Thetownend.com

I know we have a few gridiron fans on the TEF.

Who's up for this one tonight?

I've Sky+ it. Not a massive fan but I watch the SuperBowl. Time differences have always hindered my active interest.

I'll be recording it. I have stayed up a couple of times to watch it back in the day and it's an absolute killer. I really hope the Packers win as they are playing fantastically well and I just like them in general. But sadly you can never, ever bet against the Steelers, who I detest.

Heart=Packers
Head=Steelers

I'd love to be wrong.

I'll watch some of it before I go off to bed. I think the Steelers will win it. Saw the preview programme on Sky yesterday, and that stadium in Dallas is amazing. The massive jumbotron cost $40m to make. They are even charging people $300 just to watch the game in the carpark on a giant screen.

Especially if watching it alone. During my uni years Super Bowl Sunday and the NBA All-Star weekend were always very enjoyable evenings.

Not sure who I want to win. When I did vaguely follow the sport a few years back the Eagles were my team, and given the Packers beat them in the play-offs I kind of don't want them to win.

I'm at the O2. Going to the Superbowl party.

Hoping for the Packers to win

The SuperBowl is always good to watch. The hours however are excruciating.

Can't stand watching it purely because of the damned advert breaks every few mins. Good fun game to play though!

So you hate watching a game with natural beer breaks eh? ;)

i'll watch all 30 seconds of the highlights on sky sports news tomorrow.

cant think of anything worse, bunch of yanks with ego's, oh and fucking man up and take all the padding off, our rugby MEN could show them a thing or  :poofs:

Fully agree on that. They have the game at Wembley to promote the game as they have a big following especially in the UK and Germany...but they could start the game a few hours earlier for their European audience.

They've got a robot elephant?

Yes paul. It's the US of A don't you know. They've also got an unimaginably long advert break (occasionally punctuated by a sport that is completely incomprehensible) called the Superb Owl.

I'm recording it

Not trying to be funny but,seriously,just what IS the attraction?

i'm staying up for it, i'm not sure why as i've not followed how the season has gone but hey ho

I wouldn't say that I'm an expert,and I don't know all the rules, but like the game at Wembley, it's a show. In fact the NFL do treat the Wembley game as virtually a Superbowl with all the pre-game parties, etc.

At first for me it was really complicated etc. but once you get the hang of it, get to know the rules it's actually a pretty decent sport. The only thing that is irritating is the stoppages. The actual time of a game is 60 minutes but with all the breaks it goes on on for nearly 3 hours.

Sort your lives out

Hoping the Packers stuff the Steelers, cant see it tho, Had enough of the Steelers winning Superbowls  ;)

Will be watching some of this, usually make it until atleast half time! Chargers are my team, but seeing as they're not in it, i'm wanting a packers win!

Due to some over zealous admin activities I've heard this years Superbowl adverts will only be seen by people with <500 posts on the TEF.

Steelers for me after being given a shirt as a young 'un by an American aunt. Though I haven't a clue as far as the rules. Might poke my nose in at some stage.  :sherlock:

That’s a fair enough question Adje, which I will try to answer:

I followed the NFL casually for years from about the mid 80’s when C4 started showing it and the Bears beat the Patriots in Superbowl XX but it’s only in the last 10 years that I have really got into it. During that same period of time my interest in the Premier League has gradually dwindled to just above zero. Maybe I needed to fill that void? I don’t know.

The NFL at its best is incredibly exciting. A quarterback throwing the ball 50 yards or more to a wide receiver to run in and get a touch down with seconds remaining. A running back breaking 5 or 6 tackles and gaining 40 yards. A game winning field goal from 55 yards with zero seconds on the clock. A line backer intercepting the ball on his own goal line and running it back the length of the field for a touchdown (this actually happened in the Superbowl two years ago) and so on and so on….

The players are unbelievable athletes. Receivers who can run the 100 metres in 10 seconds (maybe less) running backs who could run almost that fast with you and me each holding on to one leg. 350 pound line men who can bench press their own weight but at the same time can out sprint almost any regular person.

One of the main reasons I love the NFL though, is the concept of ‘parity’. Every team has to comply with a rigidly enforced salary cap. This means that if the star player for, say, the Dallas Cowboys is coming to the end of his contract, they will have to consider carefully whether or not they can offer him a new deal on the kind of money he would demand. They’ve got money coming out of their ears and could pay him whatever he wanted. However the salary cap means that if they do that, they will either go over the salary cap or will not be able to re-sign two, three or four other players who are out of contract as well. So they have no choice but to let him become a free agent and sign for another team who perhaps have more cap space available. The other key point about ‘parity’ is that the worst team in the NFL every year gets to pick first in the draft in April (the second worst team picks second and so on). So the worst teams get the pick of the best players coming out of College (The concept of College sport in the USA is a fascinating one and one that takes some getting used to. It is something else I am extremely interested in but I won’t go into that now).

What all of this means is that you do not get one team dominating the rest of the league year, after year, after year. Similarly, a team that has an absolutely dreadful season can, through good drafting and acquisition of free agent players get to the play offs or even the Superbowl the very next season. You might say that this makes the NFL all a bit random and maybe even a game of luck. Ultimately though, you still have to have to have good coaches getting the best out of the players and good scouts enabling you to draft the best players. There are always certain teams who are better than most and certain teams who are worst than most. But a fan of even the worst team can have that hope of winning the Superbowl in their life time.

Another thing I love about the NFL is the history and the ‘lore’ of the game. People think that American football and American sport in general has little or no history or tradition but nothing could be further from the truth. The Green Pay Packers for example have been in existence in one form or another since 1896 and the first college game was played in 1869. All the other major US sports by the way, go back a similar length of time.

Finally, football (as opposed to ‘soccer’) is basically, a very, very simple game. Team A is trying to score in one direction and team B is trying to stop them. Team B will then get the ball and try to score in the other direction and team A will try to stop them. You can watch it on that level or a much more advanced level of slants and screens, zone blitzes, naked bootlegs, nickel and dime packages and God knows what else (I’m somewhere between basic and advanced)

I suppose that’s the best way I can explain it really. At the end of the day, if you’re not into something, you’re not into it. Golf and F1 leave me cold. To millions of others they’re an all consuming passion.

What I’m saying I guess is, ‘each to their own’ :hmmm:

I am... I ruddy love the gridiron. Packers for me I think.

Fair enough-I always thought it was far more complicated than that!Good post OST

It's gets made complicated Adje, just like cricket does.

They don't have a salary cap anymore OST.

Well, they didn't in the 2010 season that is true, but it was subject to the new Collective Bargaining Agreement being renegotiated at which point the salary cap will hopefully be reintroduced so teams couldn't just go out and pay players whatever they wanted. It would be a disaster in my opinion if the salary cap was to go.

That's always a thing that has puzzled me about Gridiron - for a country as ruthlessly laissez faire capitalist as America why they have a concept which is almost the complete antithesis of that in their national sport. I presume there must be some logic behind it (in American economic thinking) but from a position of relatively little knowledge of the sport I can't see what it is.

It is indeed a complete contradiction. Just one example of why, for me, America is endlessly facinating. :nod:

As OST says, it's for parity. The Yanks don't have a promotion/relegation system either so they try to make teams as even as possible. Pretty much the same in every American sport.

I'm in it for the cheerleaders! :)

i imagine quite a few of us are jfw! ;)

I appreciate the parity bit, but why do the Americans adopt what is essential on the surface at least a 'socialist type' system? Why don't they have relegation /promotion? Why don't they say if you're crap then tough? Why don't they say be as rich as you like? They do for all other aspects of American society (look how worked up they get about modest healthcare reforms). What makes their sports different?

Wow this is borrrrrring!!

It's supposed to make it exciting so you don't get the same team winning each year. In turn, this keeps up interest in the sport and therefore maximises potential revenues.

The reason they don't have promotion or relegation is because the divisions all operate out of a franchise model.

Sign in if you don't understand the rules  :hmmm:

Good rendering by Christina

GO CHEESEHEADS  :beers:

C'mon Steelers  :pint:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_Bay,_Wisconsin

The characteristic shape of Pittsburgh's central business district is a triangular tract carved by the confluence of the Allegheny and Monongahela rivers, which form the Ohio River. The city features 151 high-rise buildings,[13] 446 bridges,[14] two inclined railways, and a pre-revolutionary fortification. Pittsburgh is known colloquially as "The City of Bridges" and "The Steel City" for its many bridges and former steel manufacturing base.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pittsburgh

Not really a fan, but ill stay up to watch it. I suppose its not really knowing much about the game. I prefer the NBA basketball, the all star weekend is brilliant.

Green Bay Peckers to win

Cmon the pack

Fuck the squealrsp

C'mon Steelers fuck the fudge packers up

when does the game actually start?

Technically it has.

when does something actually happen?

I'm not sure I'll stay up long enough to find out.

Maybe I will.

 :beers: TOUCHDOWN

Yeah cmon the pack

Beat the rapist

wahooooooooooooo  :D

Another turnover needed now

Cmon the pack

Ps colts cheerleaders :D

Great post OST, reflects many of the reasons why I also follow the NFL. Wasn't going to watch tonight as my team (Patriots) went out a few weeks ago, but having got in from the pub think I'm in until half time at least. Will regret it when I have to get up for work in the morning I'm sure.

Not fussed who wins but hope its close, Steelers really need to get back into this soon...

Roethlisberger appears to be having a mare (i think)

 :beers: games not over yet though  :beers:

agreed, the only person who seems to be clicking for the steelers is randle el

Yeah, Cmon the pack, beat the rapist

Kobe Bryant's not playing you silly person

NNo, but Ben Rothes-Raper is the QB of the Pittsburgh Squealers

Black Eyed Peas, half time show.

One BS call after another in favour of the Stealers

C'mon Steelers, you can do it, epic finish  :pint:

BREAKING NEWS ALERT : Roethlisberger will not I repeat NOT achieve a TD here. c'est impossible.

The evil empire loses another SB.

NFL to hold enquiry, all officials at SB XLV to be charged with bringing the game in to disrepute

this. im fuckinf cunted xxx

I fell asleep at half time, but it was pretty obvious from early on that the Packers would win anyway.

Not if you had watched the 3rd quarter, the greatest comeback in Superbowl history was well and truely on the cards, great game in the end.

How you can form such an opinion, despite being asleep, is frankly astonishing.

Well the party at the O2 was top notch.

Some good banter with fans of the Evil Empire, made all the more enjoyable because they ultimately got beat.

Real star of the show was (of course) Cowboys stadium, looking forward to getting over there to see it in person

Even down to the last Steelers drive Big Ben could have turned the game on its head!

So I fell asleep before the best bits then?

That's me all over  :-[

Couldn't believe the Packers won.  I'd have had the Steelers and four other AFC teams as better than the Pack (Jets, Patriots, Colts, Ravens, if you cared), so it's a bit of a shock.  Can't be sad that Big Ben lost though.

I liked OST's post, his point about parity is key.  Only one team from the last four made it back to that stage this year, for example.

Now to get the CBA sorted.

Oh, yeah...and the Jets to win the thing next year.

First time i watched it for years....killed me but watched every second....bed at 3am...up at 7 ::)

Not a massive follower but really enjoyed the game...both teams deserve loads of credit for a great match.

More likely than my Niners doing anything of note...

Well thank fuck for that. Just finished watching. You can never, ever bet against those bastard Steelers. Even though they were never in the lead I knew they would make it close and I was sure they would come back to win but the Pack held out..fair play..great game and most of all I would like to say fuck you Wines Hard...cry bitch CRY!!!

[url width=230 height=173]http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_fw7iF68JR8k/SPuEdkKwdPI/AAAAAAAAV8c/0SjaXBRuRfI/s320/2007_09_hinesward.jpg[/url]

 :Ride On Fatbury's Lovestick: :Ride On Fatbury's Lovestick: :Ride On Fatbury's Lovestick: :Ride On Fatbury's Lovestick: :clap: :clap: :clap: :clap:

Great pic OST, nice to see Hines "cheap shot" Ward in tears.
Only thing that would have made it better is for him to have fumbled the ball away to lose them the game

Madden 11 is only £21.99 in game for the ps3 and (i think) xbox...is anyone has bought it for the PS3 add me:
bennettkaru