Is There Any Doubt??

[Biggin]

Lets be serious here dude, I could type out the most convincing 5 page reply and it not change one single mind and do you know why? Because it's a matter of preference, people like different sports for different reasons, there's no such thing as "the greatest sport"...there's your FAVORITE sport. Things can be debated, like which is more exciting and whatnot, better atheletes etc...but as for the GOAT of all sports? That can't be determined. Even with that said, it's a bit ridiculous to throw a modern sport which was ripped off of another, that's just really popular in one area, to the top of some list. I'm as big of a football fan as the next guy, the Cowboys were the first team I ever started watching, but there's still no such thing. And you said it, most popular doesn't equal greatest, football is the most popular in this country but it doesn't mean it's the greatest here and not close to greatest in the world if there was such a thing.

You could try to type out a five page report, and still be wrong. But not for the reasons you listed, it has nothing to do with opinions.

If we take out the so-called opinion qualifiers, like excitement and anticipation, we still have a few fact-based qualifiers to determine which sport is the best in the US.

One, the easiest one, revenue. Which sport brings in the most revenue overall? Easily football.

Now, lets look at the level of preparation and gameplanning. Which sport devotes that much time to a specific opponent every week besides football? Football gameplans are by far the most specific, intricate gameplans in any sport. More hours are spent, more gameplans are developed, the level of familiarity with opponents and the time spent on a specific opponent makes football obviously the biggest strategical sport in mainstream.

Next, how important are the games? To be a great sport, EVERY game has to have incredible meaning. 162, 82, or 16? In which sport does every individual game count as much? When games mean more, the level of intensity and gameplanning goes up. When games are more meaningful, we get higher performance and effort on the whole every week.

Now, the athletes. Look at the skillsets required by football. Its so varied. Some players have to be big and strong with quick feet, some have to be incredible fast and quick and tough, some have to be big, strong, AND fast. No other sport requires the level of athlete. Not to mention these incredible athletes RUN INTO EACH OTHER, causing incredible damage to each other. To play football, you have to have an incredible amount of skill, athletic talent, toughness, and smarts. Not ness. intelligence, but smarts in reference to their sport.

Ok now let's delve into some more qualifiers. What other sport requires as much devotion? The willingness to sacrifice health on the long term for their sport? And that reflects on the field. Football players have to give up simple things like no headaches or knees to play their sport for a long time. Name another sport where athletes who are 300+ pounds smash into each other, risking horrible injury, at least 16 games a year and least 50 snaps a game?
Take a good defensive tackle or offensive tackle. An OT plays about 50 plays a game, running full force into a 300 pound man on every snap. Thats 300 plays a year. What other major sport requires that level of physicality and devotion?

Since we arent doing opinions, I wont mention the excitement, the environment, the level of devotion by fans, but I have to mention one other thing:
the PASSION.
Football breeds a passion unmatched by any other sport. Whether its players, coaches, fans, owners, whatever, football creates an incredible passion for the sport.
It takes an insane amount of passion to convince a healthy 300 pound guy to play DT in teh NFL. The money is nice, but NBA/MLB players make a sh1t ton of money as well and those players are not asked to be as devoted to their game. They dont have to hurt each other to make a living.

thats not to say that basketball or baseball players arent very passionate about their sport. They are, some very much so. But they arent asked to intentionally hit and hurt another player to be successful in their sport. They arent asked to be injured almost every game yet still compete. NBA players have great passion, some of them, but the passion from NFL players dwarfs that, simply because they have to injure or be injured. The NFL creates higher stakes for its players, meaning they have to be more prepared and more devoted to their sport to be successful.


To say you are as big a football fan as the next guy obviously isnt true if you are arguing that the NFL is not the best overall sport in the US. I laid out my reasoning, why I believe that the NFL is the greatest. I dont see how thats even arguable to be honest. I pointed out how important each game is, the level of revenue brought in by the sport, and the level of gameplanning and preparation required by football is unmatched by another major sport.

I cant say 100% positive that football is the best sport. We have no metric to determine that. But I can lay out excellent points behind my reasoning and give as to why myself and many others determined that football IS the best sport. NOT my favorite sport, but the BEST sport.

and pvfan, its weird that you dream about the LPD forum. You have to be, since what you are describing has never happened.

Bonds? What did almost every single person we asked say about Bonds? That yes, he deserved to be in the HOF and that he was one of the best to ever step on the diamond.