You sure?

http://www.american-football-japan.com

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It should not need to be stated that we are talking about popularity in America. Nobody here gives a fuck what sports people in Japan and Venezuela watch.

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Fare you well, fare you well
I love you more than words can tell
Listen to the river sing sweet songs
To rock my soul

American football first played 1869
First television broadcast 1929
First football game broadcast 1939.

Looks like you're onto something.

_________________
"Play until it hurts, then play until it hurts to not play."
http://soundcloud.com/darkside124 HOF 2013, MM Champion 2014

Probably a lot more soccer than baseball.

_________________
"Play until it hurts, then play until it hurts to not play."
http://soundcloud.com/darkside124 HOF 2013, MM Champion 2014

Agreed. From one needless debater to another it takes two to dance and for what's it worth you didn't start the thread either.

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Ok I'll rephrase the question.

More popular sport in America?

Baseball or Football.

If baseball is the choice then tell me why Hockey is also not more popular than football compared to the metrics you decide to use.

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Ahem. The point of the thread was to illustrate how silly it is to even have the debate.

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"Play until it hurts, then play until it hurts to not play."
http://soundcloud.com/darkside124 HOF 2013, MM Champion 2014

I don't think any debates are needless. It's a message board and should be viewed as a virtual smorgasbord for both credible and non credible viewpoints. It's kind of refreshing to have guys be passionate about sports. It's a net positive.

Hell there have been 40 + pages on big fan Julie DiCaro Drinky and Dan Bernstein'so twitter. Some of the people that complain about "needless" are avid posters in those threads. To me that's needless but to each his own.

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That's nice.
It's still the worst 6 year long debate we've ever had in the history of humanity.

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"Play until it hurts, then play until it hurts to not play."
http://soundcloud.com/darkside124 HOF 2013, MM Champion 2014

That's a bad way to go with this argument. College football was more popular than the NFL for a long time. TV made the NFL.

_________________
Anybody here seen my old friend Bobby?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
I thought I saw him walkin' up to The Hill
With Elon, Tulsi, and Don

We have to define what "popular" means for purposes of the discussion. Does it mean that more people "like" a sport? That they favor one over the other? The entire argument in favor of football revolves around television ratings. Also, when polled more people will say they favor football. But that's a little deceiving. It assumes that some chick who loves the Sunday party at her boyfriend's house where she makes the chili and wears the Adam Archuleta jersey she got for Christmas ten years ago is equivalent to a hardcore baseball fan like IMU or sini.

If you're really a fan of football, how could you go your entire life without ever actually going to a live game? And then the answer becomes, "it's inconvenient" or "it's better to watch on television". And I don't disagree. But that makes you a fan of a TV show rather than a fan of football.

_________________
Anybody here seen my old friend Bobby?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
I thought I saw him walkin' up to The Hill
With Elon, Tulsi, and Don

Both sides are at fault. To blindly dismiss a pitcher's W-L record as meaningless is flat out stupid.

To flat out dismiss WAR and other metrics is just as silly.

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Nobody has "dismissed" WAR. BRick and I have questioned the noise in an aggregate statistic where there are multiple versions and even the guys creating them cannot agree.

But I will say that if WAR leads one to believe Matt Cain was one of the best 250 best pitchers in the history of the game, it's clearly flawed.

_________________
Anybody here seen my old friend Bobby?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
I thought I saw him walkin' up to The Hill
With Elon, Tulsi, and Don

I am one of the few in the middle with this argument. Of course there is some merit to a starting pitcher's W-L record. I have seen MANY (ok, at least a few) people here say that "W-L record is meaningless." That is a very small minded view to take.

On the flip side, it is certainly very helpful to use some of the advanced metrics when looking at a starting pitcher's performance, especially in this day and age with expensive and specialized bullpens.

Regardless of if you are using traditional stats or advanced stats, looking at one category is probably not going to the tell the entire story about a pitcher.

Now 20, 30, even 50+ years ago it is a different animal with a pitcher's W-L record.

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Well, I've never suggested a pitcher's W/L record over a single season was evidence of a whole lot. Baseball is a game of time and repetition. Of course when most games were complete games it was a better measure. But thirty-three starts is a small sample. The same could be said about any number over the course of a single season though. That's why it's so difficult to get a gauge on relievers. They pitch so few innings and the sample is small. Still, if you lose 2/3 of your decisions, you didn't have a good year regardless of any mitigating circumstances or any other numbers. I've also never said that Matt Cain was never a good pitcher, but it appears- barring some renaissance- that when his career is in the books his overall body of work will be less than good. Wayne Garland had a good season. I wouldn't call him a good pitcher.

_________________
Anybody here seen my old friend Bobby?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
I thought I saw him walkin' up to The Hill
With Elon, Tulsi, and Don

_________________
O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

There are a lot more people who don't give a shit about the game at baseball games than Bears games.

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I'm not sure that's true, but if so, it likely has something to do with the limited amount of games and the importance of a single game on the NFL schedule as Rick pointed out in another discussion.

But yeah, I agree that the girl who likes to get drunk at Wrigley in her Rizzo shirt is the same as the girl who makes the chili on Sunday and claims to be a football fan. But at least she made the effort to go to the ballpark.

_________________
Anybody here seen my old friend Bobby?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
I thought I saw him walkin' up to The Hill
With Elon, Tulsi, and Don

I can't speak for everyone but I've never dismissed the W-L record as meaningless.

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Be well

GO BEARS!!!

The Miami Dolphins still suck and have since about 1976. Has nothing to do with this thread just bringing out the facts.

Wins means you beat the other team at the game you are playing. Loss means JORR is posting about how it does not matter. Kinda like Managers in MLB.

You high again, Scooter?

_________________
Anybody here seen my old friend Bobby?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
I thought I saw him walkin' up to The Hill
With Elon, Tulsi, and Don

Just on life and hanging on your wonderful posts thank you Rodney.

Post of the Year.

_________________
Fare you well, fare you well
I love you more than words can tell
Listen to the river sing sweet songs
To rock my soul

And here we go yet again.
Jesus christ on a crime spree, we're arguing about the stupidest baseball thought in 40 years.
Jorr is trolling you guys. He doesn't believe what he's saying.
Or he's nuts.
Either way... don't bother.

_________________
"Play until it hurts, then play until it hurts to not play."
http://soundcloud.com/darkside124 HOF 2013, MM Champion 2014

As a neutral observer who isn't blinded by Sox hatred like Darkside, JORR is right.

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

Only you...
Could think that jorr is right
Only you...
Would call broad daylight night...
When you lick his taint
I understand the magic you do...
A trolls dream come true
The one and only you!

_________________
"Play until it hurts, then play until it hurts to not play."
http://soundcloud.com/darkside124 HOF 2013, MM Champion 2014