Originally posted by: Warbler
What is wrong with preplanned plays? As meantioned before, football requires one thing soccer does not: strategy. It is a game that requires intelligence, not just brute stength. It shares some qualities with chess.

Football imho, is much more exciting to watch. Atleast there is alot more scoring. To me nothing is sports compares with watching a team that is behind trying to move the ball down field to score with less than two minutes to play and no time outs.

Ric, football and baseball became popular in America long before tv was around.

I also find American Football exciting to watch, but only on brief moments. That Superbowl in which the Titans lost for an inch, that was exciting. But that's it, it's a rare event. It's mostly pre-planned, rehearsed strategies that feel like pro-wrestle: it's rehearsed, it's "staged", only difference is the other side is not aware of which strategy will be chosen. After both are picked, that down is pretty much defined, there isn't much room for improvising. The quarterback might not see anyone free for a pass and try to run for it, but most likely he'll just move back, look around and be tackled by the defence. End of play. Fourth and eight, the team will actually QUIT the atack and kick the ball. But only after these messages from the sponsors.

Football, on the other hand, is non-stop. What makes it less exciting for you is the fact that the scores are low, and it takes too long for another team to score. Think of it as watching a chess game (American Football is more like paper-scissors-rocks, football is more like chess), how often, in a pro match, do you see the players moving the pieces amock, running with their queens, capturing every piece around, with cheerleaders jumping at each piece captured, grabbing the king in an amazing move? Never. Most frequently there won't even be a checkmate at all, the other player will resign (well not on the ot.com tournament but still

).

This is how football really is. It's a sport played on the field, not by increasing numbers around a score. Every time a team has possesion of the ball, it's exciting. The whole team playing as defence, trying to move around the best strategy to desarm the play, using real strategies (not reharsed plays) and real skill. And then the team moves to attack, moving the ball the fastest way, the best way, to make sure the foward players get to score.

Come to think of it, I belive the reason for this lack of interest in football by north americans is because it's a sport that demands passion. It's not a show, or, as to the comment above: a show later transformed into a TV show. It demands that you root for a team. That you project that emotion into the game being played. That you have a freaking heart attack every time the oposing team is getting closer to your goalkeeper. In north america, people don't have a devotion to a certain team. There's no real spirit of celebrating the team's victory and feeling bad about the losses the way we do in south america and europe. THAT is the difference, I belive...