The NFL regular season kicks off on Thursday night - it's so exciting!
And for those of us in the UK, there's some great news I just found out:
Sunday night football will be available on freeview after all - only now it's on Channel 4 instead of five (but still with Mike Carlson ). I really hope it's still advert-free.
Anyway, my fantasy draft is in 1 hour, so I need to go over my strategy...
Originally Posted by OldManClayton A pre-season game replaced the only show I watch the other day.
I was mildly irritated.
Same here. I hate how sports such as football seem to take priority in the UK, just for the hooligans who go crazy over it, get drunk, get loud and piss in the streets. Makes me ashamed of Brits sometimes.
The BBC effectively killed robot wars due to scheduling prioritising sport over it, so I also hate sports programs taking over air time .
Especially when it was TENNIS they kept replacing it with and putting robot wars on at like 1am. If I had my way I would ban tennis and Cliff Richards in equal measure - for the good of mankind.
I remember Robot Wars as a kid. To this day I still love robot battle competitions. Not that they ever air on any of the channels I watch, though.
@Adam: We all love different things. You may get excited for a new Loco Roco (If they ever come out with another) I may get excited by... whatever I usually get excited for, and Sketchy gets excited for sports. There's nothing wrong with loving one thing or another.
I love how sports is always on the t.v. - sports to me is exceptionally important since it is about man competing with fellow man (or women v woman!), and this is something everyone in the human race should be exposed to. Competition is what drives this species forwards, such as designing the motor car or sticking men on the moon.
I think we can reschedule the odd episode of Corrie or Robot Wars to help the species survive
Originally Posted by Marko I love how sports is always on the t.v. - sports to me is exceptionally important since it is about man competing with fellow man (or women v woman!), and this is something everyone in the human race should be exposed to. Competition is what drives this species forwards, such as designing the motor car or sticking men on the moon.
I think we can reschedule the odd episode of Corrie or Robot Wars to help the species survive
You would rather have TENNIS & Cliff Richards singing than robot wars?
Most people are not competitive about sports though, and the demographic of sports fans falls into the following groups:
1) People that sit down the pub giving half drunk ramblings as to what the team manager should be doing
2) People that sit on their arse on the sofa, giving half drunk advice/insults to the tv.
3) People that hold season tickets and go to the game on a Saturday and shout half drunk ramblings/insults at the pitch.
4) (A very small proportion) People that actually do sports (i.e. are competitive) rather than the above.
Plus I think you will find engineering and knowledge allowed the creation of the car and space program, with the latter spurred on by the ruskies granted .
Sorry to get arsey about sports, but all British TV focuses on is Sports, Reality TV (a huge crock of ...), Soaps and how to become famous with little talent (have any of them ever played an instrument?).
There is hardly anything to spur the kids on to engineering/academia these days and as an engineer I can tell you the situation is grim, student numbers are dropping - people are just not interested, one guy I met even wants to try the stardom route. Even the Christmas lectures are uninspiring these days, and apart from the new lame Scrapheap challenge there is nothing to inspire future academics and engineers.
I guess the species will survive when all we have are sportsmen/sportswomen/PE teachers, people that can "sing" but not play an instrument, and when the power stations fail, buildings start falling apart, hospital machinery goes off I presume these people will be competent enough to fix it all?
Originally Posted by W3R3W00F I remember Robot Wars as a kid. To this day I still love robot battle competitions. Not that they ever air on any of the channels I watch, though.
@Adam: We all love different things. You may get excited for a new Loco Roco (If they ever come out with another) I may get excited by... whatever I usually get excited for, and Sketchy gets excited for sports. There's nothing wrong with loving one thing or another.
Edit: Verification fix.
Yeah, you're completely missing my point about sports taking priority on UK Television, and the affect it has on the nation and it's fans.
Well, if more people enjoy sports in the UK, then TV would obviously give more priority to it. Sports, like computer games and music, are useless to society, but someone out there enjoys it and will be happy to do it.
I, for one, am happy that the sports channel costs more, so I get to see other things on TV. Not that there's really anything on TV anymore.
Disclaimer: Any sarcasm in my posts will not be mentioned as that would ruin the purpose. It is assumed that the reader is intelligent enough to tell the difference between what is sarcasm and what is not.
Sports are not useless to society - they're hugely important.
In the UK we have rapidly rising rates of obesity, and child obesity in particular (catching up to the USA). The cost to tax payers is going to be immense, as obesity and general lack of physical activity will lead to all manner of health problems (plus it's a common "disability", preventing people from working).
Then there are all the other positive aspects to sport - learning teamwork, leadership, competitiveness, good sportsmanship, etc.
The more children are exposed to sports (be it on TV or wherever), the more likely they are to want to try them, which can only be a good thing.
Re: Football Hooligans -
I think there's a section of society who just like getting drunk, getting loud, and pissing in the streets - sport is merely an excuse. If you take away football they'll just find something else (maybe even Robot Wars).
Re: Robot Wars -
I loved that show too (and the episode of Spaced where they make robots). Does the competition still exist, just not televised any more?
Two things ruined it for me:
1. Jonathan Pearce
2. The strict rules on weapons vs no rules on armor. The only robot that ever caused serious damage was Hypnodisc, and even that was completely harmless against all but the most flimsily constructed robots.
Also, I felt it was quite inappropriate the way the female co-presenter flirted with young boys on the show.
I think my fantasy team is not going to do too well this year:
Tom Brady (big mistake - should have got a RB)
Beanie Wells (automatically picked when my broadband disconnected during the live draft!)
Clinton Portis (plus the rest of the 'skins backfield for when he gets injured - ie.week2)
Hines Ward (legend!)
Devin Aromashodu (the next brandon marshall - ie. legend in the making)
Mike Sims-Walker (meh)
Greg Olsen (meh)
Jeff Reed (kicker)
Bears DST (oh dear...)
Bear in mind I'm in a very deep league (20 teams).
Having a quick look around, it turns out the people who watch sports on TV generally are the obese nicotine addicts with weak knees and an IQ handicap.
I'm not saying sports are useless - just that UK TV focusses on hardly anything else bar sports, soaps and reality tv. Home grown engineers are seriously thin on the ground. Sooner or later we will have no one capable of doing anything remotely technical.
I like to play golf and badminton . I have disliked football since I was a kid, but I was commonly outside building things from trolleys (to ride down big hills) to dens ( I once dug a 6 x 5 x 5 foot deep hole in my parents back garden trying to make an underground den. My parents was not amused but they let me carry on, and there is a still a recess in the ground now where it was! ). You just do not see kids outside anymore.
@Hayo: I buggered my right knee up :/, but I do not watch sports, my IQ measured at school (because I was pissing about all the time, getting A's in everything bar French & Religious Education of which I was commonly failing) makes me a lot smarter than the average bear boo boo!
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). I really hope it's still advert-free.
.
Not that they ever air on any of the channels I watch, though. 
Edited by W3R3W00F
. I have disliked football since I was a kid, but I was commonly outside building things from trolleys (to ride down big hills) to dens ( I once dug a 6 x 5 x 5 foot deep hole in my parents back garden trying to make an underground den. My parents was not amused but they let me carry on, and there is a still a recess in the ground now where it was! 
