this post was submitted on 08 Feb 2026
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[–] udon@lemmy.world 40 points 20 hours ago (1 children)

Isn't American football the game where the second half basically consists of the leading team wasting time on purpose until the game ends? So he's not too wrong

[–] Quill7513@slrpnk.net 51 points 19 hours ago (2 children)

amusingly, strategically in gridiron football it is to your advantage to run the clock any time you have any lead no matter the down, distance, or quarter. the load management of the game makes it so that it's to your offense's advantage with a lead to keep the opposing defense on the field as the clock runs.

gridiron football is a game of action in which the goal of the action is to maintain inaction. contrast with the other american pastime sport, baseball. that's a game of inaction in which the goal of the inaction is to suddenly spark action. and the very most exciting game in baseball is the one where one pitcher renders the other team completely inactive.

us americans are a confounding bunch. there's a reason Canada had to be who invented our third most popular sport, basketball

[–] DrBob@lemmy.ca 13 points 18 hours ago* (last edited 18 hours ago) (1 children)

We might have invented baseball too.

But we feel that way about curling, which we want to own, but was definitely invented in Scotland.

[–] Quill7513@slrpnk.net 3 points 15 hours ago

you also made gridiron football watchable, and have never gotten the credit that the CFL deserves

[–] wieson@feddit.org 3 points 18 hours ago (2 children)

Wait, your telling me that baseball is more popular than basketball?

If I had to rank the top 3 US sports by interest/engagement to me I'd say

  1. ice hockey
  2. basketball
  3. I don't know, surfing, skateboard or breakdance but not gridiron or baseball
[–] Quill7513@slrpnk.net 15 points 18 hours ago (4 children)

it looks like baseball has finally been surpassed by basketball. the major american sports fandoms now go:

  1. football
  2. basketball
  3. baseball
  4. soccer
  5. hockey
  6. tennis
  7. golf
  8. auto racing

from here it gets murky. like should WWE and AEW be included, even though they're staged soap operas?

[–] ChickenLadyLovesLife@lemmy.world 2 points 12 hours ago

It's a bit difficult to directly compare the popularity of the different major sports when they play such vastly different numbers of games each year (17+ for pro football, 82+ for pro basketball and 162+ for pro baseball).

[–] village604@adultswim.fan 5 points 17 hours ago* (last edited 17 hours ago) (3 children)

Even if wrestling is staged, it requires a shit ton of athletic ability to do half of that shit and not get seriously injured.

I don't care for wrestling, personally, but some of what they do is legitimately impressive.

[–] Hazel@piefed.blahaj.zone 5 points 15 hours ago (1 children)

It's literally a circus performance.

[–] Mic_Check_One_Two@reddthat.com 3 points 14 hours ago (1 children)

I remember seeing a pretty convincing “pro wrestling is just drag for people who are afraid of cross-dressers” argument, but I can’t remember the finer points.

[–] ChickenLadyLovesLife@lemmy.world 1 points 12 hours ago (1 children)

pro wrestling is just drag for people who are afraid of cross-dressers

That was '80s hair metal.

[–] Quill7513@slrpnk.net 1 points 11 hours ago

wouldn't 80s hair metal be more like cross dressing but for people scared of the gender performance of drag?

[–] Quill7513@slrpnk.net 4 points 15 hours ago

Yeah so we are clear, I am not disparaging the talent and artistry that goes into wrestling. In fact, I'm decidedly not, I love that shit. I just think it should maybe treated as the most popular live performance art instead of as the 9th most popular professional sport.

[–] krashmo@lemmy.world 3 points 17 hours ago (1 children)

You could say the same about ballet. Participants in both are athletic but they aren't playing a sport

[–] Catoblepas@piefed.blahaj.zone 3 points 15 hours ago

What is ice skating but ballet on skates? And it’s in the Olympics.

[–] SupraMario@lemmy.world 2 points 17 hours ago (1 children)

Surprised MMA isn't on there. The UFC is pretty damn big now.

[–] Quill7513@slrpnk.net 2 points 15 hours ago (1 children)

It was after professional wrestling and boxing. I was surprised boxing was ranked higher than UFC/MMA

[–] SupraMario@lemmy.world 1 points 14 hours ago (1 children)

Wow yea that surprises me, I know boxing is still decently big but you rarely hear of boxing having competition shows like the ones UFC did and then all the ads I see of MMA/UFC constantly. Wrestling I think I've only seen it on TV during the Olympics even.

[–] Quill7513@slrpnk.net 1 points 12 hours ago (1 children)

professional wrestling is what got ranked here. Think about the shakespearian theatre about the amateur sport of wrestling as being what's ranked here, not true competitive wrestling where the winner and loser is determined by the bout

[–] SupraMario@lemmy.world 2 points 7 hours ago

Ah, WWE style wrestling. I was thinking Greco-Roman wrestling.

[–] raspberriesareyummy@lemmy.world 2 points 18 hours ago (3 children)

And when you say football, surely you mean a game where a ball (= sphere) is played with the feet, amirite?

American Hand-egg, if you will

[–] Quill7513@slrpnk.net 4 points 16 hours ago* (last edited 16 hours ago)

I mean a sport that is played on foot rather than on horses ;)

If we do want to be pedantic then the list, 1-4, would be

  1. Gridiron Rules Football
  2. Basketball
  3. Baseball
  4. Association Rules Football

Better?

I went ahead and used the americanized shorthand of "football" for gridiron rules football and the british loan word "soccer" for association rules football (soccer is a an Oxford slang tradition of adding "-er" to the end of something to make it an activity, IE calling rugby rugger and footer for all forms of football. In that tradition association football became assoccer or soccer) since the context was "what are americans watching, and why are all of us engaged in this weird ritual where even if we don't care about the superbowl we find ourselves at superbowl parties?"

[–] BigBananaDealer@lemmy.world 1 points 16 hours ago

gridiron football starts with a kick. many games are ended with a kick as well

[–] udon@lemmy.world 5 points 18 hours ago

I always thought hot dog speed eating was somewhere up there