10 Things America Can Learn From British Sport
Despite being English and having a plethora of domestic and international sports at my disposal, the last few years I have been drinking afresh from the wells of sporting goodness across the pond in the United States of America.
Since I took my first sip, I've tried out for a local baseball team and coached a junior American Football team here in the UK. I regularly stay up past midnight for the start of any NFL, MLB or NBA game. It's fair to say, I'm hooked. You'll find me at for American Sport-aholics Anonymous.
There's so much I love about how America does sport*, enough to deprive myself of sleep, to neglect the English Premier League and be stunned nobody in the office even knew after Easter that Donovan McNabb had been traded to the Washington Redskins!
However, and perhaps it's the pessimistic Brit in me, despite all I love about how America does sport, I still find a few things that are lacking, or perhaps, that our American cousins could learn from us - because Britain does sport, too.
Here are just ten things that we do well over here that could improve the already great world of American sport.
* Look out for the follow-up article "10 Thing Britain Can Learn From American Sport" soon.
10: International Competition
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This one nearly didn't make my list because it's not really America's fault that other countries don't play their top sports at the same level they do.
It has made my list though, because it's a shame that American sports aren't really played internationally, none-the-less.
British sport, like most of Europe, is packed with international competition. And it's great on two levels.
Firstly, it gives us a chance to have a right go at countries we a lot of history with, and then the same back. It takes the broader context of history, and boils it down to a game of sport. For example, every two years there's the famous Ashes Series, a five-match series of Test cricket between England and Australia.
Secondly, it adds different tiers of competition.
Take the English Premier League as an example. EPL teams compete domestically against other EPL teams in the league and other English teams in two domestic cups. In addition, the best teams enter the UEFA Champions League and compete against the top teams from every other league in Europe.
I know America doesn't have a choice, but it's a shame that we can't see how the playoff teams from last year's MLB season would've fared against the top players from around the world. I know baseball and basketball have their international competitions, and sometimes MLB teams play teams from Japan or Mexico in preseason, but in Europe there is a weight and seriousness to the international contest that to some is more important to the players than the top domestic prize.
It's a shame there aren't more Darrelle Revis from leagues across the world that we could watch the top US receivers compete against. It's a shame there isn't that "other level" of competition.
And, of course, to top it all off, there's genuine international competition where teams are split by nationality.
The FIFA World Cup Final is the only event that ever surpasses the Super Bowl in Worldwide viewing figures in a year. I know the United States enter a team into the World Cup, and they're competitive (ranked 18th in the FIFA World Rankings at time of writing)—but America doesn't stop the way the rest of the world stops for the World Cup. And it's a shame, because America is missing out on something truly special.
9: Get With The Times
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This might just be me, as an outsider, but it seems as though there came a point in time when all American sports said "capture this moment, let's make this traditional," and from that point on the style of everything in sport stayed the same. The uniforms, the typography, everything just stays old-fashioned, and nobody seems to notice.
I was at a Dodgers game recently, and the organist was announced after a five-minute speech about the historic tradition of organ music at baseball. The organ wasn't traditional when it was first used, it was current right?
I don't really mind this one too much, I just find it weird!
8: It's Ok To Draw (Tie)
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Sometimes, two teams can go at it, full throttle, and neither team be declared the victor. And sometimes, that's OK.
Don't get me wrong, extra innings and overtime are often exciting, but sometimes you have to wonder if it's really worth a cheap ending just to declare a victor. How about, after 60 minutes of aggressive, passionate football, neither team can quite beat the other, and we leave it at that? Why let a cheap field goal* decide who wins?
In Test Cricket, this is taken to the extreme, two teams play over five days, and if neither has bowled the other team out twice, the game is a tie. From a distance, it seems worth working out some other way of deciding who wins after five days, quite often one team is almost certain of victory and the other clinging on by their fingernails. Can't the most dominant team be declared the winner?
Well, Test Cricket's thinking is that a team can only truly win a "Test of Strength Match" (the old, full name) if they've managed to stop the other team being able to play any further, as they've had all 20 outs. Anything less than that, you may have done well, but you haven't truly shown your superiority.
Having draws (ties) doesn't mean neither team values the win, rather it means we value wins that much more, that we're not prepared to add something shorter on the end to see who wins.
As an aside: Ties don't have to represent 50 percent of a win, as they do in the NFL when they occur. In the EPL, a team is awarded three points for a win and one for a draw, so winning is still of more value.
* Yes, I am aware of the playoff overtime rule changes, thanks for checking.
.jpg?w=256 "Colts Jaguars Football")
7: Original Chants
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It seems to me that nearly every stadium in America has the same, or very similar chants. I mean, everybody knows "Let's go Team Name," right?
Whilst that's OK, where America is desperately in need of some British help in the chant department, is the chants at other teams. "Team Name Sucks" just isn't good enough, unless you're still under 10, in which case it's perfect.
From the stands and terraces at football (soccer) matches all over the UK, you'll hear chant after chant designed to offend and amuse. Some regular songs take several matches to master the lyrics too. And it's great.
I can't do any better than this Bleacher Report article, to see a few classics:
6: Promotion and Relegation
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If this next suggestion was implemented, it really could add some spice to the proceedings in American sport. For those unfamiliar with the concept of promotion and relegation, I'll take the English Football League. The English Football League is split as follows:
- English Premier League (20 teams)
- Football League Championship (24 teams)
- Football League One (24 teams)
- Football League Two (24 teams)
Below Football League Two is a whole pyramid of semi-professional and professional teams.
You could see these divisions a bit like Majors, AAA, AA, A etc. except, the teams in the lower leagues aren't affiliated with EPL clubs and can actually replace them.
Each season, the bottom three teams in the EPL Standings get relegated to the Championship, and three teams (the top two and a playoff winner from fourth-sixth) get promoted to the EPL in their place for the next season. Likewise, four teams get relegated from the bottom of the Championship and replaced by League One teams, etc.
Imagine that, America! Let's do away with affiliate teams in baseball, let's make it really interesting. The three worst records in the Majors cease to become Major League teams and are replaced by the best three AAA teams. I know it's not feasible, but it would be fun, and would certainly give every team something to play for during a gruelling 162-game season!
Better yet, let's split the NFL a different way: Top 16, Bottom 16. Only the Top 16 compete for the Super Bowl, the Bottom 16 compete to get back into the top 16, and four teams get relegated or promoted each season. Imagine Week 17 then, Detroit @ Jacksonville would be as important as Indianapolis @ New England. Oh, the heartache of relegation, the release of surviving it, the unprecedented joy of promotion.
You need this, America. Trust me.
5: Even Out Those Schedules
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This brings me nicely on to my next point, America. Every team that's being compared to another for a wild card place, needs to have played exactly the same teams. Otherwise, it's just not fair.
I know, life's not fair, but it could actually produce some better results if you think about it. While we're at it, let's lose the arbitrary divisions too.
Wouldn't it be better if the genuinely best teams made the playoffs each year. I mean, if the NFC West Champion only beats up on its own weak division, shouldn't we send someone else?
Couldn't there be a year where we'd like to see Boston, New York and Tampa Bay in the playoffs, if they're the best three teams?
How about letting replacing a few Eastern Conference Teams with some better-but-not-in-the-playoffs Western Conference teams one year?
No? I didn't think so. At the very least somehow let everybody play the same schedule, so that at least the comparisons make sense.
DISCLAIMER: I have absolutely no idea how this would work, I don't think it is actually possible!
4: Stop Declaring Yourselves World Champions
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I appreciate there's a lack of international competition, but it's way past the time when it's acceptable to call your domestic sporting winners the World Champions.
The only argument I've heard in its defense is that the best team in America at American sports are the best team in the world anyway. Yes, obviously, but that's not the point. It's a poor excuse.
It used to come across quite arrogant, but now it just looks a bit stupid. Sorry.
3: Play Less Than 162 Games In a Season
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2010 is my first full season as a baseball fan, and I've really enjoyed it. However, I'm thinking that if they played a few less that 162 regular season games, it could still be a meaningful season. How about stopping at 100. It'd make winning percentages easier to work out!
2: NCAA 'Bowl Eligibility'
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Say what you like about me, but I'm not stupid. Or at least, I didn't think I was until I tried to understand the College Football "Bowl System." Not only does it sound slightly ridiculous because of the use of the word "bowl," but the whole thing genuinely makes no sense.
I've read article after Wikipedia page after article, and had conversation after conversation, and yet I'm still none the wiser. I think it's something like winning percentage * public opinion * conference eligibility/length of home field grass, and Notre Dame's grass counts double.
Enough. How about some sort of playoff system? I've heard that works quite well...
[Admittedly, this one has nothing to do with British sport—it's just crazy, and some outside voices might help!]
1: Don't Wait For Commercial Breaks
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I know commercials pay for sports, but we must draw the line somewhere. That line needs to be drawn right between going to a commercial break whilst there's a break in the play, and having the play wait for the station to return from the commercial break. Just draw the line, right down the middle.
It's just wrong. Don't let it happen again.
.jpg?w=480 "Colts Jaguars Football")
