American Sports are a brutal, all-or-nothing proposition

Ice_Ice_Brady · Jan 27, 2016

A lot of the European Football (or Soccer) teams play throughout the year in various tournaments and are given positive recognition just for winning their national division. Example, the main leagues like the English and Spanish ones, the teams take a lot of pride just in having the best record and winning the "regular season" trophy. The teams may also compete in a national playoff-style knockout tournament at some point during the season, though this is usually against a different field (some of the same teams, some different.) Meanwhile, many of the best teams are given entry to the Champions League, where they play another tournament, against different teams, for the even bigger title, which is like the NFL's Super Bowl.

In other words, there are a lot of notable accomplishments, trophies, accolades, banners, and titles that teams win, considering these victories to be great accomplishments.

In all four major sports leagues, the US has a very all-or-nothing system where one team wins and roughly 30 are considered to be failures. Winning divisions and qualifying for the postseason might be exciting for teams that have struggled to get there, but nonetheless they are given little consolation after being eliminated.

I'm not saying this is good or bad...just an observation.

Tony2046 · Jan 27, 2016

The Colts get a participation banner most every year. Does that count?

Tony2046 · Jan 27, 2016

On a serious note doesn't this reflect our mentality of what a successful season actually is? For a Pats fan it's all or nothing as long as BB and Brady are at the helm but would you consider making it to the AFCCG without BB and Brady a success? I would.

brdmaverick · Jan 27, 2016

Oh it's definitely all about the mentality, and that's where you take the good and the bad. Like it or not, Brady and team have set the bar pretty darn high. As long as Brady is the QB it will remain an 'all or nothing' approach.

There were times (and will be again) when smaller accomplishments made for a successful season. Take Super Bowl XXXI, surprisingly I wasn't that disappointed when the Pats lost. I felt just getting to the Super Bowl was surpassing expectations. In a dvision with Jim Kelly and Dan Marino I felt that making the playoffs actually meant something. Now it just feels like a forgone conclusion....like the regular season is actually the pre season, and the post season is the true season. We are certainly spoiled.

And even after this loss, man, I was DEVSTATED!!! Coming up just short to our arch nemisis in a game that could have gone our way.......while it still hurts, I did stop and think "can I really complain that we didn't win two Super Bowls in a row?"........obviously we should not..........we're spoiled

Ross12 · Jan 27, 2016

Tony2046 said:
The Colts get a participation banner most every year. Does that count?

Can't wait to see the one for the season that just ended! "2015 AFC South participant"

Ice_Ice_Brady · Jan 27, 2016

Ross12 said:
Can't wait to see the one for the season that just ended! "2015 AFC South participant"

I was thinking "At Least As Many Wins as Losses" on this banner for this year.

Brady_to_Moss · Jan 27, 2016

Being a soccer fan over in Europe is like a year round thing...seasons and different cup games are so long lasting. I wish my favorite sport lasted that long

Gronk · Jan 27, 2016

Ice_Ice_Brady said:
I was thinking "At Least As Many Wins as Losses" on this banner for this year.

I vote for
"6-3 (with Luck on bench)"

Ross12 · Jan 27, 2016

Gronk said:
I vote for
"6-3 (with Luck on bench)"

"2015 Winning Record Without Starting QB"

Gronk · Jan 27, 2016

Ross12 said:
"2015 Winning Record Without Starting QB"

"But don't worry....he's back for 2016!"

luuked · Jan 27, 2016

Ice_Ice_Brady said:
A lot of the European Football (or Soccer) teams play throughout the year in various tournaments and are given positive recognition just for winning their national division. Example, the main leagues like the English and Spanish ones, the teams take a lot of pride just in having the best record and winning the "regular season" trophy. The teams may also compete in a national playoff-style knockout tournament at some point during the season, though this is usually against a different field (some of the same teams, some different.) Meanwhile, many of the best teams are given entry to the Champions League, where they play another tournament, against different teams, for the even bigger title, which is like the NFL's Super Bowl.

In other words, there are a lot of notable accomplishments, trophies, accolades, banners, and titles that teams win, considering these victories to be great accomplishments.

In all four major sports leagues, the US has a very all-or-nothing system where one team wins and roughly 30 are considered to be failures. Winning divisions and qualifying for the postseason might be exciting for teams that have struggled to get there, but nonetheless they are given little consolation after being eliminated.

I'm not saying this is good or bad...just an observation.

Quite honestly what is a lot more irritating for me is not the all or nothing mentality but how a loss in the last game of the year can taint even the feelings of an entire season. Even the bitter way the 2007 season ended I wouldnt change it for anything. The Pats and their almost march to perfection gave me many months of excitement and joy before coming to an end in the very last game of the year.

I read that some people cant stand looking at tapes from 2007 because the ending of the SB makes everything retroactively suck. I cant stomach watching the SB but any other game from that season makes me remember all that fun back then.

alvinnf · Jan 27, 2016

With the current NFL, I watch more and more soccer. I don't know its just a better product than the NFL.
I still love football but the NFL is like the WWE, over hyped.....

hellolin · Jan 27, 2016

You just described the difference between the entire society of US and Europe, not just sports,everything else is all or nothing here as well.

Froob · Jan 27, 2016

That's how it should be, I think it's absurd that in other sport you get an award for regular season best record like in hockey and baseball. I love how the Celtics and now the Patriots (with the 16-0 banner finally down) only hang title banners (and for the Cs retired numbers too). Wish the Bruins would conform. Nothing is more badass than that, "if you ain't first your last."

Spiral · Jan 27, 2016

Gronk said:
"But don't worry....he's back for 2016!"

How about: "___ days since owner's last arrest"

Ring 6 · Jan 27, 2016

Americans are fiercely competitive. Sports, business and entertainment at the highest level represent that. It is who we are.
On this forum, it is quite common for anyone defending the team in any manner to be spat on with "you can be happy with that but I am only interested in Championships" as an insult. So the competition even extends to being 'better' because you have higher expectations and goals of something you have absolutely no impact on.

smg93 · Jan 27, 2016

It's not the league or sport being played, the all or nothing attitude is created by those watching it. You can celebrate anything you want such as winning the AFC East for instance and that qualifies as winning a "regular season trophy" but if people don't care much for it, not much will be made out of it.

There are other non US centric sports for instance like Formula 1 that are also similar to an all or nothing mentality. Sure it's nice to be on the podium but the reality is when your discussing successful seasons or careers, teams and drivers are measured on championships as well not number of 2nds or 3rds.

IcyPatriot · Jan 27, 2016

I am not sure this thread is accurate ...
championships are expected for Boston area teams but that is not the norm ... it's more the exception.
There are plenty of fans out there who are pleased with a successful season - a winning record.
Before 2001 championships were not expected by Patriot fans ... more a dream come true.
After 2003/2004 they became expected ... which is fine ... but there are 31 other teams in the league.

Bobsyouruncle · Jan 27, 2016

I don't think that's probably a uniquely American thing, more a byproduct of decentralized control. College didn't used to have a "winner", then they did the BCS, and now playoffs. But even then everyone argued about who the best was, it just made more arguments because we couldn't know. People were proud of their bowl games, but they still want to know who was the best.

Wanting to know who is the best at anything is innately human. Even a 5 year old is going to ask what's the fastest animal, what's the biggest animal, what's the tallest building etc.

They may not have a centralized championship, but you can pretty much guarantee everyone is talking about who is the best.

Kargetina · Jan 27, 2016

The difference between the champions league and the NFL is that the former is a continental tournament in which hundreds of teams from more than 50 countries try to qualify for each year, while the later is an American league consisting of a fixed number of teams.

As a Barcelona fan i can tell you, every year the team loses La Liga (Spanish championship) is deemed a tremendous disappointment especially if Real Madrid wins it. It wasn't always like that but in Messi's era, only the titles count. Just like Brady and the Pats. So it's really not that different.

It's all relative to the perspective of the fan in question. Last summer, Barca lost the Spain's Super Cup to Bilbao. Their fans were ecstatic and made the team a big home parade to celebrate the achievement. For Bilbao, it was their biggest moment of the last 10-15 years. For Barca winning the Super Cup is just a statistic in the history books.

American Sports are a brutal, all-or-nothing proposition

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