Dyakovo wrote:1: More popular doesn't mean objectively better.
2: Derivative of, not copy of.
3: Exaggeration, to say the least and commercial breaks aren't a part of the game.
4: "Soccer" players (as would rugby players) would wear as much padding as American football players if they had to endure they same kind of hits...
5: Not more skill, simply a different skill set.
6: As do American football players...
Commercial breaks are a part of American football, or at least NFL football.
Some years ago, I went to an Atlanta Hawks game (against an Elway-led Denver Broncos, I think, though my memory's a bit sketchy on this point).
Every now and then, at the end of a play, the players would mill around aimlessly on the field, the cheerleaders would step forward and perform a routine, and that was it for about 2-3 minutes. Then the cheerleaders would move back, the players would form a huddle again, and play would resume.
Eventually we worked out (with a bit of help from the people sitting next to us) that what appeared to us to be random and inexplicable extended breaks in the action were commercial time-outs inserted into the game to allow the broadcasting network to fit in the requisite amount of advertising.
A quick Google search for 'television timeout' brings up a Wiki article that confirms this isn't just my memory playing tricks on me:
American football: The National Football League (NFL) requires that its games have twenty commercial breaks, with ten in each half (an exception is the overtime period which has none). These intervals run either one or two minutes in length. Of the ten per half, two are mandatory (the end of the quarter and the two-minute warning) and the remaining eight are optional. Such timeouts can be applied after field goal tries, conversion attempts for both one and two points following touchdowns, changes in possession either by punts or turnovers, and kickoffs with the exception of the ones that start each half or are within the last five minutes of such. They are also called during stoppages due to injury, instant replay challenges, when either of the participating teams uses one of its set of timeouts, and if the network needs to catch up on its commercial advertisement schedule. The arrangement for college football contests is similar, except for the absence of the two-minute warning.