On February 08 2010 04:10 dhe95 wrote: The best part of the superbowl are probably the commercials btw.
The game is good if you understand football.
I CANT WATCH THE COMMERCIALS. Dont make me cry
Dude, they haven't been worth watching for like 10 years now. You aren't missing anything. The game is the exciting part.
For those who still don't get what a punt is, btw:
(pretty sure it's the longest one ever in the NFL)
A Field Goal:
An interception is when the quaterback (the player that takes the ball from the center and throws the ball, or hands it to the running back) throws the ball to a defender. A fumble is when a ball carrier drops the ball before being tackled (the ball can be forced out of his hands as well).
Then there are like a million other little rules that you learn while watching the game. Here are a few of the major penalties that get called:
offsides/encroachment: The ball gets placed at a specific place on the field, if a defensive player lines up beyond the front tip of the ball (called the neutral zone) it is considered offsides (even one inch is offsides). If a defensive player touches an offensive player before the ball is snapped, it's called encroachment, and the offense is awarded 5 yards toward the end zone.
False start: Offensive players must set in a position before a play (unless motion is signaled for by the quarterback, but then there are only certain players that can move, and there are a couple even more intricate rules that go with that). If the offensive player is set in his "stance" and he moves even the slightest bit (his hand twitches) it is called a false start, and the offense loses five yards (goes five yards away from the end zone).
Holding: A bit more complex, but it's basically grabbing a player and keeping him from proceeding in the direction he was going, after he has clearly passed the blocker. Not to be confused with blocking, which is just that. Holding is really hard for me to describe, and maybe someone can do it better. But if a blocker has been beaten, and he grabs both of the defenders shoulders and drags him to the ground, that would be holding.
Illegal contact: Similar to Pass Interference, but the ball was not intended for this receiver. It is legal for a player to hit, hold, or generally impede the progress of a receiver within the first five yards from the line of scrimmage (LOS from now on), but once that receiver is passed that five yard threshold, he is no longer allowed to touch him. If he touches a player beyond that five yard threshold and is seen doing so it is illegal contact. The offense gets five yards and a new set of downs.
Pass interference: if a defensive player hits an offensive player (or impedes his progress) after the ball has been thrown to that offensive player (receiver) it is called pass interference. There are a few other details that go with it, but you'd probably pick that up while watching the game. For instance, if a defender does not "play the ball" (i.e. turn their head and look for the ball) then it's pass interference. So, if a defender sees that the receiver is turning around to make a catch on a ball that is thrown slightly behind, and he does not look for the ball and puts his hands up, that is pass interference. A defender MUST play the ball. However, if the defender looks for the ball, and decides that he can't stop the ball from making it to the receiver, and times his hit properly (i.e. hits the receiver right as the ball touches his hands while he is still in the air) that is perfectly legal. PI calls are probably some of the most complex and difficult to understand, I think. For the most part, the call will be made because the defender touched the receiver before the ball was touched by any player other than the quarterback. The offense gets the ball at the spot of the foul (potentially, the offense could have a 98 yard penalty on this play), but a touchdown cannot be scored on the penalty. However, if the receiver manages to catch the ball despite the interference and gains more yards or scores (this happens a lot actually) the penalty can be declined and the extra yardage beyond the foul or the score will stand.
The offense can also be penalized for pass interference (with similar rules), but the offense only loses ten yards on the play. The most common offensive infraction is a push off (which is when the receiver pushes the defender away to create space to make catching easier).
Roughing the QB: Once the QB has thrown the ball, defenders are no longer allowed to hit the QB. They also cannot tackle the QB below his knees, while he's behind the line of scrimmage. They cannot hit the QB in the head. They cannot drive the QB into the ground after a tackle. They cannot swing him around and throw him to the ground (although that does happen and not get called all the time). There are too many rules that define roughing the QB, and it's the most hated rule in the sport.
I think that covers the most common penalties and so forth.
On February 08 2010 04:04 BlackJack wrote: If you add up all the actual time that is being played in a game of football, it only lasts for 11 minutes or so. The rest of the time the clock is running while they decide what play to run. However if you look at baseball the actual play time is even less, with most pitches being only a fraction of a second.
In baseball the pace really adds to the drama. There's this duel between the pitcher and batter going on every few seconds. That part is about as exciting as when there is a hit. In football the pace just bores me. The plays aren't much more exciting than the setup though. I won't be watching it.
I find it to be just the opposite. There's a lot more strategy in football playcalling than there is in a pitcher deciding which pitch to throw. There's also the needed time to rest between plays. Every play in football is an explosion of force that requires a lot of energy. There's no way they could do that non-stop.
I respectfully disagree with this statement and think you simply don't understand the intricacies of pitching. And I only say this because I recently heard a pitcher talking about all the things that go through his head before he makes a pitch, and it's pretty fucking ridiculous how much thought goes into it before he throws (It was Jake Peavy, btw, if that makes any difference to you).
Football is exciting for me because everyone is specialized and they have ample amount of time to rest in between points. What you get is people going 100% effort every single play doing the one exact job they are assigned.
I've been living in US for 10 years now... somehow I never managed to watch a single Super Bowl til now...and I don't think I'm gonna be watching it this year either...lol
For those of you who don't know anything about the NFL I'll define one penalty for you:
Defensive Pass Interference - A penalty which may or may not be called because of a defensive player's physical contact with a wide receiver during a passing play. This call is generally used due to the fact that all of the NFL's offenses are horrifically unimaginative and incapable of doing much else than rely on the Defensive Pass Interference call to move the football.
brat vs mondi is proving why TvZ is so homo, brat is playing great and still getting raped.
good macro doesn't always mean you are playing great
Well non of the players macro is that great. Brat have superb macro sometimes, but then it falls apart later in the game. It goes in waves and it aint as good as he should have at least.
On February 08 2010 03:54 Zurles wrote: It's basically the worst sport ever.
Have you seen Curling, lol?
are you joking? curling is fucking amazing a mean german guy gutturally grunting directions to guys who are scraping ice in front of them to clear the way for his marvelous shot.... how can you go wrong there?
on another note, the saints have been my favorite team since EVERETT was their quarterback, and in the 23 years of my life i've only seen them have 2 playoff runs that were worth mentioning... in 2000, they beat the rams, who had recently won a superbowl and then a few years ago they lost to the bears in the NFC title game... i don't really mind all the bandwagon fans, though, as any fan base is good.......... the saints havent had anything resembling a fan base for years... katrina actually helped there, but that's another story. my point is i remember when saints fans literally wore brown, paper garbage or grocery bags over their head with eye holes cut out because they didn't want to be recognized as being a saints fan..... i remember when the crowd at the superdome would literally boo their own team.... so yes, i remember the bad years
I understand if foreigners don't get the game, but I don't understand the dislike of the game.
I know I'm opening myself up to getting flamed, but the game the rest of the world calls football is, by comparison, boring as all hell. I watched the World Cup for what I guess is like a foreigner watching the super bowl and even though I know the rules of the game, I was bored out of my mind. I actually Untold Legends on the PSP, which is just about the worst game ever made, while the World Cup was being played, because nothing was happening, people were taking dives and not acting like men, and nobody really scored.
To each his own, I guess. But it never ceases to amaze me the deficit of interest in the game between americans and the rest of the world.
On February 08 2010 10:04 Arrian wrote: I understand if foreigners don't get the game, but I don't understand the dislike of the game.
I know I'm opening myself up to getting flamed, but the game the rest of the world calls football is, by comparison, boring as all hell. I watched the World Cup for what I guess is like a foreigner watching the super bowl and even though I know the rules of the game, I was bored out of my mind. I actually Untold Legends on the PSP, which is just about the worst game ever made, while the World Cup was being played, because nothing was happening, people were taking dives and not acting like men, and nobody really scored.
To each his own, I guess. But it never ceases to amaze me the deficit of interest in the game between americans and the rest of the world.
EPT
![[image loading]](http://www.theage.com.au/ffximage/2006/07/11/zidane_narrowweb__300x375,2.jpg)
