For the boys

"Rugby reminds me of American football for Dummies. I find it rather boring. One has to admit it doesn't take a great deal of intelligence to play rugby.
In American football coordination, saavy, atheleticism, and the ability to second guess the opponents intentions are all factor's in determining a victor. The luck factor also play's an important role. An example of the luck factor would be a tipped ball being intercepted and run back for a touchdown"

That was a comment placed anonymously in my post about Jonah Lomu. I could tell right away that it could be only one of my readers: My Dad. He'd be the biggest American football( hereafter known as football) fans I know of that reads The Finndego. So I had him up about it and here is the conversation that ensued:
Me in italics and the old man in bold

Is that you commenting on The Finndego? The poor grammar, spelling and nonsensical arguments make me think it was you. Just kidding, but I do disagree with the points made and I want to find out who it is. Mark

Why what did they say?

Comparing rugby and football but I disagreed with argument. I hate the commenting on blogspot. It's more difficult than it should be. You sure it wasn't you?

What makes you think that I would do such a thing ? So tell me what is nonsensical about the guy's arguement. Now you should know by now I am quite knowledgable when it comes to football. I know nothing about rugby except they get in a bunch and play grab ass with each other.

I sent 10 things that I liked about rugby over football and he responded below them.

1. Games are over in 90 minutes. There is an eighty minute clock with very little stoppages. The action can stop but the clock keeps running and no time outs. No 3 1/2 hr games where the last 5 minutes of game clock takes 35 minutes.

Ya , so you have 80 minutes of sheer boredom and a bladder full of urine.

2. 15 a side with six on the bench but only 3 substitutes allowed.

Irrelevant.

3. While like football there are specialist body types for some positions everyone plays offense and defense. When the ball gets turnedover, that's it you gotta go tackle someone

So the game was made for someone with my mindset and athleticism.

4. No pads

Doesn’t bother me either we never had them when we where young. Unfortunately for you adults got involved in your game. Don't ever do that to your kids.

5. When a guy makes a regulation tackle he doesn't jump up and do a silly dance. One reason is because the ball is still live and the other is because generally they see themselves as sportsmen and not entertainers.

Well that’s the end result ogf the civil rights movement.

6. The game didn't go professional until 1996. Before then it was completely amateur.

To me it still is.

7. Because there thirty guys on the field it's pretty hard to break the defensive line. It's very tactical and it's all about keeping lanes and field positioning and tactical nous and counterattacking when possible.

Same with American Football , but by having separate plays our game becomes more like a chess match. Don’t forget if you know what the other team is going to do you will almost always be successful. That is on both offence and defense. That my son is one reason why there are so many upsets.

8. It's tradition after the game for the guys to go into each others locker rooms and drink a beer and swap stories. That's a holdover from the amateur days.

Our tradition was to find the bastard who clipped ya and clip him. When you were a kid and our softball team played for beers there was no spiking people and all that crap. Once we got into a league I for one turned into TY Cobb. I wouldn’t shake hands after the games either because I didn’t like them before during or after.

9. It's international. NZ,Australia,South Africa, England have all won World Cups while France,Wales, Ireland and Scotland are all good and each country have slightly different ways of playing the game. Their own style so to speak.

It may catch on but I wouldn’t expect a big following, I had to endure a game before going sky diving up in Maine with a friend it didn’t do nothing for me.

10. It still cheap to go to a game.

That’ll change

I feel like I'm trying to turn a born again christian! Look at a game of football like you've never seen one before or better yet try to explain agame to someone whose never seen one. If you can't explain a game in 5 minutes to a someone it's probably not even worth it. The NFL has the largest rule book of any major sport. You've got about 18 minutes of live ball action out of 3 1-2 hours of viewing. How is that a good thing? TV timeouts!? You are being brainwashed by the networks who sell advertising into believing this is a good thing. I'll watch games because of history but on my cable we also get a replay of the days game cut down to 2 hours. It's much better. When was the last time you ever went to a game?

Look at what the announcers call the intangibles that can turn a game. A fumble, a tipped pass, a dropped punt, weather, injury etc… Good play calling is just as important as the ability of the athletes involved., especially at the professional level which is much more sophisticated than a pick up game.
Balance has to be considered a an offence that scores 35 PPG is good , but not good enough if the Defense gives up 42 PPG. Speed and size matter but again intelligence and exploiting the oppositions weakness’ can also turn a game. Thus you need a good passing game to have a good running game and vice versa. You need smart and fast corners and safety’s , You need big fast and strong linebackers , to go along with your big line. If a team find a weakness you’ll know real fast. That’s what ended Bledsoe’s carreer

But Pudge, a lot of sports are very similar to that. There is nothing special about trying to exploit your strenths or the other teams weaknesses. What I like about rugby is the organisational skills required to keep attacking and defending in fluid play. A rugby team may think it has an advantage in it's forwards and keep pounding the ball up the middle until the defense weakens and draws in more defenders and then wait to swing it outside. This may take several play the balls before the defense is trapped and vunerable. You may counter that football does that play to play which they do, but they've got four coaches up in a box with cameras and phones down to the sidelines and quarterbacks who aren't even allowed to call their own plays. In rugby all this has to happen in the moment and all the players must regconise what is happening instintivley. Not only that all the players are touching the ball and offloading in the tackle and they require tremendous ball skills and hand eye coordination. A lineman's role is to be fat and block this guy or that one while the defensive lineman must fill this gap or that one. In rugby EVERY player requires some of the skills of a linemen,running back,quarterback,wide receiver,linebacker and safety. The percentage of each is divived unequally through the different positions but even the biggest of front rowers must possess the skills of running the ball, catching the ball and tackling. Oh did I mention that most football teams carry two players on their roster whose sole function is to kick the ball at the end of a possesion. Ridiculous.

The funny thing is, I tried to get him to have the same sort of email conversation with me when Massachusetts lost it's Senate seat to the Republicans but that didn't really happen. Talk about football though and it's on like Donkey Kong. I know that it will bother him to no end but I'm going to declare myself the winner but somehow I have a feeling it won't end here.

Next Week: The Finndego vs. Sarah Palin on shooting large mammals in high heels, Obama's Death Squads and molecular biology.