What Christmas spirit ?, oh you`re so right ;)

Here's a question about American sport.

Why does the NFL only have a very short regular season (September to December), when all the other American sports such as MLB, NHL and NBA have a season which goes on for many many months?

I think it is because of the physical toll of such a violent sport.

Actually (though I can't accuse myself of ever having thought about it before) I confess I am now mildly curious about the relative brevity of the NFL season, especially given how commercial the sport is. British and other national soccer authorities are perpetually looking for ways to milk the cash cow a bit harder, so why not NFL?

There is a thriving college league in American football, professional in all but name, which draws very big crowds. Is the narrowness of the season window in part to allow the college players to study?

I understand that the MLB regular season consists of each team playing a staggering 166 matches! - whilst in contrast the NFL has a regular season that only has 16 matches. :confused:

I believe it was former NFL great Mike Ditka who said, "Professional football isn't a contact sport, it's a collision sport. Ballroom dancing is a contact sport." Sounds like something he would say, and very accurate too. Given the size, strength, and speed of the modern-day player, the many months of violent hitting, in practice and during games, takes its' toll on the body, and a lengthy off-season is well deserved. The off-season isn't as long as you might think, though. Most pro teams start working during the first week of May. One team, the Chicago Bears, had their first mini-camp on March 16th, a mere 78 days after the previous season ended. So, using May to January, the pro's are going at it for 8 months plus.


http://moondogsports.com/2009/05/01/...amp-schedules/

http://archives.chicagotribune.com/2...-chicago-mar15

With respect to American busses, another point is that most fares in city busses are flat rate no matter how far you are travelling, so there is no need for a conductor, they just drop the flat fee in the machine by the driver or insert a pass.

I first encountered validated parking in hawaii, when I went for a show

The UK has a few validated parking locations now, I encountered some in central london, where parking in a car park is free if you get your ticket validated in a local restuarant (having eaten there first of course)

The American NFL season is 16 weeks, but there's also playoffs.An additional 4 weeks including the championship game (Super Bowl), and three preseason games.
23 games, or half the year.I think compared to other sports, the season is just as long, but as someone said, it's low number of games is due to the brutality of the sport, and the healing time needed between games.

College is an even shorter season, but it's mainly due to academics.There are a few rules placed by college athletics governing body, the NCAA, restricting the amount of time teams and players can practice, play, or spend physically doing the game.
Some school conferences are extremely stubborn about changes, such as a playoff system, which would lengthen the season.This is mainly due to the revenue they would lose by "spreading the wealth" gained by our current bowl system, or end of year championships.

As others have already explained, "validated parking" means that the shop or business "validates" your parking in some Pay By The Minute/Hour facility so you park for free. In the small city I live in the parking garages (multi-story parking structures) are owned and run by the city. When you enter you collect a ticket with a mag strip on it. If you patronize one of the businesses they will give you a ticket sized card. When you leave the parking structure you feed the toll gate your parking ticket and instead of feeding money into the toll gate you feed the business' card in and leave for free.

Prior to the widespread use of mag strips and computerized pay stations, the businesses would stamp your parking ticket and you would show that to the human attendant when you left.

As for the No Fare Bus scenes, some companies and transit authorities are experimenting with or installing RFD systems. (Like the FastTrak or other bridge/highway toll pre-pay setups that you can get for your car in many places.) As long as you have the credit card-sized, um, card, on you when you board, the bus' reader will automatically deduct the fare from your balance. But most likely it was just the director being lazy and saving some screen time by not showing the character dropping coins in the box. :p