Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with NFL

What makes a good TV sports game?

fantasticninety — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 18:15:11 -0800

What are some examples of good and bad sports TV production? I've always enjoyed NFL football, and have often wondered what are some hallmarks of good and bad production of these games (I think about this when they cut to the production booth from time to time).

I know one obvious thing might be the commentating. One thing I have noticed is that I enjoy the game more if the sound of the audience is relatively high in the mix (although there is a threshold that I don't like it to break through).

So sports nuts out there, what are some things I could notice that would distinguish a great productino of a sports game from a not so great one?

Thanks so much!

Football (American) strategy question

glenngulia — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 10:09:09 -0800

Football (American) strategy question: You're down 15 and score a TD with about enough time left to kick-off, try to force the other team to punt, then get the ball back with a chance to tie. Why do all teams opt for the extra point rather than the 2-point conversion? I guess the strategy is get within 8, then hopefully the team's pumped up to make a stop on D, then tie the game up at the end of regulation. But wouldn't you want to work with all available info? Shouldn't you go for 2 right away?

If you convert, carry-on with the original strategy, except you don't have to go for 2 on the 2nd TD (in fact, if you're feeling aggressive, you could go for the win with a 2nd 2-pt conversion on the 2nd TD).

If you don't convert, you're now down by 9, and you know you must go into crisis-mode by attempting the onsides kick. You allow yourself the maximum amount of time for strategy adjusting.

My thinking is this: the coaching staff has failed at its job if they score the 1st TD, get the extra point, get the ball back, score another TD with about no time remaining, then fail to convert the 2-pt conversion. You had the opportunity to know whether or not you were going to convert the 2-pt conversion a long time ago with time to adjust your strategy accordingly. But you chose to postpone the inevitable, and leave yourself with no time to adjust.

Where am I wrong here?

football watching in portland or

otio — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 13:41:55 -0800

Looking for a place to watch the Pats/Bills game tonight in Portland, OR. Any suggestions? Doesn't necessarily have to be a "sports bar" just a friendly place with a few tvs and a good beer selection would do the trick. Previously but the info is probably out of date. Kingston's was mentioned there and is certainly a candidate but wanted to see if anybody had any other suggestions. I'm in SW but would be willing to drive a bit out of my way. Thanks.

Vegas, Breakfast, Football... choose three.

toxic — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 17:01:00 -0800

Do you know a good place in Las Vegas to watch NFL football while being served a cloth-napkin breakfast/brunch? I'll be in Vegas this weekend, with three other people. We follow different teams, and enjoy going to a sports bar/book to watch multiple games at once. This week, there are a lot of 10:00 AM games that we're interested in. Now... where do we watch them?

Normally, somewhere like the ESPN Zone would be what we'd be looking for... they serve food, and don't mind if you linger to watch the games (as long as you continue to order drinks). However, we'd also like a solid eggs benedict/omelet/belgian waffle/sauvignon blanc -- not the Sysco-sourced things at ESPN or the typical sports bar.

Does such a place exist in Vegas?

Are You Ready For Some (or rather, "a" question about) Football (songs)

ericthegardener — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 11:18:11 -0800

I am charged with finding music for a work party. The theme is "NFL Draft Day" so I need songs relating to American football. The association to football can be pretty loose and tenuous. Any suggestions? That the songs be enjoyable in their own right is also pretty important because people will not be listening too closely. It's more of a subliminal thing.

Ideally these songs should be available via iTunes or the Amazon music store but I'll do all the searching. Thanks!

Best site to run a casual fantasy NFL football league for 2009

docgonzo — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 15:25:01 -0800

What's the best site to host my fantasy NFL football league? I'd like to setup a fantasy football league for the upcoming NFL season. I'm a fantasy virgin (insert joke here) so would like a system that is free; easy to setup and administer; and allows for live or automated drafting. Some sort of iPhone integration would be a bonus. Recommendations? Thanks!

Where can I find out-of-town sports bars in Denver?

pennstatephil — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 08:44:55 -0800

Where can I find out-of-town sports bars in Denver? Hello Hive Mind!
I'm a recent (end of March) transplant from the northeast and with football season coming up, I need some local places to watch out-of-town games with some like-minded crazies (sport masochists? you'll see when I tell you my teams).
I'm looking for:
* NFL - Buffalo Bills. I hear LoDos is a good place for this, is that still the case?
* NCAA Football - Penn State. Google refers me to Pat's, which makes sense since it's a cheesesteak place. Yes?
* NCAA Men's Basketball - Syracuse. There's a post on city-data.com that Blake Street Tavern does this, but can someone corroborate this?

Any other suggestions? I live in North Capital Hill, so if they're close to me even better-- but if I have to drive a bit I am willing to do it.

Minnesota Vikings - buy tickets now or from scalpers on game day?

gfroese — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 07:17:22 -0800

Roadtrip to see Minnesota Vikings. I'm looking to head to Minneapolis in November to catch a Vikings game and I'm wondering what my chances are of getting tickets from a scalper on game day. We'll have 4 or 5 guys and we obviously want to sit together, is that even possible from a scalper? Any suggestions for accommodations and other activities to take in on the weekend?

AppleTV users... how do you watch sports?

JReed — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 12:21:05 -0800

So between Netflix streaming and AppleTV I'm considering dropping cable entirely. Pretty much the only thing holding me back is football. How do you all watch sports? Caveat: I don't have a local sports bar nearby, and honestly I'd rather not spend all day Sunday in a bar.

Watching an NFL game in Manchester

100watts — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 09:04:23 -0800

I'll be in Manchester, UK, during next weekend's Pats/Steelers game. It's a 4:15 EST kickoff, which means 9:15 GMT. So, can anyone recommend a sports bar/pub in Manchester likely to be showing the game? I may not be able to stay for all of it, but wouldn't mind catching the beginning. FYI, I'm staying in Didsbury, which is kind of out from the center of the city, I think. Oh, and I'm a woman on my own, so nothing too rough and tumble.

Why Is Football Messing with My Reality

Powerful Religious Baby — Sun, 28 Sep 2008 19:32:20 -0800

There must be a simple explanation for this, but I'm damned if I can figure it out: in televised football games, how do they get the digital line of scrimmage and digital arrows marking which down it is to appear as if they're underneath the players' feet and bodies? No one I've asked seems to know, and my limited football vocabulary is seriously impeding my search for an answer. Help?

Where can I find a list of the sales rank of NFL jerseys?

ChasFile — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 17:05:17 -0800

How would you find a ranked list of professional sportsmens' jersey sales for a particular league during a particular season? For instance, where could you find a ranked list of the sales of NFL players' jerseys for 2007? I've Googled around and found various articles that list the top 20 or 25 in a particular year. That's a start, but really what I'd like is the source that those articles are based on, so I could get all the rankings, not just the top few. I'm as much interested in seeing the worst selling jerseys (spoiler: I know that the worst seller is New Orleans Saints nickelback Randall Gay) as I am in the best. Also, I'm most interested right now in the NFL — given its seasonal relevance — but I'd also be interested in seeing good data for any professional sports league.

They must be pulling that data from a list somewhere, and really what I'm interested in is seeing that list. Is it available anywhere online? Some of those articles list NFLShop.com as the source, but they don't get any more specific than that. I've looked around quite a bit on NFLShop.com but haven't found anything like this data.

I realize that it is proprietary sales data and therefore might not be available, but I feel like enough of those "This Year's Top Selling Jerseys" stories get published each year that the information must be out there, somewhere.

At worst, would it be possible to do this somehow based on, for instance, Amazon.com sales rankings? Is it possible to do a search on Amazon in such a way that it returns all the products in a category (like NFL jerseys, for instance) listed by sales rank?

Are there any other ways to get this kind of data or at least an approximation of it?

Bonus points if that list contains the actual sales figures, in addition to simply the rankings. Again, I realize that since this is proprietary sales data the chances are slim, but you never know. Again, since so many of those "This Year's Top Selling Jerseys" stories get published each year, I thought perhaps the data might be out there.

Excel help for auction?

shotgunbooty — Sun, 24 Aug 2008 17:16:56 -0800

Excel filter: Help me optimize my auction! Also, fantasy football filter.

Ok, so I have a set of projections/predicted stats for NFL players, and their predicted points scored according to my league's settings. I also have the average auction price that each player has been going for in mock auctions and other leagues.

What is the best way to use excel -- using functions, visual basic, whatever -- to figure out what the best combination of players at certain prices is? In other words, can excel help me figure out what starting lineup will best use all of the money I can use to auction and get me the most points?

Where to get live NFL stats for web development?

BirdD0g — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 07:53:03 -0800

How does one go about getting access to live NFL football statistics for the purposes of web development? I want to build an application for the iPhone (specifically one that can handle the live scoring and standings of my fantasy football team). Where do all these fantasy football websites and live scoring iPhone apps pull their up-to-the-minute player statistics from?

What are some good websites for intelligent discussion and analysis of the NFL?

ibmcginty — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 08:41:18 -0800

What are some good websites for intelligent discussion and analysis of the NFL? ESPN excels at covering the celebrity gossip aspects of sports. Ron Jaworski's NFL Matchup is terrific, but it's only a half hour, and they hide it at like 8am on Sunday. So who's out there writing that type of nuts-and-bolts stuff, about, say, how the Patriots managed to run for so many yards against the Jaguars? Stuff along the lines of Football Outsiders? Anything out there that does what Fire Joe Morgan does, but for football?

NFL jersey numbers

robstercraw — Thu, 20 Dec 2007 19:47:26 -0800

Can anyone help me find the most-sold NFL football jersey number? e.g., Have more #7's been sold than any other number, regardless of team or player?

Which game was this?

aerotive — Wed, 31 Oct 2007 02:30:59 -0800

I saw a highlight of a pro football game this past Sunday (Oct. 28th) that featured a muffed punt. The kicker made a really awkward attempt to recover the ball, but the other team got it and scored a touchdown. I don't know which teams played in this game, the channel that showed the clip, or where it originally aired. Anybody know which game this was, or even better knows of a video link to the play in question? I distinctly remember one of the commentators calling the punter "unathletic" and that he doesn't speak to kickers.

Different faces, different masks?

pdb — Mon, 15 Oct 2007 08:36:43 -0800

NFLter: Is there a science to face masks? I don't watch a lot of American football, so forgive me if this is a stupid question. I understand the point of a face mask, and I think I understand why they're different for different players - QB's and receivers need a clear field of vision (thus nothing close to the eyes) more than inside linemen, etc - but what I don't understand is, within the same position, why do different players have different face masks?

Is there a function that these masks serve other than protecting the face, or is the fact that, say, Linebacker A wears one with three horizontal bars and Linebacker B wears one with about 6 purely a personal preference?

Why do football teams publish their players' chances of being available for play?

Flunkie — Sat, 22 Sep 2007 08:09:50 -0800

Why do football teams release pregame lists of their players as "probable", "questionable", and so forth? It seems like, unless they lie about the players' conditions, this is just unnecessarily giving information to their upcoming opponent, which they could then use to become better prepared for the game.

Is it just for press relations?

Do any teams not do it? Do any teams do it with terms other than the (seemingly) standard "probable", "questionable", and "doubtful" (and "in" and "out", or whatever)?

Is it a rule, that they have to release this information?

If so, is there any real means of enforcement? If so, how? It seems like enforcement could only really be based on probabilities - e.g. "the average player listed as questionable plays in 31% of the games; for questionable players on Coach Blowhard's team, that number is 83%. Coach Blowhard is cheating." But that path seems fraught with difficulties.

Are any teams/coaches known for patterns of abuse (i.e. not being forthright) about this?

how good are the cheap seats at an NFL game?

popechunk — Thu, 13 Sep 2007 19:50:33 -0800

Please help me decide which seats to buy for a Dallas Cowboys home game. I've never seen a Cowboys home game, and I'm about to buy tickets to the 10/14 Pats game. The tickets are quite expensive, and I would like to purchase the least expensive tickets that will let me see the game well enough to enjoy it and be engaged.

I am looking for people who've been to NFL games and have an opinion about upper deck, corner, or end zone seating, and have recommendations.

NFL-related websites for 'grandad'?

woodblock100 — Mon, 10 Sep 2007 00:10:48 -0800

Any recommendations for NFL related websites that would be interesting for my computer-phobic 80-year-old father? My parents have had their iMac for a few years now, and basically, it's just my mother who uses it (Skype, Mail, watching YouTube links we kids send her, that kind of stuff). Dad is kind of intimidated by the whole thing, grumbles about the cost of the broadband, and just generally doesn't 'get it'.

Now that's no problem, and we're not trying to push him into it (much); it's just not worth the stress, either to him or us. But I found out from Mom this morning that he is recently nuts about the NFL. He's going to park himself in front of the TV for the next half-year or so, and drink it all in.

So I thought this might be a route to get him over his computer phobia - if there were websites that would help him feed his interest in football, but which were not too intimidating to browse. Ideally, something that he could participate in. Googling NFL just gets ridiculous ... so over to you ... any ideas/suggestions/recommendations?

Where to watch the Detroit Lions in NYC/BK?

gettingpaidforthis — Thu, 06 Sep 2007 13:30:07 -0800

Do you know any [insert NFL team here]-centric bars in NYC/BK? Specifically, I'm looking for a Detroit Lions bar. I mean a bar where the Lions game will always be on the biggest TV, with the sound way up. Usually only the biggest out-of-market teams have such safe havens in NYC (Red Sox, Cowboys, et. al.), unless a particular bar's owner happens to be a die-hard fan. Typically, I find the Lions on the smallest TV in the joint, and I have to try to separate the action on screen from the Jets/Giants audio feed being pumped into the bar, which gives me some mild form of vertigo.

Sadly, I doubt the existence of such a silver and honolulu-blue haven, and this will be more useful to more people if you list any bars that cater to a particular fanbase. For example, there's a bar called Reservoir somewhere downtown that gets a comically-rowdy crowd for every Steelers game. I would love to watch the Lions with a similar group of (sad, embittered) die- hards. It's hard enough to choke down 3 hours of Detroit football every Sunday; it's downright masochistic to do it by one's self.

Bonus points if someone can breakdown the following:

Cost (in American $$$) of the NFL Sunday Ticket package

vs.

Cost (in $$$ and calories) of 16 week's worth of pub-priced beer (~4 a game) and appetizers (WINGS).

Sportsbar in SF?

ikkyu2 — Wed, 05 Sep 2007 09:20:06 -0800

Where's the right place to go out and watch the NFL season opener in SF tomorrow? I'd like to go out and watch the NFL opener tomorrow. I'm thinking this requires a sportsbar that receives the NFL Network and which, ideally, would have a couple of HDTVs tuned to it and actually showing the game, with audio. Hopefully the place would be attractive enough to folks like me that it would have other football fans in it, as opposed to a bunch of skinny, tattooed hipsters who want my head on a pike for interrupting their post-Burning-Man conversations with football talk.

I live in the North-of-Panhandle area and wouldn't mind a 30-45 minute walk to get to this place; I'd prefer not to drive or take mass transit, although a short streetcar ride might be OK. I will not take the Muni bus for any reason, because I hate it.

Bonus points for a place with cider or some other gluten-free option on tap. (Most beer contains gluten.)

NFL Fantasy Football Data Source

kajj — Mon, 13 Aug 2007 08:04:53 -0800

From where do NFL Fantasy Football leagues receive their real-time data? I was curious where sites like Yahoo, CBS or even the NFL receive their real-time game stats/scores updates? Is there an open data source available?

NFL: max OT?

cgs — Mon, 09 Jul 2007 06:59:25 -0800

NFL: does anyone know the record for total periods of overtime? How often does it go to double overtime? I'm building a scoreboard app and need to know how much real estate to provide for OT periods. My dad says that they rarely get past one session of sudden death OT, due to fieldgoals.

Do you remember many games w/ double overtime?

Thanks for your help!