2006-07-22 11:17:44 · 10 answers · asked by babe_108_22 1 in Sports ➔ Football ➔ German Football
football?
America's Super Sunday
By Kevin Asseo
BBC Sport in California
It began as nothing more than a friendly - an opportunity for professional American football to get additional TV exposure and hopefully attract new fans.
Football still played a distant second fiddle to baseball in the orchestra of American sport in the late 1960s, but that was about to change.
The year was 1969, when charismatic, flamboyant New York Jets quarterback Joe Namath led his team to an upset over the heavily favoured Baltimore Colts in Super Bowl III.
Namath helped cement the Super Bowl's appeal
Feature: Super Bowl greats
The appeal of "Broadway Joe", and the idea that a fledgling American Football League side could beat a team from the long-established National Football League, changed the status of the event.
"It made people pay attention," veteran NFL scribe Art Spander, a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame, told this website.
"And of course, it was doubly important because it's a New York team." Football had made its way out of the small towns into the big cities of America, and the public began to watch in record numbers.
The sport of football has grown exponentially since 1969 and at the centre of its success is the Super Bowl, the single biggest annual event in American sport, and American television, by far.
The day of the game, known simply as "Super Bowl Sunday," has become something of an unofficial national holiday in the States.
Nearly everyone - sports fan or not, man or woman, adult or child - will gather in front of a television and watch the game.
The five most-watched TV programmes in American history are all Super Bowl broadcasts.
SUPER BOWL XXXVIII
Live coverage on BBC Radio Five Live and BBC Sport Interactive from 2330 GMT on 1 February
There are Super Bowl parties throughout the country and, needless to say, bars are filled to capacity for the game.
Its popularity is helped by the fact that the Super Bowl is a solitary event, two weeks removed from the end of the NFL Conference play-offs.
This allows for a massive amount of hype - and hyperbole - in a build-up that borders on media overload.
"All the pre-game hype makes people think they're going to see something they've never seen before," said Spander.
Rarely has that been the case, as the majority of Super Bowls have been one-sided contests, but it has not hurt the allure of the game.
The quality of the actual production of the Super Bowl is so high that Americans enjoy watching even if the game itself isn't close.
Entertainment's biggest names feature in the Super Bowl show
Photos: 2003 Super Bowl show
There are cameras and microphones everywhere to make sure no detail is missed and, for a sport as custom-tailored for the screen as football is, it makes for a great show.
"Television made football because you see so much more than you see at the stadium," says Spander.
"You see the close-ups, you see the instant replays. Football became America's game because of television."
Come 1 February 2004, football will be on its biggest stage once again, in Houston this time, and you can bet all of America will be watching.
"The Super Bowl is America," Spander told BBC Sport. "Everybody else has the World Cup, and we have the Super Bowl."
2006-07-22 11:20:20 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
As of now, bowling is the largest, organized sport in America. Carrying over 6 million leagues(over 70 million registerd bowlers, not including the YABA) and gorwing faster each day. Unlike most sports, bowling is one of the most difficult sports there is. And was one of the first sports ever invented.
NASCAR is now the single largest spectator sport in America
2006-07-22 18:24:47 · answer #2 · answered by mom2all 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Baseball
2006-07-22 18:20:57 · answer #3 · answered by JOHNNY D 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Many people will say that Baseball is America's pasttime. But if you were to compare the numbers involved with viewership and profitability, Football is the biggest.
2006-07-23 13:23:50 · answer #4 · answered by Awesome Bill 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Football. And for you non-Americans, that's American football, not the football that just finished its World Cup. Football is the sport Americans care most about even during its offseason. How many rivalries can you name in football, college and pro? Now how many rivalries can you name in the other major team sports here, combined?
2006-07-22 18:26:46 · answer #5 · answered by more_brains_than_brawn 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I would have to say baseball, but that is pretty much big any where.
2006-07-22 18:20:53 · answer #6 · answered by Linds 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
baseball
2006-07-22 18:21:27 · answer #7 · answered by student 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
well first it was baseball but know i think it is ffotball
2006-07-22 18:50:53 · answer #8 · answered by ????? 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
baseball!
2006-07-22 18:19:22 · answer #9 · answered by bittersweet 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
nascar racing
2006-07-22 18:21:39 · answer #10 · answered by purrdykitten2003 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋