OT - Football. Olympic Sport?
Seems like a somewhat slow news day, so just to create a little discussion...
"A vote on American football becoming a full-fledged Olympic sport could take place as early as 2017, according to the USA Football youth development program."
Two questions immediately come to my mind...
1. How many Olympics would (you expect) the United States to dominate?
2. Which country would give the US the best game?
Discuss.
December 11th, 2013 at 12:03 PM ^
No.
If softball couldn't survive having 2 teams (US, Australia), how will football survive having one competitive nation?
Also, I'm confused by question #1. If you're asking how many olympic season would the US dominate, my answer would be all of them forever.
December 11th, 2013 at 12:43 PM ^
December 11th, 2013 at 12:47 PM ^
Basketball is very widely played. More importantly, it's fairly cheap to set up a basketball venue. The problem with baseball and softball was that countries that don't play them didn't want to build stadiums for those sports just for the Olympics.
December 11th, 2013 at 1:21 PM ^
That problem isn't really applicable here. A football game can be played in just about any soccer stadium.
December 11th, 2013 at 12:06 PM ^
has a better chance of being an Olympic sport than Football
December 11th, 2013 at 12:15 PM ^
I watched the BGSU quidditch team beat the MSU quidditch team a year ago.
The BGSU seeker is up for All-American honors.
December 11th, 2013 at 1:58 PM ^
Juicy Girls (below), winning the MAC Championship in football and a wicked quidditch team. FALCONawesome!
/s
December 11th, 2013 at 2:26 PM ^
Juicy Girls are from BG, Kentucky.
The other 2 are spot on, though!
December 11th, 2013 at 3:45 PM ^
Well, some of 'em, anyway.
December 11th, 2013 at 12:08 PM ^
When baseball and softball were taken out, it was a blow. Baseball has an international appeal and softball's growth has been excellent. So why add a sport that is dominated by one country and doesn't have international appeal? 15's rugby probably should take precedent.
And then wrestling got taken out in favor of golf, and I'm not interested in seeing any sport get added until wrestling returns.
December 11th, 2013 at 12:08 PM ^
December 11th, 2013 at 12:11 PM ^
I thought wrestling did get put back on already?
December 11th, 2013 at 12:12 PM ^
Axing wrestling is some bullshit.
I see no point in adding American football.
December 11th, 2013 at 12:21 PM ^
I'm all for getting rid of super boring wrestling and replacing it with golf. Golf is at its peak of popularity and wrestling simply doesn't appeal to most people in the world.
December 11th, 2013 at 12:30 PM ^
December 11th, 2013 at 12:36 PM ^
I understand your point to a certain degree, but golf is absolutely an international sport.
December 11th, 2013 at 12:45 PM ^
not designed for everybody to play? Why? Because it is hard?
Acessibility? I can give you the name of 20 courses in two counties where you can walk 18 holes for less than $20 and driving ranges where you can hit 200 balls for $6.00 (or the nearest high school where chances are you can find acres upon acres of open grass to hit golf shots). I will point you to ebay where you can get a full set of used playable clubs for $40.
I would actually say that wrestling would be the sport not designed for everybody to play.
December 11th, 2013 at 12:57 PM ^
Another great post.
Regarding your last sentence, that is so true. Wrestlers have to be in top shape in order to compete - less than 5% body fat, incredibly disciplined diets, etc. Golfers can be in just any shape and play the game well.
December 11th, 2013 at 1:05 PM ^
Wrestling is a discipline that requires that kind of dedication. It's difficult and time-consuming, but it is a traditional sport of strength and excellence. To shut that sport out after centuries is not fair to the sport or to the spirit of the Olympics. What, should we take out every sport that "not just anyone" can play? We wouldn't have sports.
December 11th, 2013 at 3:45 PM ^
They replaced it with a more popular sport. This is a fact. More people like to watch and play golf compared to those who like to watch and perform wrestling. The IOC knows this to be true. They want people to watch their games and adding golf will accomplish that.
December 11th, 2013 at 12:32 PM ^
HAH! Someone calling wrestling boring thinks golf isn't? I admit some matches can be boring but as a sport I would think it's far from boring.
December 11th, 2013 at 12:38 PM ^
Ah yes, here we go with the juvenile "GOLF IS BORRRRRRRING" response. I'm sorry that you don't get it. There are several people who post on this blog who love golf and even more who play it. It's an excellent game to watch and play.
December 11th, 2013 at 12:42 PM ^
December 11th, 2013 at 12:45 PM ^
Your point about juvenile complaints would hold more water if you hadn't referred to wrestling as "super boring" yourself just above.
December 11th, 2013 at 12:52 PM ^
that is the techincal term for it. You can also go with OMG-BORING!!
The last time I watched a wrestling match the Ultimate Warrior was beating Hogan for the title. The next time I will watch one is when they have a rematch.
December 11th, 2013 at 12:52 PM ^
My point is that the "golf is boring" response is so cliché and played when the popularity of the sport, especially compared to wrestling (and the decision to get rid of wrestling and have golf instead is proof of that), is at its height of popularity.
December 11th, 2013 at 4:13 PM ^
Regardless, it's pretty ridiculous to get offended over someone calling a sport you like "boring" when you just said the same thing about another sport. Personally, I find both sports boring, for what it's worth.
I do think wrestling should be in the Olympics because it has a long, long association with them, and there aren't that many other opportunities for wrestlers to achieve glory. Golf is doing fine as it is with the pro tour.
December 11th, 2013 at 12:59 PM ^
Fine, you have a good point. I take that back then. Wrestling is not fun to watch though.
December 11th, 2013 at 1:08 PM ^
what is boring to one isn't necessarily boring to another, which you both have highlighted. The key is that there's a list of sports, those you both mentioned, that unless you played that sport its hard to find it boring. I was a swimmer in college and watching any swim meet, let alone the Olympics, is fun for me. I wouldn't expect others to necessarily agree with me, but hey ...that's fine.
For the Olympics, it seems that wrestling has always been one of the iconic competitions. I was surprised when they got rid of it, even though I didn't really watch it. Golf, as an Olympic sport, makes slightly less sense to me, but still plausible. Football...makes no sense to me. But like one person noted, our opinions on this aren't really being sought out.
December 11th, 2013 at 12:50 PM ^
Calling golf boring is indeed juvenile. Calling wrestling SUPER boring, well that right there just reeks of class.
December 11th, 2013 at 12:47 PM ^
If you were a golfer you would realize that it's the most humbling game in existence. You will go absolutely nuts when the game brings you to your knees and you can't figure out why. The bitch of it is the harder you try to fix something, usually, the worse it gets.
The reason golf is exciting is because when you go through struggles with your own game, you are in absolute awe of someone who is able to play the game so well, under the most difficult conditions, against the best players in the world.
The PGA tour is so awe inspring because there are mini tours around the world that are filled with unbelievably skilled players that can't even sniff the PGA tour.
December 11th, 2013 at 12:55 PM ^
This is a great post. Look, obviously any sport is difficult, especially when competing against the world's best athletes in your respective sport, but golf is amazingly challenging. I understand why some people don't like it. It's a slow game and seems so simple (that is how I feel about baseball and why I hate it with passion), right? "Gee, all I gotta do is swing a club and put a ball in a stupid hole? Come on..." Yeah, not even close to being that easy. The concept is simple, but it's one of the most challenging sports in the world and that cannot be denied.
December 11th, 2013 at 1:17 PM ^
That exact same argument can be made for every sport ever played. That is the essence of sport, not a reason why golf is so exciting.
December 11th, 2013 at 2:09 PM ^
No matter how hard I try, I will never be as fast as some football players, I will never be as tall as some basketball players, and I will never be able to throw the ball as hard as some baseball players.
Golf is a sport that can be played at the highest levels without winning the genetic lottery. That's what distinguishes it.
Professional golfers have to make themselves, many of them aren't blessed with god given physical talent. When you start out in the mini tours if you don't win, you don't make any money, there are no signing bonuses.
December 11th, 2013 at 3:33 PM ^
You don't think professional golfers are blessed with any physical talent? According to you, if I wanted to, all I would need to do is hit golf balls long enough, and I would eventually be good enough to join the PGA (or senior PGA, since it would take a while). I don't think that is the case.
Just like any sport, it takes more than physical skills to excel enough to become a professional. Justin Verlander throws a baseball harder than most people, but I'd guess he doesn't drive a golf ball as long as other people. And tell me what genetic lottery Prince Fielder or Ryan Howard won. I'm pretty sure there are guys at my local YMCA that are just as strong as they are.
Golf is a sport. Just like any other sport, you need some combination of physical skill, determination, luck, and hard work to get good enough to make it your career. Does that make it more exciting than any other sport? I don't think so. You find it more exciting because you understand what goes into it and you appreciate it.
December 11th, 2013 at 10:34 PM ^
but no matter how hard you try, you will never be as good as PGA tour golfers either.
December 11th, 2013 at 1:05 PM ^
This is one of the funniest posts I've ever seen here.
December 11th, 2013 at 12:36 PM ^
Rugby has been added to the Olympics - but in sevens format, so teams can play multiple games during the two weeks of competition.
December 11th, 2013 at 1:14 PM ^
How long is the Olympics? 2-3 weeks? You just aren't going to have time for a football tournament of any size unless you go to an Arena format or something similar where teams can play multiple times in a week.
December 11th, 2013 at 3:23 PM ^
December 11th, 2013 at 3:58 PM ^
I don't think that can be done in the Olympics. Sevens is the only way to have the depth to play multiple games in a week.
December 11th, 2013 at 1:03 PM ^
I have to say, lots of international folks i've met are intrigued by american football. I'm a diehard baseball fan, but you have to admit, football is just easier to understand and watch.
I'd say one additional challenge though, would be athletes (or the NFL) wanting players risking injury for the Olympics. Also, how many games can you get in? It takes a few days to recover after a game.
December 11th, 2013 at 1:11 PM ^
Football has to be the most complicated main stream sports by a long shot. It's really the only one that has no intuitive flow. Between all of the rules and the seemingly out of place kicking game it's pretty hard to pick up on. My friends who grew up abroad and finally picked up the game after being here for a couple of years would echo this sentiment. Baseball on the other hand is a pretty basic game to pick up and watch. 9 innings, 3 outs, a strike zone, 3 balls and 4 strikes, runners are pretty much always live. The game is more nuanced than that, but that's really about all you need to know to watch and understand the game. People may like watching football more, but I don't think there's a case for it being easier to pick up on.
December 11th, 2013 at 1:23 PM ^
" 3 balls and 4 strikes"...may not be so easy to pick up, hahahaha.
December 11th, 2013 at 2:00 PM ^
Damn it.
December 11th, 2013 at 1:29 PM ^
I don't quite get golf (or tennis) as an Olympic sport. So we take the same competitions we have almost every week during the summer and give someone a medal at the end, instead of a cup and a giant check? Golf and tennis seem so individual as sports, doesn't make sense as an Olympic sport to me. Maybe I just don't understand the format that the Olympics uses for these sports.
December 11th, 2013 at 12:08 PM ^
"Because of logistics and a cap on the number of overall athletes invited to participate, the most likely style of American football that would potentially gain acceptance is of the seven-on-seven variety already played by some U.S. high schools and youth programs. Having both men’s and women’s competitions also would likely be required for selection as an Olympic sport."
December 11th, 2013 at 12:08 PM ^
December 11th, 2013 at 12:26 PM ^
This is likely a major reason. Not only would the pro players have little to no interest, but the owners would have absolutely no interest. They're running a business and would never want to risk their players in exhibition games that do nothing for them from a business standpoint.