Super Bowl!!!

[MrPresident]

Like who cares about the Superbowl the real competition this year is the world cup. My money on Italy but as an Englishman I can always hope.


Three lions on a shirt,
Thirty years of hurt,
Never stopped me dreaming,

Football's coming home, it's coming home, it's coming......

 

[CD Light]

Actually, Flatlander, their smugness HAS stretched to some of their elite players. Just this morning, I saw a quote in the paper from one Kurt Warner that he wanted - no, expected to win a record five Super Bowls. That means he assumes he can win four more.

Still, they're better than Lewis though. A little arrogance is much preferred to a murder.

 

[Ptolemy]

I would have voted "Others" if it was possible!
No I just wanted to say that I think american footbal is boring!!

 

[H Tower]

I say we all just despise the packers. along with the lions, and vikings too.... and don't forget those damn eagles, they are especially deserving of our scorn

 

[Magnus]

For me it is simple:

Brady starts, PAtriots win

Bledsoe starts, Patriots lose

The team rallies around Brady and good things happen when he is in there, he is the perfect antidote to the defeatism that has plagued this team for 40+years. Bledsoe almost cost them the game to Pittsburgh, he was damn lucky.

 

[MrPresident]

I know this is not strictly to do with the thread but since its about American football I thought I would take this chance. How the hell does the NFL draft thing work? I have been watching some American football recently and the commentators were talking about 1st round drafts going to certain clubs. Who gets first pick? Do the players have a choice where they go? Who decides who is a first round draft? What is a first round draft?

If you can answer these questions I will happily explain the offside rule to you in exchange. Thanks in advance for any help.

 

[ApocalypseKurtz]

Originally posted by MrPresident
I know this is not strictly to do with the thread but since its about American football I thought I would take this chance. How the hell does the NFL draft thing work? I have been watching some American football recently and the commentators were talking about 1st round drafts going to certain clubs. Who gets first pick? Do the players have a choice where they go? Who decides who is a first round draft? What is a first round draft?

If you can answer these questions I will happily explain the offside rule to you in exchange. Thanks in advance for any help.

the team with the worst record gets the #1 pick out of the whole draft i.e., the #1 pick in round 1

There are 7 total rounds (I think) in the NFL draft. The team with the #1 pick gets the #1 pick in every round; the team with the 2nd worst record gets #2 in every round, etc. The players have no choice as to where they go.

I'm pretty sure thats how it works.

Anyway, it looks like it's Brady over Bledsoe for this Sunday

 

[Franklyn]

to expand on kurtz's reply:

the draft is all about perceived value. first round picks are supposed to be better than second round picks, 2nd round picks are supposed to be better than 3rd-round picks, and a guy who was drafted is supposed to be better than someone who wasn't. (i mean, think about it -- would you leave someone out there on draft day if you thought he could be a star?)

of course, when players are drafted often has no relationship to how they'll perform in the pros.

marshall faulk, the rams's stud runner, was the second overall pick (i.e. the 2nd pick in the first round) in '94. he's supposed to be a star, and he is. but Pats QB Tom Brady was picked in the 6th round two years ago, and Rams QB Kurt Warner wasn't even drafted (i think; if he was, he didn't last long in the NFL before getting cut).

The best draft story of all time: Michael Jordan (you've heard of him, right?) was drafted 3rd overall, which means two guys were drafted ahead of him, and two teams wish they could do draft day all over again.

And I'm waiting for that explanation of the offsides rule -- I've watched my share of soccer on the teevee, and I'll be damned if I can figure out what the refs are calling half the time.

 

[ApocalypseKurtz]

Originally posted by Franklyn


And I'm waiting for that explanation of the offsides rule -- I've watched my share of soccer on the teevee, and I'll be damned if I can figure out what the refs are calling half the time.

what offsides rule??

 

[animepornstar]

offside rule:
when a player in the attacking team passes the ball to a teammate there must be two or more opponent players (usually the goalie and a defender) between the player that the pass is addressed to and the short sideline.

 

[damunzy]

Whiskey Priest, thanks for putting the Eagels as a choice! That was a damn close game. Too bad they couldn't pull a victory out of it like the Philly Flyers did the last game I saw. Tied the game with 17 seconds left and then scored the winning goal in OT a few minutes later.

 

[MrPresident]

the team with the worst record gets the #1 pick out of the whole draft i.e., the #1 pick in round 1

There is something I don't understand. So a team is doing badly in a season and they have no chance of getting in the playoffs do they lose the rest of their matches to make sure they get first pick in the draft?

Also I have a second question. I know a team plays about 16 games in the regular season but who decides who plays who? do they play only teams in their division? league? and does it change each season?

As for the offside rule. There must be two opposition players between the goal they are defending and the player recieving the ball. These players do not have to include a goalkeeper but usually do. The ball must travel forward for the offside rule to come into effect. In today's modern game there is the further complexion of non-active areas. This is way a player is offside but not inferencing in play. For example, a player passes the ball to someone who is not offside but at the other end of the pitch a player from the same team is walking back from an offside position, this would not be offside. I know it sounds complex but it really isn't. If anyone who like another rule or anything to do with football (soccer) explained I would be happy to help.

 

[CD Light]

So a team is doing badly in a season and they have no chance of getting in the playoffs do they lose the rest of their matches to make sure they get the first pick in the draft?

Although it may seem like it, it doesn't really work that way. For example, if a team doesn't try very hard and loses all of its games, there's a good chance that much of the coaching staff and some of the players will be fired. Also, it can be a matter of pride: no one wants to be famous for losing all their games in a season. Finally, a few picks doesn't necessarily make a world of difference, because different teams need players for different positions, so a team is fairly likely to get the player they want even if they have the 4th or 5th draft pick.

 

[TimTheEnchanter]

Originally posted by MrPresident
Also I have a second question. I know a team plays about 16 games in the regular season but who decides who plays who? do they play only teams in their division? league? and does it change each season?

Every team plays 2 games ("Home and Home") against the other teams in their division. the remaining games are then divided between a certain number of games against teams in their conference (but in a different division) and a certain number of games against teams in the other conference.

For the Out-of-division games, the system has historically tried to match bad teams in one division with bad teams in the other divisions and the other conference. This has contributed to a lot of the dramatic turnarounds seen in the NFL where teams do badly one year, then excel the next year because of a much easier schedule. However, with the addition of a new franchise next year, and the subsequent realignment of the divisions, this schedule advantage will be minimized somewhat in the future.

There will now be 4 divisions of 4 teams in each conference. Each team will play home-and-home against the teams in their own division (6 games) they will play the entire membership of one other division in their conference (4 games). The in-conference matchups rotate every three years. They will play the entire membership of one division in the other conference (4 games). These out-of-conference matchups rotate every 4 years. That leaves 2 more games. These are played against the teams from within your conference in the two divisions you are not matched up against who finished in the same position within their division as you did (the team with the best record in their division plays the teams with the best record in each of these other two divisions) so only these two games are affected as a result of your schedule; the other matchups are the same for all teams within a division.

Got that? :crazyeyes

 

[Franklyn]

Originally posted by MrPresident

Also I have a second question. I know a team plays about 16 games in the regular season but who decides who plays who? do they play only teams in their division? league? and does it change each season?

Mr. Prez, thanks for your explanation of the offsides rule.

As for your 2nd question, American football teams do play 16 games a season over 17 weeks (each team gets one off week, called a "bye week"). There are six divisions, and each team plays every other team in its division twice per season. Each division is matched up with another division, and the team in those two divisions play each other during the season. The remaining games are determined by how a team did last season -- if you sucked this year, you're supposed to play an easier schedule the next. The Natl Football League uses a formula to figure all of this out. The league office, not the teams, makes the schedule each year.

 

[MrPresident]

Got that?

I think so. It sounds extremely complicated. In the Premiership (english football/soccer) we have 20 clubs who play each other home and away (38 games in a season not including cup or europe) and hard enough to work out. Why don't they just have one league for each area instead of 6 confences in 2 different leagues? Also why do clubs move cities? and is it that fequency because I was watching Castaway and they mentioned the Houston Oilers moving to Tennesse to become the Tennesse Titans. In England there is a major battle to see if Wimbledon (a team around London in the first division, techincally the second division) can move to a town in East Anglia.

When the baseball season starts I may have more questions (I don't watch basketball so you're alright there).