Questions for our American friends

[Brecht]

Originally Posted by vinceprince

Baseball can't be classed as a World Sport

Can't even be classed as a sport...

[SanteeFats]

Originally Posted by vinceprince

We call it rounders, a girls' game really with a soft ball instead of cricket. But even they don't need a silly glove to catch it.

Baseball can't be classed as a World Sport unless the rest of the world consists of Japan and Cuba. It has a fraction of the International audience of cricket.

I think your rounders is our softball'

VP here is the refutation of baseball as a world sport. Please don't choke on the facts.
https://baseballeagle.com/where-is-b...und-the-world/

[SanteeFats]

Originally Posted by Brecht

Can't even be classed as a sport...

So what manly sport are you playing?? Darts or snicker, I mean snooker. One of those really macho ones I bet.

[Arturo2nd]

Originally Posted by vinceprince

An average professional football game lasts 3 hours and 12 minutes, but if you tally up the time when the ball is actually in play, the action amounts to a mere 11 minutes.

Can't think of any other reason why 'fans' would sit through such utter tedium.

Baseball and American football have a distinct advantage as spectator sports. The frequent pauses in the action provides time to fetch another beer and place wagers.

[Mal Hombre]

But all the shouting keeps You awake..

[Arturo2nd]

American football is doomed. We have probably millions in this country crippled by knee, hip, shoulder. and spinal cord injuries from football, but the CTE data has players seeking other sports or lines of work in droves.

Ruggers are a special breed. The amateur scene thrives with players continuing to play for as long as they possibly can. Here in the U.S. we also have thriving amateur baseball, basketball, and softball leagues. I suspect that in the longer term, the U.S. will be joining the worldwide pool of futbol fanatics and MLS will supplant our homoerotic mayhem. It will be weird watching all the flops after all the years of people being carted off with permanent disabilities. Or maybe we Americans will teach the world what real fouls look like.

[vinceprince]

Originally Posted by Brian249x

American football is doomed. We have probably millions in this country crippled by knee, hip, shoulder. and spinal cord injuries from football, but the CTE data has players seeking other sports or lines of work in droves.

In such a litigious society I'm surprised that it's lasted as long as it has.
Bearing in mind the current evidence of head trauma I'm surprised they let kids smash heads with each-other in this game. I think the helmets here cause more problems than they solve.

I remember even when playing rugby at school, boys mature at different ages and their can be huge disparities in strength and size in the teenage years.

If adults what to turn their brains to a broken jelly fair enough, but let them be old enough to make their own informed decision first.
Same goes for boxing, but we don't make kids box each-other at school.

[Arturo2nd]

Originally Posted by vinceprince

If adults what to turn their brains to a broken jelly fair enough, but let them be old enough to make their own informed decision first.
Same goes for boxing, but we don't make kids box each-other at school.

Please understand that we don't make kids play football. My mom was always forbidding me from playing tackle football in the park with the other guys, but I did it anyway. I only stopped at age 28 when it took two days to get out of bed after our annual New Year's Day game.

But I think you are right about the helmets. We played without helmets and seemed not to have many concussions or ill effects many years later. My dad's generation wore leather helmets without face masks. The helmets probably give the illusion of invulnerability and short circuit the body's natural moves to protect itself. It is the guys that play organized ball fro a young age in helmets and pads that are turning their brains to mush.

[vinceprince]

Originally Posted by Brian249x

Please understand that we don't make kids play football. My mom was always forbidding me from playing tackle football in the park with the other guys, but I did it anyway.

Speaking from personal experience if a school/college has a football or rugby team there is always a lot of pressure on anyone with a bit of talent to play in that team be it from their peers, coaches, teachers or parents.

I was quite small but fast so was wanted by both the soccer and rugby teams at school and college. But to be honest I never really enjoyed it much and preferred more solo pursuits like cycling or fishing.

I wasn't till I spent a week in hospital with a smashed cheekbone and eye socket from a rugby match at 22 that I felt I had sufficient excuse to do what I wanted rather than what others wanted me to do.

[Brecht]

Originally Posted by SanteeFats

So what manly sport are you playing?? Darts or snicker, I mean snooker. One of those really macho ones I bet.

Huh, a little touchy, aren't we? I like football (not that handegg thing you call football in America), ice hockey, basketball and even volleyball, ffs. Like Brian said, American football and baseball are the epitome of spectator sports. Football and baseball games are entertainment events like Nascar or a Kiss concert. The situation with football (the real thing) in Europe isn't exactly better but they're not even close to the spectacles we know from the NFL, NHL and MLB.

What I find particularly absurd is when American football or baseball players are referred to as "athletes" in America. They're not athletes but gladiators.