Re: Thoughts on NFL in London/cross country sporting pollination
 

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They don't know what actions constitute a balk

[/ QUOTE ] There are players who don't either.

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certainly couldn't tell you the infield-fly rule

[/ QUOTE ] Its quite possible to watch a whole season and never realize its there since it rarely changes anything (ie the fielder catches the ball and he's out, just like normal). Its only when smart ass kids like me figure out that they can let the ball drop and get a double play that problems arise [img]/images/graemlins/blush.gif[/img]

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and haven't the slightest clue about how the organizational farm-systems work, etc etc.

[/ QUOTE ] This is quite true but I fail to see what it has to do with the game being played on the field [img]/images/graemlins/confused.gif[/img]

Re: Thoughts on NFL in London/cross country sporting pollination
 

Football is incredibly complex.

There are literally hundreds of rules that come in to play all the time. Explaining football to someone from another country is an incredibly arduous task. I have a friend from Colombia that asks me questions about random penalties all the time and he has been living in the US for years now.

Re: Thoughts on NFL in London/cross country sporting pollination
 

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and haven't the slightest clue about how the organizational farm-systems work, etc etc.

This is quite true but I fail to see what it has to do with the game being played on the field

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Meh, probably didn't belong.

Mostly comparing it to how a college football fan can debate about the BCS and whether undefeated Auburn deserved to be in the national championship game or how NCAA-Hoops fans can discuss scheduling and bubble-teams and sagarin's, etc etc.

All that format stuff is off the field and not a direct part of watching the game but it's still part of what people enjoy about the sport.

Listening to me explain to my foreigner GF and her Dad different aspects of the bowl system and why Memphis would host a game between two teams NOT from there like South Carolina vs. Houston when clearly they could have had a better crowd if they just played it closer to one of their home stadiums was kind of funny.

That's the type of stuff that a college football fan can mostly take for granted. We mostly 'get' how the bowl system works regarding invites and conference affiliations and so forth. But most of us really aren't exactly experts on how all that invite and affiliation stuff works.
And explaining it to an outsider will just get you confused looks.

Most would not get why so many teams would travel all over the place to all play their own little mini-championship and then end the season there without winners advancing to play each other, etc.

Similar to how I don't understand how the English premiership and other soccer leagues work with all that promotion/relegation wackyness.

Re: Thoughts on NFL in London/cross country sporting pollination
 

some of you guys are being too literal. Trying to coach a sport at a high level is about a billion times different than someone watching a sport.