The only time the Steelers are worth watching is when they are playing the Cowboys.
According to Wikipedia…
Premier League football attendance is around 13 million a year, Championship attendance is around 10 million, League One around 4 million and League Two a little more than 2 million with the Conference coming in at just under 1 million.
Annual football attendance is around 30 million in England.
In rugby the Aviva Premiership gets around 1.5 million and the Super League around 1 million for a total of approximately 2.5 million.
In Cricket… ZzzzZZzz … Oh sorry. It’s less than 1 million.
In terms of average game attendance Premier League gets an average of 35k, Championship 18k, Rugby Union Premiership 12k and Rugby League 10k.
If one or two rugby fans get out of hand does anybody notice? If 10 or 20 football fans get out of hand then it gets in to the news. Given the numbers they are the same proportion of the population.
There are other reasons that might account for football violence of course. With the number of clubs, close geographical locations and relatively numerous games played over a season it’s not hard to imagine how unhealthy rivalries develop.
I don’t really mind when people point out violence in football because it’s a disease that needs to be eradicated once and for all. I just don’t think football fans on average are that much different to those of other sports.
One thing that drives me crazy though is the phrase “Football is a gentleman’s game played by thugs and Rugby is a thug’s game played by gentlemen”. When was the last time a footballer gouged someone in the eyes or shoved their thump up someone’s arse?
Awesome. Now make him sleep on the couch for a week.
Nah. His obsession is at a dull roar because it’s the off season. It’s intolerable August through February, downright painful right after the Super Bowl, and settles down again in March until the pre-season. The couch won’t be necessary until then.
And, to be honest, I’ve kind of, um, enabled this obsession over the years. I’ve bought him jerseys and sweatshirts and the like. I’ve even offered to let him burn my Jason Witten jersey once I’ve replaced it with a smaller size. I don’t mind feeding that. His obsession is only tiresome because he’s so damn obnoxious about it. I’ve met passionate Steelers fans before, but he goes beyond passionate and into some transcendent state of fandom that is only rivaled by fans of Firefly, Lord of the Rings, and Star Wars fans who spend too much time arguing the question of Who Shot First?.
I’d like to endorse this pitting, but I’m afraid I’ll get lost amid the jokes.
That sounds about right. I expect he and I will have plenty of colorful exchanges in the months ahead.