Drofder2004 wrote:the tension of a game is what builds up the fun of watching. When watching basketball, there is zero tension
Except, when there are only 2-3 goals in 90 minutes, that is ~30 minutes of build up for each goal, which, even given the overacted responses to goals is not enough to fully relieve tension. This means when the game is over the person is still tense. As for the basketball, the tension is in the score. It's all about numbers, how much somebody is up or down, and how much time they have to earn that back. The last 2 minutes of a typical basketball game have the audience about as riled up as a football game, and considering during that period of time it is actually closer to 10 minutes than 2 (because of time outs, free throws, etc.) you've got a crowd as excited as fans are with a football goal, except with basketball. If you compare that to the ~1:00 per goal celebration with football, it hardly comes close for most games
Now take into consideration what occurs during the rest of a basketball game. If you pay attention to score and individual players, the tension is not hard to find. The amount of action is many times higher than that of football in most cases. There is more passing, more shooting, and more defense which leads to more exciting non-scoring moments. Compare that to football, where a good portion of the game is spent just kicking the ball back and forth down the field without even getting close to the goals. Granted, you can watch every single steal that causes the ball to go back the other way, but I'd rather watch something actually
happen. What it comes down to, in an entire game there are about 30 goal attempts, that's one every three minutes. In a basketball game there are close to 160 attempts, that's about three a minute.
Granted quantity is not everything, but when quantity equates to action then it definitely matters. All this being said, I prefer football to basketball because basketball is a sport completely corrupt with its referees and questionable rules. However, that doesn't mean football is more exciting to watch, simply less frustrating.