Should American football be renamed handegg?

[Ginger_Warrior]

http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Shaun_Smith_%28linebacker%29&oldid=421968174

 

I'm fairly sure that coming from Bournemouth, which is close to Bristol, Southampton and Portsmouth, he would have played football (soccer) at some level if only to maintain physical fitness. Given how small the British American Football Association is--the biggest league went into administration last year--I'm pretty sure a few ex-footballers (soccer players) who didn't make it at club trials would have played for the BAFA at amateur level. If what you're implying is that American Footballers can make a 'step down' to association football, but not vice versa, I think you're being ignorant to say the least. Perhaps the real issue is that there's more money and work for someone like Tim Howard at an English Premier League club, or at least enough to make him not consider an NFL career.

 

Both sports require physical fitness, skill and athleticism. They're just different kinds. We're not exactly comparing the NFL to darts, are we?

[OldJoe]

http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Shaun_Smith_%28linebacker%29&oldid=421968174

 

I'm fairly sure that coming from Bournemouth, which is close to Bristol, Southampton and Portsmouth, he would have played football (soccer) at some level if only to maintain physical fitness. Given how small the British American Football Association is--the biggest league went into administration last year--I'm pretty sure a few ex-footballers (soccer players) who didn't make it at club trials would have played for the BAFA at amateur level. If what you're implying is that American Footballers can make a 'step down' to association football, but not vice versa, I think you're being ignorant to say the least. Perhaps the real issue is that there's more money and work for someone like Tim Howard at an English Premier League club, or at least enough to make him not consider an NFL career.

 

Both sports require physical fitness, skill and athleticism. They're just different kinds. We're not exactly comparing the NFL to darts, are we?

This is off topic.

Instantly thought of Jon Parkin when i read your post (Preston connection), maybe would have suited for American Football. His been a bit porky at times.

[Ginger_Warrior]

Aye, big lad. He does remind you of Roethlisberger at times, when you see defenders completely unable to knock him off balance. Course, if Cardiff get promoted and they keep hold of him he'll be in the Premier League, amazingly enough.

[Danqazmlp]

I'll just leave this here... Ochocinco earns reserve spot on MLS team

 

When a soccer player joins his country's respective American football league, let me know. Until then, quit the arguing - both are awesome.

 

Sorry to sound offensive but the reserve team of a MLS team isn't spectacular. Especially one which isn't at the top of the MLS rankings. An American football player didn't join his respective countries football league. MLs may have good teams, but not comparable to top flight teams. I doubt he would get to that position on a top league team of any European country.

[Sam]

Handegg, fo sho'

[Hamtaro]

I'll just leave this here... Ochocinco earns reserve spot on MLS team

 

When a soccer player joins his country's respective American football league, let me know. Until then, quit the arguing - both are awesome.

 

Sorry to sound offensive but the reserve team of a MLS team isn't spectacular. Especially one which isn't at the top of the MLS rankings. An American football player didn't join his respective countries football league. MLs may have good teams, but not comparable to top flight teams. I doubt he would get to that position on a top league team of any European country.

This is funny considering Kansas City is the same team that beat Manchester United last summer. Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't MU in first place in Barclay's? Please don't say they lost just because of Rooney's absence. Considering the fact that he was playing absolutely terribly around that time anyway, it would have made no difference.

 

To reiterate, I love watching both (and ice hockey) and soccer is probably my favorite. Football is something that I only watch my high school, hope-to-be college, and local pro team play. I absolutely couldn't watch any other teams. Soccer is something where I not only watch any top-level matches (because I don't follow any team except USA), but keep with all the drama, trades, etc. I probably watched more World Cup matches last summer than American football games within the last five years... For the people that hate one or the other, I think it's just because of a debate over the names, as if it even matter.

[Danqazmlp]

I'll just leave this here... Ochocinco earns reserve spot on MLS team

 

When a soccer player joins his country's respective American football league, let me know. Until then, quit the arguing - both are awesome.

 

Sorry to sound offensive but the reserve team of a MLS team isn't spectacular. Especially one which isn't at the top of the MLS rankings. An American football player didn't join his respective countries football league. MLs may have good teams, but not comparable to top flight teams. I doubt he would get to that position on a top league team of any European country.

This is funny considering Kansas City is the same team that beat Manchester United last summer. Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't MU in first place in Barclay's? Please don't say they lost just because of Rooney's absence. Considering the fact that he was playing absolutely terribly around that time anyway, it would have made no difference.

 

Yes but the American footballer isn't on that team, he is/was on the reserve team. As well as other factors such as a young team fielded by MU, as well as the probability they didn't play anywhere near their best with it being a friendly.

[Hamtaro]

I'll just leave this here... Ochocinco earns reserve spot on MLS team

 

When a soccer player joins his country's respective American football league, let me know. Until then, quit the arguing - both are awesome.

 

Sorry to sound offensive but the reserve team of a MLS team isn't spectacular. Especially one which isn't at the top of the MLS rankings. An American football player didn't join his respective countries football league. MLs may have good teams, but not comparable to top flight teams. I doubt he would get to that position on a top league team of any European country.

This is funny considering Kansas City is the same team that beat Manchester United last summer. Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't MU in first place in Barclay's? Please don't say they lost just because of Rooney's absence. Considering the fact that he was playing absolutely terribly around that time anyway, it would have made no difference.

 

Yes but the American footballer isn't on that team, he is/was on the reserve team. As well as other factors such as a young team fielded by MU, as well as the probability they didn't play anywhere near their best with it being a friendly.

I don't think that the MU team was that young, considering the announcers were talking about a player who had been on MU for more years than some of KC's players have been alive for. The point being, KC isn't a bad team. Even making their reserve team straight out of another sport is pretty impressive. Also, the player in question (Ochocinco), loves soccer more than American football. His grandma pushed him to quit soccer to play American football in high school. Unfortunately, soccer and American football fall in the same season, so he couldn't play on both teams. Had he pursued soccer instead, he could potentially be playing on our national team right now. The point being that he is an athlete, and could probably play any sport better than most. The same goes for all athletes world wide. However, a lot of our potential soccer talent is wasted on basketball and baseball, which is why America will never come close to winning a World Cup. One would think with a sports-obsessed population of 330M, we could field a team who could do more than tie good teams (save 2009's Confederations Cup semi-final; we were bound to get lucky eventually).

 

I would be more than willing to bet that had some of the larger soccer players chosen to play American football, they'd be amazing at it (as amazing as Messi is, he's a bit too small for American football). I'm glad they don't though. Soccer as a whole is far more entertaining than American football. I wish more of our athletes would pursue soccer.

[Danqazmlp]

I agree, they are certainly far from the best, but they are by no means bad. However, just because he made the jump does not mean that it is an easy jump to make. As you said, he had previous experience playing football as well. Just because he managed it does not make one harder than the other.

[Hamtaro]

I apologize if I came off as saying one was harder than the other, as that wasn't my intent. Weight and size play a huge role in American football whereas in soccer, smaller players have no problem competing. The only reason an athlete who plays soccer couldn't waltz into American football is because of a lack of significant weight and size; they certainly would not lack the athleticism. The stereotype of soccer players being weak stems from feigning injuries and diving (just look at the winning goal of the World Cup Final). In addition, the lack of replay for close calls and FIFA's stubbornness would be another reason it is hated here. I saw the US get screwed over against Slovenia (granted this one didn't matter in the end), England screwed over against Germany, Argentina screwed over against Germany, and Holland get screwed over against Spain all because of horrible calls in the World Cup alone. If FIFA were willing to make changes to make soccer more reasonable, I'm sure fewer Americans would become as angry while watching. I'm sure it also didn't help when a tiny, scorching hot country with no proper soccer accommodations in the middle of the most dangerous region in the world earned the right to host the World Cup over the US which still boasts the record for the most profitable World Cup ever.

[Ginger_Warrior]

I'll just leave this here... Ochocinco earns reserve spot on MLS team

 

When a soccer player joins his country's respective American football league, let me know. Until then, quit the arguing - both are awesome.

 

Sorry to sound offensive but the reserve team of a MLS team isn't spectacular. Especially one which isn't at the top of the MLS rankings. An American football player didn't join his respective countries football league. MLs may have good teams, but not comparable to top flight teams. I doubt he would get to that position on a top league team of any European country.

This is funny considering Kansas City is the same team that beat Manchester United last summer. Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't MU in first place in Barclay's? Please don't say they lost just because of Rooney's absence. Considering the fact that he was playing absolutely terribly around that time anyway, it would have made no difference.

With a side featuring De Laet, Biram Diouf, Ben Amos and Nani coming back from a several month-long injury?

 

The first three on that list wouldn't even make United's second team, let alone first. In fact I don't think De Laet's even at the club any more.

[OldJoe]

I'll just leave this here... Ochocinco earns reserve spot on MLS team

 

When a soccer player joins his country's respective American football league, let me know. Until then, quit the arguing - both are awesome.

 

Sorry to sound offensive but the reserve team of a MLS team isn't spectacular. Especially one which isn't at the top of the MLS rankings. An American football player didn't join his respective countries football league. MLs may have good teams, but not comparable to top flight teams. I doubt he would get to that position on a top league team of any European country.

This is funny considering Kansas City is the same team that beat Manchester United last summer. Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't MU in first place in Barclay's? Please don't say they lost just because of Rooney's absence. Considering the fact that he was playing absolutely terribly around that time anyway, it would have made no difference.

With a side featuring De Laet, Biram Diouf, Ben Amos and Nani coming back from a several month-long injury?

 

The first three on that list wouldn't even make United's second team, let alone first. In fact I don't think De Laet's even at the club any more.

Yes, it's not as simple as that. Elfsborg lost against Napoli in the summer with 0-2 in the EL qualifiers, does this mean Elfsborg is as good as Roma who was the last team to loose with 0-2 against Napoli? No. It's the same sort of logic.

And De Laet is on loan at Pompey i think.

[Hamtaro]

What? I never said KC was better than MU. Danqazmlp said that the American football player in question was on a team that couldn't compete with top clubs... yet they did. A week or so later, in fact, the (relative) same MU squad crushed the MLS all-star team. You can put all the best players on one team, but if they fail at playing as a team, they won't get very far (e.g. England's national team). KC is a club most known for its teamwork for the few of us that follow MLS. Granted, they weren't exactly championship material, but they were a very young team (idk this for a fact, but I'd say younger than the MU squad they faced) with a lot of potential for this MLS season. With the only real advantage being home field, I'd say even drawing against any MU squad would be very impressive, let alone alone winning.

 

For the record, MLS is the only decent sports broadcast on during the summer considering the other options would be, excuse the redundancy, baseball or nothing. I just think that MLS is so heavily looked down upon from across the pond because we lack many European or South American players that aren't have-beens. I heard rumors that we will be getting Diego Forlan soon, though, so that would be interesting, seeing as he's still actually good.

 

 

The point of this all being that an athlete is an athlete. Pretty much if you put enough effort into one sport, you'll be good at it. The only exception would be the weight and size required to play American football. Neither sport should have to change its name because of a pissing contest between fans of one sport or the other. It's fine to have favorite sports, but there's no need to rag on one just because you don't like it.

[das]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hBNo1jj1h54

[das]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tVoqA-LKGb4&feature=related

[Hakaan]

I'm American but I hate football. Not only do I think the sport isn't fun to play or watch, but it just seems stupid. Tackling and hurting each other over some pig skin. Real mature. Anyways, handegg makes much more sense, football to me would mean a sport in which you can only use your feet...

[FunPhish]

I'm American but I hate football. Not only do I think the sport isn't fun to play or watch, but it just seems stupid. Tackling and hurting each other over some pig skin. Real mature. Anyways, handegg makes much more sense, football to me would mean a sport in which you can only use your feet...

 

By that logic any sport where you might get hurt is dumb bro, so you just don't like sports. And seriously are you talking about maturity...on a RUNESCAPE forum?

[pumuqun1]

Nobody has responded to me yet...soccer is played with a truncated icosahedron so why should it be called football?

 

Should be called foottruncatedicosahedron.

 

As the OP so kindly stated, a ball is a sphere. Theres nothing spherical about a truncated icosahedron.

 

I know this is quite late but your arrogance annoys me...greatly. In fact, so much I registered on a bloody Runescap forum. Soccer is not played with a truncated icosahedron at all, if that was indeed the case then it would not roll and would hurt if kicked on one of its edges (something a sphere does not possess). A football is a sphere, however, it is commonly designed as a spherical polyhedron which is why they tend to have funky-looking patterns on them. So if a football is a spherical polyhedron and a spherical polyhedron is spherical (as the name suggests) then something that is spherical can be called a ball. Thus, justifying football being called football.

[The Observer]

Just because a sport "requires more skill" than the other it doesn't mean it should be named one thing over the other. That's ridiculous. Each sport has a different set of skills required to play them. If you go by the logic of one requires more skill than the other, then if American football required the most skill, then you would be able to play every single sport on the planet with ease.

 

Names are there because of what they're originally called or because of what the majority calls it. Debating over semantics is a bit silly in my opinion. Whatever a country wants to call a sport, they can call it that. Obviously there's boundaries to that as well, but you get my point. Just because you name it something different it doesn't make it a different game.

[Ginger_Warrior]

It's actually in the Laws of the Game (association football) that a football should be as spherical as possible, but given they were written in the 1870s and footballs used to be made of a blown up pig's bladder coated in leather this was impossible, so I've no idea where this 'It's not a ball' argument is going.

 

In any case, it's more spherical than an American football.

 

Furthermore, "football" is an umbrella term for a number of sports which use a ball:

• Association (soccer) football.
• Gridiron football - featuring both American and Canadian football.
• Rugby football - Which is seperated itself into rugby union football and rugby league football (hence the two sports governing bodies in the UK, Rugby Football Union and Rugby Football League respectively) and even more recently, mixed varients.
• Australian rules football.

Conclusion: Make a second thread asking whether rugby should be called 'egg-chasing', or accept that both gridiron and soccer are both called football by any other name.