Sort of, although London sucks.

Liverpool (urban pop = 800k) 28 league titles (everton & liverpool)
Manchester (2mil) 22 titles (united & city)
London (8.5mil) 16 titles (spurs, arsenal, chelsea)
Birmingham (2.5mil) 8 titles (villa, west brom)

At present it's all about Manchester.

Soccer is anti-parity, but it kind of has to be due to foreign leagues. A salary cap here means all the talent goes to spain, germany, italy, russia etc. EPL doesn't have a monopoly on talent in the same way that MLB, NFL, NBA does

Yes

#4 >> 1=2=3 >>>>> 5

its all about the short schedule imo. if the NBA had a 16 game schedule i'd watch every NBA game just like i watch every NFL game.

but ya for most people its #4 i think.

what were nfl's numbers like pre-ff?

I think some of the most hardcore NBA fans would even support a shorter schedule. I'm not sure how many games, but last year's shortened season really wasn't bad at all.

A couple legitimate complaints (jus imo):

1. History of actual corruption with refs
2. Too many games
3. Too many playoff teams (I'd go 6 each)

Casualfan NBA myths:

1. No one plays D
2. Games are always close/tied
3. It's all isolation

yeah people cite this a lot and i get it, but it doesn't bother me much. ultimately i am entertained by the play itself. for my money watching guys like durant and lebron faceroll is extremely entertaining and there are many players worth watching across the board. various talented players to monitor, subplots to follow, and the like. i agree that the nba playoff races and early round playoff series are generally not high drama in terms of affecting playoff results; however, i find them extremely entertaining b/c you can still watch some good basketball. so i suppose that i think someone who finds that stuff boring is (relatively) less interested in basketball and more generally interested in drama, excitement, tension, etc. this excludes the noobs who think every nba offense is all iso and that no one plays defense in the nba

Pure.

I think any sports fan not taking advantage of watching Lebron at his current level of play is missing out.

He's at one of those historic levels, like when people talk about 'I remember watching Jordan at his peak', etc. I'm obviously super-biased but I think watching Lebron's current quality of basketball >> anything else in sports

i don't disagree with that, but i think you can get more than enough of it if you watch only the playoffs.

watching just the playoffs gurantees me at least 16 games of lebron which happens to be exactly an NFL season. it's perfect.

yea, i don't think fantasy moves the #s much

football is most popular b/c it's violent and most alpha sport

thats not it. NHL and rugby (league) manage to be both violent and AIDS

I had to deal with kids today for an extended period. They ****ing suck.

its the short schedule--->meaningful games and the fact that football for whatever reason (distribution of points?) lends itself to the most exciting gambling

i actually think this is a bad thing to the extent that the point of the playoffs is to figure out which team is the best. i love the nfl playoffs, but not b/c any team could win the superbowl. i just like watching the best teams play. if the nfl could magically play series would you enjoy the playoffs less? i know i wouldn't and similarly to what i said previously i'd argue that someone who would enjoy it less is probably relatively less interested in watching high level football than in seeing "drama." nothing wrong w/that. i just don't take much marginal benefit from suspense that is injected by the format of competition

Really?

umm yeah really?

Lol RT, preferring greatness over celebrating artificially forced widespread mediocrity and donkfests, yeah NBA fans sure are dumb.

Yep cause anyone said this.

Yes, you are correct, somebody did say this.

dogs>children

lol. well his post is obv quite ignorant. much of the nba world was up in arms at the creation of the super teams. lebron instantly became the most hated player in american sports lol

Nah, sports are ambiguous in terms of meaning. In the NFL, they playoffs obviously are not about crowning the best team, they're about a high drama variance fest (which fans seem to love). In the NBA, they're more about crowning the best team, or, more likely, they're about showing off the top talent in as many games as possible, which their fans seem to love.

Saying that "the point of the playoffs is to figure out who the best team is." is pretty wrong.

Are you one of those guys who buys an NCAA, NFL, or NBA video game, assembles a super team and crushes everyone you play? If so, the world needs fewer of you.

Yeah, they hated it so much the rating for the NBA finals with LeBron and Friends have been abysmal.

Nah, just kidding. They did just fine. For all the people who were "up in arms" about the Heat, it didn't seem to make much if any difference in an area beyond people just saying random ****.

For reference, check the ratings from the Jordan years. The NBA has always done best when it gives its fans what they want: dominant teams.

historical/cultural reasons why those sports aren't as big as the nfl in us

the point of single elimination games is to figure out who the best team is

heels needs to reacquaint himself with the topic of variance, clearly