A question for American sports viewers

Andrew~

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The NFL is probably the best sports league in the world right now. The games are usually really fun to watch, pundits are a good distance better than soccer ones, you can drink in the stadium, they have cheerleaders etc etc.

But because I'm a little biased, I still think soccer is a better sport, just that at the highest level there are a lot of off-field issues that are ruining the product and making the on-field stuff not as fun to watch. And I also think going to the watch games live in the PL is a mug's game these days. Shit weather, no booze and even worse food.
 

poleglass red

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Andrew~ said:
The NFL is probably the best sports league in the world right now. The games are usually really fun to watch, pundits are a good distance better than soccer ones, you can drink in the stadium, they have cheerleaders etc etc.

But because I'm a little biased, I still think soccer is a better sport, just that at the highest level there are a lot of off-field issues that are ruining the product and making the on-field stuff not as fun to watch. And I also think going to the watch games live in the PL is a mug's game these days. Shit weather, no booze and even worse food.
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I think that is North American sports in a nut shell, certainly as going to view it live. You've mentioned pundits, cheer leaders, weather, booze and food. You haven't one mentioned atmosphere, which I find weird at North American sports in general. Everything is so stop start, games are so frequent in the regular season, lack of away fans due to distance, the length of games. I have been to all the major sports, there is so much of field entertainment that has to be added to the show to keep people intertested as the events last so long, Tee shirts etc getting flung etc. The only sport that is maybe comparable is hockey as the action is more constant as per football in the PL
 

Andrew~

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poleglass red said:
I think that is North American sports in a nut shell, certainly as going to view it live. You've mentioned pundits, cheer leaders, weather, booze and food. You haven't one mentioned atmosphere, which I find weird at North American sports in general. Everything is so stop start, games are so frequent in the regular season, lack of away fans due to distance, the length of games. I have been to all the major sports, there is so much of field entertainment that has to be added to the show to keep people intertested as the events last so long, Tee shirts etc getting flung etc. The only sport that is maybe comparable is hockey as the action is more constant as per football in the PL
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I don't think it's quite that simple. The atmosphere at NFL games is different than we're used to because the fans are generally not segregated. It gets really rawkus if the game is even or you have some of the louder fans (12th man for example).

I just think PL clubs take their fans for granted, the way they package their matchdays, it's like they feel like the fans should be grateful to even be there. They aren't doing much to add to the spectacle despite the fact that ticket prices have gone up ridiculous amounts. There's nothing comparable to the tailgates, or the half-time entertainment.

Seattle v Oakland last year (in London) was the most fun I've had watching sport other than the England v Croatia game at Wembley. I was watching my favourite team, the atmosphere was amazing, I had as much booze as I could want, food was great, the tailgate was great. But like I said before, I think soccer is a better sport than American football, but you'd very rarely see me pay money to go to soccer games these days ( I get free United and England tickets now and again) because I just don't enjoy the experience anywhere near as much.
 

Andrew~

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adexkola said:
Do the London NFL games have a good atmosphere? Do they get some generic chants going like "you're getting sacked in the morning"?
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The London games are a bit hit and miss because, as you can expect, the fans are usually from different support bases. Seattle fans travel more than most and they're also some of the loudest so that game in particular was pretty wild.

And no, there aren't many songs like that.
 

utdalltheway

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"who's the wanker? who's the wanker? who's the wanker in the black?
who's the wanker in the black?"
Nah, none of that to be found.

That said there can be great atmosphere at the games, in between commercial break stoppages.
To get people re-engaged after the breaks in action at a recent baseball game the prompts on the marquee: "Make some noise!"
followed shortly after again by "Make some noise!"
The constant entertainment is kept going with The Kiss Cam, and the aforementioned t-shirts being shot into the crowd from air cannons.
Let's not forget the "salute to veterans", the 7th inning stretch classic song "take me out to the ballgame".

These days I'm usually well on my way home before the games are over as I can't get invested enough to stay. But plenty of others seem to enjoy it.
 
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RoadTrip

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The comment above about pundits is so true. The NFL pundits are much more entertaining, knowledgeable, and generally a much more interesting watch.
 

Andrew~

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rpitroda said:
The comment above about pundits is so true. The NFL pundits are much more entertaining, knowledgeable, and generally a much more interesting watch.
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Indeed. I would encourage anyone to watch the BBC's NFL show, which comes on after Match of The Day during the NFL season. The difference is incredible. MOTD has these dour, self-important characters who almost seem like they don't enjoy being paid to watch football and give shit analysis.
 

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Rado_N said:
Except for Skip Bayless.

Also Stephen A Smith.
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You obviously get the bad one here and there, no sport is immune to it, but overall watching most NFL pregames or post games, analysis shows, or reading articles from pundits on news outlets are much more enjoyable and insightful.
 

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Andrew~ said:
Indeed. I would encourage anyone to watch the BBC's NFL show, which comes on after Match of The Day during the NFL season. The difference is incredible. MOTD has these dour, self-important characters who almost seem like they don't enjoy being paid to watch football and give shit analysis.
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Sadly I never find the time to watch that one. Takes me the majority of my commutes each week watching every game on condensed on game pass.

The only show I regularly watch is Gameday Prime, because it’s so fun watching Sharpe and Prime argue :lol:
 

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rpitroda said:
You obviously get the bad one here and there, no sport is immune to it, but overall watching most NFL pregames or post games, analysis shows, or reading articles from pundits on news outlets are much more enjoyable and insightful.
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I completely agree. I just wanted to go on record saying Skip Bayless is a cnut.
 

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I went to a basketball game. The audience were more interested in the bullshit happening in the intervals than the actual game.
 

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Eboue said:
Bill Barnwell
Mike Tanier
Aaron Schatz
Will Brinson
Mina Kimes
Chase Stuart
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Those are writers I assumed people were talking about the former players who do pre and post game shows. And while do not follow the NFL as much as I used to but, generally the guys on pre and post game shows were absolutely terrible.
 

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sport2793 said:
I watch the NFL and NBA as intently as I watch football so yes. The balance of teams in the NFL is unmatched in any other sporting league.
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Is NBA not a bit boring how one-sided many games are?
 

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rcoobc said:
Is NBA not a bit boring how one-sided many games are?
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As mentioned earlier, the regular season and the post season are two different animals. Blowouts in basketball are indeed very boring, but close games in the tail end of the season are intense!
 

poleglass red

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I'm in Toronto right now so getting into the whole Raptor spirit, as an Irishman though I find it very difficult to watch a whole game. There is so much scoring early on that it kind of makes it weird for me. Scoring should be the ulitmate in a sport, but grabbing points early on it's kind of meh. The last spell of the game is very intense. The other thing I found is the bar I was in was jammed, I find a lot of people talking to each other, on their phones, nipping out for a smoke etc. If that Utd in a champions league semi final, I just find the crowd for the 90 mins are focused on the game. Not saying it's bad, it's just strange compared to what I'm used to. Plus the amount of food being eaten during the game, most of the pubs I watch matches in don't even serve food, and we'd be too involved in the game to even contemplate it. Each to their own I guess, it works for them, when in Rome......
 

Andrew~

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I don't watch MLB, but apparently they do a game in London as well now? Anyone going?
 

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I'm not American, but I have lived here for more than 10 years. I used to have a season ticket for United in the Stretford end and have seen Football in around 20 different stadiums. Here, I've had a LA Rams season ticket (NFL) and I go to a few Dodgers (MLB) games every year, have been to around 10 different ballparks across the country and have seen NBA and NHL live. I'm more into football obviously because I grew up with it and have a far bigger love and passion for United then I do any other sport.

I think the NFL is a better individual league/competition in anything in other sports with the exception of the World Cup. Champions League has given great drama but domestic leagues have become more and more 1 or 2 horse races which kills the suspense early into a season. The structure too is better, the rich get richer in Football and then there's oil clubs. I think American sports in general are better at this and even though Baseball has no salary cap it's always different winners though the sport can be boring.

As far as live experience. NFL IMO is really good live. The crowd is really into it, a lot more so than Baseball or Basketball. It doesn't have the songs and chants that English Football has though but I think the game day experience is great because of the tailgate experience. Crowd is livelier than a game in Barcelona or Real Madrid though. You can hear a pin drop at Camp Nou.

I'll never like a team sport more than Footy (Boxing is my ultimate #1) but when it comes to watching as a neutral I've been comparably/more entertained by NFL in recent years than footy outside of Champions League.
 

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Andrew~ said:
The NFL is probably the best sports league in the world right now. The games are usually really fun to watch, pundits are a good distance better than soccer ones, you can drink in the stadium, they have cheerleaders etc etc.

But because I'm a little biased, I still think soccer is a better sport, just that at the highest level there are a lot of off-field issues that are ruining the product and making the on-field stuff not as fun to watch. And I also think going to the watch games live in the PL is a mug's game these days. Shit weather, no booze and even worse food.
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I disagree in that between 11 and 15 minutes of a 4 hour NFL game is actual game play. That's a lot of commercial breaks, players walking around etc... I used to watch all of the games I could, now I only watch my favorite team and I start the game 2 hours late and fast forward through all of the junk. The commercial breaks are ridiculous (score a touchdown commercial break, kick-off after touchdown, commercial break, rinse, repeat...). I prefer the 2 hour window of a soccer game then I can get on with my day (especially here in America where the games are done by lunch time).

Granted, I am in the minority in this.
 

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MarylandMUFan said:
I disagree in that between 11 and 15 minutes of a 4 hour NFL game is actual game play. That's a lot of commercial breaks, players walking around etc... I used to watch all of the games I could, now I only watch my favorite team and I start the game 2 hours late and fast forward through all of the junk. The commercial breaks are ridiculous (score a touchdown commercial break, kick-off after touchdown, commercial break, rinse, repeat...). I prefer the 2 hour window of a soccer game then I can get on with my day (especially here in America where the games are done by lunch time).

Granted, I am in the minority in this.
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What the hell?
 

charlton66

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rcoobc said:
Is NBA not a bit boring how one-sided many games are?
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If you have the NBA League Pass there are a multitude of games to choose from every evening so you can invariably find one that is going down to the wire. Also as has been pointed out the post season is infinitely more exciting for the casual fan (and for the serious fan I suppose).
 
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MarylandMUFan

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Ayush_reddevil

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This whole advertisement and breaks criticism is so weird. I grew up watching cricket where you get ad breaks after every over and yet it can be very entertaining to watch . Who cares if the overall product is great
 

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MarylandMUFan

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Ayush_reddevil said:
This whole advertisement and breaks criticism is so weird. I grew up watching cricket where you get ad breaks after every over and yet it can be very entertaining to watch . Who cares if the overall product is great
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If the breaks are natural like in baseball it makes sense. The NFL creates rediculous extra breaks and its ruining the product. I like football. There is so much strategy that it's great that they have a bit of time after each play to discuss what is happening but its dragged out to long. I watch some small college games that don't have as many as breaks and I find it more entertaining.
 
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