American scientists agree with me

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Football is the best

Football is the most exciting sport, even the Yanks say so

 

Interesting - although I'm not sure if it's fair to take data from the past 100 years, because of the sports on the list, only soccer and baseball were even organized sports at the time. The NBA (basketball) did not exist, the NFL (American football) did not exist, and I'm not sure about the NHL (hockey), although I'm pretty sure hockey got it's start before basketball and football.

 

Yeah, but it says that soccer has become a bit rubbish in the last decade. And where was cricket in that poll? That last Ashes series would have rated pretty highly under those criteria.

 

It seems like "upset frequency" is a very limited determiner of the most exciting sport...is a 40 - 0 upset more exciting than a 24 - 21 victory by the favorite?

 

Good point, Hacken Slash. One of the best games I saw in the last few weeks was when New Zealand almost beat the odds to chase Australia's mammoth 324 but fell a couple of runs short. We lost, but it was a stunning game and the end result was not an upset.

I think the only way to sort this out is for us to into a time machine and watch every sports game from the last 100 years ourselves. After that, if we still don't agree, we'll have to have a fight to the death, with the survivor being able to declare their sport the winner.

 

Lets just use the time machine anyway. I know that I wouldn't mind watching every game played in the last 100 years

 

I think the way to tell definitively would be to determine which fans got the least drunk at the events


[edit]...nevermind, that would make it golf.

 

I love when some centralized polls make the results of the whole world

What about Argentinian, Spanish, Italian and other leagues? I'm sure about this, in Argentina we don't have a kind of 'Chelsea' team that has the best players to win everything, so every year is a lotery, you don't know who will win the championship.

And of course, football maybe the most exciting sport of all but for whom? I'm sure Cuban people would like baseball instead...

 

We have baseball in England, only it's called 'rounders' and if anyone other than 10 year old girls play it, they get the piss ripped out of them. Which is how it should be. It's one of the worst sports in the world!
Football is king, it's played allover the world. It's key has to be that it's easy to pick up. All you need is a football and nothing else.

 

SOCCER, is flat out BORING. The article just shows you can used statistics to prove anything. The scientists were probably all geeks pounded on by jocks in high school (except the soccer jocks -- who were also geeks in my high school).

Back when I was in high school only girls played soccer (it was called field hockey) -- and the jock wannabees. The boys who did play soccer got 'the piss ripped out of them.' However, nobody messed with the dude who could pitch a 90 mph fastball.

Football (the real kind), hockey, and basketball are exciting. Baseball is too slow to be exciting, but it's a good thing to watch while drinking (nothing gets spilled, unless a ball comes your way).

Soccer ranks right up there with curling, track and field, cross-country skiing as a spectator sport.

 

I would say basketball is the most exciting to play, because it offers a variety of exciting things (dunking, passing, shooting, blocking, stealing, moves, teamwork, you name it). The best thing about basketball though, is that with the relative easyness to score, games are often settled in the last few minutes, perhaps even by the last shot at the final second. This does not happen in soccer and other sports (almost never happens, anyway).

 

You sad, deluded man . Americans really are in a world of their own, with their own little crappy sports that only they play seriously . Football is KING, there's a reason it's played allover the world and is the most popular sport around (worldwide). It is my life, my absolute life. It's such an important thing for me.

Ah well, the glory of opinions, eh?

Many cricket fast bowlers can send a ball at pushing 100mph on occasion and 95mph regularly. And these balls are bloody tough and quite heavy, not softish and light like baseballs, you should try THAT on for size when it's flying are your upper body at that pace .

 

No, soccer is OLD, but a good game; that's why it's not only survived, but flourished. American football is young, but doing the same; the NFL Europe is only the beginning. There's bound to be a clash over the name, of course, which I believe soccer will win simply by seniority, but both sports are bound to prosper.

One other reason that soccer is more popular is because its fan base isn't split. There's no baseball where there's cricket; there's no cricket where there's baseball. There's no American football where there's rugby; there's no rugby where there's American football. But soccer has no similar sport to compete with, so it gets 100% of the people who like the style.

Basketball is young and growing, and may even compete globally with soccer someday. Volleyball, on the other hand, as much as I positively adore the game, I don't think it's got what it takes to go global. Tennis decidedly doesn't, since it's been out there so long with a relatively lackluster following.

 

Personally I prefer football... However excitement-wise I must admit that Hockey beats 'em all. Nothing beats the atmosphere of a hockey 'stadium'. It's quite dull to watch it on the telly, though.

 

Cricket is completely different to baseball, just as American football is completely different to rugby. That's a lame excuse if you don't mind to saying so pal. Football is immensely popular because it's GOOD. Just because you Americans don't like it, doesn't mean you can think of little excuses why everyone else does. Everyone else likes it because it's an incredibly good sport. If you think it's boring, you obviously haven't watched the right games.
Trust me, I'm a sports nut, I know about these things .

 

What a stupid premisis - likelihood of an upset is in no way an indicator of how exciting a sport is to watch.

I would say that the most exciting team that I have ever watched would have to be the Edmonton Oilers (NHL Ice Hockey) during the mid 80s. They were a dominant offensive powerhouse and you watched to see them wipe the floor with the competition.

Personally, I find football rather boring although I have no problem seeing why there would be the most upsets - if the majority of the games end up being decided by a single goal then the odds of the underdog winning on a lucky goal are greatly increased.

 

I think that there a lots of exciting sports. For me, cricket is the most exciting because every ball is a build up to something that might happen, especially when you have a top class bowler to a great batsman. Shane Warne bowling to Brian Lara - you know something's going to happen. That's tension, even though cricket is a 'slow' sport.

But I can see how other sports can be exciting too, especially when it is your team playing. I can understand why all those Liverpool fans loved that soccer game last year when they came back from behind to win. If that was my team, I would have been excited too.

If I had the time, I would probably follow all of the sports that have been discussed here, but I barely get enough time to watch all the cricket and rugby that I want to.

 

Cricket is fantastic because of how it is played. Some of my mates say "I only watch the highlights, then it cuts all the boring bits out" which is rubbish because if you know what you're looking for, there are no boring bits. How the bowlers use traps and techniques to try and lull batsmen into playing certain shots and certain plays. A bowler who makes the batsmen do what he wants them to do is just a joy to watch. Warney is the master of that, with McGrath a close second. Flintoff also does it very well. That's why cricket is so good. A test match usually lasts 5 days, but each hour of those days is engaging viewing as far as I'm concerned, I never get bored.

 

Yes, I hear this all the time from people who regularly compare the two anyway, saying that American football is rugby for wimps, etc. Pick a direction and go with it. Regardless of how different they are, they still look the same to an outsider, and my point on exclusivity still stands.

If you had bothered to read my post, you'd see that I agree with you, ya blind hooligan!

*Buzz* Wrong. A buddy of mine tried to turn me on to soccer by showing me the best games he could think of. I was mildly interested, but not nearly as much as the hooting madman next to me. Of course, I used to love baseball when I was a kid but I don't anymore; maybe it's a maturity thing.

 

I love it when I can take 5 days off work and spent it at the park watching a great test match in the sun. Much better than hanging out at the beach.