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I don't get why American football is so popular? Can someone who likes it better than the NBA tell me?


It's way to slow:I mean whenever I watch a football game if it's a pass I guess it's cool if it's a long one and it completed but still the pass is incomplete more often than it is complete, woo incomplete passes how interesting. Then you got the handoffs to a guy who runs in to a big crowd to get a gain of 3 yards. Yeah that's exciting. It's just a few seconds of actual game followed by a buttload of beer commercials and John Madden doing his drawing thing, alright we understand, now please game continue! It's like watching a chess match, a minute of thinking to make a 5 second move, then another minute of thinking. Except John Madden and commercials in the middle.

The NBA is just so smooth and always flowing. Even our breaks (free throws) involve scoring! The NBA has the best athletes, guys that can run the floor all day and play BOTH ENDS OF THE COURT. How often do I see guys with beer bellies on a football field?

I mean compare that to the NBA. If it's a fast game in the 120s you get all those scores raining 3s dropping dunks supreme athletes running the floor moving in free motion it's just a beautiful thing, the Celtics led by Coosie, the Showtime Lakers, the Steve Nash led Suns watching that if just beautiful. I mean that just makes football look downright brutish. When I see football I see a couple athletes protected by big fat guys slugging it out in to a big mosh.

Slow NBA games are great too! They have the most emotion! The agressive post play the fast rotating defense the offensive team trying to get the ball around to score or throw it in to the big for a post battle, people diving for loose balls.

I mean I was getting up yelling cheering, biting my nails, during that Lakers Celtics game 3 I just love that excitement. There's just so much emotion, you can actually see player faces and reactions. I mean think about all those exciting moments. Game 4 06 Suns Lakers, stuff like that wouldn't happen in the NFL, Tmac 13 points in 30 seconds, Reggie Miller 9 points in 8 seconds, Kobe 81 points, Lebron the last 28 points for his team in the ECF, that stuff just doesn't happen in football.

I could keep going all day, someone tell me why football is more popular than basketball.

My head hurts.

The NBA was more exciting the the 80's when there were fewer fouls, more physical play...

Who wants to watch teams march to the FT line at the end of a close game? That drains the excitement right out of it.

Who wants to see Kobe Bryant, Lebron James, or D Wade shoot 20+ FTs? How frustrating is it when Ginoblie flops all over the place. How frustrating is it when certain stars get preferential treatment. I actually love "pure" basketball a lot more than the crap the NBA has turned into recently. College basketball is so much better.

The NBA has been going down hill ever since they changed the defensive rules in 05 basically not allowing a defender to put a hand on an offensive player. Give me a break.

Football is a very exciting sport to watch. But to each is own I guess. This past years Super Bowl was probably the best game I've ever watched. I still like Basketball more though.

I want to say because it's contact vs. no contact but that doesn't explain why hockey isn't popular in the States. Probably because the NBA stadium's can only hold ~ 18,000 fans while football arenas can hold so much more. Also each team only plays 16 games in a 17 week season and fans have to wait a week to watch their team play so there is the anticipation and each game of the NFL season counts for more than an NBA season game.

Because basketball is a thinking man's sport.

bstein14 wrote:The NBA was more exciting the the 80's when there were fewer fouls, more physical play...

Who wants to watch teams march to the FT line at the end of a close game? That drains the excitement right out of it.

Who wants to see Kobe Bryant, Lebron James, or D Wade shoot 20+ FTs? How frustrating is it when Ginoblie flops all over the place. How frustrating is it when certain stars get preferential treatment. I actually love "pure" basketball a lot more than the crap the NBA has turned into recently. College basketball is so much better.

The NBA has been going down hill ever since they changed the defensive rules in 05 basically not allowing a defender to put a hand on an offensive player. Give me a break.

Agreed. It's still better than football though.

bstein14 wrote:The NBA was more exciting the the 80's when there were fewer fouls, more physical play...

Who wants to watch teams march to the FT line at the end of a close game? That drains the excitement right out of it.

Who wants to see Kobe Bryant, Lebron James, or D Wade shoot 20+ FTs? How frustrating is it when Ginoblie flops all over the place. How frustrating is it when certain stars get preferential treatment. I actually love "pure" basketball a lot more than the crap the NBA has turned into recently. College basketball is so much better.

The NBA has been going down hill ever since they changed the defensive rules in 05 basically not allowing a defender to put a hand on an offensive player. Give me a break.

Are you kidding me. I go crazy when players are at the line in the 4th. I get so nervous.

Like I said the NBA's stoppages even involve scoring. You seriously all of those breaks in football are entertaining and occur less than in basketball?

War3player wrote:I want to say because it's contact vs. no contact but that doesn't explain why hockey isn't popular in the States. Probably because the NBA stadium's can only hold ~ 18,000 fans while football arenas can hold so much more. Also each team only plays 16 games in a 17 week season and fans have to wait a week to watch their team play so there is the anticipation and each game of the NFL season counts for more than an NBA season game.

I could argue that it's easier to follow the NBA because missing a game won't take you out of the loop and you can tune in on random nights to watch your team. Plus baseball was/is pretty popular and those teams play a game everyday.

Sroek wrote:Because basketball is a thinking man's sport.

Compared to football? Nah.

Football is also only once a week, which builds anticipation for each game. There are only 16 regular season games, which means players try hard, and each game means a lot more (1 football game is equal to winning 5.1 nba games in a row, or 10 mlb games in a row).

There's more strategy to it (imo, up for debate).

Its less me first, which is easy to come to when you realize that there's 11 players on the field at one time for a team as apposed to 5, and you're not going to score without the help of atleast most of them.

The NFL isn't also coming out of a post AWESOME PLAYER NAME (Jordan for the NBA) depression.

No ref scandals *except after superbowl XL, Seattle got screwed*

IF you compare it to world football in general....bball is way behind in many scenarios....

fifa or domestic leagues have governing body's in place that looks and deals with player transfers and can veto any suspicious transfers.

they tried to stamp out corruption and impose heavy penalties

imo rigging still happens though...

but stern hasnt done **** to stamp down such behaviors protect the integrity of the NBA

Football's more popular because the games aren't usually decided by the refs. In other words, it's not fixed.

farzi wrote:-= original quote snipped =-



Compared to football? Nah.

Football is also only once a week, which builds anticipation for each game. There are only 16 regular season games, which means players try hard, and each game means a lot more (1 football game is equal to winning 5.1 nba games in a row, or 10 mlb games in a row).

There's more strategy to it (imo, up for debate).

Its less me first, which is easy to come to when you realize that there's 11 players on the field at one time for a team as apposed to 5, and you're not going to score without the help of atleast most of them.

The NFL isn't also coming out of a post AWESOME PLAYER NAME (Jordan for the NBA) depression.

No ref scandals *except after superbowl XL, Seattle got screwed*

Basketball is constantly changing though. It's like there's an audible being called every second and it's not called you have to think it and be in tune with your team, you have to find holes in the floor and constantly figure out whether you'll be able to get into that space and where your teammates will be. I mean with football sure your quarterback has to make a quick decision but the linemen? Cmon... And recievers run set routes.

Ref scandals, cmon that wasn't big until a couple days ago, and it doesn't change much most people don't think it's "rigged". And it's not like they don't have their own scandals, spygate namely.

Farsi Man wrote:-= original quote snipped =-



Are you kidding me. I go crazy when players are at the line in the 4th. I get so nervous.

Like I said the NBA's stoppages even involve scoring. You seriously all of those breaks in football are entertaining and occur less than in basketball?

During the NFL stoppages the announcers get to actually talk about the players. We get to know what each player had for dinner the night before, who their room mate is, etc. The general public is noisy as hell and love prodding into other peoples lives. Now this occurs during basketball games too but usually during the action.

my honest opinion is not a pretty one

I think its race. A sport with 90% African American players is never going to be the most popular in the US.

heatwillbeback wrote:my honest opinion is not a pretty one

I think its race. A sport with 90% African American players is never going to be the most popular in the US.

It's more like 80% and the NFL is mostly black too. The NFL is like 70%. Before Kobe the MVPs were Dirk, Nash, and Nash. In the NFL this year it was Tomlinson. Certain positions in the NFL you never see whites.

And the most popular team right now is half white.

Farsi Man wrote:-= original quote snipped =-



It's more like 80% and the NFL is mostly black too. The NFL is like 70%. Before Kobe the MVPs were Dirk, Nash, and Nash. In the NFL this year it was Tomlinson. Certain positions in the NFL you never see whites.

And the most popular team right now is half white.

I agree with certain positions in the NFL you never see whites. They are corner, rb. And mostly wr and safety.

however, lots of NFL players are white. QB's- the faces of teams. Offensive lineman. Linebackers- a lot of times being the captains of defense. Most coaches.

with the NBA, the faces of the league are black. Most new coaches are black. And some people still hold the types of beliefs that don't let them put these facts behind them

Im just going to add that when you think of the NFL right now, its Tom Brady and Peyton Manning

when you think of the NBA, its Kobe and Lebron

Football possessions can be important without scoring. Field position and time of possession can mean more than a quick score in the course of a football game. So not scoring doesn't mean the game is boring, it's a strategic element of the game appreciated by those who watch the sport.

heatwillbeback wrote:-= original quote snipped =-



I agree with certain positions in the NFL you never see whites. They are corner, rb. And mostly wr and safety.

however, lots of NFL players are white. QB's- the faces of teams. Offensive lineman. Linebackers- a lot of times being the captains of defense. Most coaches.

with the NBA, the faces of the league are black. Most new coaches are black. And some people still hold the types of beliefs that don't let them put these facts behind them

With coaches you make a good point but I don't know about the other stuff. Sure you have your start white QBs, but Nash, Dirk, Peja, and Gasol have all been really popular players. Plus in the NBA you have good white players at every position. From little Nash to big Chris Kaman.

I could be wrong but I see a lot of samoan linemen and linebackers.