So I was reading through some march madness coverage and it occurred to me, I don't care. Really. I'm as excited we have a new basketball coach as the next hokie, but basketball doesn't carry nearly as much weight with me as football. And let's be honest despite the great basketball coverage here of late we didn't join TKP for that. We joined to talk football, read football, and watch billdozervt's videos. And memes. Lots and lots of memes.
So anyway, I wanted to put forth the question to y'all. Why is college football so much better than other sports? Why can I read a post about Tech wrestling winning the ACC and think "hey that's kind of cool," but read about a recruit de-committing and have it ruin my day? Is it the scarcity (12 games vs the 1600 that baseball plays)? Is it the violence? Is it the tailgating? It may seem like circular logic. The tailgating exists because the sport is awesome, but is it possible we've reached a point where the tailgating becomes a reason that the sport is awesome?
I'd like to know what y'all think.
Comments
Because America.
(Sidenote: my favorite sport is and always will be baseball, but I'm not blind.)
I think a part of it is that it's easier to follow football. There aren't as many teams and they play less often. Since football games are usually on the weekend (saturday, sunday) it's easy to draw a crowd. I suspect many fans got into football originally because it was easy to follow...and then they were able to learn a lot about it..the players..the sport in general..the sport in detail(French)..and just started to fall in love with it. I think when you know a lot about something it's easier to be passionate about it...and then that gets passed down from generation to generation.
Because we're clearly the best at it
It's a unique combination of violence/aggression with skill/athletic ability with strategy and preparation/planning. I'm not sure any other sport combines all those things
hockey
is awesome?!?
yes of course
Rugby
Wrestling
Honestly I never really cared about football all that much until I got to Tech. I was a very casual fan of the Panthers and I know I hated all the talk about my home-state WVU Mountaineers. But I had always been in the marching band and that first game in Lane Stadium (my first ACTUAL game was the loss to ECU in Charlotte, so I won't use it as an example) sold me on football. Obviously.
Much attention span. Plays are short. Beer. Bourbon. Throwing. Catching. Fun. Bricks. Wow.
Also:
^^^^^^This is why we love football^^^^^^^^^^
Side note: He's a TE.
See it again and again.. ha ha
Plays are short, but the action (outside of f86yq(Q#$@w%$ TV timeouts) is pretty continuous. Its rarely like other sports that can take most of the game to see either team score or see any kind of action.
Baseball if you aren't addicted(I am) is probably more boring to watch than even tennis and golf.
Soccer you can and regularly do see games end in a tie, and that can even be 0-0. Hockey has a lot of these same tendencies but at least has fast paced action.
The NBA is a joke and college basketball only gets exciting when you have a bracket and some skin in the game unless you are a dedicated fan. Football manages to escape most of these flaws and as already mentioned, its normally on a weekend when a good portion of 'Murica is not at work.
In all seriousness, I think that the advantage that football (and in my opinion basketball) have is that audiences of any technical background can enjoy watching. People recently introduced/casual watchers can just follow the ball and the play is enjoyable to watch. But the sport is about more than just that, and those who want to can dive into the technical details of strategy, player placement, etc. This makes the individual actions of the players more impressive (and mistakes more forgivable). Also for football, playing on Saturdays/Sundays and having fewer games helps.
Whenever you write a post written in proper form and not doge form, I always get so confused
Much dignifying responses to my posts. Very proper. I try and do it. Dogeform for you Tyrod. Dogeform for you.
You can't say the same about soccer...
OT, but an Argintinian friend of mind told me that foreigners often hate American sports b/c of all the time stoppages. In football, the clock stops, then it starts again, then it stops, then it starts, etc, whereas soccer is a continuous flow. Interesting thought, but that's one of the reasons I like Football. Although it is frustrating when the last 5 minutes of any sport takes 45 minutes to complete.
I have to disagree with you because I find soccer a lot of fun to watch. Maybe it's because I played it for about 10 years, and I really appreciate what the guys are doing on the field. (Even though I played for a while, I am by no means an expert) Also, I'm super stoked for the world cup this year.
And it's definitely a different type of game than football or baseball because there are none of the stoppages and I can see where your friend would get frustrated at the lack of flow of the game (or alternatively how you could get frustrated at the lack of breaks). To each their own I guess.
doge/tl;dr: Disagree. Soccer good. I can play it. Woof.
As someone who also played soccer, I agree. I got into soccer many years ago and as someone who writes for Sunderland in the Barclay's Premier League I can tell you that even though my team is struggling I still watch. There's something about the passion and unpredictability of the bounce of the ball. Even when a team is supposed to win, they can often time lose because someone does something stupid and gets thrown out. That being said I grew up in Tennessee next to a nutty Volunteer fan and I went to a couple of their games and saw the passion that can be a part of football. I am also excited for the world cup, it's going to be great unless everyone gets killed on the way to match.
Or as a stadium collapses. If they are even ready by game day. Four stadiums still not finished down there.
Yeah it's a disaster, but so is FIFA
Just wait until 2022...
**You mean the Winter World Cup that is now slated to conflict with the majority of professional soccer leagues seasons worldwide and the Winter Olympics and FIFA wants the Olympics to change their schedule? You mean that 120+ degree temps for crowds standing outside? You mean a World Cup with no beer? You mean bribery and political gladhanding of the highest order to send the mecca of sporting events to a desert? You mean not enough indoor climate controlled practice facilities for the teams to practice safely? You couldn't also be referring to how the United States will have now not hosted a major international athletic event for over 20 years yet we represent something like 60% of the television revenue generated for each of these events. None of these ridiculous things could be what you meant.
That may or may not have been what I meant...
Yeah, it was what I meant. sigh.
Yeah, its gonna be a SHOW!
Yup, pretty much. If the World Cup wants you to change your schedule, you change your schedule.
One of the really unique things about the World Cup is that it can do a hell of a lot for tourism, obviously. When South Africa had the World Cup, it was the biggest revenue generator the country had ever seen. But, given the uniquely global nature of the game, the tournament needs to be held in every region of the world. Yeah, that means a poor southern African country will get it every now and again. Maybe a rich middle eastern country. Or a large Asian country.
After Brazil, Russia, and Qatar, the next two tournaments will probably be held in Europe and North America. We may have to co-host with Mexico, though. Still waiting on that Netherlands/Belgium World Cup to happen...
The last two minutes of hack a suck basketball is the worst. Takes as long as a quarter of the game sometimes.
I totally understand your friend. You get a completely different approach from football. In soccer, "plays" come from each player thinking about what needs to happen next. This is similar to how basketball is supposed to be played, but in bball you have a lot of manipulating the clock so you can set up your next play. In soccer, the coaches put in the hard work ahead of time training their players to think. You see that in really good football players (Fullers, Cody Grimm, Vick, etc), but there is a ton of coaching in game. Not saying one is better than the other, but if you grew up appreciating sports where the players are in control, football probably looks more like a chess game than an action sport.
Also, with soccer, you can have massive momentum shifts that come out of nowhere. You occasionally get this in football (beamerball situations), but it's a lot more likely that a team marching towards the endzone getting 5 yards a rush is going to score and a team pinned back on its own 1 is going to punt. we're all shocked to have a BC-type situation where a team goes from 10 points down to winning by four in two minutes, but in soccer, a goal scoring series can happen from anywhere on the field at any time.
Best of both worlds: Rugby! All the fun, asskicking aspects of football (minus the forward pass, alas), none of the pansy injury stoppages (unless you're actually in the way, no one really cares), and NO TV TIMEOUTS! Just 40 minutes of continuous play, a 3 minute or so halftime, and right back to 40 minutes more of running around. Awesome.
Here's some history behind it http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2012/10/they-taught-america-...
I wouldn't say football is important. It is just a game. The activities surrounding the game are important because they can be fun. Playing games and watching them can be fun too. Baseball/basketball/Hockey all have too many games to follow and each football game has higher stakes.
Obviously you aren't from Alabama and don't root for Auburn or Alabama. Football is everything there.
About once a month or so, I find myself asking, "Why do I care so much about VT football, it's just a sport, right?" or "In the grand scheme of things, this doesn't really matter." But then I snap out of it and get back on The Key Play.
Why do we love football?
Thats why we love football
who downvoted this???
YOU CAN'T EXPLAIN THAT
Got me there
Evidently Jim Weaver has an account on TKP.
Honestly? A lot of it is because we're (VT) is and have been good at it. That helps...a lot.
"Basketball Schools" like Duke feel the same way about Basketball. If Michael Vick was a Pt. Guard and we went to the National Championship Finals in 2000 in MBB, we'd probably feel that way about Basketball, as well.
No.
Going to every football game as a student and just the general football energy of Blacksburg plays into a lot. Can't speak for everyone, but I'm sure a lot of us associate our undergrad years with VT football in one way or another. For me, it was one of the main reasons I went to VT and some of my best memories revolve around Hokies football (unfortunately the current students won't be able to say that, I hope it turns around for all of us).
There's a lot of factors obviously, football's America's sport, it's better than any other sport ever, we're a football school, etc. But I really think the biggest factor is the nostalgia associated with VT football - thinking back on tailgating with friends, thinking back on watch parties for away games, road trips to Charlotte or Atlanta, the memories of being in LANE for thrilling wins and even heartbreaking losses. VT football isn't just football, it's a huge part of the best four or five years of our lives.
Go Hokies
that was one of the things that snared me, the energy in Blacksburg on gameday. its palpable.
Damn right. Didn't hurt that my first game in Lane was this:
God, tv and internet quality SUCKED back then.
Honestly, they both are pretty big for me. I grew up playing football, basketball and baseball. Basketball and football through high school.
I think more casual fans will watch football for the reasons mentioned above, the biggest being the limited number of games.
As far as Tech memories at the sporting events, I bet I have just as many basketball ones, as football.
The big key though is winning. I was at Tech from 03-07, so I had the joy of watching both teams succeed.
Let me answer your question with another question. Why do we love beer/Wild Turkey/your drink of choice so much?
Because its not Zima
yeah...except I don't drink so that never factored into my Tech football experience. Didn't stop me from painting up for A&M in hurricane Isabel so clearly there's something else going on here...
I played multiple sports in high school, but football was, is, will always be my greatest love in terms of sports. Anyone that played high school football knows the blood, swear, and tears that go into it. It's also what we like to call a "man's game". As a high school football coach who would love to eventually move up to the college level, I know the time it takes and I love every second of it. Football is king.
I love football because I found it to be the most effective way to show others how proud I am to be a Hokie
It's an enjoyable sport, plenty of action if you ignore the TV timeouts, and, most importantly, it makes money. I was raised watching football (though I follow it more closely than my parents do). Watching football is American.
The reason football is more important is because every game matters, esp college football. One loss can ruin the whole season, sure you can can go 11-2 but that won't get you a national title, unless espn puts you there lsu, bama. Also it's the passion, no nfl, nba, nhl or MLB team has the passion that college football fans have. It's about a team, a town, a tradition and the best damn fans in college football. Side note I think it's important to Blacksburg because of us fans. We used to be a very small town, we have odd colors and and strange mascot and a strange nickname to everybody else. But to us it's all we know. Most of us were born bleeding maroon and orange, most other states have at least three colleges that kids can choose from when they are growing up, but in VA it's either tech or UVA pick your side and let's hope you don't pick the dark side. We do it different at VT. Blue collar lunchpail style. Not 5 star recruit style, not cut a player on national signing day style. This is why I believe football is important to all of Hokies here in Blacksburg.
Also I think it's because it's America's game, no other country can touch us when it comes to football. Basketball soccer baseball all those other countries have it but they don't have football, they have futbol. Cody grimms and jason worilds come from America
Baseball is too slow. I used to play it and enjoyed it as a kid. But a team could lose 20 games in a row, and still not be out of competing due to the ungodly length of the season. Baseball is just porn for sabermetric junkies and high handed historians to "compare eras" and make claims of when it was best. Games take 4 hours and half the time people are standing around waiting to do something. Baseball passed for an entertaining diversion during a time when crapping indoors was still decades away. People now demand more to be entertained, and baseball is not entertaining, even in the playoffs.
Basketball is nice, and nothing beats the drama of the tourney in terms of a post-season. Knowing that each team is on even footing (I know they are seeds, but each of the 68 teams is playing for the title). But VT generally is mediocre, so basketball is an afterthought. If you went to Kentucky, you might be basketball crazy, and be happy if your team wins a few games.
Football is awesome because you usually have the day off, get to add beer and grilled meats to the pre-game festivities and VT has the best fans to be around. If we can avoid nooners, its nirvana.
I read Sal Paolantonio's (sp?) book "How Football Explains America" a few years back. It laid out a pretty convincing argument about how football mirrors our culture and history. The notion of attacking and defending ground, the fact that teams stop between plays and talk about what's gonna happen next, and the hierarchy of coach, qb, and then everybody else are all analogous to America. He has a ton more examples and most of them were very logical. Yes, it's violent and skillful and the rules are set up to make games dramatic but football just makes sense to Americans.
Basketball rules too, and I can watch all manner of sports, but football is and always will be king.
1. It's the ultimate in reality TV (if you're watching on TV)
2. It's a microcosm of the struggle of life. If you get blocked, you figure a way to get around it. If you get knocked on your keister, you get up. If you win, you celebrate with your team and friends.
3. It lets you identify with other people that love the same thing. And hate the same things.
4. There are limited opportunities to enjoy the game, unlike baseball and basketball, where it happens everyday.
5. Individual accomplishment is valued and recognized, but team accomplishment is glorified.
6. Even when you're having a rotten season, if you have LOLUVA on the schedule, you realize that there is always a win ahead, and this gives you optimism for the future.