Jacksonville Jaguars.....

[Dixie]

Previously had no 'affiliation' to any NFL/AFL team, but since our owner also owns them, I can't help wanting them to do well... :clap_hands:

+1

[filham]

Is American Football played seriously anywhere in the world outside of the States.

[YankeeJim]

Pointy ball is not a sport its is a spectacle.  22 large, steroid addicts running about between the commercials with several small white guys pretending to be hip black dudes calling the game and a stunning blonde interviewing the players, pretending that they can string together enough words to form a sentence.  Course they all "focus" and give "110" percent. Boring, predictable and pedestrian.

Interesting you say that, seeing as every single one of the college football players (18-21) are 10x more articulate than every single one of the 30+ year old English players (Rooney, Hart, Cahill etc)

For every one that has a brain, usually the QB, there are 6-8 that can't spell their own name. The NFL preys on young men, more often than not, minorities, who come from feeder universities who also prey on them. There was one 5 year span where the University of Oklahoma did not graduate a single football player and only 1 basketball player. There was one guy who actually sued the university after he went to the NFL, destroyed his knee and then couldn't get a job because he couldn't read or write. A recent study of 90 or so ex-players found that all but a very few had some sort of trauma related dementia. The average career is about 5 years and their average life expectancy is considerably lower then the average American male. The NFL is a blight on society. What intelligent man would aspire to that?

Crikey, that's a damning indictment if ever I read one, but an interesting one that I have never heard about.  I wouldn't have a reason to of course (I also think that Gridiron is an awful 'sport'), so I'm not questioning you but I would love to know if you have any links that I could have a look at with regard to the Unis failing.

My comments were from memory of a damning story some years ago. Currently, they have made major improvements http://newsok.com/article/3897193 but still lag their league.

[Barrett487]

Is American Football played seriously anywhere in the world outside of the States.

Most notably Canada. Their season starts and ends earlier than the NFL due to harsher winters.

[Forever Fulham]

I don't care all that much for NFL style football.  I think it's way too violent, health threatening, cutting pro careers very short.  A couple of concussions as a youngster or in high school or university  can lead to a shortened life filled with depression, a misshaped brain.  You don't need to have been a pro to suffer down the road from all the times your brain is forced one way or the other inside the brain pan, tearing little micro capillaries along the way.  And with performance enhancing drugs that are hard to detect, the players keep getting stronger and more aggressive.  But it's still very much a sport that at the pro level requires an extremely high level of athleticism.  A way out of poverty for many, with a pretense at getting a university degree of any value along the way... 

[Keynsham]

Pointy ball is not a sport its is a spectacle.  22 large, steroid addicts running about between the commercials with several small white guys pretending to be hip black dudes calling the game and a stunning blonde interviewing the players, pretending that they can string together enough words to form a sentence.  Course they all "focus" and give "110" percent. Boring, predictable and pedestrian.

Interesting you say that, seeing as every single one of the college football players (18-21) are 10x more articulate than every single one of the 30+ year old English players (Rooney, Hart, Cahill etc)

For every one that has a brain, usually the QB, there are 6-8 that can't spell their own name. The NFL preys on young men, more often than not, minorities, who come from feeder universities who also prey on them. There was one 5 year span where the University of Oklahoma did not graduate a single football player and only 1 basketball player. There was one guy who actually sued the university after he went to the NFL, destroyed his knee and then couldn't get a job because he couldn't read or write. A recent study of 90 or so ex-players found that all but a very few had some sort of trauma related dementia. The average career is about 5 years and their average life expectancy is considerably lower then the average American male. The NFL is a blight on society. What intelligent man would aspire to that?

Crikey, that's a damning indictment if ever I read one, but an interesting one that I have never heard about.  I wouldn't have a reason to of course (I also think that Gridiron is an awful 'sport'), so I'm not questioning you but I would love to know if you have any links that I could have a look at with regard to the Unis failing.

My comments were from memory of a damning story some years ago. Currently, they have made major improvements http://newsok.com/article/3897193 but still lag their league.

Thanks Jim, for some reason I find this really interesting!

[HatterDon]

There are some NFL lifers -- players/coaches who went on to commentator/journalist -- who believe  the league will disappear within 20 years because of the injury problems YJ talked about. College football may go in the same direction, since these days they're basically lower-division feeders.