[RiderKamen]

Whether its baseball, basketball, football, boxing, video gaming, volleyball, and etc. Defense seem to be look over or even distasteful.
You can go the U.S. Soccer thread and see 'anti football' aka (playing in defensive mode) being a distasteful to one poster.
You can see highlights of people scoring (which is to be expected) but there's a few highlights for a nice defensive play.
And it drives me wild when I'm playing a video game where a team collectively or an individual is just horrid on defense.

Defense is essential essential essential for winning a game. Defense can keep you in a game and also to keep your advantage in a game. Some of the greatest athletes such as Bill Russell, Lawrence Taylor, Ryne Sandberg, Carlos Alberto Torres, Bobby Orr, and more are 'known' for their defensive.


So why is defense under-appreciated?

[1love]

It's always been established that defense wins championships. Offense is kind of a way to draw crowds and tv rating. You can be mediocre at offense and be the best on defense and win. You probably won't win if you switch it up.

In MLB it's pitching and gold glove plays. Look at the Yankees' far superior batting lineup, but they only won 1 world series so far this decade.

In NFL defense will win most of the time. I'm don't know the exact stats, but #1 defense vs #1 offense in the superbowl. The #1 defense team dominated. Example is Raiders vs. Bucs, a few years back was a example of #1 defense vs. #1 offense. Defense won the superbowl for the Bucks.

In NBA it's also defense that matters more, this years final the Lakers held the Magic to less than 100 points 4 out of 5 games.

Reason why people don't appreciated it is because it's boring. The Spurs defense is really good, yet they never draw any good rating in the finals. People love to watch high scoring fast pace games and the Spurs just don't play that way.

I admit, I love watching good offense and sometimes would miss a great defensive play. Offense is just more fun to watch hence why the 2002 Kings were the greatest show on court and the Rams were the greatest show on turf. They just put on a offensive show every time they play.

[xman150]

defense is under appreciated because everyone wants to see action, and most of the time all the action takes place on the offense.

[kuku]

I don't know about you, but in hockey, defense is greatly cherished. In the draft, good puck handling and skating defense are drafted high. Some people build, goalie, defense, and finally offense. If you have no defense to help the goal tender, you are worthless even if you score tons of goals. An example is like the Washing Caps. Even with Ovechkin, they can't do much without a defensive defense men... unlike what Mike Green does.


The Boston Celtics this year didn't have much defense once they lost Posey. He's plays great defense.

[laris]

like everyone else said. it's boring to watch

[edward1849]

Offense sells tickets, defense wins championships. But yeah, from a fan's perspective, it's boring to watch.

[MarineGreen]

Good defense is vital in sports especially if your into grappling you could have the greatest take down and the most oppressive top game in your division but all it takes is you giving up one inch in a scramble and BAM your in side control and it feels like a 100 kilo's are on you. all i gotta say is shrimp, shrimp shrimp BRIDGE!

[knockblock]

Well, it's not that defense can't be appreciated. Just that offense more often gets people juiced up when something exciting happens.

[sethsegel]

Whether its baseball, basketball, football, boxing, video gaming, volleyball, and etc. Defense seem to be look over or even distasteful.
You can go the U.S. Soccer thread and see 'anti football' aka (playing in defensive mode) being a distasteful to one poster.
You can see highlights of people scoring (which is to be expected) but there's a few highlights for a nice defensive play.
And it drives me wild when I'm playing a video game where a team collectively or an individual is just horrid on defense.

Defense is essential essential essential for winning a game. Defense can keep you in a game and also to keep your advantage in a game. Some of the greatest athletes such as Bill Russell, Lawrence Taylor, Ryne Sandberg, Carlos Alberto Torres, Bobby Orr, and more are 'known' for their defensive.


So why is defense under-appreciated?

Defense is so under-appreciated because it doesn't have anything flashy to show for it, like offense in soccer, you have your assists and your goals. What do you have for defense? Flicks and ball control reversal, while it's crucial it's not as entertaining and as much as I love sports for their tactics and player finesse, a huge portion of sports is its entertainment value.

[knockblock]

sethsegel, on 04 July 2009 - 10:49 AM, said:

Defense is so under-appreciated because it doesn't have anything flashy to show for it, like offense in soccer, you have your assists and your goals. What do you have for defense? Flicks and ball control reversal, while it's crucial it's not as entertaining and as much as I love sports for their tactics and player finesse, a huge portion of sports is its entertainment value.

In American football, an interception return excites the viewer. In basketball, it is blocking a shot or getting a steal that leads to a fast break. In baseball, it is making insane plays.

[inRainbows]

sethsegel, on 04 July 2009 - 10:49 AM, said:

QUOTE Defense is so under-appreciated because it doesn't have anything flashy to show for it, like offense in soccer, you have your assists and your goals. What do you have for defense? Flicks and ball control reversal, while it's crucial it's not as entertaining and as much as I love sports for their tactics and player finesse, a huge portion of sports is its entertainment value.

This is really subjective because a true lover of a sport will appreciate any component of a game whether it be offense or defense. In fact, defending occupies such a large spectrum of play in a sport like football that any 'fan' worth their salt will see the merits in defending. I think with every game of football there is an underlying premise that dignifies defense but it's accepted that fancy offensive play is the glorious part of the game, which is why it makes the highlight reels coupled with the fact that the average non-sport-following viewer would probably enjoy a glimpse of a goal perhaps more than some defensive play. The goalscorer usually receives the glory, but hey, someone has to do the dirty job of covering the #9 and tracking back to defend a counter-attack when he's too much of a lazy mofo to do so. 

In my opinion, defending can be very entertaining~. A defender usually has a plethora of skills that distinguish him from another player. In football, the defender is usually very tall, robust, and tactically astute whilst their specific duties in a typical game include winning headers, clearances, blocking shots, man-marking, slide tackling, intercepting and if you're playing as a Central Defensive Midfielder, you sometimes have the licence to distribute long throughballs that begin play and pull the strings/control the tempo of the game. In this way, defenders that are playing slightly deeper than their fullback cousins often retain playmaking duties whilst retaining the role of reading the game and winning possession. I always enjoy watching a solid defender break up a potential play with a neat tackle and therefore conduct a quick break away that could lead to a goal.

With that said though, a curious fact is that if you watch professional clubs, they usually pay out ridiculous sums of money to transfer offensive players as opposed to defenders... So even financially the glory remains with the forwards. In football, raw defenders i.e. Center Backs that are solid don't usually go for more than 20 million pounds while clubs are willing to multiply this sum for a good attacker. 

Just some food for though + my 2 cents as a follower of football. Whew~ I wrote a lot more than I intended.. I love football~~

[ilmilione]

In football (soccer), defenders are becoming more and more appreciated and that's been the trend in places like Italy for a while now. A major problem people have with it is that it emphasizes the defensive aspect of the sport when it's 'supposed' to be an attacking game, hence why attacking players get all the glory.

For me, defense is just as important as the attack when it comes to winning, and I actually highly appreciate keepers (if you group them in with the defense) probably more than any other position.

[rforest]

inRainbows, on 22 July 2011 - 08:28 AM, said:

This is really subjective because a true lover of a sport will appreciate any component of a game whether it be offense or defense. In fact, defending occupies such a large spectrum of play in a sport like football that any 'fan' worth their salt will see the merits in defending.

word.

[george jones]

I don't think it's underappreciated as much as it is harder to notice.

[chgonia]

It's underappreciated because the main purpose is to score, so defensive plays can't stand out as much as offensive plays