Unpopular Sports opinions

[Smiley Culture]

I’ve never understood the idea that Rugby Union is in any way watchable. 

I was quite looking forward to seeing how players adjusted to The Hundred in Cricket this summer, if not too keen on the idea behind the teams. 

The skill at the top end of Darts is frightening. The accuracy behind shots and ability to think on their feet to know what they need to win a leg is unbelievable. 

[Beelzebub]

Volleyball is underrated

[Beelzebub]

Wasim Akram is the reason for Pakistan Crickets fixing problem, he was involved in shady stuff himself and promoted a fixing apologist culture in the team. He needs to have his Lance Armstrong moment.

Had Misbah been the captain of the 90s Pakistan team we could've achieved the Australian teams kind of success in ODIs

 

[Devil-Dick Willie]

11 minutes ago, Azeem said:

Wasim Akram is the reason for Pakistan Crickets fixing problem, he was involved in shady stuff himself and promoted a fixing apologist culture in the team. He needs to have his Lance Armstrong moment.

Had Misbah been the captain of the 90s Pakistan team we could've achieved the Australian teams kind of success in ODIs

 

Dumb Pakistan fans are also to blame for your culture. Shahid Afridi was for a long time and still is by many a more celebrated cricketer than Misbah. Afridi is a cheat, a mediocre bowler and a flashy but ultimately poor batsman. Misbah was a workhorse, a gentleman and 3 x the batsman Afridi ever was. But one is celebrated because "Afridi go boom boom" and "Misbah go Tuk tuk" Don't even get me started on Younis. The guy is in my team of this century, and I'm Australian. 

India has the same problem at times. Kholi is great but if he's a 9.5/10 batsman, Pujara is a 9. Which means they should be celebrated in measures more equal than 'Kholi is god Pujara is a piece of shit"

[Stan]

1 hour ago, Devil-Dick Willie said:

India has the same problem at times. Kholi is great but if he's a 9.5/10 batsman, Pujara is a 9. Which means they should be celebrated in measures more equal than 'Kholi is god Pujara is a piece of shit"

I rate Pujara very highly. For a test batsman, he's like a Rahul Dravid MKII. 

For tests, he's exactly what you'd want to balance out the more eccentric, flashier batsmen like Pant, Pandya, Jadeja etc.

Not a fan of anyone who can't/doesn't rate someone like Pujara. Trying not to over-exaggerate here but for classic Test cricket, he is the essence of it. The discipline, patience and preciseness of his batting is what you want for a test game. 

The focus these days is on the instant need for excitement and pleasure which is why T20 has come to the fore, and why Test cricket becomes unpopular. But I love a pulsating test match that swings both ways (pun intended) throughout the course of the match as as much as I do the glitz and glamour of T20 and ODIs. Cricket is nothing without the Test format. 

[Mpache]

On 13/05/2020 at 13:09, Azeem said:

Volleyball is underrated

I *should* like volleyball. It's Peru's second most popular sport and really the only thing besides football that we can be competitive in. But it just doesn't pull me in. Not even during Olympics if Peru is in it. I just don't feel compelled.

I would rather support my colleagues in athleticism or badminton despite not being good at either.

[Beelzebub]

I find it weird how as an undeveloped country we have excelled in sports that require costly elite infrastructure like squash, field hockey, these sports have some reputation of posh sports even in wealthy countries. Cricket too requires a lot of space. Squash courts are expensive to build, hockey requires turfs that need high maintenance.

People usually blame Cricket for the decline of former two but it isn't possible to keep pumping resources into them when they give back little in incentives. 

[Rucksackfranzose]

2 hours ago, McAzeem said:

I find it weird how as an undeveloped country we have excelled in sports that require costly elite infrastructure like squash, field hockey, these sports have some reputation of posh sports even in wealthy countries. Cricket too requires a lot of space. Squash courts are expensive to build, hockey requires turfs that need high maintenance.

People usually blame Cricket for the decline of former two but it isn't possible to keep pumping resources into them when they give back little in incentives. 

That's actually quite logical, sports that have the reputation of being posh are only played by the members of the upper middle class or even richer persons in wealthy countries. The percentage of these parts of population in some developping countries are often as high or even higher than in said wealthy ones, while these population parts in other developping countries are more interested in other posh sports. In other words to excel in posh sports is easier because there's less competition.

[Beelzebub]

7 minutes ago, Rucksackfranzose said:

That's actually quite logical, sports that have the reputation of being posh are only played by the members of the upper middle class or even richer persons in wealthy countries. The percentage of these parts of population in some developping countries are often as high or even higher than in said wealthy ones, while these population parts in othert developping countries are more interested in other posh sports. In other words to excel in posh sports is easier because there's less competition.

Great point bit sceptical about hockey as it's participation wise big, played competitively on all continents but overall it makes sense. 

Specially agree with some poor countries having an insanely rich class in India, Pakistan, Egypt etc 

[Beelzebub]

Basketball is dullest to watch out of major sports, easy and too much frequency of scoring. It doesn't even have the tackles and physicality that much like handball has.

P. S Cricket is for intellectuals  The back and forth events happening 'behind the scenes' is as exciting as end to end play in other sports, once you understand it. 

 

[Beelzebub]

Athletes are sportsman but not all sportsman are Athlete.

For me as the name implies basics of athletic must be part and parcel of what they do speed, strength stamina, agility in order to be classified as an athlete.

Fast bowlers in cricket are, batters no.

Some skill set like endurance, reflexes alone also don't count

[Tommy]

On 21/06/2021 at 18:59, Khan of TF365 said:

 

P. S Cricket is for intellectuals 

 

cringe. 

[Beelzebub]

20 minutes ago, Tommy said:

cringe. 

Most intellectual outdoor sport where you have to calculate all the conditions from scoreboard to weather. Also being captain means much more than it is in football. 

[Tommy]

American Football is an awful sport to watch. They play for 30 seconds, then there's a break for 2 minutes before they play another 30 seconds. Not enough flow to make it entertaining. Tried watching the Super Bowl twice, and fell asleep every time. 

[CaaC (John)+]

16 minutes ago, Tommy said:

American Football is an awful sport to watch. They play for 30 seconds, then there's a break for 2 minutes before they play another 30 seconds. Not enough flow to make it entertaining. Tried watching the Super Bowl twice, and fell asleep every time. 

Ditto, I tried watching in years ago and got fed up with all the ads every view minutes, you just can't concentrate with all the commercials. 

[Beelzebub]

All racquet sports are really about mastering the serve. Who serves better wins

[Eco]

1 hour ago, Tommy said:

American Football is an awful sport to watch. They play for 30 seconds, then there's a break for 2 minutes before they play another 30 seconds. Not enough flow to make it entertaining. Tried watching the Super Bowl twice, and fell asleep every time. 

I think it's something that helps if you are raised with it. It's also similar in terms of soccer in the fact that the fans and crowds make it a wonderful atmosphere, and I'm speaking more in terms of college (American football). I grew up with it so I'm used to my college, Alabama, playing games that last 4 hours, but it does take up most of the game as it involves grilling out food, game, and then celebrating the win. Also, with their only be 12 or so games, each game matters big time (again in college, not so much in NFL). It's certainly different and I totally understand if someone thinks it's boring, but like I said, I think it's something that helps greatly if you are raised in a culture that adores the American (Hand) football. 

[Coma]

49 minutes ago, Eco said:

I think it's something that helps if you are raised with it. It's also similar in terms of soccer in the fact that the fans and crowds make it a wonderful atmosphere, and I'm speaking more in terms of college (American football). I grew up with it so I'm used to my college, Alabama, playing games that last 4 hours, but it does take up most of the game as it involves grilling out food, game, and then celebrating the win. Also, with their only be 12 or so games, each game matters big time (again in college, not so much in NFL). It's certainly different and I totally understand if someone thinks it's boring, but like I said, I think it's something that helps greatly if you are raised in a culture that adores the American (Hand) football. 

I'm not a fan of American football but I do agree that the college version is more entertaining than the pro game.  Far too much commercialism, too little action (TV timeouts, etc.) and too many games.  Same could be said for pro baseball, which plays 162 games.  I watched the college baseball world series and loved it.  

[DeadLinesman]

Most people’s problem with the American Football actually stems from the fact they just don’t understand it’s intricacies (imho). You can sit there and simply moan about the commercials (easy to find commercial free) but when it comes down to it, most casual watchers wouldn’t know a Middle Line Backer from a Corner Back. It’s taken me a good few years to learn about the various offence/defence packages available and how they set up. It’s definitely not an easy sport to get into but it’s so rewarding when you properly understand it.

[Stan]

29 minutes ago, DeadLinesman said:

Most people’s problem with the American Football actually stems from the fact they just don’t understand it’s intricacies (imho). You can sit there and simply moan about the commercials (easy to find commercial free) but when it comes down to it, most casual watchers wouldn’t know a Middle Line Backer from a Corner Back. It’s taken me a good few years to learn about the various offence/defence packages available and how they set up. It’s definitely not an easy sport to get into but it’s so rewarding when you properly understand it.

This. Took me ages to get into it and my support for the sport in general (before actually having a team to get behind) has wavered. First got into it several years ago playing Madden on PS2 or PS4, and then didn't really pay attention. Ironically it was when NFL came to UK I got into it a bit more again, then became best mates with someone who absolutely loved NFL and Seahawks, so it's kind of by default I've paid a lot of attention to it again - something in common with someone else makes it much easier to follow and get emotionally involved in. 

[Beelzebub]

Also on complex sports. Technical things always have a less fanbase than things that are easy on the eye but their fanbase is much more loyal than the things that are mass popular. Everyone plays GTA but Tekken is very difficult those who are good at it are crazy about it, same case with tech, arts.

Sports should try to make some rules easy for people to follow it but all sports shouldn't care about mass popularity which is kinda impossible with money around.

[Eco]

37 minutes ago, DeadLinesman said:

Most people’s problem with the American Football actually stems from the fact they just don’t understand it’s intricacies (imho). You can sit there and simply moan about the commercials (easy to find commercial free) but when it comes down to it, most casual watchers wouldn’t know a Middle Line Backer from a Corner Back. It’s taken me a good few years to learn about the various offence/defence packages available and how they set up. It’s definitely not an easy sport to get into but it’s so rewarding when you properly understand it.

A lot of truth in this. 

It's certainly a LOT more cerebral than people make it out to be, and probably the sport that relies more on the coach/manager than any other sport I can think of. 

[Eco]

7 minutes ago, Stan said:

This. Took me ages to get into it and my support for the sport in general (before actually having a team to get behind) has wavered. First got into it several years ago playing Madden on PS2 or PS4, and then didn't really pay attention. Ironically it was when NFL came to UK I got into it a bit more again, then became best mates with someone who absolutely loved NFL and Seahawks, so it's kind of by default I've paid a lot of attention to it again - something in common with someone else makes it much easier to follow and get emotionally involved in. 

C'mon mate, I told you that I'm a Falcons fan. 

Get your growlers and let's watch the Dirty Birds. 

[Stan]

28 minutes ago, Eco said:

C'mon mate, I told you that I'm a Falcons fan. 

Get your growlers and let's watch the Dirty Birds. 

Hahaha you know how Seahawks love a bit of fish

[DeadLinesman]

28 minutes ago, Eco said:

C'mon mate, I told you that I'm a Falcons fan. 

Get your growlers and let's watch the Dirty Birds.