Trapper439 wrote: That's exactly what I'm saying.
It's not precision that is required to excel.
Among the professional sports, the NFL actually tries to assure that their players are not on steroids. American Baseball is terrible ..only now are they really starting to go after it...but in the NFL, teams are required to test players AND the league tests randomly. Additionally, the sanctions are terrible. If one is suspended they lose game salary. When you are paid only 20 weeks out of the year , a game check or 4 or 6, or whatever, is HUGE. I am not saying that some players have not found a way to beat the system...I DO know that the vast majority of players in American football do not take steroids. Additionally, the affect on a body taking steroids nearly precludes use by NFL players. Use of steroids causes the body breaks down at joints, and at ligament attachments. The forceful contact needed to play the sport would mean CONSTANT injury to antyone taking such drugs, and therefore a very short and unlucrative career.
American footbal does require precision on every play to make any given play a success. Each player on the Offensive line has to creat or fill a gap, the backfield must block or go to a specific designed gap, the QB must either hand off the ball or read the defense qucikly to throw the ball to a spot on the field where the play mandates a receiver to be (and must make the throw before the receiver actually is there, mind you). It is timing and precision and effort. This is to say nothing of the toughness it takes to play.
As the size and speed of the game increases, the contact gets more violent. Hit and Hit back. I mean, save for the recievers who try to avoid contact and the kickers (who need not be all that strong and fast), of course, everyone else must expect to keep their wits and strength up.
Trapper439 wrote:If you think that's a hasty generalization then look at the way most Americans see soccer. I saw some idiot on the Newshour with Jim Lehrer getting angry about how un-American the sport was after the World Cup. He was all irate about how LaCrosse was SOOOO much better and more in tune with American values.
I make no apologies for some yahoo that had a camera thrown in front of him. Don't paint us all with the same brush, pal. My only point, which you have demnonstrated, albeit eloqunetly enough, was that how I tire of the self-sanctimony and elitism of the futball enthusiast who looks down their nose at football as somehow less of a sport. Clearly, some who do this do not understand the game at all.
Trapper439 wrote: Amongst the WR's and CB's I can recall only Darrell Green was an Olympic Class sprinter.
Most men who pay at CB and WR run a 4.3 to 4.6 40 yard dash. Pretty speedy.
Trapper439 wrote:The only guys under 5'9" I recall making any kind of career in American sports IIRC were Muggsy Bogues and Spud Webb in the NBA. Kudos to them, but to my mind that's a pretty sad indictment of US sport.
Would you say the same if a man wished to be a horse jockey, but he weighed 175 and stood 5.9" ? Clearly he would lose an advantage by weighing down the horse, and could not race effectively. The fact that most men in the NFL are large is not an indictment on the sprt, but a comment on the fact that the bigger and faster a team is, it is less likely a shorter man can be effective. What do you want...height quotas?
Trapper439 wrote:When I lived in Georgia there was a QB called Tracey Hamm at Georgia Southern who broke all kinds of Collegiate records. But he was only 6'2" so when he graduated he went to Edmonton in the Canadian League. Too short for the NFL.
Too short for the NFL? Maybe, but how do explain one Doug Flutie who in lifts was barely taller than Jiminy Cricket? No I'd say it proabably had more to do with the fact that Ham was from a po-dunk Division III school that ran a variation on the "wishbone" offense. This offense does not yield a decent skill set that translates to the NFL. Perhaps his arm wasn't as strong as was needed. But, I would bet the pro teams did evaluate him...I mean if he went to canada to play, he would have been looked at.
Trapper439 wrote:So it stands to reason that a sport which requires extra footwork necessitates extra skill. That's why I'm glad that players such as Maradona weren't ruled out of the World Game by their diminutive stature.
If there were a sport that required sweeping generalizations, you'd be ALL-WORLD, my friend. Skills are different per sport. There isn't a lot of footwork in playing Billiards, but I'd say that there is plenty of skill on display in watching some of the greats play.
Trapper439 wrote:If you don't like our game, that's fine.
But note that you're posting on this thread.
Like I said earlier, it not the game I don't like. It lacks a certain zest, but it is a great game for high schools to keep the kids busy until football season in the fall, and I have watched a few games in my time, and had fun. My problem was when I saw the title of the thread (Proper ..Football), I had to check to see if the author was one of the smug, pious weenies that turns people off to futball.
Trapper439 wrote:US sport is riddled with drugs and rightfully laughed at by the rest of the World.
You should take up Sumo. Y'all'd be good at that.
Again, the generalizations. I urge you to look at our own "Album" thread. I think you might be saying that americans are fat. We at the watch are a pretty fit bunch, fella.
Trapper439 wrote:But no offense meant. Hell, I'm even enjoying this discussion. Far more than I ever will US sport at the very least.
None taken...I too enjoy a quick run up and down the field heading and kicking arguments around. Hell, it seems that I am qualified to play futball, given the desire and my height! Wheeee!
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