Quick Question...

[SquishDaFish]

Anyone know what thread that Pats picture with their helmet white background and 18-1 and something about cheaters written under is at?? I want that for my school desktop lol

[The last buffalo fan]

:idunno:

[TacklingDummy]

All I could find is this one...

http://logo.cafepress.com/5/142414.594285.JPG

And this one...

http://logo.cafepress.com/9/142414.3956809.JPG


And this one...

http://logo.cafepress.com/8/142414.594338.JPG


It's baseball season :monkeyp: Boston

[gr8slayer]

Dummy, it's football season year round. To hell with baseball.

[TacklingDummy]

Dummy, it's football season year round. To hell with baseball.

It's baseball season once Pitchers/Catchers report. With a little bit of football (draft/FA signings) sprinkled in.

[gr8slayer]

It's baseball season once Pitchers/Catchers report. With a little bit of football (draft/FA signings) sprinkled in.
Baseball is just kind of :limp:

I've got some tickets to some games this season, I'm going to watch "historic" teams and see if it helps me get into it.

[Jan Reimers]

It's baseball season once Pitchers/Catchers report. With a little bit of football (draft/FA signings) sprinkled in.
I like baseball, too, although that might be sacriligeous on here.

[gr8slayer]

I like baseball, too, although that might be sacriligeous on here.
I fall asleep faster watching baseball than I do reading a book. They need to do something to make it more exciting. Maybe more A-Rod fights or something.

[Jan Reimers]

I fall asleep faster watching baseball than I do reading a book. They need to do something to make it more exciting. Maybe more A-Rod fights or something.
Like hockey, baseball is a lot better live than on TV. Nice excuse to drink beer on a hot afternoon or warm evening, too.

[venis2k1]

I fall asleep faster watching baseball than I do reading a book.

That post speaks volumes.

[gr8slayer]

That post speaks volumes.
That I don't like baseball?

[venis2k1]

sure.

[mybills]

Watching baseball is like watching the grass grow, or paint dry. Whether you watch it live or on tv.
btw, is this the pic you were looking for?
http://i13.ebayimg.com/03/i/000/d7/ab/ad9d_1.JPG

[gr8slayer]

Like hockey, baseball is a lot better live than on TV. Nice excuse to drink beer on a hot afternoon or warm evening, too.
Yeah, I went to two games last year and didn't really enjoy myself. I was thinking that maybe if I went and saw teams like the Red Sox or Yankees maybe it would be more interesting than Rangers vs. Royals.

[gr8slayer]

sure.
I never claimed to.. :idunno:

[TacklingDummy]

It's ok you don't like baseball.

The majority of the USA thinks that soccer is :limp: but the rest of the world loves it.

Personally I don't like soccer or basketball. College basketball is ok come the Final Four.

[TacklingDummy]

Yeah, I went to two games last year and didn't really enjoy myself. I was thinking that maybe if I went and saw teams like the Red Sox or Yankees maybe it would be more interesting than Rangers vs. Royals.

2 good seats for 1 Yankee game at the stadium will cost you as much as Bills season tickets.

[venis2k1]

Growing up in a baseball family in boston, you learn to love the game. Not as much as football, but love it none the less.

[gr8slayer]

2 good seats for 1 Yankee game at the stadium will cost you as much as Bills season tickets.
That's really sad considering how much more powerful the NFL is....

[gr8slayer]

Growing up in a baseball family in boston, you learn to love the game. Not as much as football, but love it none the less.
I can see that, in Texas we grow up with football being religion and everything else is just something you do to get in shape to play football. Wrestling is probably a close second (not the WWE crap.)

[venis2k1]

That's really sad considering how much more powerful the NFL is....



Or when you consider that they play 162 games a year, not including postseason.

[gr8slayer]

Or when you consider that they play 162 games a year, not including postseason.
That says a lot about the Bills and their current situation.

[LifetimeBillsFan]

I like all three sports: football, baseball and soccer; and watch them as often as I can. I love lacrosse and hockey and like basketball, too, although I don't watch nearly as much basketball or hockey as I did years ago because it has become harder to get my favorite teams' games on TV in recent years.

Some of my affection for these sports comes from having played them (football and lacrosse) or tried to play them (baseball, basketball and hockey) or coached it (basketball). I think when you play a sport or try to play a sport because your friends are all playing it, I think that it is easier to get drawn into the game: in part because you realize how difficult it is to do some of the things that you see the pros do with such apparent effortlessness and in part because you learn things as you are playing the game that allow you to appreciate some of the subtleties of the game and the strategy that is being used to impact the flow of the game.

I also know that some of my affection for these sports comes from the fact that I grew up listening to and watching these sports--often with my father who not only enjoyed these sports himself, but took the time that we spent together listening or watching games to go beyond merely cheering for the Bills, Bisons, Giants, Sabres, etc. and explaining the rules of the game to me to use what was happening in the games to teach me "life lessons", like good sportsmanship, appreciating a great play even if it was made by the opposing team, how to win and LOSE with dignity and grace, how important it is to learn and know how to deal with failure (he loved to make the point that, in baseball, if you only get a hit 3 times out of 10 at bats and fail to get a hit 7 times out of 10, you will go to the HOF--it was his way of saying that you don't quit if you fail at sometime, you keep trying, and you shouldn't be afraid to fail because you will never succeed if you are so afraid of failing that you quit or don't try), etc. I learned a lot about sports and life--lessons that I cherish now--from my father, who had been a boxer when he was a youth. But, I also learned a lot from listening to all of the announcers (some more than others!) who called the games, not just the rules and the strategies that they discussed as they dissected the games, but also from the stories and anecdotes that they told about the games and players of the past and various on- and off-field incidents that took place. In many ways, I learned more useful information from that than I did in some of the classes that I took in school!!!

I also think that the fundamental nature of games like baseball, football and soccer has a great impact on their appeal to different people.

In the Rodney Dangerfield movie, Back To School, Robert Downey Jr.'s character accurately describes football as a "violent ground acquisition game" that is a metaphor for war. And, that is EXACTLY what it is!

Every football game is, in its way, a "mini"-war and even some of the language that is used to describe certain plays and aspects of the game is taken directly from the military lexicon: "bomb", "blitz", "trenches", "warriors", etc. And, vice-versa: "Hail Mary", "end run", etc. Much of its appeal is that it psychologically taps into the war-like aspects of the male psyche and allows the fan to vicariously express his (or in some cases, her) pent-up aggression. Aggression is hard-wired into the human psyche, particularly in males. And, in a world where going to war (or committing war-like acts) can be more costly than a society (or humanity) can survive and a society where there are fewer and fewer outlets for aggressive male behavior that are deemed appropriate, football has great appeal--there aren't even a whole lot of sports, let alone other social situations, where a guy can legally try to literally knock another guy's head off without getting arrested! And, even if you aren't able to play the game yourself, if you want to knock your boss' (or the President's, or your neighbor's) head off but you can't because you don't want to get arrested, what better way to let that suppressed aggression out vicariously than by A.Schobel (or M.Strahan) smash his helmet right into T.Brady and drive him into the ground and screaming your head off as if you were the one who had just slammed Brady to the turf? (Don't tell me that you didn't feel just a tiny bit of a rush as you read that last sentence--cause we both know that you did!!! QED)

Baseball, on the other hand, has a totally different appeal and that is reflected in the fact that it was never called the "National Sport/Game", but "The National PASTIME!" (pass time being the operant verb/adverb) As has been stated, it is a nice way to spend a lazy summer day or night--played nice and easy, not too fast, with lots of mental aspects to the game to think about, but not too much--something interesting to watch with your kid or a friend while having a beer and a hot dog.

Baseball is not a war-like action sport, but rather a metaphor for life--not the hectic, on-the-go around the clock, at the beck and call of business, boss and friends 24-7 life that is far too common today, but a saner, slower paced life where the individual has time to stop, rest, think and, yes, pass time before going back to the demands and grind of daily life. With no play-clock, the pace of baseball is designed to allow for thinking--not rushed decisions quickly transmitted under pressure between plays--and considering decisions before acting. There are pauses, pregnant with tension and strategy, between every pitch and all of the action. And, the action explodes, often unexpectedly or unpredictably, breaking the pauses. As in life, plans go awry. Failure is built into the game to such an extent that to be successful one must first learn how to deal with failure and success, which comes in degrees, is well received, but sometimes is not fully rewarded. Individual sacrifice and outstanding effort is obvious and given accolades. There is immediate gratification of a sort in the game and a place for aggression, those don't always lead to victory or decide the outcome of the game and the aggression is expressed more subtly and must be controlled to achieve success--making the game far less of an outlet for raw emotion and aggression than football. The better team doesn't always win the game: the best teams are lucky to win 60 % of the time over course of a 162 game season and may lose to a lesser team in a short series because a single individual can have a greater impact on the outcome than is usually the case in football.

The appeal of baseball is totally different than the appeal of football. One is not necessarily better than the other, they are different.

Soccer is something entirely different from either baseball or football. Like hockey, there are plays and strategies, but the decision-making is all done on the fly. The pace is slower than hockey, but, at the highest level, the games are similar. Scoring and winning are not easy. Good effort and great scoring chances are not always rewarded. Brilliant individual play or grave mistakes can be decisive, but not always. There are pauses in the action, but no timeouts, just a halftime break. And, the clock keeps ticking: the teams play for 45 minutes a half, but, with the pauses not being allowed to shorten those 45 minutes and time being added on to compensate for them, one is never sure exactly when the referee will blow the final whistle (just as one never knows in life when the final whistle will blow). A great team and great individual players can be overcome or denied victory by strategy and effort or a great individual play made against the run of play, but counting on that can be risky. Aggression plays an important part in the game, but must be controlled or it will be severely penalized. Timing, anticipation and athleticism are critical and the ability to communicate on the fly without pre-lanning or signals can be decisive. Like hockey, the game and athleticism of the players can be beautiful--but games can also be very ugly and slow, especially when the skill level of the players is not that great. The quality of the skill level and talent is obvious and usually proves decisive. Again, there are parallels to life, but the pace of the game, which is faster than baseball, and the lack of scoring (rewards for good play) make those less obvious than in baseball (interestingly enough, there frequently are more good scoring chances in a soccer game as there are in a football game and sometimes as many goals as TDs, but there is no reward for coming close in soccer as there is with the FG in football--if you hit the crossbar or the keeper makes a great save on a shot that usually goes in, tough, there is no consolation in terms of getting half of a goal). Even moreso than in football or baseball, the outcome can be cruel or unsatisfying: despite having great talent and making a great effort, a team can lose or only get a draw--but isn't that what happens a lot more often than not in life? Not only is failure built into the game, but so is frustration.

And, while all of that makes the game appealing for many people around the world, that also can be a turn-off for some, especially Americans who aren't very accepting of frustration in life and want their games to end in a definitive decision where one team is rewarded with victory and the other is vanquished. American society, particularly in recent years, is very much predicated on a "zero-sum" game approach and is not very accepting of outcomes that don't fit within that construct, in life or in games.

Personally, I find the strategies and tactics that are used in all of these games (as well as in basketball, lacrosse and boxing) to be utterly fascinating. And, because I enjoy seeing the individual athleticism that the players in all of these sports possess (which I do not, but find artistic and beautiful) and love analyzing the tactics and strategies (which appeal to my fascination with military history and psychology) that are used in all of these games, they all appeal to me in one way or another--which is why I watch them and am a fan of all of these sports.

Still, I can understand why some fans of one of these sports may find one or more of them utterly unappealing. To me it is a matter of individual taste and personal make-up. And, when it comes to that, I say, "Vive la difference!" Life would be boring as hell if we all were alike, had the same tastes and liked all of the same things equally!!!

I love the fact that I can share my interest in football and the Bills with all of the people who come to this messageboard. And, it is great that I found someone here who also is a fan of my favorite soccer team and that there are several who are fans of my beloved Yankees as well. But, I can also understand why there are some why there are some guys here who can't stand baseball and/or soccer. As far as I'm concerned, if that's fine for them, it's fine with me because we still share our interest in the Bills and football and IMHO it's nice that we are able to do that.