NFL Game Pass

[sunrise089]

Not all of us are blessed with FiOS . I think Comcast has something similar, but I haven't bought it.

Darrell

I love my FiOS, but I'd also love everyone else's uptime However I just checked - Sunday Ticket is indeed exclusive to DirectTV in the US.

[darrelljs]

the turn-off for me is the flopping

Flopping is dramatically reduced in EPL, but yeah its a big turn off.

Darrell

[Mist]

Flopping is dramatically reduced in EPL

Eh, not really. There's plenty enough divers there too.

This problem is less of a mentality, or "softness" issue, and more a consequence of rules of the sport and how it is policed. At the moment, it's more advantageous for a team if the player falls down instead of trying to stay on his feet.

Falling down means a solid chance for a free kick of some sort, maybe a card for the opponent. Even if that doesn't happen a dramatic enough tumble will at least break play and give your team time to reorganise. On the other hand staying up risks that the ref just waves the play on and invites harder tackles on yourself raising the prospects of an injury.

That's why most of the professionals don't try too hard to stay up and it won't really change unless refs get access to video replays and rules about fouls change again.

[Ichabod]

Then I flip over to two European teams where guys are rolling around on the ground at the slightest contact and obviously spent at least 45 minutes doing their hair before the game.

Not every player is Cristiano Ronaldo, you know...

I love sports, I watch most of them, from Poker to Tennis, from Football to Soccer. Here's a bit of my opinion:

*Regarding soccer, I think you have to find the league that suit your style to make the enjoyment levels go up. There's quite a big difference between the leagues, in my opinion.

There are 2 leagues that I really can't stand watching: the spanish league, because it's just 2 very strong teams playing against the rest, which are way weaker (and I find Barcelona way of playing soccer incredibly boring, even if I love Messi) and the Italian League, which is overall boring, the TV transmission is worst than the one from Brazil and the teams are all bad.

The brazilian league is also annoying and I only watch it because I support one of the teams. There are some good matches here and there, but overall the players spend too much time on the ground and the game stops all the time. The level of the referees is also very bad, they are constantly stopping the game for no good reason.

The best leagues, for me, are the english and the german one. I think the german will surpass the EPL as the best league in a few more years, but that's just my opinion.

If you want and can try something new, go for the Argentinian league. It's way more similar to Scooter description of hockey. It's way more though and the game doesn't stop with every player rolling on the ground. Since I live closer to Argentina and Uruguay than to Rio de Janeiro and Brasilia, the way I like seeing soccer being played is closer to the Argentinian/Uruguayan way than the brazilian way. That may explain my preference.

Besides, every intercontinental or national squad games are good (when not friendlies, of course, I hate friendlies): Champions League, Libertadores da América (recommended if you want to take a break from european soccer), World Cup, Eurocup.

That's my take on the current soccer scene.

*I like watching the american sports (Football > Basketball >> Baseball). My problem with them is the amount of time they take + commercials. I confess that I only watch the play-off games, so maybe they are a bit worst than regular season. But it's hard for me to take 3-4 hours to watch a game, especially since they tend to start very late for my timezone.

*I hate F1! I watched it a lot, becuase my father is a big fan. My feeling is that you need to watch 20 races to see 1 that is worthwhile (so, yeah, there's one good race per season ). It's too much based on the power of the car, so it becomes stupid, in my opinion. You see some very bad pilots winning the races due to the fact they have a good sponsor and a good car. I really can't see where's the fun in that. And there's other stupid things, like safety cars, problems in the boxes - this is all very unfun to me.

Maybe my problem is that I didn't get the good years of F1, due to my age. I was very little when Ayrton Senna died, for example, and I can't remember what it was like. I think one of the reasons my father likes it so much is due to Senna. My experience, on the other hand, is seeing Schumacher win time and time again because his car was way over the competition. Not my cup of tea...

[Krill]

The current season of F1 is awesome, though before last year I'd agree that it sucked.

I'm surprised that the blackout policy is even legal FWIW. Then I read that the law was written specifically for the NFL...

[sunrise089]

The current season of F1 is awesome, though before last year I'd agree that it sucked.

I'm surprised that the blackout policy is even legal FWIW. Then I read that the law was written specifically for the NFL...

As a rare passionate American fan I'd agree both that the current season is exciting and that some past seasons have been less so.

That said, I actually think in the 7-8 years I've been following the sport it's been extremely compelling. First with the Alonso vs Raikkonen seasons which saw Ferrari's pace fall off a cliff while tons of new money flooded the sport via Toyota and Red Bull, then with the Raikkonen and Hamilton championships going down to the last race (or the last turn of the last lap), then with the great irony of the Brawn+Button championship (written-off driver winning for the team bought at a fire-sale).

I think the biggest problem with F1 is that it lends itself very poorly to casual fans. There's a large chance any given race will have little exciting happen on track. In that sense I liken it to baseball, except without the ability to go see games for <$50 every week in any major cities. Like baseball though, it has wonderful rare moments if you're watching at the right time - my favorites are the 2005 San Marino GP with Schumacher disparately trying to pass Alonso late in the race and a NASCAR style super close finish, the 2008 Belgian GP with Raikkonen suddenly possessed and battling Hamilton on and around the track in deteriorating weather, and most notably the 2007 Euro GP where seemingly half the field went off during the first two laps due to torrential rain turning part of the track into a river.

Really though, I think the sport is most satisfying if you're studying the technology, watching practice, following the politics, etc.
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RE: flopping - How do penalties work in soccer? Are in-game penalties affected by the outcome of the foul and not the foul itself?!

[Mist]

RE: flopping - How do penalties work in soccer? Are in-game penalties affected by the outcome of the foul and not the foul itself?!

Yes and no. The foul, as defined by rulebooks, is not affected by outcome. You get a free kick outside the penalty box and penalty kick inside the box.

In practice though the referee has a large leeway on deciding if the foul occurred ( there is after all significant amount of physical contact permitted ) and how to punish the player committing one. If you flop theatrically you may sway the ref to give a foul when the situation is unclear or when he doesn't have a clear field of vision. You may also force his hand in situations he could otherwise permit if you did stay up. And finally, if the outcome of the foul looks brutal, the ref might start thinking that the foul was brutal and give offender a card for it.

[darrelljs]

There are 2 leagues that I really can't stand watching: the spanish league, because it's just 2 very strong teams playing against the rest, which are way weaker (and I find Barcelona way of playing soccer incredibly boring, even if I love Messi)

Sevilla and Atletico Bilbao are pretty good, but Real Madrid and Barcelona are certainly way above everyone...inside or outside La Liga. Bayern and Chelsea are good, but those were both major upsets.

Darrell

[Bigger]

Yes and no. The foul, as defined by rulebooks, is not affected by outcome. You get a free kick outside the penalty box and penalty kick inside the box.

In practice though the referee has a large leeway on deciding if the foul occurred ( there is after all significant amount of physical contact permitted ) and how to punish the player committing one. If you flop theatrically you may sway the ref to give a foul when the situation is unclear or when he doesn't have a clear field of vision. You may also force his hand in situations he could otherwise permit if you did stay up. And finally, if the outcome of the foul looks brutal, the ref might start thinking that the foul was brutal and give offender a card for it.

the same thing happens in the NBA all the time, and for the same reasons.

[darrelljs]

I'm surprised that the blackout policy is even legal FWIW. Then I read that the law was written specifically for the NFL...

The U.S. networks fought pretty hard to get FIFA to allow them to broadcast commercials during play for the World Cup, but thankfully FIFA told them to piss off. I'm sure they were shocked they didn't get their way for once. There has been a media campaign against FIFA's supposed corruption in the U.S. ever since...I can't tell if its a coincedence or not .

Darrell