Soccer is best

[ToSeek]

By one standard, at least:

Surprises make soccer the best sport (http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn8531&feedId=online-news_rss20)

Baseball has home runs, American football has touchdowns and basketball has slam dunks. But when it comes to which is the most exciting sport to follow, soccer takes the gold medal.

Eli Ben-Naim, Sidney Redner and Federico Vazquez at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico decided to look at unpredictability of results - how often a team with a worse record overcomes an apparently superior one - as the best measure of how exciting a league is. "If there are no upsets, then every game is predictable and hence boring," says Ben-Naim.

[Jakenorrish]

Agreed, soccer beats anything the States has to offer in my humble opinion (That should get a few of you annoyed!). The fact that it has a whole 45 minutes of uninterrupted (by commercials) action is the first on my list of reasons....

[Eric Vaxxine]

Motor racing is better & it lasts Longer than 90 minutes and nobody ever fights.

But I guess it doesn't fit in this thread eh?

[Jim]

Motor racing is better & it lasts Longer than 90 minutes and nobody ever fights. (emphasis added)

So, I take it you haven't watched much NASCAR?

[Dragon Star]

(emphasis added)

So, I take it you haven't watched much NASCAR?


:razz:

[Jakenorrish]

Motor racing is better & it lasts Longer than 90 minutes and nobody ever fights.

But I guess it doesn't fit in this thread eh?

Senna v Prost anyone?!

[pumpkinpie]

Agreed, soccer beats anything the States has to offer in my humble opinion (That should get a few of you annoyed!). The fact that it has a whole 45 minutes of uninterrupted (by commercials) action is the first on my list of reasons....


Ooohhh....so THAT's why there are almost no televised soccer matches. No time for commercials! No network could afford that! :lol:

[ToSeek]

Agreed, soccer beats anything the States has to offer in my humble opinion (That should get a few of you annoyed!). The fact that it has a whole 45 minutes of uninterrupted (by commercials) action is the first on my list of reasons....

That you know (within a couple of minutes of stoppage time) just when a soccer match is going to be over is a major point in the sport's favor, IMHO. It's not like American football, where the last two minutes can take twenty, or basketball, where I've seen a coach call a time-out to try to plot a strategy to score nine points with 12.7 seconds left in the game.

[Doodler]

I will say this, having played both.

Rugby>American Football

In Football, fans drink a lotta beer. In every Rugby tourney I played in, players drank a lot more beer than the fans. Far superior sport, no matter how you cut it. There was one tourney in DC where the referees had their own half keg. Its an awesome sport.

[Jim]

Ooohhh....so THAT's why there are almost no televised soccer matches. No time for commercials! No network could afford that! :lol:

Fox Sports shows soccer w/o commercials; they place the little sponsor logos in the upper corner of the screen, the same way Telemundo and Univision do.

ESPN and ABC have taken to showing soccer w/o "commercial interruption." That means they go to a split screen, showing the commercial at full volume on one side and the match, at reduced volume, on the other.

What ESPN, ABC and the sponsors don't seem to understand is that they are antagonizing the folks most interested in watching the match, making them least likely to patronize the sponsors.

[SeanF]

Their results showed that the "upset frequency" was highest for soccer, followed by baseball, hockey, basketball and finally American football. But when they looked only at data from the past 10 years, the English football Premiership and baseball swapped places, which suggests that soccer might have become more predictable in recent years.
Yeah, baseball!:dance:

Seriously, though, I wonder how big the difference is. Low-record teams can't win all that often, or else they won't be low-record teams.

[Candy]

ToSeek likes Soccer Girls. :D

[jumbo]

I will say this, having played both.

Rugby>American Football

Ive played both and think the opposite. I think its because although i played rugby at school for 7 years i never found it as engaging. Both are about equal though here for the booze content of both the fans and players!

I not a great fan of soccer personally. Here i think it could do with teams being a bit more equal in terms of resources. Though probably not workable a draft style system rather than biggest cheque book system would make this interesting. Big teams with big money seem to dominate.

Hockey is more my thing. Theres a game that has me on the edge of my seat. For the last couple of minutes of a game unless my team is up about 3 goals i can barely bring my self to even consider looking at the clock to see how long is left. Im sure when i pop my clogs it will be from stress in the last seconds of the 3rd period at some game or other!

[ToSeek]

ToSeek likes Soccer Girls. :D

Yup!

http://mywebpages.comcast.net/starcityfan/2003casual/2234-LoriFloEmmyme.jpg

[Maksutov]

Soccer is best, for curing insomnia. It's right up there with tennis. Works every time.

Now, playing it is probably a different matter, as with coaching or refereeing, but re watching it, either in the stands or on TV, see the first paragraph.

Meanwhile, gee, ToSeek, at your age I would have thought you'd go more for gals who were in the age range of soccer moms! http://img137.imageshack.us/img137/566/iconwink6tn.gif

[LurchGS]

Yup!

http://mywebpages.comcast.net/starcityfan/2003casual/2234-LoriFloEmmyme.jpg


good job of cropping that cradle out of the shot! :D

Fortunately, the guy who owns the Colorado Rapids also owns a TV network - we get ALL the local games - soccer, lacross, baseball, hockey...I think we even get arena football.

[Candy]

Meanwhile, gee, ToSeek, at your age I would have thought you'd go more for gals who were in the age range of soccer moms! http://img137.imageshack.us/img137/566/iconwink6tn.gif
:lol:

Where's that smiley slapping the ground when you need it?!

[brianok]

As far as I am concerned soccer is boring, a game sometimes
has only 1 or 2 scoring chances per half.

Hockey is #1 for excitement.

[Candy]

a game sometimes
has only 1 or 2 scoring chances per half.


That's what ToSeek is hoping for! :lol:

[Dave Mitsky]

Soccer is best, for curing insomnia. It's right up there with tennis. Works every time.

Edit



And here I thought that golf was the most boring spectator sport.

Dave Mitsky

[Candy]

And here I thought that golf was the most boring spectator sport.

Dave Mitsky
This is about the only time I enjoy watching the news - sports wrapup. Take all the boring sports and make them exciting in 5 minutes. :D

[Lianachan]

As far as I am concerned soccer is boring, a game sometimes
has only 1 or 2 scoring chances per half.

Hockey is #1 for excitement.

Matter of opinion. I've seen dozens of 0-0 draws that were more exciting than matches that were stuffed with goals. It depends on how much you understand the subtlties and complexities of the game.

As for hockey - I used to play shinty, the forerunner of hockey! I used to play football too, as an amateur of course, until forced to retire through injury.

[mid]

Football has the highest chance of 'upset'? Would someone like to explain why Chelsea have such an absurdly commanding lead at the top of the Premiership, then?

[DukePaul]

The "best" sports are the ones you participate in not the ones you watch.

[Candy]

The "best" sports are the ones you participate in not the ones you watch.
I find this very true. I watched more sports in high school than I do now. I was a manager (aka go-fer) and video photographer during them good old days. Dumb Delaney washed the uniforms and left them in the dryer for over 24 hours. We went to State with pink uniforms. Okay, we had to wear dark with the acceptance of the other team to wear white. What a freaking nightmare! Hey, it's funny now. :lol:

[Candy]

Oh, yeah, we lost at State BIG TIME!

[DukePaul]

I think wearing pink uniforms could possibly be a potentially great tactical ploy causing the other team to underestimate or become distracted. And even if your team doen't win, it will still be the headline subject of the day. Pink men soccer(PMS)

[Eric Vaxxine]

(emphasis added)

So, I take it you haven't watched much NASCAR?


Real Racing - Spa Francorchamps in F1. Formula Ford at Brands Hatch in the rain.

And you have to be there ... in person. Television is great for adverts.

[Candy]

I think wearing pink uniforms could possibly be a potentially great tactical ploy causing the other team to underestimate or become distracted. And even if your team doen't win, it will still be the headline subject of the day. Pink men soccer(PMS)
:lol: OMG, that was so long ago. I think we lost 42-3. I remember going to college at Ball State with a player from the "other" team - Awesome Austin. He sucked in college football.

[Fram]

As far as I am concerned soccer is boring, a game sometimes
has only 1 or 2 scoring chances per half.

Hockey is #1 for excitement.

Since you are from Canada, I presume you mean Ice Hockey? Hockey is quite boring.
Football (sorry, soccer) is unpredictable, and has between the admittedly boring games a heap of exciting games and many mores games with exciting moments and flashes of brilliance (some of the things Ronaldinho does e.g.).
My favourite sports are cycling (exciting! I can't remember a sporting moment that was more tense and fascinating to watch than the 1989 Tour De France last stage time trial between Lemond and Fignon) and speed skating (not shorttrack though), which is exciting for short distances (Shimizu in his golden years was a delight to see) and mesmerizing for the long distances. And when you realize that they have twice the speed of a runner (comparing the 10 km times), you get even more respect for the feats they produce.

[HenrikOlsen]

And here I thought that golf was the most boring spectator sport.

Dave Mitsky
Fishing.
I get an hour of that every day on one of my channels. I'm continuously amazed at how proud a grown man can be at outhinking a fish.

[Maksutov]

Fishing.
I get an hour of that every day on one of my channels. I'm continuously amazed at how proud a grown man can be at outhinking a fish.Here in the South it's called a war of wits.

I had a redneck girlfriend for a while whose previous boyfriend actually spent most of his non-working time (i.e., most of the week) watching Bassmasters and the other stuff on what was essentially a fishing channel. She dumped him after he finally gave in to her requests to go on a weekend getaway.

The weekend getaway consisted of traveling from South Carolina to the boyfriend's parent's house in Georgia where he proceeded to spend the weekend watching Bassmasters and the other stuff on what was essentially a fishing channel, on his father's TV.

http://www.cosgan.de/images/midi/sportlich/a025.gif

[Moonrock]

Football has the highest chance of 'upset'? Would someone like to explain why Chelsea have such an absurdly commanding lead at the top of the Premiership, then?

Because Chelsea have so much money that they can buy their squad. Did you know that there are only 8 Englishmen in the 24 man squad? Its a pity, but Premiership football seems to be dominated by the teams who can buy the best squad nowadays. Look at Arsenal, Liverpool and Chelsea as fine examples.

Im a Man Utd fan and Im really happy that many of our players have come from their youth training regime. Giggs, Scholes, Beckham, the Nevilles and many more top players came from their youth team.

Oh and its 'football' not soccer. The US stole the word 'football' even though only the kicker kicks the ball hehe.

I would like to see this draft idea come into football though, it would give the smaller clubs the chance to get into the Premiership more easily. Although Im really pleased for Wigan and how they have stayed near the top of the Premiership, big budget or not.

[farmerjumperdon]

Agreed, soccer beats anything the States has to offer in my humble opinion (That should get a few of you annoyed!). The fact that it has a whole 45 minutes of uninterrupted (by commercials) action is the first on my list of reasons....

Yes, the uninterupted action is not even interupted by action, other than on the rare occasion when someone actually scores (about once every other game?)

Good thing though is that unlike most sports where you need to wait for a time-out or other stoppage; with soccer you can go pretty much anytime and be nearly certain you will not miss a thing.

Oh sure, you might miss the incredible beauty of a pass, or the amazing footwork of one guy dribbling around another (takes my breath away), but odds are you could spend miss most of the game and miss nothing of consequence to the actual outcome.

[HenrikOlsen]

Well, that's true of all sports that you don't like.

[farmerjumperdon]

The "best" sports are the ones you participate in not the ones you watch.

All kidding and jabbing aside; that's the best post of the thread.

Living vicariously through the exploits of others is a far cry from actually experiencing life. I'd rather play a little pick-up game with my friends than sit midfield or midcourt or front row for the championship of any sport there is.

[mid]

Because Chelsea have so much money that they can buy their squad.

Oh, I'm well aware of what Abramovich's money has been spent on. My point was that if there's a higher chance of upset than in any other game, then I'd expect to see them having the kind of nightmare Arsenal are having more often.

[ToSeek]

Soccer is best, for curing insomnia. It's right up there with tennis. Works every time.

Now, playing it is probably a different matter, as with coaching or refereeing, but re watching it, either in the stands or on TV, see the first paragraph.

Meanwhile, gee, ToSeek, at your age I would have thought you'd go more for gals who were in the age range of soccer moms! http://img137.imageshack.us/img137/566/iconwink6tn.gif

I've met some of the moms - some of them are pretty cute, too!

[pumpkinpie]

The "best" sports are the ones you participate in not the ones you watch.

All kidding and jabbing aside; that's the best post of the thread.

Living vicariously through the exploits of others is a far cry from actually experiencing life. I'd rather play a little pick-up game with my friends than sit midfield or midcourt or front row for the championship of any sport there is.

In your opinion, my friend.......To me, the best sport is baseball. I enjoy watching it in person, on tv, and listening on the radio. I've played softball--for one year in high school and for the past four summers in a club league. I do not enjoy playing it at all. I am on the team for a little variance in my exercising, and for the socialization. But that does not mean that when I am watching baseball rather than playing, I am not "actually experiencing life." :naughty:

[Jim]

Well, that's true of all sports that you don't like.

I thnik the enjoyment of watching a sport is directly related to how ell you understand it and what you want out of it.

A well played soccer match is low scoring by definition. But, if you understand the game and want to see well executed play, a low scoring match can be extremely exciting and pleasurable.

I've known folks who claim to love baseball, yet complain that a double shutout 1-0 game, won on a 9th inning suicide squeeze, is "boring."

Some folks just like to see big numbers on the score board.

[Argos]

Senna v Prost anyone?!

Piquet vs Salazar, Hockenheim 82, a memorable homage to Cassius Clay. :)

[Heid the Ba']

To drag the thread back towards the OP, in football in the UK you get more upsets because teams play a broader range of standards of opponents who sometimes get lucky, as Celtic found out yesterday losing to a team two divisions below them in the cup. This means nothing to most of you but it amuses me to type it.

In the NBA, NFL, NHL etc. teams are of a roughly comparable standard and even a poor team like the Packers can beat a good team like Seattle without it being an upset. Were Seattle to play a semipro team and lose (as ManU nearly did yesterday) that would be an upset, but due to the nature of the NFL this cannot happen since they will never play.

[farmerjumperdon]

I've played softball--for one year in high school and for the past four summers in a club league. I do not enjoy playing it at all. I am on the team for a little variance in my exercising, and for the socialization. But that does not mean that when I am watching baseball rather than playing, I am not "actually experiencing life." :naughty:

Actually doing something is definitely a higher level of experience than watching someone else do it. Beyond the learning phase of an activity, observing is a distant second to doing. There are those that do, and there are those that occupy the couch (or bleachers or whatever). I'm not against all narcotic activity, and certainly the couch potato experiences life, but the perspective is radically different. So I exxagerated a bit; they experience life, but in a very limited fashion.

I am curious though - why would you play on a league in a sport you do not enjoy AT ALL? Maybe yours was also a bit of exxageration? If you are looking to socialize, why not do it in relation to an activity you actually enjoy? There must be things you enjoy doing that would involve social interaction with people. I just can't imagine myself joining an activity for which I have no desire just to be by people when I could be by people doing something I actually like to do.

[SeanF]

To drag the thread back towards the OP, in football in the UK you get more upsets because teams play a broader range of standards of opponents who sometimes get lucky, as Celtic found out yesterday losing to a team two divisions below them in the cup. This means nothing to most of you but it amuses me to type it.

In the NBA, NFL, NHL etc. teams are of a roughly comparable standard and even a poor team like the Packers can beat a good team like Seattle without it being an upset. Were Seattle to play a semipro team and lose (as ManU nearly did yesterday) that would be an upset, but due to the nature of the NFL this cannot happen since they will never play.
But the way I read it, they're defining "upset" by a simple record comparison, regardless of the teams' respective "levels." If Seattle has a better record than Green Bay and Green Bay wins, it is an upset for the statistical purposes of this study, even if aficionados of the game wouldn't necessarily consider it such.

And if Seattle played a semipro team with a better record and lost, it would not be an upset (within the confines of this study).

[Heid the Ba']

SeanF: I didn't look at their definitions. I'll go back and look closer when I have time. I was just trying too hard to get the Celtic result in. :)

[Jim]

... even a poor team like the Packers can beat a good team like Seattle...

Your lack of understanding of the intricacies of American football - especially NFL - is obvious.

The Packers are a very good football team who simply experienced a down year, that's all.

That's my story and I'm stickin' to it. :whistle:

[pumpkinpie]

Actually doing something is definitely a higher level of experience than watching someone else do it. Beyond the learning phase of an activity, observing is a distant second to doing. There are those that do, and there are those that occupy the couch (or bleachers or whatever). I'm not against all narcotic activity, and certainly the couch potato experiences life, but the perspective is radically different. So I exxagerated a bit; they experience life, but in a very limited fashion.

I am curious though - why would you play on a league in a sport you do not enjoy AT ALL? Maybe yours was also a bit of exxageration? If you are looking to socialize, why not do it in relation to an activity you actually enjoy? There must be things you enjoy doing that would involve social interaction with people. I just can't imagine myself joining an activity for which I have no desire just to be by people when I could be by people doing something I actually like to do.


No, I wasn't exaggerating. I do not enjoy playing the game. I have poor coordination, and I don't do very well. I dread going up to bat, and I can never hit the ball out of the infield.

I play to socialize. I enjoy that part of the game enough to make up for not actually liking to play. It's a great group of people that I love to spend time with. We have a huge team and I bat near the end of the order, so I only get up once or twice. I also don't have to play in the field every inning. It's perfect for me. It's also a good way to get a little bit of a variety in my exercise.

And contrary to what you say, I do experience life, 24 hours a day! :lol: Even when I spend a couple hours watching a baseball game. I'm experiencing life in a different way than those on the field. I think that I'm having trouble with the words you're using. Certainly I'm not experiencing "the game" the same way the players are. But I *am* experiencing life, in my preferred fashion. And it's not limited at all.

[Lianachan]

To drag the thread back towards the OP, in football in the UK you get more upsets because teams play a broader range of standards of opponents who sometimes get lucky, as Celtic found out yesterday losing to a team two divisions below them in the cup. This means nothing to most of you but it amuses me to type it.

Clyde are only one division lower! They're in the First Division! I realise that, outside the Premier League, the whole thing smears into one indistinguishable mound of "wee teams" though.

;)

[Eric Vaxxine]

I like watching comedy football. Italians that fall over when someone gets near them. It's hilarious. English football has this same tactic, but not the emotional committment. The Englsih prefer to spit.

[pumpkinpie]

To drag the thread back towards the OP, in football in the UK you get more upsets because teams play a broader range of standards of opponents who sometimes get lucky, as Celtic found out yesterday losing to a team two divisions below them in the cup. This means nothing to most of you but it amuses me to type it.

In the NBA, NFL, NHL etc. teams are of a roughly comparable standard and even a poor team like the Packers can beat a good team like Seattle without it being an upset. Were Seattle to play a semipro team and lose (as ManU nearly did yesterday) that would be an upset, but due to the nature of the NFL this cannot happen since they will never play.

Go Albion! ManU still has a chance to lose....I did get the right teams, right? I'm slowly learning from my boyfriend. :)

[farmerjumperdon]

No, I wasn't exaggerating. I do not enjoy playing the game. I have poor coordination, and I don't do very well. I dread going up to bat, and I can never hit the ball out of the infield.

I play to socialize. I enjoy that part of the game enough to make up for not actually liking to play. It's a great group of people that I love to spend time with. We have a huge team and I bat near the end of the order, so I only get up once or twice. I also don't have to play in the field every inning. It's perfect for me. It's also a good way to get a little bit of a variety in my exercise.

Admit it, you're there for the beer. I mean, how much exercise can you get batting once or twice, never hitting the ball out of the infield, and playing the field for a couple innings.

[Jakenorrish]

Yes, the uninterupted action is not even interupted by action, other than on the rare occasion when someone actually scores (about once every other game?)

Good thing though is that unlike most sports where you need to wait for a time-out or other stoppage; with soccer you can go pretty much anytime and be nearly certain you will not miss a thing.

Oh sure, you might miss the incredible beauty of a pass, or the amazing footwork of one guy dribbling around another (takes my breath away), but odds are you could spend miss most of the game and miss nothing of consequence to the actual outcome.

That's right. Football should be more like American Football where the gameplay is an hour long, and the game lasts for about 6 hours. There are fifteen referees who all have to argue when the flag is thrown in and every time out, injury, score or dropped pass they cut to a commercial. Sunday evenings would be so much more fun!

The US has a 'World Series' in baseball the winners are proclaimed 'World Champions' and their teams are the only ones allowed to take part!! What's that all about?!!!

[Maksutov]

Originally Posted by Maksutov
Soccer is best, for curing insomnia. It's right up there with tennis. Works every time.

Now, playing it is probably a different matter, as with coaching or refereeing, but re watching it, either in the stands or on TV, see the first paragraph.

Meanwhile, gee, ToSeek, at your age I would have thought you'd go more for gals who were in the age range of soccer moms! http://img137.imageshack.us/img137/566/iconwink6tn.gif I've met some of the moms - some of them are pretty cute, too!Same here. There was one soccer mom, who was a single parent, that I'll never forget. How wonderful to know a gal who knows the rules of the game.

Goal!

Yum!

http://img394.imageshack.us/img394/4879/iconbiggrin1kg.gif

[SeanF]

That's right. Football should be more like American Football where the gameplay is an hour long, and the game lasts for about 6 hours. There are fifteen referees who all have to argue when the flag is thrown in and every time out, injury, score or dropped pass they cut to a commercial. Sunday evenings would be so much more fun!
Hmm. While I understand your annoyance with this, I don't really see that it contradicts anything farmerjumperdon said about soccer. That is, I don't see where the aspects he complained about in soccer are necessary in order to prevent (or do anything to prevent) the aspects of American football you complained about. :)

The US has a 'World Series' in baseball the winners are proclaimed 'World Champions' and their teams are the only ones allowed to take part!! What's that all about?!!!
Despite common misconception, Toronto is not in the United States. ;)

(I almost typed "and Montreal"!)

[Philip A]

I like the US version of soccer - they prove it IS a girl's game. Rugby is by far the better sport!

I will admit that some of the rules are 'open to interpretation' or make little sense, and that you really need to be an afficionado of front row play to understand scrummaging, but it is a great game. Unfortunately Ulster have had a bad run recently (including the ignomy of losing at home to Connacht........ :( )

[Heid the Ba']

Clyde are only one division lower! They're in the First Division! I realise that, outside the Premier League, the whole thing smears into one indistinguishable mound of "wee teams" though.

;)

Apologies, Celtic were beaten by a team only one division lower. Still makes me laugh! :) About a month ago I feared that was the division we would be in next season, but now we are back to fourth...

Pumpkinpie: Yep, you got it right. The replay is next wednesday but teams rarely get caught cold twice.

[Jakenorrish]

Football which is played all around the globe is called football as you mainly use your feet. You may chest the ball or head it also, but you must not use your arms or hands to play the ball. It is not called 'soccer' it is called football. It was around for many years before American Football so has earned the right!

American football is a game where only the person taking the kick offs or kicking for goal uses his feet to play the ball - hence it is known as 'Gridiron'.

If you call football boring then you haven't watched it. It is similar in flow to ice hockey in that it involves constant play and the object of the game is to score goals. I hear very few of our friends across the pond saying that Ice Hockey is dull! Football also involves penalties, bookings, sendings off, and sometimes mass brawls!

The only reason football isn't popular in the states is that the huge corporations over there insist on commercials every five minutes to sell you things. Football (unlike ice hockey with time outs and quater hour plays) isn't condusive to this as a half lasts 45 minutes. If the US had publicly funded TV such as the wonderful BBC which could afford the rights, then football would spread like wildfire!

A game where the object is to have downs to gain territory before scoring 'touchdowns' (where you don't have to actually touch anything down, just cross the line) makes very little sense to anyone outside of the States ergo, there are far more football fans (as it is very easy to understand) worldwide than American football fans. Anyone who saw the European cup final last season will know that Football is the most exciting sport in the world. The US major league is not a good advert for the game as your home grown talent (Tim Howard etc) can earn a lot more money playing for an overseas team.

[Argos]

Football which is played all around the globe is called football as you mainly use your feet. You may chest the ball or head it also, but you must not use your arms or hands to play the ball.

Don´t tell this to Maradona. :)

The only reason football isn't popular in the states is that the huge corporations over there insist on commercials every five minutes to sell you things. Football (unlike ice hockey with time outs and quater hour plays) isn't condusive to this as a half lasts 45 minutes. If the US had publicly funded TV such as the wonderful BBC which could afford the rights, then football would spread like wildfire!

By the time of the US World Cup in 1994 people (I mean, corporations) got to propose dividing each half by three, with three 15 min blocks. The idea was rejected, apparently, since I don´t hear about it anymore. That would not be a trivial thing. If you interrupt the game every 15 minutes, there are dramatic consequences for the style and the skills required to play the game. It would change the profile of the athletes, as a 5 min pause between the blocks could allow for older players to be leveled to the rest. A 45-minute half requires the athletes to be at the top of their physical condition.

[Jakenorrish]

By the time of the US World Cup in 1994 people got to propose dividing each half by three, with three 15 min blocks. The idea was rejected, apparently, since I don´t hear about it anymore. That would not be a trivial thing. If you interrupt the game every 15 minutes, there are dramatic consequences for the style and the skills required to play the game. It would change the profile of the athletes, as a 5 min pause between the blocks could allow for older players to be leveled to the rest. A 45-minute half requires the athletes to be at the top of the physical condition.

The other thing that's great about Football is that in competitive games, you are only allowed three substitutions, in Gridiron, you can substitute the whole team several times each quarter depending on whether you're attacking or defending or kicking!!

[Lianachan]

The other thing that's great about Football is that in competitive games, you are only allowed three substitutions, in Gridiron, you can substitute the whole team several times each quater depending on whether you're attacking or defending or kicking!!

Towards the end of my footballing days, I played in a local 7-a-side league that allowed continuous, unlimited substitutes. I used to get wheeled on to take free kicks and penalties, then wheeled off again the next time the ball left the field. Likewise, I'd be wheeled on in advance of any looming penalty shootouts (the league didn't allow for draws). That certainly extended my playing days by another 2 seasons, before an injury in an 11-a-side proper friendly put me out for good.