[SpecialOlympian]

Hello

[Zagadka]

This is a pretty uninteresting Super Bowl leadup. The Pro Bowl actually wasn't bad though.

/just wanted the excuse to post the picture

[The Immortal Goon]

Yeah. They're trying to hype it up, but it's just not that exciting. Both teams respect each other a lot and they're both good teams that deserve to be there. Not a lot of controversy.

But I'm excited as my team is going for the second time ever. Go Hawks.

[Demosthenes]

Broncos 37, Seachickens 24 in a game that will be closer at times than the final score will appear. The Seachickens will even appear to be in a command position at various points in the game.

[Lexington]

This is old but it's related/amusing/horrifying to consider:

According to a Wall Street Journal study of four recent broadcasts, and similar estimates by researchers, the average amount of time the ball is in play on the field during an NFL game is about 11 minutes.

...

So what do the networks do with the other 174 minutes in a typical broadcast? Not surprisingly, commercials take up about an hour. As many as 75 minutes, or about 60% of the total air time, excluding commercials, is spent on shots of players huddling, standing at the line of scrimmage or just generally milling about between snaps.

[Rancid]

I don't understand, how is that 11 minute average calculated. The full game is 60 minutes.

[The Immortal Goon]

This statistic, more than any other, is held over the heads of fans as proof positive that the sport of American (a synonym for quality in retail circles) football is one of boredom and inactivity. Even worse for those who might argue otherwise, that "fact" didn't come from some random anti-sports blog or whatever. No, it came from the Wall Street Journal, and since when do they deal in reporting faulty numbers?

The problem with their argument is that, for the "11 to 13 minutes" number to ring true, a person would have to completely and totally fail to understand not only how football works, but just how sports work in general. For starters, they're talking about the time between when the ball is snapped and when the play is whistled dead. In other words, only when the ball is in the air or moving can we consider that actual sports action is taking place. After all, the ball isn't whipping around in the air, so what could possibly be happening? Here's a good basketball example of why that's a stupid notion:

[youtube]H_RJ5XN8TK8[/youtube]

Larry Bird does a whole lot of things before that inbound pass is thrown that set him up to be in a position to steal it. That, in turn, wins the Celtics that game. By the "only when the ball is moving" standard, none of that counts as "game play." Not only is it absurd to suggest that the moments immediately prior to the ball being snapped are just meaningless stand-around time, you could argue that what happens before the ball is snapped is actually more important in football than the play itself. There has not been a play drawn up yet that cannot be successfully defended, provided you get everyone in the right position doing the right thing at the right time. If you're in the wrong position to defend the play called, though, you have problems. Speaking of defense, here's Pittsburgh Steelers safety Troy Polamalu enjoying some leisurely pre-snap stand-around time:

[youtube]ewSS9h3pEAU[/youtube]

The play clock in the NFL is 25 seconds and, for all sorts of reasons, the ball is usually snapped with just a few seconds remaining. All of the predicting and planning and positioning that must happen on each play happens in those 20 seconds or so, all while the opposing quarterback does everything within the rules to make that defense lose focus or guess wrong. Here, look at this baffling montage:

[youtube]VmAWqmjji2A[/youtube]

That's Denver Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning repeatedly yelling the word "Omaha!" from the line of scrimmage during the Broncos' recent playoff win over the San Diego Chargers. On five separate occasions during that game, the Chargers defense jumped across the line before the ball was snapped. That's a 5-yard penalty each time. Deadspin has video of all five penalties, along with a fascinating explanation for what's happening. Basically, most of the time when Peyton Manning would yell "Omaha" the ball would be snapped on the next word. Every once in a while, though, they wouldn't snap the ball immediately after, and it caused the defense to jump five separate times in one game. They'd done it three times total in the 17 games prior.

And that's a bunch of meaningless bullshit to the Wall Street Journal. Meaningless bullshit that, in their reporting on the "11 minutes of play" story, accounted for another 67 minutes of broadcast time.

[Demosthenes]

I was really just trying to give TiG a hard time because the last time I said Seachickens he was quite annoyed by it.

I find that fun and entertaining to razz my friends about such ultimately meaningless things.

Yet, thanks to Lex-buzzkillington my mouthiness has been completely lost.

THANKS LEX!

[Rancid]

DAaaaaaaaaamn the Broncos are getting their asses kicked!!! That's it, Seattle won!

[Zagadka]

Wow, that was surprising. I have a hard time believing that Manning threw almost 50 times, it didn't seem like he was on the field AT ALL.

BTW, weird, when is the last time a linebacker won MVP? -> "Seattle Seahawks linebacker Malcolm Smith earned the Super Bowl XLVIII MVP award."

Thanks TIG for posting that Cracked article, I was about to link to it. Football is more complex than just running around.


EDIT

There is a certain point in every game where you stop really rooting for a good competition and start rooting for epic failure and silly records.

I STILL can't believe Manning ran as many plays as he did without producing anything.


EDIT 2

I feel like the theme for this year was "fuck England"... starting out with the Declaration of Independence for some bizarre reason, then the constant 24 commercials showing London exploding, plus all of the general AMERICA ROCKS LOL we usually get...

[Lexington]

Yet, thanks to Lex-buzzkillington my mouthiness has been completely lost.

THANKS LEX!

I EXIST TO DESTROY YOUR DREAMS.

Thanks TIG for posting that Cracked article, I was about to link to it. Football is more complex than just running around.

And yeah, I know that, but it is somewhat surprising-ish to realize that the ball is only actually really in play for a relatively small part of the game...clearly that never stopped me from watching my favorite sport.

Anyway, Seattle, bitches.

I was also thinking about this:



The actual yardage/time of possession was not nearly as lopsided as the score (which goes to the strategy side of things). Someone has to invent some better football stats.

[Zagadka]

Those turnovers and points off turnover, plus the returned kickoff, is the most significant stat (backed up by Smith earning MVP). Without those, it would have been an actual game... not only did those give Seattle a lot of their points, but it prevented Denver from theirs (stating the obvious, but that is where the game was won. Manning didn't have a bad night, interceptions aside, they just couldn't sustain anything).

[RhetoricThug]

This is a pretty uninteresting Super Bowl leadup. The Pro Bowl actually wasn't bad though.

/just wanted the excuse to post the picture

Owls are very human-like when... landing... taking off?

Suck it, Broncos. I had money riding on hawks! Thirty dollars...

[Zagadka]

Owls are very human-like when... landing... taking off?

In that case, it is when murderkilliing a rodent.

[The Immortal Goon]

Drunk and happy...I won't be the only hungover person at work tomorrow. I said from the beginning that I would be happy to lose to the Brancos as they're a great team. I'm obviously happier to curb stomp them. I'd almost feel bad, but the region was in dire need of a win. We finally have it. Best season for a Seahawks fan in a long time. I drink to our victory and our fallen foes

[Red_Army]

lol a line cook friend from AK had $1000 riding on the Broncos. I think he's pretty bummed about now.

[Godstud]

Seahawk defense won the game. It's that simple. They caused turnovers that resulted in quite a few points for the Seahawks, and they kept the Broncos off the scoreboard for most of the game.

The very first snap(resulting in 2 pts for the Seahawks) was sort of a grim fore-boding of what was to come.

[Demosthenes]

Well, that is one I don't mind being wrong about. Seattle winning isn't the surprise though, Seattle making Manning its bitch is the surrpise. Wow...

I'm not worthy.

Well done...






Seachickens (it's an Osprey, btw...)

[Rancid]

I wanted Seattle to win because Percy Harvin (a former Gator who was on both Florida National Championship teams) is on the team. Gotta support my Gators!

[The American Lion]

The Patriots send their regards.