how is walking an olympic sport but football isn't

[zinfamous]

yeah, so might as well post a picture of one of your soccer dudes doing a header, and call your game "Head Orb."

 

[zinfamous]

It really does not make any sense though.

it has been called football since the days when the primary scoring was done by kicking the ball through the uprights. It started out as little-to-no different than Aussie football.

 

[momeNt]

Maybe we should have a US Olympics football, where the 50 states each field a football team and we have our own mini-olympic event.

Was that as dumb, or dumber than the OP?

 

[TallBill]

Maybe we should have a US Olympics football, where the 50 states each field a football team and we have our own mini-olympic event.

Was that as dumb, or dumber than the OP?

Mmm.. dumber. Close though

For the same reason baseball and softball were axed. American Football simply doesn't reach enough of an international audience.

At least that was the justification I read for baseball and softball being cut...which surprised the hell out of me. More countries really participate in Dressage and Whitewater Rafting?

A shame, bring softball and baseball back! At least we still get the world baseball classic.

agreed

I love both. Niether are sissy's or wimps. But you really can't compare the two either. 1 is constant motion with hard hits. the other is short term action with massive hits all over.

both are a blast to watch.

+1

 

[pelov]

Handegg, football, american football, whatever you want to call it, those guys are ridiculous. Not saying that rugby players are not amazing athletes, but calling football or making fun of it for being a sissy sport is highly laughable.

That wasn't my intention. The point was that the Olympics are a worldwide even and it's not the United Olympics of America. Secondly, football gets thrown around like it's the baddest ass sport in the world when it isn't. It had the reputation for decades but it's slowly being turned on its head because safety has now become a huge concern by both the players and the management/teams. As someone who watches all of these sports, I can tell you that it's not the same anymore.

I watch both and I enjoy handegg season quite a bit, but I always find it silly that people look at the rough tackles in handegg and simply ignore the rough tackles in other "sissy" sports like floppykicking (soccer).

Just this past season there were some nasty injuries in floppykicking that would have halted an NFL handegg season and sparked even more debate. Drogba getting WTFKO'd by the keeper was one and the other memorable one involved Huntelaar colliding with a defender and he appeared to be having a seizure on the pitch. He was so out of it that he was chewing on grass for a good 10 seconds. He was taken off the pitch, regained his composure and when the manager told him he was being substituted he began to yell at him for taking him off. This would have been possible in football in the years past, but not anymore. Not even close.

That's not to say that they don't feign injuries. They do and they do it strategically (wasting time, for example), but it's also gained a reputation of flopping and being a "not-as-physical-as-football" type sport which is wholeheartedly untrue. A typical left or right back can cover 10k meters in a single match.

/rant off

 

[MetalMat]

Maybe we should have a US Olympics football, where the 50 states each field a football team and we have our own mini-olympic event.

Was that as dumb, or dumber than the OP?

College Football is kind of like this

 

[PingviN]

Because no one outside the US plays american football. We play real football instead. You need some sort of international participation for it to be in the Olympics.

 

[Anubis]

For the same reason baseball and softball were axed. American Football simply doesn't reach enough of an international audience.

that may be true for softball but baseball has a large world following and other countries not called the USA win gold at the olympics. it was kinda dumb it was axed,

softball on the other hand is pretty much a US thing and we totally dominated and it wasent even a contest

 

[clamum]

Handegg? Floppykicking? God, STFU you idiot.

 

[TallBill]

/rant off

Thanks for elaboration, at first I assumed that you were trolling. I agree with you on some of your points. I personally prefer baseball to football and it is one of the toughest sports to argue regarding the player's skill or athleticism.

 

[darkewaffle]

I guess the question is while football's audience is limited so US primarily, is stuff like "olympic walking" and "trampolining" and other really niche stuff popular anywhere at all?

 

[Northern Lawn]

More people play Cricket then Handegg.

 

[yuchai]

Cricket probably deserves to be in the Olympics more than American football. Baseball should probably be in as well given some of the other stuff that's in the games right now.

 

[oddyager]

For the same reason baseball and softball were axed. American Football simply doesn't reach enough of an international audience.

At least that was the justification I read for baseball and softball being cut...which surprised the hell out of me. More countries really participate in Dressage and Whitewater Rafting?

Disagree partially. Baseball is an international sport (there's a world championship already for it) with participants from 3 continents and it is not a US dominated sport.

 

[trmiv]

Baseball was axed because the MLB didn't want to stop their season to let their players play. Since they couldn't have the best players playing, the IOC decided it wasn't worth it and dropped it.

 

[WelshBloke]

More people play Cricket then Handegg.

More people play cricket than most sports.

Would still make a crappy Olympic sport, unless you want the Olympics to last about 6 months.

 

[yuchai]

I guess the question is while football's audience is limited so US primarily, is stuff like "olympic walking" and "trampolining" and other really niche stuff popular anywhere at all?

I think it's pretty much a given that walking is the activity that most people in the world has done before so I'm not sure how that's "niche".

Trampolining is no more niche than some of the other gymnastics events.

 

[jagec]

The summer olympics has a funny combination of events no matter how you slice it. It's a lot easier to justify the events in the winter olympics, with the lone exception of curling.

 

[momeNt]

The summer olympics has a funny combination of events no matter how you slice it. It's a lot easier to justify the events in the winter olympics, with the lone exception of curling.

Curling is pretty exciting to watch and the women are generally better looking than other events.

 

[adlep]

Meh, Football players are bigger, faster, and stronger. They also have 4 more years of a college grueling regime of training, practice, etc. NCAA football programs are no joke.

Handegg, football, american football, whatever you want to call it, those guys are ridiculous. Not saying that rugby players are not amazing athletes, but calling football or making fun of it for being a sissy sport is highly laughable.

The rest of the world does not agree with you...
http://youtu.be/2sD_8prYOxo

and now go back to watching a beer jingle!

 

[WelshBloke]

The summer olympics has a funny combination of events no matter how you slice it. It's a lot easier to justify the events in the winter olympics, with the lone exception of curling.

If you start looking at sports objectively most of them are petty silly.

 

[Wreckem]

They put forth American Football as a potential exhibition sport before.

It was shot down because it was not logistically feasible. The Olympics just isn't long enough to have an American football tournament, unless you have several fewer days of rest between games, and there is no way the NFL or the NCAA would allow their athletes to compete in that situation.

 

[Krazy4Real]

Handegg? Floppykicking? God, STFU you idiot.

This.

 

[CPA]

Did you ever play badminton in your life?

This Olympics is truly bringing out the pricks in full force here.

Badminton is a friggin BBQ activity, not a friggin sport.

 

[Wreckem]

Badminton is a friggin BBQ activity, not a friggin sport.

That is why its called the XXX Olympic GAMES, not the Olympic Sports...