TOUCH the ball with your hands, what kind of sport is named FOOTBALL if you can touch the ball with your hands?

Armpitball, carryball, those come to my mind. They run in many sports, yet, the foot-part is not a piece of the name

AjS

Armpitball LOL. From now on I shall call it that. I can hardly even stand calling it American _football_ it justs sounds so wrong

I dislike both basket and armpitball, you dont really grow up with it here, it's more likely you'll play football or ice hockey. I used to be all crazy about NHL and, but that interest has become smaller since I got introduced to the beautiful game called football.

AjS

it isn't that I dont get NFL or MLB over here. I have many sports channels that include them as well as football.

nicknamessuck

American Handball :>>>

"They use their feet and legs to grind up the field and get a touchdown."

lolololol

gotta love the stupid explanations americans always come up with for the name

nicknamessuck

PS what were you crying about actually?

you asked for a non-american view, and thats what my view on american sports is: i dont give a shit about them

zipe

lol believe it or not but I nearly put that on my list. but then I realized Americans would have to come up with another name for original handball which wouldnt be quite fair for handball now would it? =) however it would be better than american football, definitely.

potatoe

Well I'm not exaclty a rugby fan, but isn't American football a bit similar to the European Rugby?
Given that, I don't really feel the need to watch American Football when I can watch English or French rugby (Even if that's a lack of curiosity). By the way, may be 'American Rugby' would be more appropriate than Armpitball, at least it sounds better :)
I find NHL to be more about punching the guy in front of you than actually trying to score..

SwaT

First off, Rugby and Football are completely different. The only thing that they have in common in the shape of the ball. The ball itself is completely different aside from that. Both sports have a completely different set of players, rules and field.

As far as the NHL goes, I can see that you have never been to a game. I mean yes, they do fight quite a bit but its part of the fun really, that's all. If you were at a game and they were fighting, you'd be loving every second of it.

blank1

Over here football is called football, and over there you call it "American" football. Do you except all 350 million of us to accept your tip that we change the name because it doesn't quite make sense? LOL. It's called football here. And that's that.

SwaT

Thank you! :)

_evan

And you wonder why no one likes Americans. Guess the other 5 and half billion people can feel smug knowing we call it by its proper terminology and resenting your shambles of a country.

_evan

They really don't. Go google the differences. American football takes all of the natural attributes which differentiate rugby as a sport from others and basically cheapens them into something unrecognisable.

SwaT

There's a lot more to it than just the name. Football has a tradition, just like baseball. It has nothing to do with the rest of the world. It is our sport...

_evan

I almost forgot the fact you lived in Europe for 20 years, you really wouldn't think it. America's traditions are as comical and fake as the marketing departments which made them. 'Our sport'...give me a break.

SwaT

Although I was raised and lived there for 20 years I spent quite a bit of time with my family in the USA... And I've lived here for a while now too...
As far as traditions go, it has NOTHING to do with marketing.. nothing at all. There's a heritage and set of tradition that doesn't exist in Europe. There's nothing like it. Go to a baseball game on day.. and make sure you get there early and you will see.

Andriy-

I live in America so I've had ample opportunity to watch both NFL & MLB until I discovered online streaming for European football.

The MLB to me is the most boring thing in the world, honestly, I don't understand how anyone could find it exciting. I think it's still around because it's an American tradition with a developed sectarian fan base and is also a popular past time to go to a ball game and eat and drink. But to me, a person who has never experienced it before, watching it on TV is awful and I hate it. It just won't succeed in Europe. It's worked in Asia because it was forcibly introduced after World War II, but European football will soon become more popular than baseball in Japan & Korea (if it hasn't already).

NFL/NCAAF was okay for me for a little bit. But in the end I got bored of it very fast, because the game takes 3 hours to complete while there is very little action, the game is stopped for most of the time and I can't stand it. It's just not for me, I don't really enjoy watching it. The most I do now is have it on in the background while I'm using the computer, if I hear the commentators yelling then I will turn around and watch when there is a big play, but that's as far as it goes.

Basketball I think is okay, but I still find it mundane - it's like the same thing over and over, without anything too drastic or too interesting. I find it bland.

On the other hand I love watching the NHL and think it's awesome, it's just too bad it's not broadcasted any more than it is.

blank1

Funny, I dislike soccer because I find it repetitive and it looks like they're not doing anything. Then, I like football because each play is jam packed with lines of 280+ lbs. dudes of solid muscle slamming into each other while the QB has to get rid of that ball before he gets turned into a pancake, and his RB and receivers have to be both fast and smart as shit to get that play completed.

Soccer is probably exciting too. But I know nothing about it other than you have to kick a ball into a huge net, which doesn't even happen all that often. I'm sure if I knew more about it, I'd like it. Same with you Europhiles.

SwaT

Actually baseball is booming in Japan and they are really, really starting to become world-known for their talent now and a lot of players are being drafted from Japan into the American leagues and some American players go play in Japan as well. The potential market there is huge.

nicknamessuck

"There's a lot more to it than just the name. Football has a tradition, just like baseball. It has nothing to do with the rest of the world. It is our sport..."

yea... but wait, you forgot that there is already an older, better, and 100 times more popular sport called football (which btw is actually played with the feet heh)

nicknamessuck

you mean same with you, rest of the world =)

blank1

However, it's the Europeans that become Europhiles in the presence of anything "American" that usually go off about "American" Football. It's a fkn name. Whatever. Blah.

zipe

tell me something what isnt booming in Japan

blank1

I can't believe Europeans even dare raise their voice to us for being "nationalistic." The second I utter something that is completely neutral (extremely rare) you fucking jump up on your soap box and try to condescend. Anti-patriotic sentiment towards America is just as much fascism as you accuse us of. So fuck you, and kill yourself. You are a wast of semen. Thanks.

You honestly believe people are losing sleep at night because we call our favorite national sport football. My goodness, go sell yourself to tampax because you're one HUGE fucking douche bag. It is our sport, we enjoy it. 350 million of us have a name for that. Should we change it to please you fuckfaces?

OMG. Die. Thnx.

nicknamessuck

chill a bit with me blank1 :)

SwaT

You use your head in soccer as well... so wouldn't calling it football be stupid too? Soccer is the real name for that sport.

nicknamessuck

only in 1 country retard

oh yea u can use your head, nice excuse LOL

as a matter of fact you have to use your feet 90% in football

and your skill has to be in your feet

in american handball most players dont need any skill in their feet

gg

blank1

You obviously know about as much about football as I do about soccer. Footwork in football is what makes or breaks a lot of positions. Your feet in conjunction with your core and change the whole momentum of your body in a split second -- a defensive lineman trying to get past a (usually) much larger offensive lineman to stop the ball from going down field, so he needs to utilize a lot of clever foot work and momentum changing to slip past, because you're not going to brute force your way past an offensive lineman.

Also, running backs need the quick foot work to move into gaps quickly and get past them quickly, while constantly "dancing" with the fluctuations of the pocket. I was a wide receiver for four years on my high school team, and turned down a football scholarship because the school I was headed to didn't have a good communications department.

blank1

Forgive typos :(

nicknamessuck

"Footwork in football is what makes or breaks a lot of positions. Your feet in conjunction with your core and change the whole momentum of your body in a split second"

yea... thats called "running" duuude

why dont we just call all sports that involve running "football" HEHE

blank1

Sprinting and having the agility to change direction with the flow of the gap in a football game is not exactly easy. I don't think you know a damned thing about (American) football. Anyone can run in a straight line fast.

BTW, there's a huge amount of difference between running fast and knowing how to shift your core and footwork to completely change your direction while maintaining speed. They actually do that in soccer quite a bit, I've noticed. Although not as well.

nicknamessuck

you could say the same thing about tennis, and many other sports

footwork surely is vital in tennis to the same extent

the thing that matters: you almost never play with your feet in american "football"

SwaT

Lots of things aren't booming in Japan... Tennis. American Football. Curling. Skiing.
Baseball is though and more and more players from Japan, especially pitchers are brought into the MLB

zipe

sigh

zipe

you dribble the ball with your feet, you score goals with your feet, you PLAY THE BALL with your FEET. hence the name, FOOTBALL. plus the obvious, running, passing, crossing etc.

in armpitball you kick the ball every once in a while. so what else? am i missing something here? yea they move by running. do they use their feet to pass the ball or score a touchdown (apart from running. that happens in football too hehe). theres no logic in picking a name for your national sport.

survey: do you honestly think that football is the best suited name for your national sport?

StereOsounD

American football is for sisies, who can't play soccer!! And about baseball... I'm just not into sports with sticks involved...

SwaT

I agree on your perspective of football. Nothing beats the sounds of the pads clashing and seeing a QB evolve in the pocket in order to move the chains :)

SwaT

Who the hell is American Football for sissies? Do you realize that about 80% of the players who have a career in the sport go through at least one surgical procedure. The sport is very intense and requires a lot of physical aptitude... People really do get injured.. whether its a broken rib, a concussion or a sprain, rosters are usually depleted from a good amount of their players by the time the playoffs come around.

blank1

BAHAHA. Are you serious? American football players' only joy is smacking the shit out of each other, breaking some ankles with deft footwork, and/or blasting past slow ass defenders. It's a tough sport. In your soccer, the players get nicked on the knee, or sometimes not even touched at all, but they're on the fucking floor acting like they're hurt, whining like bitches. Fuck. Your definition of the term sissy is obviously skewed. I'm not saying all soccer players are pussy ass bitches. But a sure large amount of them are. Hot damn, some of them make fucking careers out of play crying and whining to the ref like he was daddy or some shit.

blank1

The entire point I was trying to convey was that football requires footwork. I never said it was more or less skilled than any sport's required footwork, should it require such. Footwork will make or break the player in football. Not to mention you have to be able to achieve an incredibly fast speed in a very short amount of distance to break the pocket or out pace such and such zone of defense. That seems like grounds to call it "football" to me. Besides, who ever make it a universal rule that only a game where you use your feet to score should be called football.

Fuck. Get over yourselves.