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Journal FortKnox's Journal: Its the most wonderful time.... of the year! 31

Journal by FortKnox
Yes, I purposely didn't put "Football:" in the title, but that's what I'm talkin about! For you americanites that don't watch the game, what turns you off about it? Would you be interested in learning the game? Would you be interested in watching it tonight? Tonight *is* the first game (Redskins vs Jets) and the announcers tend to be a little more explanatory in the game the first few games, so why not give it a shot?

If you get confused or have questions, post'm here and I'll answer them for ya. I'm pretty knowledgable in the game.

Oh, and for the fantasyfootballers... gotta set your lineups today before the game (if you have washington or jets players)!!! Don't forget! I'd hate to beat you just because you didn't set your lineup (I prefer a sound beating when you are prepared). :-P
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Its the most wonderful time.... of the year! More

Its the most wonderful time.... of the year!

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  • I am pumped up this year. I've been a die hard Eagles fan since 1982 and well, this team this year looks really solid (minus a few key injuries).

    But anyway, I got my Sunday Ticket all set (3rd year now) and ready to see McNabb and the boys get the job done!

    Just hope they don't do the Big Choke against Tampa *again*

  • bah. (Score:2)

    by Surak ( 18578 ) *
    By the title I thought hockey season started... ;)

    • I know... then he had to go and ruin it by talking about some other sport that's totally incorrectly named (it's not a ball, and you usually don't contact it with your feet anyways).
      • Worse, it's incorrectly named as the same name of another sport where an actual ball that *does* come in contact with the feet quite regluarly is used.

        (for all you dumb Americans*: soccer, which is called football almost everywhere else except the United States)

        * Yes, I know I'm one of those, that's why I can call y'all dumb Americans and nobody'll smack me upside the head for it. ;)

        • I've been around enough non-Americans that I've started taking to calling them 'soccer' and 'American football', just to make sure to avoid any confusion if I were to say 'football' as to which sport I am referring to.

          We need another term to refer to the American sport with the oblong thingy that people throw around with their hands. "Handpig" anyone? :) Perhaps "Gruntsmash"? Or just refer to it as "The State Religion of Texas"?
  • I just don't much care for it. I'm an avid hockey fan and a casual baseball and golf fan, but other than that not much of a sports junkie.

    I understand the basics of the game (though not all the technicalities of all the penalties, why would a team decline a penalty, can't be much of a penalty if the other team doesn't even want to accept it?) My biggest complaint about the game is that there is little flow to the game. Set up for a play, run it, set up for next play and so on. I understand that this is the

    • why would a team decline a penalty, can't be much of a penalty if the other team doesn't even want to accept it?

      I'm more of a hockey fan, too, but for the sake of your knowledge:

      Let's say a team completes a 25 yard pass, and there's a 5 yard penalty on the defense. You'd decline the 5 yard gain and repeat of the play and take the 25 yards, right? (After most penalties, the previous play is cancelled.)

      That's why when a defender obviously jumps early, the quarterback will throw long. It's a free play where y

    • It runs on the same principle of a delayed call in hockey. You let the unpenalized team continue the play with the chance to do something better than the penalty would give them ... or to retaliate stupidly and get offsetting penalties/coincidental minors.

      -Ab
  • Foos-ball's the devil!!

    My aversion to football initiated during my formative years, because as I was growing up, during football season, that's *all* that was ever on the television, and it was on *constantly*. As a teenager (when I naturally rebellious, anyway), I honed in on football as one specific target of my hostilities. I find it repugnant and reviling.

    I am pretty much disgusted with the mindless zeal with which enthusiasts follow the sport. It just gets out of hand. People look forward all year
    • It's up to them if they want to drive their bodies to, and past, the breaking point, but that attitude does NOT make a positive contribution to humankind...

      This is the same in any sport - baseball, football, cycling, NASCAR, etc. A large part of the game is a mental mindset that despite the odds, one can continue to strive for excellence and accomplish feats never thought possible. How is this not a positive contribution? Some child may take this to heart and push past their place in society or past a lea
      • That was a poorly (and hastily) written statement. I didn't mean that the effort to strive beyond their limits was bad. I was trying to mean that the "warrior" attitude does not positively contribute to normal, peaceful society. It's fine when you need to send men off to fight wars (thank god there are people who can think that way) -- but not when you send them out of the locker room to go function as a normal human being in conventional society.

        ....Bethanie....
    • Its funny, I sorta had the same mindset. When I grew up my parents were huge football fans and that was all that was ever on on sundays in our house. I had gotten into it as a kid because well, its what was there. When I got into later high school age early college I completely was anti-anything dealing with sports (jocks suck).

      Then something funny happened. I grew up a little, my mom died and watching football now, means more connecting with those childhood memories and remembering how much fun it was to
    • Comment removed based on user account deletion
  • 1. Way too many players on the field at any given time.

    2. Too predictable: 3-yard rush, 3-yard rush, 3-yard rush, 1-yard run, first down. Repeat ad nauseum

    3. Too much hype.

    4. The entire sport seems based on gambling. Every NFL fan I know in Canada only likes the game because they like the betting that goes along with it. I wonder how much ratings would plummet if betting on NFL football were frowned upon by the league?

    Things I like about the NFL:

    1. Salary cap.
    2. Revenue Sharing.

    Every pro spo
  • Hate football. Here's why:

    1. Action is divided into plays. So it's 3 seconds of activity, 3 seconds of activity, repeat ad nauseum. Plays are generally repetitive. Rush, Rush, Rush, Pass. First down. Yay.

    2. Too much padding. If I'm watching a sport, I'm watching redirected violence. Show me injury, and when there's an injury there should be blood. No fights in football either.

    3. Athleticism required is overrated compared to that required by "Soccer", Hockey, Basketball, or track.

    4. Overhyped.

    5.
  • No appreciation of the game is complete without hearing the George Carlin Baseball vs. Football sketch (text here [baseball-almanac.com]).

    My favorite football column is Gregg Easterbrook's Tuesday Morning Quarterback [go.com] on ESPN.com. Peter King's Monday Morning Quarterback [cnn.com], on SI.com, is also good.

    Easterbrook is a great antidote for those who tend to take the game too seriously.

  • meh (Score:1)

    by subgeek ( 263292 )
    i can watch football, but it's not fun for me. several reasons.

    don't care for watching most sports on TV

    too much about machismo, glory, and ego

    a slow game that still isn't leisurely. baseball is slow, but is a steady trickle of events. football happens in spurts.

    rules are comprehensible, but there are too many. why does it have to be so complex? apparently just to differentiate it from rugby.

    people who tend to play football also tend to be people who wanted to beat me up my first two years of high
  • I don't pay any attention to the NFL any more. I grew up, not surprisingly, in a Cowboys household. You didn't walk in front of the TV on Sunday, and it was pointless to try to hold a conversation with my dad while the Cowboys were on. He was incapable. Then Emperor Palpatine bought the Cowboys and fired Tom Landry. You can't come up with a better example of sacrilege in Texas than firing Tom Landry from the Cowboys. It began the slide, but the new coach began kicking ass and winning Superbowls, so it
  • Way back when, my girlfriend took me home to meet her family for the first time. Always that uncomfortable, awkward, desperate for an icebreaker or common thread moment. Things were not going well with her father.

    Did I mention she was the oldest of seven? I swear they could smell fear, and sensed this was more than 'just some random guy'. A pack of wolves...

    As they backed me into a corner, I desperately grasped for anything. So I looked at her brother's baseball cap, noticed it was the Miami Dolphin
  • For you americanites that don't watch the game, what turns you off about it?

    I think a better question is what, indeed, turns you on about it? I've never really understood the false rivalries teams and their fans propagate for no reason other than, apparently, to have a rivalry. It seems nearly useless and while I really do enjoy going to the odd Redskins or Ravens game the outcome of said game is completely not the point.

    That said, I did go to college at U of Florida where it's absolutely mandatory that
  • You are right my friend - it is the most wonderful time of the year. It is football finals time! My beloved Pies are playing the Brisbane Lions in the Qualifying Final tomorrow night, I have my ticket to the game, and am looking forward to watching the boys kick some serious butt and set themselves up for a great run to the Grand Final. This year is our year to take the flag!

    Good old Collingwood forever,
    we know how to play the game.
    Side by side we stick together,
    to uphold The Magpies name.
    Hear the barrack

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