This may not be the right thread but I seems like the closest.

I'm an English man.
USA sports have fascinated me for a while but I have never really followed any. I'm talking about Basketball, Baseball, American Football, Hockey. . .

I have never really had any Americans to ask but now I'm on these forums.

I would like to get into one of these sports for a season or two. And possibly longer if I love it.

Which Sport do you think I would enjoy most as a guy who has never experienced them before?

And which team should I follow in that sport?

hello i am also an english man

nfl

no need to follow a team unless one grabs you by the bollocks after you've watched some games

season starts in 2 weeks. prepare by purchasing madden on the xbox (one of the older versions b/c much cheaper and its the same game as the new one) to learn the rules.

Basketball and it's not even close.

Hockey is the Most Fun and cheapest to watch

if you're a simple fellow, pick football
if you like to drink, pick hockey
if you enjoy watching lol things happen, pick baseball
if you're black, pick basketball

Word for word, this

BAIDS is right. You should definitely pick the NFL. If you don't have any of the channels that show it, a gamepass isn't that expensive.

Baseball is boring as hell. Basketball and hockey are also pretty uninteresting and the 9393859 games per season makes each game less exciting.

Basketball.

I watch NFL games with people from Europe and every single one of them looks at me and says "What the **** is going on here?" Then I have to explain everything that happens on a play. The learning curve is too high. Hockey gets the same complaint from newbies, "I can't follow the puck. Where is the puck?"

Baseball is kind of slow but a more casual game to follow since you have time to chat a bit and don't have to zero in exclusively on the game. However, games can be extremely boring.

Baseball may be the most boring sport in the world, especially if you don't know what the **** is going on.

I mean I was at a game (lolMarlins) and it still wasn't good so I don't imagine I would ever be capable of sitting down to watch a game on tv.


I think NFL is probably the pick of the bunch followed by Ice Hockey mainly because the Belfast Giants are going to make a run for the Stanley Cup this year.

You can surely pick NFL if you're willing to go through

Kickoff
COMMERCIALS
Minor injury
COMMERCIALS
Random TV timeout
COMMERCIALS
touchdown
COMMERCIALS
Pat
COMMERCIALS
kickoff
COMMERCIALS

Etc

About twice as much a(i)ds and players leaving /entering the pitch than play time

redzone mate

Redzone is like only watching MOTD, only live. Gives you the Impression that you have watched all games when really you've watched none

If you've never played baseball I can't imagine watching it would be fun.

Basketball is a joke - don't waste you time. If you do, just watch the final 2 minutes of a game. All that matters is one team will make 11 of 16 free throws and beat the team that makes 10 of 16. Yay basketball.

I think you are left with hockey and football. Hockey is exciting to watch but it's still kind of a niche sport. I'd say just watch Futbol Americano. It's rife with strategy, tactics, and all kinds of hysterical ****ups by the coaches.

Team to watch is the Browns.

I'm liking the sound of NFL and Baseball.

Baseball is mid season right?

Which will have the steeper learning curve?

Baseball will probably be the least entertaining when it comes to watching the games (and I say this as a lifelong baseball nut), but it might be the best to *follow* if you're mostly paying attention to results and you like stats and numbers. Long season, lots of data points, etcetera. And yes, it's currently mid-season (actually pretty close to the end), they play 162 games in the regular season, running from the end of March to the end of September. Right now teams have played about 130 games, so if you tune in now you'll catch the most exciting month baseball can offer in the regular season, as teams are battling to make the playoffs (baseball terminology, this is referred to as the "pennant race")

NFL is probably the one that would be most exciting if your plan is to actually watch games, and it has the nice bonus of convenience as the season is just about to start.

I like baseball. like the slow paced nature of the games and find it quite a relaxing sport to watch. mainly watched it late 90's early 00's when it was on late night on channel 5.

don't support a team, but would probably pick Kansas City Royals since they had a good year in 1985 - same as Everton.

Basketball is my favorite. But it is a commitment. NFL is a much easier league to follow outside of the states. Game times are better for you, not many days per week, can watch a higher rate of playoff games.

NFL

Gamepass + redzone

Then watch the late games the day after on condensed mode (autoskips all the ads and stoppages).

NFL is the GOAT gambling sport of youre into that

This ainec. (Australian here)

Baseball is boring if you didn't grow up with it (how interesting would you expect test cricket to be to yanks?).

Basketball can be interesting strategically but the problem is the result of most possessions is almost always irrelevant to the outcome. As a result only the last 5 mins of the game is ever exciting.

Hockey I don't know much about but its kinda niche and unlike the NFL the learning curve isn't picking up the rules, its learning to even see the puck move.

American football is a strategically rich game where you can understand and appreciate great players, and it has epic fails, epic comebacks, refereeing controversy, coaches who don't understand basic probability and do insane things, and a cast of players who say and do insane things on and off the field. Basically its all the drama you can eat. Then if you get into it there's college football waiting as backup.

Don't watch a team just start watching the game.

Tracking the puck is really not hard if you've watched more than 20 minutes

forgot to add that doing fantasy nfl for a few quid is mandatory as it increases your watching enjoyment by a factor of about 3*, but its a bit late to be sorting that out for the new season if you're starting with zero knowledge

*4 if you have no prior gambling or rooting interest

Of course for all the advice, nobody here can know what you will personally enjoy. Try 'em all!

Watch/follow the last month of the baseball regular season, and if you enjoy it, watch the playoffs. If the months of September and October aren't entertaining for you, then baseball isn't your thing. If they are, you've got a sport to follow!

Meanwhile, the NFL season is just about to start. Great time to check it out and see what you think. If one or both of those ends up not being your cup of tea, then in a few months basketball and hockey seasons start. Give them a try then. Six months from now, with a little time spent on each of the four, you'll be able to tell us which one you like most.

Also it will help to follow the Gameday threads once NFL starts. When you see 75 people all type "LOLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL ______ Manning." it will help you realize how bad certain plays are.

Yeah that's good advice, try it out. Streams should be available although watching hockey in 240p sucks