Thursday, October 18, 2007

London Calling



T-minus 1 week and counting until the wife and I jet off to London. The destination was chosen because the NFL decided to hold a regular season game there to promote the League to a global audience. Interestingly, the announcement of the game being brought to the UK was followed by the announcement that the NFL Europa league would be closed. NFL Europa began in 1991 as the World League of American Football, with 10 teams competing in North America and Europe. After a two-year hiatus (1993-94) following the 1992 season, the league returned in 1995 as a six-team, all-European venture, with five teams in Germany since 2005, and has existed in that format through its final season in 2007. With 5 teams in Germany and the sixth being Amsterdam, I'm not sure "Europa" was the appropriate naming, perhaps NFL Rhine (as in Rhine Valley Region).
I think Ricky Williams' career could have really flourished if he were on the Amsterdam Admirals.

Anyway, back to NFL US... of course the game they chose to hold in London, was a Miami Dolphins home game vs. the New York football Giants. I'm a season ticket holder for the Dolphins and my wife is a Giants fan. Four years ago, we planned our wedding around our teams' schedules - it worked out perfect. They each had the same BYE week, so we scheduled our wedding for that weekend, with a honeymoon to St. Lucia for the following week. But it gets better because the next weekend, the 2 teams were playing each other. Miami Dolphins vs. New York Giants in New York, well technically, it's in New Jersey, but that's another story. So, after our week on the island of St. Lucia at the beautiful Sandals resort, we were off to New York. The Dolphins won that game 23-10.

Fast forward to this year, now the Dolphins are 0-6, and will face the 6-0 Patriots this weekend, so they could (probably will) be 0-7 when they head to London to face the 4-2 Giants. I just hope the Dolphins can at least make it an interesting game. The same way fĂștbol (READ: soccer) has struggled to capture the interest of US fans, the same holds true for the NFL in Europe and the rest of the world. Too many strict rules (they're used to VERY subjective yellow cards), too much game stoppage (normally the clock just runs for 45 mins. straight, plus any extra. Then a short break and do it again), wearing all this "gear" - pads, helmets, etc... who knows why each side can't accept the other's past-time. Probably just familiarity. And, yes, I said football is our past-time, with all of baseball's issues, it's been surpassed by the monsters of the gridiron.

So, London, here we come.
Go Dolphins! Let me extend my 4 years of bragging rights another round.

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