This is the place to talk about every sport imaginable. NFL, NHL, NBA, soccer, rugby, anything. Talk about your favorite teams, players, stats, everything. **No bashing of teams/sports/fans/players allowed. Let it begin!
Just so everyone knows, I cheer for the Toronto Maple Leafs, who are pretty much the only team that matter in the NHL . Despite their lack of importance, I also support the San Jose Sharks. I like the Sharks, because I usually don't see many of their games until the playoffs, when the Leafs don't play, and watching them in the post season is like watching the Leafs in cute teal sweaters. /cliche Leafs fan I'm excited for tonight's game because the Leafs are playing the NY Islanders, the team fortunate enough to have the first overall pick in last season's draft, with which they selected budding superstar John Tavares. JT played his junior hockey in my town, so I've been following him for years. I obviously hope the Leafs win tonight, but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't looking forward to seeing JT. I also cheer for the Oakland Raiders of the NFL- I love them about equally as the Leafs though they are every bit as hard to watch. I've been a Brees fan since he came into the league, so I'm currently cheering for him (and indirectly the Saints), and I'm on the Bengals bandwagon for this year. The Canadian equivalent to the NFL, the CFL, is pretty fun and goofy. I have the misfortune of being a Toronto Argonauts fan. They are even worse than the Raiders and Leafs
I get the feeling I'll be using this thread a lot Well, Huddersfield Town's young guns have got off to a good start to the season. We're 5th in League One and are the leading goalscorers in the country, with 60 scored in just 26 games. Currently our top scorer is 19-year-old Jordan Rhodes, who's struck 14 times thus far, including the fastest ever headed hat-trick in English football history. Star men include Rhodes (who joined from Ipswich in the summer), Anthony Pilkington (for me, the best player in the division, simply awesome on his day), Gary Roberts (the Scouse winger was last year's player of the season, and on his day is simply incredible to watch) and future England number one, 19-year-old goalkeeper Alex Smithies. Put together, those four would probably set back potential buyers about £15m (with £5m for Smithies alone). We're at home to Gillingham on Saturday. I'll be there, along with 14,000 others, to watch League One's entertainers!
Define (and defend) "sports"... I just turned on cable TV to one of my favorite sports channels. The show's title was "The Best Damn Sports Show", so I popped the tab on a beer, leaned back in my recliner and out walked a line of bikini-clad (and obviously "enhanced") bathing beauties. It was the Hooters annual contest to crown the next year's Miss Hooters. Since when is that a "sport"? What is required for an activity to qualify as a "sport"? Is competitive bass fishing a sport? How about exhibion events like monster truck car crushing events or automotive "drifting" competitions? What makes a sport a "sport"?
Seems like a sport is anything that requires human interaction, and involves some kind of competition. A good mix of danger, speed, or scantily clad women also helps push it towards "sports" classification.
I'm a big supporter of the Indianapolis Colts American football team. I always have been, as a resident of Indiana. We are *arguably* the best team, winning 21 STRAIGHT regular season games, and with the best QB in the league. I'm very excited for the upcoming Jaguars game. As for what is a sport... I do agree that Miss Hooter's competition does not count... you may have to work out for it, but it's a beauty contest, not a sports game. I cant stand, on the other hand, when people criticize my own sports. I used to figure skate, which requires a great deal of physical strength and endurance. You try to jump three and a half feet into the air, spin around three times, land gracefully, all on one dime-thin blade. Same with horseback riding, which is my current sport. "You just sit on the horse!" LIES. The point is that this is a graceful sport with subtle strength (on the rider's part). It requires a lot of lower and abdominal body strength, balance (ever tried jumping bareback?), and endurance. Miss Hooters' girls may have to suck in their stomachs and walk around in 8-inch heels (a difficult thing to do gracefully, and with a smile on your face surely) but it just doesnt compare.
The Leafs won 3-2 Tavares had two goals, both when his team had more players on the ice than the Leafs. Otherwise though, the Leafs quite soundly outplayed them. They are actually playing pretty good over the last few weeks. For defining sports, I'm not sure. I'd just think of it as physical activity with structure, often in the form of rules and competition. By my definition, neither poker nor the Miss Hooter's competition would count, but something like darts or billiards would. But, the Miss Hooter's competition probably has an overlap in viewing demographics with sports fans- especially with 'Best Damn,' which is a pretty lousy talk show that, on occasion, happens to feature sports stories.
I'm a scenario paintballer. This weekend I played at the Tactical Paintball 2009, We Were Soldiers event. It was AWESOME. The best part, however, has been seeing the move this year to encourage 'young guns' to join the sport. Young guns are kids 13 or younger, and are the future of the sport. Recently, fields and event organizers have started to sponsor kids and make them pivotal to winning missions. Super cool to see a sport so proactive about its own future. When was the last time A famous golfer bought a random 12 year old a set of golf clubs?
I'm a San Francisco 49er fan myself. Even though I don't really support the Raiders, they're also from the area I grew up and I think I was about as devastated by the tuck rule game as anybody. The 49ers have been difficult to watch this year with no game more painful than the one against the Vikings. I accepted their loss to the Seahawks that virtually eliminated them from playoff contention. They simply didn't play well enough to win. Agreen: Do they air a lot of NFL games in Canada? I was under the (perhaps false) impression that the coverage was pretty confined to the United States,.
Re: Tuck game- I still can't watch that play. What makes it so devastating, and has gone almost completely without notice, is that the defensive play call was brilliant. Charles Woodson was their best corner, he'd been hurt and missed practise all year and they sent him on a blitz which no one picked up. A huge gamble, with a huge payoff. That was the Raiders year to win the Superbowl, and it was taken away. I actually get better NFL coverage than many of the Americans I know- the basic sports package gives a minimum of two and usually at least 3 games to choose from in both of the Sunday games, and I get all of the primetime games, and Sunday Ticket shows all of them (though it's a bit expensive). I have no stats to back this up, but I would not be surprised at all if the NFL is the second biggest league in Canada (behind the NHL). If the NFL can sort out some issues with both the CFL and Canadian government, and if a construction site for an NFL stadium can be found somewhere in or around the city, I won't be surprised to see a team in Toronto sometime in the next twenty years.
I know they're experimenting with the Bills playing in Toronto, so there is definitely some interest. Personally I would love to see it happen. And yes, your NFL coverage is worlds better than mine.
I love sports...I love college football. Of course my team is UF I love my Gators. They did let me down this past weekend. Tim Tebow cried...*sigh* I follow NFL, The Jacksonville Jaguars are my team...nothing else needs be said. A huge disappointment and I think we might be losing them here in Jacksonville. It just makes me sad when I drive around town and see the billboards advertising tickets for $40. What can you do? I support my team inspite of how well they play...or don't.
The Jaguars are a decent team so its sad to see the market suffering the way it is. I hope they stick around Jacksonville but it isn't looking too good right now.
Most assuredly it isn't good for the Jags right now, and the thing is, it has been talked about for 5 or 6 years now. The people around here want to complain about possibly losing them and yet, they wont support the team either. It goes without saying, a lot of the true fans are annoyed.
I really hope Jacksonville doesn't lose the Jaguars. I have a soft spot for the team, and I think they've got a really nice new stadium. Maybe if they make the playoffs, which they have a good chance of doing this year, it'll get a crowd back in the stadium. I follow college football sort of- my Alma Mater doesn't have a football team so I don't follow Canadian college football, but I somehow became a Miami Hurricanes fan. However, while I don't normally follow basketball at any level I'm proud of the fact that my University is home to the best Canadian University basketball team of the decade, the Carleton Ravens.
I'm sure the very talk about losing them has created some of that apathy. People don't want to emotionally invest themselves in a franchise that they're worried about leaving or even "betraying" them as a lot of fans seem to think of it. If somebody would come out and say "The Jaguars are staying in Jacksonville," that would probably do the franchise some good. Unfortunately I doubt anyone can make such a promise.
Unfortunately, I think that's true. It creates distance between the team and the community, which is terrible for a team trying to develop a tradition with its fanbase.
Ash...the Jaguars are an American-style pro football team based in Jacksonville, Florida. Have any of you considered that maybe we have TOO MANY pro football teams? The league would be better off if twenty percent of them failed. There was a lot more regional support for teams back in the day when there were only two divisions and a couple dozen teams. Today, there are 34 teams, several divisions with meaningless rivalries and guess what...fans are losing interest. I remember when Pittsburg/Raider games were sold out within minutes of the tickets going on sale. Dallas/Redskins games were the same way. Fan emotions were raw and rivalries intense. When the Rams played against San Francisco, scalpers charged a premium for tickets. Another classic rivalry...New England/Miami...these games were especially charged when played in Massachusetts during snowstorms. And these classic rivalries were not limited to city interest. Fans were "regional", games all got sold out and TV ratings were high. My conclusions? Pretty simple...liquidate all teams that are not drawing fans, return to the two-division system and let the fur fly!
i'm not really a football watcher, but being from new orleans, i feel i must say: GEAUX SAINTS ~ twelve and eaux!
Gotta agree with you 67. The "Aints" have paid there dues over many decades. I wish yu guys the very best...Saints all the way baby!
What kind of crowds does the average match in the NFL pull these days compared to how they were? It might just be something going in cycles; over here in the '80s crowds in the (proper ) Football League were well down on what they had been in the 60s and 70s. My own side (averaging around 17,000 in the league at the start of the 70s) averaged only 5-6,000 week in, week out in the mid-80s. We're now up to levels of 14,000 again - and a division lower than where we were in the (very) early 70s and mid-80s.
Most American football stadiums seat 50,000 to 80,000. In the "good ol days", they would usually sell out all their seats for most games. Some teams like the Raiders, Cowboys, Redskins, Steelers, Bears...they would sell out all seats for the entire season within the first weeks of the season. Today, a few of the old school teams sell out most of their games but it's become quite common for teams to have empty seats. And, if the stadium is NOT sold out, then the game is not broadcast locally. That's the NFL's stupid way of forcing fans to go to the games. In reality, potential fans just lose interest in their local team when they can't watch them on TV and a declining spiral of attendance results. That's why I would eliminate at least 20 % of all pro football teams. Fewer teams = larger fan base for each team. Rivalries grow. Attendance grows. Resulting TV broadcasts help to bring in new fans...win:win:win.
