you missed perhaps the biggest distinction between the boards even though you touched on it.
This board hardly ever launches people. The moderator/s are fantastic at allowing freedom of expression as long as it is not extreme.
You are correct that their football board is unreadable. One would be hard pressed to find more anti Notre Dame posts on MGoBlog than on Rock's House. All dissenting views have been culled out, and they are left with only bitter, sour, and angry people.
The political board carries the same air of pretention, and dissenting voices are also removed. The Back Room has some actual human beings worth meeting.
But the whole site is peppered with self importance, and echo chamber virtue signalling which aren't the characteristics of posters who are actually worth reading.
That is my two cents. And neither one of us has to worry about being tossed for expressing our views.