The Official NFL Thread

Awww, and the Bengals had been doing SO well. I think they had gone a full 3 months or so without anyone being arrested.

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Originally Posted by Spank_Me_Hard

The NHL has been, and still is the biggest unknown awesome sport that much of the country is blissfully unaware of.

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Blissfully unaware of now, but it used to be pretty big. When people talk about the big 4 sports, they're still talking about football, baseball, basketball, and hockey, though that is more of a holdover from bygone days. I think the NHL screwed themselves over with a number of bad decisions, personally, not the least of which was the strike. Hard for me to really guage it, though, being from South Texas. Never was all that big of a sport down here.

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Originally Posted by Boneycat

Well hey, to each their own. I think hockey is a tough sport, and you have to be tough to play it.

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I would agree. I think football is rougher overall, but it's a damn close call that could really go either way. In football, there is a ton of hitting, punching, etc. on every play. Being on the line is like boxing half the time. Hockey has the REAL hard hits, though, since you can reach speeds on ice a lot faster than on foot, and you have walls to slam people into, and hard ice is utterly unforgiving to fall on. Basically, I think football is more consistently rough beginning to end, while hockey is more peaks and valleys.

Not to mention taking a 100mph slapshot in the face... with a frozen pucks that is essentially a rock.

Look at Jermey Roenick that one year... his jaw shattered like a vase in 7 places. His jaw had to be wired together. Not fun.

Or there was Clint Malarchuk having his jugular cut in 1989. Almost bled to death on the ice. Was like watching a real life horror film watcdhing all the blood gush, and then pool on the ice... in a quickly expanding circle.

Or seeing Bjorne Salming take a skate to the face... cut his face all over the place. He looked like Frankenstein when it was all over. can't remember how many stiches.

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Originally Posted by monroeski

In football, there is a ton of hitting, punching, etc. on every play. Being on the line is like boxing half the time.

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But in hockey, it not *like* boxing. It sometimes is boxing, but without the gloves. Football can pretend to hang when Joey Porter and Ray Lewis shed their helmets for a legal brawl on the 50 yd line that doesn't end until one of them is one their back.

If anything, football is the peakier of the two. Someone says HIKE and both sides explode for a few seconds...then rest for a few. Send the two-down guys off the field. Then rotate special teams in. Maybe take a timeout. Switch with the O or D and stand there awhile.

Hockey is consistently fast and tiring. There's like one timeout per game, and it isn't always even used.

This is why I USED to love hockey so much. No other fights got so intense in America. You couldnt ask for a better adrenaline rush watching sports than a hockey game. Remember the Avs vs Red Wings for a few years straight from 95-2000? Those were the days.

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Originally Posted by Snakespy

This is why I USED to love hockey so much. No other fights got so intense in America. You couldnt ask for a better adrenaline rush watching sports than a hockey game. Remember the Avs vs Red Wings for a few years straight from 95-2000? Those were the days.

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Lol, I remember watching that as it happened. Great brawl. This is when I developed an intense hatred for Chris Neil, seen above beating up a Flyer named Radovan Somik who was half his size and never was a fighter to begin with. Loved that the goalies went at it too, the sign of a true brawl!

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Originally Posted by Snakespy

This is why I USED to love hockey so much. No other fights got so intense in America. You couldnt ask for a better adrenaline rush watching sports than a hockey game. Remember the Avs vs Red Wings for a few years straight from 95-2000? Those were the days.

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I like to own the classic games. I actually bought that game in 1997 on eBay. Other than the fights, that game was a classic. See-saw battle back and forth with two teams that literally despised one another.

And yes... Patrick Roy fighting Mike Vernon )or was it Chris Osgood?) was one for the ages. That game was INTENSE! And I don't even really care for either team. It was a joke that Claude Lemieux turtled like he did the second that Darren McCarty got his hands on him. Was an incredible puss! How can that guy even look at himself in the mirror?

I love the NFL... LOVE it! The rivalries in the NFL are great. My personal favorites are the Giants-Redskins-Cowboys-Eagles games.

But... you get a rivalry like the Red Wings and Avs had... it can't be beat. It is a thing of beauty.

As for classic football games, I am collecting some off eBay. I ended up buying what I think is the only game between Barry Sanders and Bo Jackson ever. Both went for over 100 yards that game.

I am stunned today when people go "Who was Bo Jackson"?

:eek:

Like... only the most impressive physical specimen to play running back ever!

Scary to think of what he would have done had he played football full time and not been injured. I was watching the NFL channel (Best draft picks ever I think) and someone was saying that a player like him comes around only once in a generation. And the Raiders got him for a 7th round pick. I guess some scouts had him clocked in the 4.1 - 40 range. More consistently 4.2 to 4.3 I'd say... anyway you cut it though... freakish.

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Originally Posted by r'aggro

Loved that the goalies went at it too, the sign of a true brawl!

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I actually saw a junior game (the league before pro) in Lethbridge, AB Canada where at the end of the game one team had only five players left on their bench, and the other team only had four. All the rest had been kicked out for fighting. There was like three bench clearing brawls. They had to finish the game up playing even strength 4 vs. 4 because the one team didn't have enough players. It was insane.

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Originally Posted by Snakespy

This is why I USED to love hockey so much. No other fights got so intense in America. You couldnt ask for a better adrenaline rush watching sports than a hockey game. Remember the Avs vs Red Wings for a few years straight from 95-2000? Those were the days.

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That was pretty good... but I'll raise you this:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=ueK501bACSQ

or this:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=eJFbUcTc1Ws

My personal favorite is the one on Ron Francis that has him crawling back to the bench.

And to get back on topic, Bo Jackson for anyone who never saw him:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EjO_QfFYV78

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Originally Posted by Spank_Me_Hard

Or there was Clint Malarchuk having his jugular cut in 1989. Almost bled to death on the ice. Was like watching a real life horror film watcdhing all the blood gush, and then pool on the ice... in a quickly expanding circle.

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dT4PenDwiPo

brashear? isn't that the guy that got clocked with the stick by mcsorley? i'm no longer wondering why lol.

Yea, thats the one. Brutal.

well, turns out HC is po'ed about corporate ownership of his players...

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Dungy Not Happy To Be Without Anthony Gonzalez (5/19 12:47 PT)


The Facts: Never one to stir up controversy, HC Tony Dungy nonetheless is taking exception to a league ruling that will keep the team's first-round draft choice, Gonzalez, choice away from a mandatory three-day mini-camp that began Friday morning. Reported by ESPN.com

Analysis: Gonzalez, expected to earn a prominent role in the Indianapolis offense as a rookie, was precluded from attending the weekend session because the league ruled he had to participate in Reebok's NFL Player Rookie Premier this weekend. "I'm a little concerned about it," Dungy said. "We talk about team play and we talk about doing things as a group. ... And then we take 35 guys and treat them a little special." Dungy said that he expects Gonzalez to report for work June 4, but the unhappy coach acknowledged that losing this weekend to the Reebok function is a setback for his first-rounder.

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another player po'ed...

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Brandon Jackson Unhappy About Missing Mini-Camp (5/17 1:21 PT)


The Facts: Jackson was looking forward to use the Packers first mandatory mini-camp to show Brett Favre the Packers backfield problems would be in good shape with his selection. But at 4 p.m. Thursday, though, a team official told him he would be banned from the Packers facility for the weekend. The NFLPA and the Management Council ruled Jackson had to attend a promotional event and couldn't practice with his teammates. Reported by ESPN.com

Analysis: As a first-day drafted skill player, Jackson received an invitation to participate in this weekend's Premiere event in Los Angeles when the top selected skilled players have photo card shoots, endorsements and television exposure. And while he'll earn $12,000, Jackson is far from pleased. "I'm being held out against my will," he said. His commitment in L.A. will be from Thursday night through Sunday and he's worried his new teammates might not understand his absence. "I don't want them to think I'm some kind of a prima donna," Jackson added. "I'm real disappointed. I want to be in camp. ..." Great attitude. Too bad the union and the league aren't as interested in his on-field success as Jackson is.

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You guys get your stinking NHL out of our god like NFL thread. :D

Also, really, what the hell was Reebok thinking when they schedule their event for the same weekend as mini camps? GROSS oversight on their part.

Wrong thread for inferior sports. The correct thread for you guys to post in would be the new NHL thread. The thing that "proves" to me how bad hockey is is that more people seem to talk about the fights than the actual game. That shows that the game itself has little to offer, and that it needs the fights to make it exciting (for the most part). If i want to watch a fight, I will put on boxing or an ultimate fighting type event, not watch a bunch of idiots not play there sport and instead swing wildly at each other while pulling on jerseys.

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Originally Posted by md1198p

Wrong thread for inferior sports. The correct thread for you guys to post in would be the new NHL thread. The thing that "proves" to me how bad hockey is is that more people seem to talk about the fights than the actual game. That shows that the game itself has little to offer, and that it needs the fights to make it exciting (for the most part). If i want to watch a fight, I will put on boxing or an ultimate fighting type event, not watch a bunch of idiots not play there sport and instead swing wildly at each other while pulling on jerseys.

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wow...imagine if freddy was still here, I can only imagine the fire he would light under your backside for completely defiling canada's national sport... canada's national flower = hockey puck.

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Originally Posted by md1198p

Wrong thread for inferior sports. The correct thread for you guys to post in would be the new NHL thread. The thing that "proves" to me how bad hockey is is that more people seem to talk about the fights than the actual game. That shows that the game itself has little to offer, and that it needs the fights to make it exciting (for the most part). If i want to watch a fight, I will put on boxing or an ultimate fighting type event, not watch a bunch of idiots not play there sport and instead swing wildly at each other while pulling on jerseys.

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Jesus, give it a rest. Fighting occupies about 45 to 90 seconds of each 60 minute game.