Why is football so popular in the US?
 

A friend of mine and I had this discussion today. It not only is the biggest pro sport in the country, but it is far and away the biggest college, high school and even grade school sport. Case in point: to get to the grocery story I frequent I have to drive right by a middle school. They have a track, football field, soccer field and baseball/softball diamond and there is almost always some kind of sport going on. For soccer, baseball, softball or anything else there are always about 15-20 cars in the parking lot during weekday practices. This week football started and there are probably 100 cars there for every practice. When there is a softball game or baseball game pretty much just the parents show up, but for the football games - even 6th, 7th and 8th grade - there are a lot of people that show up just to watch the game.

So I think it is a combination of the violence and the finality of the games. Since they play so few games every game is meaningful.

Thoughts?

Same fucking reason the rest of the world goes batshit over soccer or footy.

Betting........

excellent point. I wonder how much money is gambled on a weekly basis on NFL games.

Betting and alcohol.

short season, televised early, more likely every smaller school in roral areas have a football team when they will not have others aside from basketball, and then arena violence of course.

It's quite easy to follow 16 games over a span of four months. A guy can watch every football game available to him every week and still have plenty of time for everything else in his life.

Yeah, I hear that for sure. I am a big baseball fan, but teams often play 25 games a month or more so keeping up with the team can be a part time job. With football it is basically on Sundays and one game Monday night. You can sit on the couch for a day and still have the week to live your life.

Because the NFL is the crowning achievement of Western civilization. :2 cents:

More people on a football team.

Can someone explain to me why you pansy asses need a 4th down?

there are alot of different reasons - a big one is the short season football has compared to all the other sports, and that there's only one game a week - the phrase 'leave them wanting more', each game becomes an event, there's a buildup to the big game on Friday(high school), Saturday(college) or Sunday(NFL).

other factors - the season it's played in, autumn. it just adds a special ambiance to football whether it be on a college campus or an NFL stadium. The harvest season, a time to rest before winter comes.

it's an American game, even though it evolved from English rugby, the same way baseball evolved from English rounders - it's surpassed baseball as America's national pastime. Because it's a contact sport, a collission sport, modern day gladiators, the toughest of all sports and that is what the average guy wants.

TV and marketing - Pete Rozelle and the TV networks did a masterful job of taking everything that is good about football and made it look and sound better. Take a look at NFL Films - you'd swear you were watching WW II documentaries.

Betting definitely has played a significant part for the NFL though they never admit it. Playing their schedule on one day a week predominantly makes it a bettors paradise - study up all week and then make your plays all on one day.

Nothing can stop football now, it's such a huge part of American culture in the fall. The Super Bowl has become the biggest single holiday other than Christmas. Again the one game aspect to it rather than a series creates a bigger anticipation to the game.

I love when Europeans mock American football, insecure about their own 'football'. These people have never stood beside an American football player or watched a game from close up. Ray Lewis could literally pick up some of these 5'9" world class soccer players between his index finger and thumb and snap their neck. They are freaks of nature, all positions are specialized - world class sprinters as running backs and wide receivers.

It's bloodsport, those who play on the line usually are crippled for life, life expectancy for NFL offensive linemen is womething like 54.

It's a sport you definitely have to have grown up on to enjoy.

Bingo. Its a very short season we gobble all of it we can get.

Because Football > *

because soccer sucks?
Duke

The popularity of high school football increases the further into rural areas you get. These places have no forms of entertainment except for maybe a bowling alley, so everyone in town comes out for football. They aren't into baseball or basketball because they don't have the black population necessary to make the games good.

It really is.... I played for years and there is so much to learn from the game that applies to life and business. I played QB and running an offense and reading a defense prepared me for life as an attorney.

Sometimes the best offense is a good defense and sometimes you have to go on attack and spread the field.

It is the greatest sport ever -- except for gladiator fights during the Roman Empire.

It moves too slow for me, I cant stand to watch more than a few minutes of it.

I wish we had our own version of hockey.

lol hes only 6'1 there are some players who can do that to him

basketball still hapens in rural areas and once was white dominated too. just few schools have the ability to upkeep a baseball field.

violence and beer