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[nimi]

Hey!  Where's the baseball thread?

[falconcy]

Isn't that something like the game of rounders that the girls used to play at school? ;-)

Afraid I know nothing about it this side of the pond, and Football, ain't what we call it or what the Aussies call it  :lol:

Me, I prefer Rugby, I went to a Grammar School where Football was not played, only Rugby. I guess that makes me biased 

[djdawg]

Rugby totallly scares me!  Now THAT'S a man's game.  I have no idea how it's played other then there is a "scrum?"  Not sure there....American football is fantastic and baseball is...well it's about the best game ever invented in the history of the world!  LOL...is my bias coming through? 

Perhaps I'll share with everyone my rant on Soccer/Baseball someday...I'm afraid I would make many enemies though. 

[tek_vixen]

Oh please do share your rant.  It would be interesting.  I love both of those sports, although I must confess that I spent the first few years of my son's soccer career grumping about the sidelines, soaking wet more often than not, wondering what the heck "offside" was!  These days I rather enjoy watching.  Often I end up having to choose between seeing my son play soccer and seeing my daughter play softball.  Wish I could clone myself some days.

T-Vix

[nimi]

My sister in law was a rugby player in college.

Rounders - meh.  I'd like to see YOU hit a 100 mph hour fastball 

[falconcy]

Rugby is a way better game, the thing that I find strange about the Stateside version of Football is the need for loads of padding. Rugby is all the action, much of it similar as far as tacking goes, albeit minus the protective gear.

[frenata]

One season in the early part of the 20th Century, eleven young college football players were killed over the course of a number of games. We were accustomed to the occasional death, but that many in one season did it for us. That's where all the padding came from.

Or so I read once. Not sure why it stuck in my head; I hate sports.

[falconcy]

Heard about the odd ear getting bitten off in a scrum, plus we had a hooker who would swing on the props and kick the opposing hooker in the nuts causing their scrum to collapse and our team to walk over them.

...a hooker in rugby is the guy in the middle of the front row of the scrum.

The odd guy gets brain damaged playing Rugby and some people wear protective headgear similar to boxers in training, it is more padding than a full blown crash helmet used in the American game. That looks like it could cause serious injury to whoever gets hit by it.

[K-Mac]

Rugby is a way better game, the thing that I find strange about the Stateside version of Football is the need for loads of padding. Rugby is all the action, much of it similar as far as tacking goes, albeit minus the protective gear.

And besides the deaths that Frenata mentioned, many were getting serious and/or permanent head,neck and spinal injuries.  I've seen Rugby on TV but don't know much about it.  I know the way NFL players line up at the start of each play, they are pretty much smashing each other head on, so the potential for the head, neck and spinal injuries is pretty great.  When you've got two 350 pound giants smashing into each other, they probably need air bags!  There are still quite a few injuries even w/ the padding.  Correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't Rugby players generally better built than our 350 lb football players?  (Thick from head to toe w/ muscle rather than a mix of fat and muscle?)  And they seem to run around more (plays don't stop as often) so they are not necessarily taking forward-facing hits all the time?  (Or am I thinking of Australian-rules football?)  Anyway, I think the American fans just got tired of the game being stopped to take some poor, permanently injured or dead soul off the field.  Kinda kills the mood in the stadium.

Hey! Where's the baseball thread?

nimi, did you watch the Rockies vs Astros on Thursday night?  That was, if not the best, one of the best baseball games I've ever watched.  Biggio got his 3000th (and then some) hit, the game went into overtime, then ended with a walk off grand slam.  Doesn't get much better than that!  You would have thought you were watching game 7 of the World Series!

[djdawg]

Gotta agree with Kmac here falconcy...there's a reason for all the padding.  The only time I've seen rugby is on some highlight sports reel and all the guys are hugging each other (?? LOL) and moving as one giant group up and down the field.  If you watch American FB you'll see what we're talking about.  When the play starts these guys are smashing into each other like two mack trucks.  The game would have to be totally changed in order to accomodate the lack of padding.

Just watch a very fast wide receiver (Terrell Owens, etc) cross the middle of the field, jump up to catch a pass and come down only to get annilated by two defenders and you'll see why padding necessary.

[falconcy]

Any team that ever played the All Blacks and got hit by the likes of Jonah Lomu would need padding, I can assure you. The Wallabies and the Springboks are no pushover either. Perhaps it is more of a discipline thing that prevents more serious injuries.

[K-Mac]

I think it's just different kinds of hits.  There are a lot of vulnerable positions one can put their body into...heck, I broke my lower leg in two places simply slipping on the ice and twisting sort of funny as I fell.  I just think football players put themselves in many particularly vulnerable positions, thus the need for padding.  (As djdawg mentioned with wide receivers.)

Falconcy, are there quite a few deaths and/or serious injuries involved with Rugby?  If so, is it just tolerated or is there a portion of the viewership lobbying for pads/helmets?

[falconcy]

I've heard of a few broken bones, the odd spinal injury and the occasional bitten off ear I'm sure there must have been some deaths over the years, just not that many.

[K-Mac]

I've heard of a few broken bones, the odd spinal injury and the occasional bitten off ear I'm sure there must have been some deaths over the years, just not that many.

That's probably the main difference then.  Necessity is the mother of invention after all.  I just think the rules and strategies of each game are quite different, thus leading to different types of injuries, equipment, etc.  We're probably comparing apples to oranges, however, I agree that both are pretty rough sports on the body and it takes a certain kind of person to tolerate that type of punishment in the name of fun and competition.  Either way, I sure do enjoy watching sports, especially in person at a rowdy stadium!   

[nimi]

I didn't see the game Kmac - but I heard about it.  Wish I had! 

Here's a great Baseball story from America in days past --

My husband's Grandfather was a pitcher in college and played town ball during the summer.  It was the days of the Negro League and there were these touring teams of all African-American players.  They came to this small town and Hubby's grandfather pitched the first game of a double-header.  The Negro League Pitcher was apparently incredible and pitched the whole game.  The town ball team was shelled.  Game two of the double-header came and the Town Team sent out it's new pitcher.  The Negro League Team sent out the SAME pitcher who proceded to throw an entire game with his LEFT hand and beat the pants off of the town ball team.  That would have been cool to see.