Greatest Nation on Earth?

contrast said:

i think we need a death match with team of nfl players against a team of soccer and rugby players and show once and for all who the better athletes are.

MEROVINGIAN said:

HAHA! I have very little time near my computer for the next couple of days, but I had to respond to this...I've had this same discussion with several friends.

Few NFL players could deal with the physicality and endurance required for RUGBY. Some NFL players ARE very strong, but Rugby players train just as hard at being strong. Where Rugby players EXCEL is in all out endurance and toughness....hands down....no questions here. Ray Lewis may out bench the average Rugby Pack player(look it up), but he would never be able to compete with Rugby players without conserveing a great deal of that strength and portioning it out over 80...read carefully....80 count'em 80...CONTINUOUS MINUTES of play. Anybody who hasn't been to a rugby tournament can't have an educated opinion on what rugby players are about and what they go through.
I have only seen 1 or two other profiles on SG that list rugby anywhere, so hopefully they see this and jump in too, but I played rugby at the university level here in the U.S. and have some first hand knowledge, so I'll just give a quick description.

15 players face 15 players(not 11 so there isn't near as much getting away as hitting) face each othe on the field.
Game starts with a kickoff, and is followed by 40 minutes of play. 5minute half time. Second half starts with a kickoff followed by 40 minutes of play. Time that was wasted on the field is then added to play like in soccer.

This is actual play. If there is a penalty the ref takes the ball and quickly gets play started again. If there is an injury on the field the hurt player and his team have ONE minute to get up and play or get off the field, then play resumes. No NFL style, lets play hard for 5, 10, 15 seconds, take a break to talk about our next super play for a minute. Then let's have a nice long half time and come out and have another 30 minute half.

At the university level ther is another aspect that American football players have a hard time with, and this cost us more recruits from football than any other aspect of the game....TOURNAMENTS. Rugby tournaments are just that. Multiple teams show up from all across the area and determine who the champion is in one day or one weekend. These are thrown into the regular season schedule. So every once in a while(1-3 times a season for my team, more for bigger universities) you would be expected to duplicate your game play up to 3 times in 1 day. Even if a former football player played other halfs or games with us, we were usually a person or two short the first practice following a tournament never to hear from them again. America's own professional rugby team is still grossly outmatched in games against teams like the South Africa Springboks, New Zealand All Blacks(they don't even have a mascott, just the color of their uniforms ) , and to give the UK SG's some props the England RFU(2003 World Cup Champions)

So, in my humble opinion, if you take the plastic padding and helmets off the NFL players and put the top 15 on a rugby field(bigger) against the top 15 World Cup level rugby players...OR...put the top 11 NFL players against 11 Rugby World Cup players on an NFL field and through a ball out there and play 'smear th queer"....I would be surprised to even see half of those NFL players leave the field standing....while the Rugby players would just go get a Pint of Guinness after words.

Yours Truly,
HOOKER 2

Nuh uh...


[Edited on Sep 05, 2004 by MEROVINGIAN]

Morgan said:
Wow...I can't believe people are actually discussing this.

It's completely subjective.

MEROVINGIAN said:

HAHA! I have very little time near my computer for the next couple of days, but I had to respond to this...I've had this same discussion with several friends.

Few NFL players could deal with the physicality and endurance required for RUGBY. Some NFL players ARE very strong, but Rugby players train just as hard at being strong. Where Rugby players EXCEL is in all out endurance and toughness....hands down....no questions here. Ray Lewis may out bench the average Rugby Pack player(look it up), but he would never be able to compete with Rugby players without conserveing a great deal of that strength and portioning it out over 80...read carefully....80 count'em 80...CONTINUOUS MINUTES of play. Anybody who hasn't been to a rugby tournament can't have an educated opinion on what rugby players are about and what they go through.
I have only seen 1 or two other profiles on SG that list rugby anywhere, so hopefully they see this and jump in too, but I played rugby at the university level here in the U.S. and have some first hand knowledge, so I'll just give a quick description.

15 players face 15 players(not 11 so there isn't near as much getting away as hitting) face each othe on the field.
Game starts with a kickoff, and is followed by 40 minutes of play. 5minute half time. Second half starts with a kickoff followed by 40 minutes of play. Time that was wasted on the field is then added to play like in soccer.

This is actual play. If there is a penalty the ref takes the ball and quickly gets play started again. If there is an injury on the field the hurt player and his team have ONE minute to get up and play or get off the field, then play resumes. No NFL style, lets play hard for 5, 10, 15 seconds, take a break to talk about our next super play for a minute. Then let's have a nice long half time and come out and have another 30 minute half.

At the university level ther is another aspect that American football players have a hard time with, and this cost us more recruits from football than any other aspect of the game....TOURNAMENTS. Rugby tournaments are just that. Multiple teams show up from all across the area and determine who the champion is in one day or one weekend. These are thrown into the regular season schedule. So every once in a while(1-3 times a season for my team, more for bigger universities) you would be expected to duplicate your game play up to 3 times in 1 day. Even if a former football player played other halfs or games with us, we were usually a person or two short the first practice following a tournament never to hear from them again. America's own professional rugby team is still grossly outmatched in games against teams like the South Africa Springboks, New Zealand All Blacks(they don't even have a mascott, just the color of their uniforms ) , and to give the UK SG's some props the England RFU(2003 World Cup Champions)

So, in my humble opinion, if you take the plastic padding and helmets off the NFL players and put the top 15 on a rugby field(bigger) against the top 15 World Cup level rugby players...OR...put the top 11 NFL players against 11 Rugby World Cup players on an NFL field and through a ball out there and play 'smear th queer"....I would be surprised to even see half of those NFL players leave the field standing....while the Rugby players would just go get a Pint of Guinness after words.

Yours Truly,
HOOKER 2


[Edited on Sep 05, 2004 by MEROVINGIAN]

MEROVINGIAN said:

Haha...oh know people are talking about.....sports....let's flame THEM

RedBstrd said:
"1. Strength of economy and freedom of trade." -ProdigalSaint

Why freedom of trade? Why not freedom of labor?

ProdigalSaint said:

Good question, but my answer depends on what you mean by "freedom of labor." I think you mean the ability to freely choose who one labors FOR, yes?

When I say "freedom of trade", I mean it in the purest sense, and the one that would be best for workers. The ability to choose what one does with one's own goods, money, AND labor. The foundation of fair trade. One's labor, one's ability to work, is something to be traded for equitable goods or services, right? So, the ability to freely choose who one labors for is part of freedom of trade. Trade isn't the only practiced by corporations or governments (groups of people), but of individuals as well.

[Edited on Sep 05, 2004 by ProdigalSaint]

demetrius_z said:
Saying "America is the greatest nation on Earth" is one thing. Saying "America is the greatest nation on earth, and we're going to use our power to fuck up your country, and steal your natural resources, and while we're at it FUCK THE PLANET" is quite another.

ProdigalSaint said:

Who is saying that, exactly?

contrast said:

i think we need a death match with team of nfl players against a team of soccer and rugby players and show once and for all who the better athletes are.

nah, scratch that. just have ray lewis vs. 12 of the worlds best soccer and rugby players. it'd be a waste of time for the other nfl players to show up.

crayonscars said:

NFL vs rugby. are you crazy? without their pads, the NFL players would be annihilated.

starkmadd said:

Misquote because since Hong Kong is no longer a part of the British Empire, the sun does in fact set on the Empire every day.

Pariset said:

Those colors come closer to running the world than any other, but that isn't why I believe America is the greatest nation on earth.

I believe that America is the greatest nation because we [Americans] enjoy an overall level of freedom that is unmatched throughout the world. America isn't perfect, but what country is? There is no place I'd rather be.

Morgan said:
Wow...I can't believe people are actually discussing this.

It's completely subjective.

crayonscars said:

NFL vs rugby. are you crazy? without their pads, the NFL players would be annihilated.

stockula said:

I'm going to go out on a limb and assert that America is objectively the best country, EVER.

crayonscars said:

NFL vs rugby. are you crazy? without their pads, the NFL players would be annihilated.