Originally Posted by
tsmirandameadows
It was very bad. To a certain extent it soured me on football in general. The common complaint leveled against Football is that it is too slow and too much of stop and go. My argument has always been that the discrete nature of a football play is actually one of the sport's greatest strength. Because play is not continuous, you have moments to reflect on what you just saw, and what you are about to see. That reflection gives plays more meaning and more tension than otherwise would occur. You can consider what just happened, how that has affected the development of the course of the game, and likewise you can consider what your team now needs to accomplish in the next play to stay competitive and win. When a team pulls off what they needed too, it feels all the more exciting, and conversely when they fail to perform, it feels all the more crushing because you know EXACTLY what it means.
This strength only works, however, if play between the teams is competitive. If one team's victory is a forgone conclusion, which it was by mid second-quarter of this particular game, then individual plays cease to have meaning, and the stop and go nature of the game, rather than enhancing that meaning, just drags out the inevitable. The whole thing becomes an exercise in boredom and "come on, just get this over with." That's hardly entertainment.