Dot or feather?

Casino or Kwik-Mart?

Geronimo or Gandhi?

What the??? Indians don't give a flying fark about American football. Hell, my parents were just there last week and my dad couldn't even watch the Giants game.

Worst. Idea. Ever.

/oh and How or Hari?

Alcoholic or Tech Support?

BillCo: Dot or feather?

BillCo: Casino or Kwik-Mart?

Moran or moran.

Oh, that would be you playing you.

I can't decide whether Best in the World is trying to be funny or not.

Chupacabra Sandwich: I can't decide whether Best in the World is trying to be funny or not.

meow said the dog without the charm or possibility of BIE.

Kimu Sabe or Kama Sutra?

...and I rest my case.

bhcompy: India is where the pro leagues are targeting currently. Billion+ people and only cricket and soccer to deal with(maybe rugby too?). MLB did a pitching competition for a minor league contract a few years back.

I completely understand soccer, and obviously cricket is massive there...but American football is completely unknown to the country. Hell, they call American football "Rugby".

bhcompy: Well, like I said, so was baseball. Essentially, they're trying to tap an untapped pool of athletes. MLB did the American Idol style thing with pitchers. This is obviously a much larger scope, but it's good for the sport in general. I don't believe it will do well, but with a country as large as India there's no reason why not to try if they have the money, and at least it will spread awareness

I understand with baseball, because cricket bowlers similarly have the skill to bowl the ball fast, as they would need in pitching...However...the average Indian isn't really "built" to be a linebacker, defensive/offensive tackle/end. I just don't know why they picked India.

I guess I'll find out when my family starts calling me and asks "what the hell am I watching?"

czetie: OK, serious question (yeah, I know, it's Fark... still...)

Why does India, on the whole, make so little impact in sports?

Sure, they're a force in cricket, but given the size of their population, where are the Indian teams in other sports? The Indian soccer team is ranked alongside tiny nations like Singapore and New Caledonia. Their rugby team is ranked below St. Vincent & the Grenadines (which, by coincidence, is the name of my next band) and just above Barbados, pop. 280,000.

OK, maybe they just don't care about those games. But what about track & field? At the 2008 Olympics, they took one gold medal, the same as Cameroon. (IIRC, that was their first ever individual Olympic gold). Even the rivalry with China doesn't seem to translate to sports.

So what's the deal? Is it simply that cricket sucks up all the sporting interest and all the sporting talent? Or something more complex that prevents a country of over a billion people being a world force in sports?

Sports isn't really something that was heavily invested in in India. It's not about the population, it's about the opportunity. Sports like Cricket, Badminton, Field Hockey all have had grassroots movements, but they were mainly left over from the colonial days.

School programs, even today, do not heavily invest in sports at the youth level, but that is one thing, hopefully, that will be changing as time goes on.

As others have said, it is basically just trying to tap a huge population.

U.S. Population is 307 million, which is 3rd largest in the world. India is almost FOUR times as many people.

India is #2... 1.17 billion behind China's 1.3 billion, but, a few things favor India over trying to take over China. One, obviously the governmental structure makes it much easier to try to make a go in India. Second, India's population density is very high... 953 people per square mile is the 2nd highest population density of countries with over 100 million people (Bangladesh is 2,497 people per square mile). So, you are getting your best bang for the buck as far as population in a small area that keeps travel costs low.

Right now, 23.5% of Americans in a recent poll said the NFL was their favorite sport, which is 73,000,000. To get to 73 million people in India, that is only 6.2% of their population. Even if you only get 1% of their population to be hard core fans of American Football (name it their favorite sport), that is still 11 million people.

dletter: As others have said, it is basically just trying to tap a huge population.

U.S. Population is 307 million, which is 3rd largest in the world. India is almost FOUR times as many people.

India is #2... 1.17 billion behind China's 1.3 billion, but, a few things favor India over trying to take over China. One, obviously the governmental structure makes it much easier to try to make a go in India. Second, India's population density is very high... 953 people per square mile is the 2nd highest population density of countries with over 100 million people (Bangladesh is 2,497 people per square mile). So, you are getting your best bang for the buck as far as population in a small area that keeps travel costs low.

Right now, 23.5% of Americans in a recent poll said the NFL was their favorite sport, which is 73,000,000. To get to 73 million people in India, that is only 6.2% of their population. Even if you only get 1% of their population to be hard core fans of American Football (name it their favorite sport), that is still 11 million people.

Mean annual household income: 34,551 rupees. ($735)