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Best in person sports to watch live and why?

What’s the best sport to watch live in person?

  • Golf

    Votes: 3 6.3%

  • Baseball

    Votes: 2 4.2%

  • Football

    Votes: 5 10.4%

  • Hockey

    Votes: 27 56.3%

  • Basketball

    Votes: 8 16.7%

  • Tennis

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Racing

    Votes: 1 2.1%

  • Soccer

    Votes: 2 4.2%
  • Total voters
    48
fuffle master said:
The only sport I haven’t seen live is hockey, but of all the others the best has to be football.

Constant action, amazing athletes, always a play or two you say wow.

The last football game I went to we were at the edge of our seats all game and pretty horse from yelling all day. Heck we all high five each other strangers and some shared beers (yea, I am never sharing someone’s drink ever ?).
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I love ya fuffles, but football only has about 10 total minutes of action throughout the entire game, spread out over 3+ hours. :devilish: I'll give it to the atmosphere though, that is usually pretty awesome to be around. But the game itself is extremely slow paced, it just masks it well.
 
I went to a Hurricanes game vs Colorado in the Greensboro Coliseum in the late 90s before the Raleigh arena was finished. It was amazing how different that game is in person.

I've sat courtside at a lot of ACC basketball games, too. When there are great players on the floor, it takes it up a notch or two.
 
cbaker2882 said:
I love ya fuffles, but football only has about 10 total minutes of action throughout the entire game, spread out over 3+ hours. :devilish: I'll give it to the atmosphere though, that is usually pretty awesome to be around. But the game itself is extremely slow paced, it just masks it well.
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Boo. Who does all these studies on actual action in game? Boo, I say.

As great as watching the NFL on tv, which is easily the best (The billions of advertising dollars will say that), being at the game is double the excitement of the speed, smash factor, and amazing athleticism. 10 yards is so short a distance in person, but amazing how fast the players move down field and how quick each play actually occurs.
 
cbaker2882 said:
Hockey and it’s not close for me. Pretty constant action, and in its best form it’s high paced and exciting.

I love ya fuffles, but football only has about 10 total minutes of action throughout the entire game, spread out over 3+ hours. :devilish: I'll give it to the atmosphere though, that is usually pretty awesome to be around. But the game itself is extremely slow paced, it just masks it well.
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Lack of downtime in the action (is it really though?) during hockey is a HUGE drawback for a lot of people. No one that's not an avid fan wants to have to stay constantly aware of what's happening for that long. They get bored and tune out. Viewers/attendees actually enjoy predictable and periodic attention breaks. It relaxes and takes pressure off the fan while building anticipation for the next play.

There are reasons why football viewership trumps hockey's by miles and miles.
 
College football for me because the excitement in the stadium


Almost Fiddy Plus 2
 
My take on the 5 sports I have watched on TV and in person:

Basketball and Football are both good live, but the action is hard to follow if you aren't in a similar vantage point to the TV cameras so TV optimizes the viewing of both. This is especially true the larger your TV is.

Golf is 2 totally different experiences live and on TV. They really aren't even close. Live you can watch a player hit every shot and never see anyone else. You can watch every player hit the same shot and never see another shot the entire time. I enjoy both, but on a Sunday I would prefer to watch it on TV unless it was the final group dueling it out. I was actually at one of the best final round duels of all time when Tiger and Bob May went the distance and into sudden death at the PGA Championship in 2001 at Valhalla here in Louisville. That was a lot of fun.

Soccer is a lot of fun live. It has a lot of the same features as hockey IMO. It never stops, the ball is easier to follow, watching the entire field rather than just the camera position makes a better experience. When the home team scores a goal it's party time!!! That's a minute or 2 of jubilation that every single person in the stadium experiences together which is fun.

Baseball is bearable live because you have people to chat with and have fun with. It's unbearable on TV in modern times. There is just too much other stuff to do that you cannot focus through all the dead time.

Racing is horrible both ways.
 
WMac19 said:
"I half wanted to catch the brave bastard, half wanted to dive out of the way... I hate the Yankees!"

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Yeah, as a Tribe fan, I always hated the Yankees - but it's hard not to appreciate the great players they had on that team.
 
sposey013168 said:
College football for me because the excitement in the stadium


Almost Fiddy Plus 2
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The only college football game I went to I never made it into the stadium. Just tailgated the whole time. 'Course, it was a Kent State game while they were in the middle of a 50+ game losing streak, so...good call, I think.
 
I saw Boston's Mount Rushmore: Ted Williams, Bill Russell, Bobby Orr, and Tom Brady.

I also attended two Muhammad Ali Fights in person, although he was still Cassius Clay in the first one.

It didn't suck watching any of these guys.
 
For the game itself I'll go soccer, but for the whole fan experience American sports are so far ahead than anything soccer (football to me) offers.

Basketball in New York is the best I've experienced.
 
OldandStiff said:
Lack of downtime in the action (is it really though?) during hockey is a HUGE drawback for a lot of people. No one that's not an avid fan wants to have to stay constantly aware of what's happening for that long. They get bored and tune out. Viewers/attendees actually enjoy predictable and periodic attention breaks. It relaxes and takes pressure off the fan while building anticipation for the next play.

There are reasons why football viewership trumps hockey's by miles and miles.
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I generally hear the opposite from people. They can't stay focused with so many breaks/
 
Hockey is the best live sport. We had season tickets for the Panthers from 93-02 and really enjoyed those games.
 
I chose soccer because I enjoy 90 minutes of constant action. I like to see the movement off the ball and love a beautiful pass that sets up a goal. I've been to a couple U.S. world cup qualifying games against Mexico, and the atmosphere is amazing. I know there isn't much scoring in soccer, but when there is, oh the joy!!! I love watching Premier League games, and seeing the entire section behind the goal celebrating a late goal that puts their side ahead. One day, I'd like to make it over there to enjoy a game or 2, definitely on the bucket list.

Sounds like I need to make it to an NHL game sometime soon, with all this positive talk! I have a good friend who was born and raised in Canada, and he is a die hard Toronto Maple Leafs fan, so i'll have to get to a game with him!
 
I have never been able to enjoy association football (soccer) because I have no idea what I'm looking at.

As for alternate forms of football, I like rugby a lot more. Especially fifteens (union). I don't care for thirteens (league) that much.
 
RetiredBoomer said:
I have never been able to enjoy association football (soccer) because I have no idea what I'm looking at.

As for alternate forms of football, I like rugby a lot more. Especially fifteens (union). I don't care for thirteens (league) that much.
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You're looking at a bunch of guys just running around :ROFLMAO: That's what my wife tells me when she comes to watch the high school team I coach. "Just looks like a bunch of kids running around, chasing a ball." I say sometimes that is the case haha. I agree, if you don't know the game it is difficult to watch. But if you do, all the things away from the ball are just as important as what's happening with the ball.
 
gkeller813 said:
I agree, if you don't know the game it is difficult to watch. But if you do, all the things away from the ball are just as important as what's happening with the ball.
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It must be a great game if the rest of the world loves it so much. I just don't get it.
For some reason, it's far more successful here as a school or recreational league game than it is as spectator sports entertainment.

Fewer and fewer parents are letting their kids play American football, particularly in progressive states, so that may leave an opening.

At least with union rugby, there are touchdowns (tries?) and field goals and I can figure out what they're trying to do.
Soccer is more like hockey in that you have to move the puck/ball around to set up a shot, but I just don't see the plays developing because I don't know what to look for. In hockey, maybe because there are so fewer players on the ice, I can see the plays developing.
 
RetiredBoomer said:
It must be a great game if the rest of the world loves it so much. I just don't get it.
For some reason, it's far more successful here as a school or recreational league game than it is as spectator sports entertainment.

Fewer and fewer parents are letting their kids play American football, particularly in progressive states, so that may leave an opening.

At least with union rugby, there are touchdowns (tries?) and field goals and I can figure out what they're trying to do.
Soccer is more like hockey in that you have to move the puck/ball around to set up a shot, but I just don't see the plays developing because I don't know what to look for. In hockey, maybe because there are so fewer players on the ice, I can see the plays developing.
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And I think you will have a different perspective in the sports you played, and I was lucky enough to play soccer competitively through college, so my viewpoint is very much different than someone just watching.

I have gotten drawn into watching rugby in the past, and while I don't know all the rules, it does interest me. A great mix of strength and speed in that sport.
 
OldandStiff said:
Lack of downtime in the action (is it really though?) during hockey is a HUGE drawback for a lot of people. No one that's not an avid fan wants to have to stay constantly aware of what's happening for that long. They get bored and tune out. Viewers/attendees actually enjoy predictable and periodic attention breaks. It relaxes and takes pressure off the fan while building anticipation for the next play.

There are reasons why football viewership trumps hockey's by miles and miles.
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I don't doubt that. I've point blank asked friends who don't like watching hockey and their response was that it's sometimes hard to follow because it's fast paced. Oh well.
 
Live and in person my favorite experiences were UFC fights until the douches outnumbered everyone. I have traveled to Montreal, Toronto, Philly, Denver, Houston, and Las Vegas for fights and let me tell you the atmosphere inside the arena is the best of any sporting event I have been to. I usually showed up for the last fight or 2 of the prelims and when it makes the switch to PPV it is just electric. You would think there is a lot of dead time but they pump up the music and get the place rowdy. Of course as the UFC got more popular the experience got worse. I would would watching a fight and "some guy" from the gym that one of the fighters if from starts talking smack and insult someone from the other fight camp. All kinds of douchery for the fight. Then the next fight 2 totally different people do the same nonsense. It got to be a hassle. The last fight I went too Chael Sonnen was the main event.....so its been a while.
 
Has to be hockey. I love football, but watching it live is nowhere near as good as watching on tv. Same for golf and just about every other sport. As much as I don't like watching basketball its probably second to hockey live though.
 
Boxing should be on this list. There is absolutely nothing in the world of live sports that compares to a great rivalry (Trilogy, Mexican-Puerto Rican, US-UK, Philly-NYC, etc.) or world title match.
 
For me it's Rodeo, specifically bull riding, but I do love to watch baseball & hockey live.
 
Hockey and it’s not close. I’m so fortunate that I now get to see not only pro hockey but a lot of high school hockey now that we are back in Minnesota. My daughters high school won the State Class A Girls Hockey Championship the last two years and has a bunch of close friends on the team and we will be going to watch the state tournament again. Her best friend switched to the local public school near our house that is a perennial hockey powerhouse(Edina) and is now their starting goalie who were Class AA Champions(boys and girls) last year. We go to the boys and girls games weekly. Hockey is a big deal here and the high school state tournament is at Excel Energy Center where the Minnesota Wild play.
 
Football (soccer). Nothing beats being in the stands watching your team hurling abuse at the opposing team and fans LOL.


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Not listed NCAA wrestling and Olympic Wrestling
 
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