The NFL In London Ramblings

So, I've wavered back and forth on the whole "NFL regular season game in London" experiment that the league seems to be on. I'm still not totally sold on the idea, but I get it. The NFL wants to expand it's fan base overseas, tapping new customers and the game does appear to be a bit of an event each year. That doesn't mean there is a call to have more game in London each season or give England it's own franchise, which is a couple things the league talked about this week. A couple other thoughts on yesterday's game.

-I was told the Patriots are very popular in London. Add to that the fact that Manchester United fans have burned effigies of the Glazer family (who also own the Buccaneers) and I figured it would be a very pro-Patriots crowd. While that may have been the case, it was kind of hard to tell who the people in the stands were rooting for, because they seemed to make the same noise no matter what happened. I don't think they really cared who won as long as it was a good game. In that respect, there is always next year. Perhaps they could send two good teams next year and see if that works out better.

-The stands were a complete crapshoot for NFL jerseys. I saw about 16 different teams being represented, even an old-school Marino jersey in the crowd. Basically it seemed that if you were an NFL fan then you went to the game, regardless of who was playing.

-I was wondering which anthem they would play first, given that the game is American but the game is taking place in London. Would they go hosts first or guests first? Just as my dad was saying that it didn't matter because they never show the National Anthem on TV anymore, CBS did special coverage of the National Anthem followed by God Save the Queen. Oh, NFL, you know just how to get to my soft spot (not a good rendition by Toni Braxton, though).

-The anthem also answered the question of whether the game was full of Londoners or Americans who wanted to see London and used the game as an excuse, because the crowd was loud and proud with God Save the Queen. Americans couldn't be that loud, because we don't know any words after the first line.

-Most amazing aspect of the entire day? The Wave appeared to go counter-clockwise. And here I thought that only happened in the Southern hemisphere.

Overall it seemed like a successful week for the Patriots, but I still don't think American football is catching on in Europe. There seems to be no great call for it and I don't know why the NFL thinks it's good policy to rob one fan base of a home game every year. Really, we could send a preseason game over there - they'd never know the difference.