Football vs. American "Football"?

[Dave A]

Oh theres a lot more skill involved in Cricket than meets the eye, but I can't sit down in front of a TV and watch it. I can have it on while I'm doing something else and just not really be paying attention to it, but that's about it. My dad likes Cricket a lot, if I ever go round there and Crickets on I don't stick around for long .

 

[Sureboss]

That's the one.

Cricket is like this:
Each team has 11 men.
There's a scoring team ("batting") and a non-scoring team ("fielding").
The batting team has 2 men batting. One "on-strike" - receiving the ball - and one "off-strike".
The fielding team has one man behind the on-strike batsman, one man throwing the ball ("bowling") and 9 men ready to catch.
The pitch ("wicket") has two ends, 22 feet apart, with stumps at each end. The whole field is massively larger - another 30 yards in each direction.

I have to correct two bits here.

The pitch "wicket" is 22 yards long.
The whole field tends to have boundaries on average of around 70 Metres in each direction, though they don't tend to be dimensionally symetrical, rarely are infact.

 

[Casio]

My description of the game above should convey the idea of just how dull cricket is.

If you described every rule of American Football it would probably sound just as dull.

 

[daan]

If you described every rule of American Football it would probably sound just as dull.

Any game that lasts for 5 days, and one in which they have a break for "tea", is bound to be dull.

They can try and liven it up by naming fielding positions with strange names like "silly mid-wicket", but that's still not going to make it interesting.

 

[Sureboss]

The break for Tea is to break up the day and give players a break, rather than actual tea.

If you're out in the field in 40 Degrees heat in India you'd rather have a break between 2 hour sessions.

 

[TheCracker]

The break for Tea is to break up the day and give players a break, rather than actual tea.

If you're out in the field in 40 Degrees heat in India you'd rather have a break between 2 hour sessions.

No, it's in the rules. They have to sit down and have a cup of tea (brand of tea differs from team to team but most go for PG Tips) - it's the cucumber sandwiches (white bread, crusts trimed off) that are optional in modern cricket.

 

[Sureboss]

Let's hope peoples sarcasm detectors are working.

 

[Zrow]

Hell, sounds legit to me. You crazy Brits.

Seriously though, cricket sounds like baseball, which is to say enjoyable if you're really into it and painfully boring if you're not.

 

[ExigeEvan]

Oh theres a lot more skill involved in Cricket than meets the eye, but I can't sit down in front of a TV and watch it. I can have it on while I'm doing something else and just not really be paying attention to it, but that's about it. My dad likes Cricket a lot, if I ever go round there and Crickets on I don't stick around for long .

Not to mention the skill of standing infront of a solid ball travelling at copious amounts speed.

 

[Sureboss]

Hell, sounds legit to me. You crazy Brits.

Seriously though, cricket sounds like baseball, which is to say enjoyable if you're really into it and painfully boring if you're not.

Aye Cricket took all it's aspects from Baseball

 

[Casio]

Aye Cricket took all it's aspects from Baseball

Or the other way around, since the first published laws of either came from cricket, about 80 years before baseball. Those published rules were also ~200 years after a cricket game was proven to be played in England in 1550.

 

[YSSMAN]

In regards to Famine's post #209, I must give rep for the explanation of cricket. I doubt anyone in America knows how to play it, much less even attempt to play it at all. To be honest, it kinda reminds me of "Blernsball" on Futurama, but that may just be me. I'm sure that if I gave it a shot I might understand it, but as explained there, I pretty much nod my head in agreement, knowing that you're supposed to hit the ball, and thats about it.

...At least we made it easier to understand for Baseball...

BTW: Do you guys play games like Dodgeball, Foursquare, Kickball, Red Rover, etc across the pond? I was talking about playing some of those games earlier today, crossed my mind that you may not have it over there... Kinda like how we really don't have Conkers over here...

 

[Jay]

Cricket is not a very technical game, easy to understand once you start playing.

BTW: Do you guys play games like Dodgeball, Foursquare, Kickball, Red Rover, etc across the pond? I was talking about playing some of those games earlier today, crossed my mind that you may not have it over there... Kinda like how we really don't have Conkers over here...

We play Dodgeball a bit in schools over here and the name Red Rover is familiar but I can't remember it exactly.

 

[daan]

BTW: Do you guys play games like Dodgeball, Foursquare, Kickball, Red Rover, etc across the pond?

We played British Bulldog rather than red rover, although I do recall playing that on a few occasions.

 

[fyfee]

Isn't Dodgeball called Bombardment over here? The one where you have to knock the blocks/cones (whatever is used) over? What about Poison Ball? Isn't that the same as Dodgeball? and Running the Gauntlet too? They all involve throwing a ball at people...

EDIT: Oh, and War Ball too...

 

[Specialized]

We played British Bulldog rather than red rover, although I do recall playing that on a few occasions.

British bulldog got banned in my secondary school following a few "accidents" and because of the amount of fights it would start. The solution was that they chucked us a few rugby balls instead, gave us use of the changing rooms at during lunch break and a couple of PE teachers refereed the games. If anything the games became more violent!

Spec....

 

[Sureboss]

Or the other way around, since the first published laws of either came from cricket, about 80 years before baseball. Those published rules were also ~200 years after a cricket game was proven to be played in England in 1550.

That went straight over your head didn't it?

The implicated sarcasm.



Oh and an amusing fact about Ashes cricket (well related to it's not actually about cricket)

David Boon once drunk 64 beers on the way to England from Australia! It's the record too.

 

[YSSMAN]

Isn't Dodgeball called Bombardment over here? The one where you have to knock the blocks/cones (whatever is used) over? What about Poison Ball? Isn't that the same as Dodgeball? and Running the Gauntlet too? They all involve throwing a ball at people...

EDIT: Oh, and War Ball too...

Dodgeball is basically a mini-war that usually happens in a gymnasium or some other enclosed arena thingy. Two teams take each side of the area, normally played on Basketball courts here in America, and balls are placed down the center line of the court. The coach/official/whatever blows the whistle, and the folks go running for the balls, hoping to grab as many for ammunition against the other team.

From then on, it is an all out war between the two teams (the more people the better, IMO), and play can get exciting pretty fast. You're out if you get hit with the ball, however, hits in the head are considered a penalty, and the person who threw the ball is out. Same goes for people catching the ball, the person who threw it is out. The ball can also be used as a deflector for the other balls, but those rules depend on where the game is being played.

There have been other variations of the game in which people are allowed to cross the center line for a particular objective. If they can cross the other team's field and get to the opposite end of the court, they can "free" those who have been outed by the other team. Basically, think of a game of checkers, and you get the idea. This does add an extra level of play to the game, as you must decide if you want to sacrifice men to attempt to free others, all while the other team must decide whether or not to focus their fire on the intruder, as they could then be attacked by the other players.

...So much of my schooling has been based around the game of Dodgeball, and I miss it so much. There is a growing movement in America for professional Dodgeball and other small Dodgeball clubs for both kids and fully-grown adults. Everyone loves this game in America, and although there really isn't an official explanation as to why that is, my guess is because it is violent and weeds out the weak players.

 

[fyfee]

Dodgeball is basically a mini-war that usually happens in a gymnasium or some other enclosed arena thingy. Two teams take each side of the area, normally played on Basketball courts here in America, and balls are placed down the center line of the court. The coach/official/whatever blows the whistle, and the folks go running for the balls, hoping to grab as many for ammunition against the other team.

From then on, it is an all out war between the two teams (the more people the better, IMO), and play can get exciting pretty fast. You're out if you get hit with the ball, however, hits in the head are considered a penalty, and the person who threw the ball is out. Same goes for people catching the ball, the person who threw it is out. The ball can also be used as a deflector for the other balls, but those rules depend on where the game is being played.

That is exactly the same as War-Ball. Except you can get people back in by either catching an opponents ball, as you mentioned, or by shooting a basket with the ball, provided you are behind the 1/3rd of the court you are not allowed to venture in. If the ball is shot in the basket, everyone on that team who is it comes back in.

 

[Casio]

Yeah. Except we don't play with that nancy boy no head-shot rule!

 

[fyfee]

When female teachers organise it we do, when male teachers organise it we dont.

Either that or it depends on how many girls are playing

 

[YSSMAN]

Yeah. Except we don't play with that nancy boy no head-shot rule!

That was done at our school for good reason. We (at the time) were using those monstrous rubber balls that tended to leave the brand marking on your face when you got hit. I do recall a time in which someone was knocked-out after getting hit (only for a few seconds), and by that time the decision was made to switch to something smaller and "less dangerous." These newer balls are foam-filled, pleather coated things that are a bit more tricky to deal with. As I recall, a good hand/arm combo could get the things going pretty well, and when you got hit, you would certainly feel it. However the tricky part came from how light they were, and they would literally take their own path through the air, kinda like a musket ball would have back in the 18th and 19th century.

I believe they still use the head-rule, however as noted, most male gym teachers will let the head-shots slide. Nobody likes getting hit in the face, but nobody likes being called a "Nancy boy" for not wanting to be.

 

[fyfee]

These newer balls are foam-filled, pleather coated things that are a bit more tricky to deal with. As I recall, a good hand/arm combo could get the things going pretty well, and when you got hit, you would certainly feel it. However the tricky part came from how light they were, and they would literally take their own path through the air

We use those types of balls too, I hate them because of that exact reason. Especially trying to get the ball into the basketball ring. The stupidest thing is that because I play basketball outside of school, whenever I miss I get the bagged like there is no tomorrow. The balls arent the same dammit!

 

[FoolKiller]

Everyone loves this game in America, and although there really isn't an official explanation as to why that is, my guess is because it is violent and weeds out the weak players.

Well, until they made the movie I thought the game had nearly died out amongst adults.

That is exactly the same as War-Ball.

In my school we had a game played war, which was essentially dodgeball except you put three small orange cones up in the middle of each team's side. Usually they were only about 6 inches tall. They were considered teh other team's cities.

This added an additional strategy because you won by either destroying all their cities or eliminating all their players. Of course, targeting a city meant your eyes were off the other players and you had a likely chance of looking up just to get a ball in the face (we didn't have that nancy boy rule either, but an intended face shot would get you in trouble, oddly, crotch shots were fair game), but eliminating three cities was decidedly easier than eliminating 10-20 people. Of course, shots at the cities took more careful aim, which meant a slower, more accurate throw that could easily result in another ball being thrown to deflect yours.

Depending on the teacher, catching the ball either eliminated the thrower or brought back your own people. I prefer bringing back your own people myself.

 

[daan]

I saw this and thought I'd post it here.

Web searches at Google for different sports during 2006.

 

[Dave A]

The world cup kind of eclipses everything else, by a lot.

 

[FoolKiller]

The world cup kind of eclipses everything else, by a lot.

Wel, Americans can't avoid all the other sports, but the few who are interested in World Cup have to keep looking up results online.

Heck, for football, basketball, or even curling at the Olympics the scores are part of the morning news report on the radio. If I want to know about any soccer I must Google it.

Only reason why I Google anything football or basketball related is for pictures. I will also confess to Googling curling just to find out what the rules were.





Yes, I know it doesn't explain the discrepancy in the chart, but it might explain any Americans-only discrepancy. It takes work to be a soccer fan in the US.

 

[Danoff]

I go straight to SI.com for football-related information. And why would you google "superbowl", unless you're just wondering who won in 1987.

 

[daan]

I go straight to yahoo's official world cup site for world cup-related information. And why would you google "world cup", unless you're just wondering who won in 1978.

 

[FoolKiller]

I go straight to SI.com for football-related information. And why would you google "superbowl", unless you're just wondering who won in 1987.

Yeah, reading this I realized my favorites contain SI.com, NFL.com, CBSSportsline.com, sportingnews.com, UKAthletics.com, foxsports.com, ULSports.com, cincinnati.reds.mlb.com, espn.com, and secsports.com

Yeah, I don't Google anything because I just click on the left-hand of my screen.