Two weeks from today, Super Bowl XL will be played in Detroit, Michigan. Here are the two combatants: The Pittsburgh Steelers The Seattle Seahawks Who will be victorious? Peace. ______ "The dominant primordial beast was strong in Buck, and under the fierce conditions of trail life it grew and grew. Yet it was a secret growth. His newborn cunning gave him poise and control."
I know. Not many black players at our club. I think rugby is like football was 30 years ago. Run by fat old white men wearing blazers. They don't like women playing. God forbid black men! But we are here to stay and they will have to learn to get used us both!
yeah, why doesnt rugby have more black players? 30 years ago in the NFL, there were tons of black players from OJ, to Mean Joe Green, to John Gilliam, and many more--half the football league was black 30 years ago.
Even though I live in Atlanta, the Pittsburgh Steelers are my favorite NFL team because of their toughness and tradition. It's hard to root for the Atlanta Falcons because they are all flash, no guts and they have an overrated quarterback in Mike Vick. The Steelers play football the way that it should be played, in the trenches. My favorite NFL player is Hines Ward. He is originally from the metro Atlanta area where he was a quarterback in high school. He also played for my favorite college team, the University of Georgia Bulldogs. I'm predicting that the Steelers will defeat the Seattle Seahawks but I haven't predicted what the score will be yet. Hines Ward Peace. _________ "Like a bird on a wire, or a drunk in a midnight choir...."
It seems like over in Europe...most of the blacks there grow up and want to either be soccer (footballers) players, track stars, or even basketball stars....not so much when it comes to being a rugby player. I just think that all of the guys who could play American football would make excellent rugby guys. Even without the pads...we are talking about some of these guys (many linebackers for instance) who weigh in excess of 250 lbs....about 110-120 kilograms....and could out run some of the sprinters on the U.S. and U.K. Olympic track teams...not mention lift a small house. In the states its understandable why blacks don't play rugby...we hardly even play "our national pastime" of baseball anymore even though their AVERAGE salaries are as ridiculous as any sport..and the money is guaranteed even if you're injured. All you need is one guy....a Tiger Woods starter kit. If you could get a kid who was interested in rugby and he made it big...I guarantee...every black neighborhood would have small kids piling in scrums instead of shooting 3's, scoring touchdowns, or sprinting barefoot.
What is the superbowl ? I hear much about it. Its between 2 teams?? some of sort of final? How do you get into it? Ive also heard something about a "draft"..the players change team each season or something? :shock:
Well Sup you have come to the right place....Professor Chosen One will give you some schooling on the National Football League (NFL) and its championship event...and a brief history of American football. American football has been around since the late 1800's but it was not seen as a game for professionals....indeed it was played mainly by this nations most prominent universities and they enjoyed the majority of its early success. Harvard, Yale, and Princeton, were the U.S. powerhouses and all others were mere rubbish by comparison. Football at this time was a running man's game as the forward pass was still a bit of a novelty. The size of the football made it difficult to throw the ball...it had the oblong shape as it does now but it was much bigger...almost like an oblong basketball or something...if you've ever held and old time football than you'll know what I'm talking about. At this time...football was much closer to rugby in terms of its style of play but with one difference....helmets. The number of young men being killed in football games caused the powers that be in government and athletics to require that the participants wore leather helmets in addition to their uniforms to prevent serious injuries. Coaches were the primary figures in the spotlight as John Neyland, Amos Alonzo Stagg, and Glenn "Pop" Warner dominated the landscape. But the most prominent of these gridiron tacticians was Knute Rockne..an immigrant from Norway. He led all-catholic University of Notre Dame to 6 national championships in his 12 years at the school turning them into a dynasty and forever etching them into American sports lore. To this day Notre Dame is recognized as one of the most glamorous schools in college football (good academics too!). Professional football was a mere afterthought in the states and this continued through both World Wars..as the U.S. military academies of Army and Navy began to establish themselves as football meccas primarily because of their influx of grizzled war heroes who came back to play ball against boys...and dominate. The NFL was established in 1920 but corruption and scandal plagued it during its early years...professional football stars like Jim Thorpe and Red "Galloping Ghost" Grange made names for themselves along with guys like Fritz Pollard (black general manager in the 20's and 30's as well as star player). Many players were accused of taking money to lose games among other things and this marred the sport until the mid to late 50's when television became a popular medium for entertainment. The moment football became "big-time" in the states was probably in 1958. The 1958 NFL Championship game pitted the Baltimore Colts led by legendary Johnny Unitas against the big bad New York Giants who had future Hall of Fame players and coaches lined up everywhere. The Colts shocking victory propelled the NFL toward major popularity in the states. The NFL enjoyed a new level of prosperity but major competition lurked when a new league started..it was known as the American Football League (AFL). The AFL and the NFL coexisted with most people believing that the NFL produced the superior champion. The public was torn over who was the best so AFL leadership and NFL commissioner Pete Rozelle decided to have a championship pitting the winners of each league in a game known now as the "Superbowl." The first Superbowl took place on Jan. 15, 1967 in Los Angeles, California. The winners of the first two title games were NFL champion Green Bay Packers who were led by Hall of Fame coach Vince Lombardi...arguably one of the greatest football minds ever. (Interestingly he was an assistant coach in the aforementioned 1958 championship game...and the Superbowl trophy now given to the winner is named after him). The NFL's popularity increased still further and feeling the pressure...the AFL merged under the NFL umbrella in 1970. In this new configuration...most of the old AFL teams were placed in the American Football Conference (AFC) and most of the old NFL teams were placed in the National Football Conference (NFC). Today the winners of each conference play for the Superbowl at a neutral site determined several years before the actual game. The NFL is broken down into 32 teams...16 per conference and each conference has 4 divisions. The top six teams in each conference based on win/loss record during a 16-game regular season advance to the playoffs with the top two seeds in each conference getting automatically advanced to the second round where they will play the winners of the first round of games. The NFL playoffs are single-elimination (one and your done) style....so each playoff games' meaning is huge. There are four rounds of the playoffs....the "Wild-Card" round...the "NFC/AFC divisional" round...the "NFC/AFC championship" games....and finally the Superbowl. The most frequent winners of Super Bowls have been the San Francisco 49ers with 5 championships and the Dallas Cowboys also with 5 championships and a record 8 trips to the title game. It is generally assumed that the Cowboys, 49ers, the Pittsburgh Steelers, and the Green Bay Packers are among the most tradition rich of NFL franchises with 17 of the 39 championships being divided between these teams. As far as how are players drafted....well the NFL draft occurs in late April in New York...were all 32 teams gather to select players over the course of two days. There are 7 rounds and thirty-two selections per round. The team that had the worst record the previous year often gets to select first. The NFL talent pool comes from the best collegiate football players in America. The league mandates that a draftee be out of high school for at least 3 years before being drafted...so virtually every player has at least 3 seasons of college football experience before making the leap to the professional ranks. Generally only the highest picks actually attend the draft in N.Y. while the others watch it on T.V. like the rest of the country. There are so many dealings and trades of selections, money and players and so many strategies that I could write a novel on it...so I won't get into all of that. As for the guys getting drafted....many of the best college players in America meet in Indianapolis, Indiana for the "NFL Combine." Here they measure everything imaginable on prospective athletes: they measure height to the nearest quarter inch...they measure weight....how high one can jump (vertical leap)....a player's muscularity and muscle development...his hand size etc. They also measure a players speed in the "40-yard dash" which checks to see what kind of acceleration and quickness a guy possesses. Speed is relative as it depends a lot on what position you play but generally anyone who can run a 40-yard dash under 4.5 seconds is considered fast....run it under 4.3 seconds and you have world class speed. They also test strength by seeing how many times a player can bench press 225 lbs (102 kilograms). In addition to actual football drills...scouts for the different NFL teams interview the players countless times and perform background checks as well as psychological tests and aptitude tests. The New York Giants are famous for offering their "Wonderlic Test" which encompasses 400-500 psychological questions a player must answer.....failure to comply with teams' wishes can get you a bad reputation and lower your draft status costing you $$$$$. Considering that players often have to memorize at least 1000 plays with 3-8 variations on each play....its no wonder that coaches want guys who have brilliant minds as well as great physical prowess. The average NFL player sticks in the league for only 4 years...while the best player usually last at least 10 years with some playing up to 20 years. The NFL is as violent a game as there is....many of the former players can barely walk without a noticeable limp. The player's picture shown at the top of this thread (Jerome Bettis) can not even get out of bed in the morning without performing a 30 minute-1 hour ritual that prepares his muscles. Still many others suffer from neurological damage due to a plethora of concussions they received in their playing days and as a result some have slurred speech, while others have frequent migraine headaches or memory loss. I'd say they are the most impressive athletes because their sport requires them to be big....as quick as soccer players (I guarantee that the "big guys" in football who often weigh over 300 lbs/136 kilograms could out run 90% of the people in this forum)...with the leaping ability of basketball players ...the toughness of rugby or hockey players....and the smarts to digest so many things before a play and after a play as well as just knowing your teams' playbook which is in itself an accomplishment its probably the most "cerebral" of sports even though it doesn't seem that way. That's my class for the day! 8)
If men are of that size, they are perfectly capable of playing rugby - but at least in American football you get to protect your face, after a few years the rugby players don't look so pretty!
That's what makes football so brutal....players...especially the old time guys...some of them...have messed up faces and worn out body parts and this is WITH pads. I think what happens is that because these guys have protection...they tend to launch themselves at opposing players as opposed to grabbing them and tackling them....... Most of these guys...heck all of them...could make decent rugby players..but the sport is not that popular here and the guys who have the mindset to play the sport probably play hockey instead.
I dont mind a few scars or a broken nose on a man. And usually its only the front row of the scrum that get cauliflower ears... I do tend to get pretty impressive bruises though
Nothing worse than going out on a saturday night wearing a skirt when you have stud marks down your thigh.
Lol thanks for the lesson Chosen one I guess one league with all 32 teams would be boring, you need something extra, the way we have the UEFA Champions League also as national leagues. I used to think the Superbowl was a tournament where all NFL players were called up by the American state they come from and the states had a tournament, called the Superbowl each year, then the NFL continued. Like the world and european cups we have also (oh yeah we have that too :wink. That would be quite a cool idea, but I guess places like texas and california would win easy x the tiny states. LOL California x Hawaii I do not know what to say on this draft idea. It sounds cool to pick a new team every season, you could have such fun. But here, the player signs for the team and starts a "love" to the club and play because they want to for the fans and for the club. For the draft a NFL player could be in a new team every year, one year the fans would love him, the next they would hate. Take my soccer team Bayern, our main man is Michael Ballack, it'd suck if he left. All fans love him and he loves the club. You dont and cant have that with your players. Also, the worst team picks 1st. WTF?? lol. Every team must be a yoyo. How can teams be "traditionally the best" with most wins etc. Is it not one year they are good, the next they are bad so they get to choose first and are good again?? If you trade and teams have money, why bother with such a draft system?? Complicated sport! lol Also I think American football is more "painful" and "tough" than Rugby. With rugby you must tackle in a certain way, this is to prevent such injury I guess. NFL players just do what it takes to tackle, I have seen people be tackled/jumped on the head/neck, not in rugby, always legs. Yes ?
Congratulations to the Pittsburgh Steelers for defeating the Seattle Seahawks by a score of 21-10 in Super Bowl XL played in Detroit, Michigan. This marks the fifth time that the Steelers have won the championship. Also, congratulations to Hines Ward (from the metro Atlanta area) who won the most valuable player award for the game. The only thing I regret now is having to wait until the next season starts. :smt022 Peace. ______ "We are the champions....of the world!"
[quote='Sup.]Lol thanks for the lesson Chosen one I guess one league with all 32 teams would be boring, you need something extra, the way we have the UEFA Champions League also as national leagues. I used to think the Superbowl was a tournament where all NFL players were called up by the American state they come from and the states had a tournament, called the Superbowl each year, then the NFL continued. Like the world and european cups we have also (oh yeah we have that too :wink. That would be quite a cool idea, but I guess places like texas and california would win easy x the tiny states. LOL California x Hawaii I do not know what to say on this draft idea. It sounds cool to pick a new team every season, you could have such fun. But here, the player signs for the team and starts a "love" to the club and play because they want to for the fans and for the club. For the draft a NFL player could be in a new team every year, one year the fans would love him, the next they would hate. Take my soccer team Bayern, our main man is Michael Ballack, it'd suck if he left. All fans love him and he loves the club. You dont and cant have that with your players. Also, the worst team picks 1st. WTF?? lol. Every team must be a yoyo. How can teams be "traditionally the best" with most wins etc. Is it not one year they are good, the next they are bad so they get to choose first and are good again?? If you trade and teams have money, why bother with such a draft system?? Complicated sport! lol Also I think American football is more "painful" and "tough" than Rugby. With rugby you must tackle in a certain way, this is to prevent such injury I guess. NFL players just do what it takes to tackle, I have seen people be tackled/jumped on the head/neck, not in rugby, always legs. Yes ?[/quote] It would seem that every team would yoyo...and in today's league it is more of a yoyo...but that is more of a function of the fact that today's game has a salary cap for each team that is the same...so the top teams have a harder time keeping their star players as they will take offers for more money from lesser teams. The study of an NFL salary cap and the structure of contracts could span the length of a novel like 'War and Peace' Generally though it all comes down to scouting the best college players and certain teams have traditionally scouted better. It is very difficult to tell who will be good and who won't at the professional level but the general managers will be very careful in selecting the players as they are a big investment. If the NFL allowed the champs to pick first...they would dominate simply because a player who is near the top of the draft...say the first 10-15 picks can have such an impact on the game.....most of the best players in league history have been high draft picks....it gives the weak teams a chance to get better and often they do....but usually there are perennial dogs who no matter how often they get the good picks...will always suck. Is rugby tougher than American football...well that's a hard one....rugby players obviously have no padding or helmets but they really don't launch their bodies at opposing athletes like they do in the NFL. Its about even I'd say in physicality but....its rare to hear about guys becoming paralyzed because of a rugby match....it has happened in the NFL in the last 15 years. The biggest difference is the size and speed though......both sports are physical but I don't know if any rugby guys who weigh 100 or more kilos and have world class speed.......it is a very confusing sport like many sports I guess....but I'd say that baseball is the most confusing of all....most Americans would say this....even people who play the sport their whole lives aren't sure about all the rules and etiquette.
Well chosen one you will happy because I watched the superbowl It was on TV at about 1 am but I watched it. I did not understand any of it lol but was good. I do not like the way the game stops every 10 seconds though, just like rugby does. Some of the players are very fat lol, more than the fattest rugby players. The TV seemed to be on the player Hasselbeck every 10 seconds also, everything seems to happen to him, I guess he is important/important position or something (LOL i know nothing ).
