Maximus Decimus

Got back yesterday, and still in recovery mode. Obviously, very pleased by the result and I'm just waiting on the offer of free season tickets by the Bears. I'm really rooting for Tyson Bagent, and there was a lot of positive media about him. The experience was great, I was comparing it to the Premier League over here and it is very different. Despite being 1-5, it was very much a party atmosphere around the stadium and spirits were high at the tailgating parties with a lot of drinking going on. There was a lot of good-natured mixing between opposition fans and home fans. As for the game, it goes by really quickly and it's really easy to follow with the play announcers. One criticism from non-NFL fans is that it is so stop start, but it doesn't feel like that when the play is happening. One slight frustration is when they switch from Offense to Defense. I always thought that it takes a bit of time but it's clearly just because of commercials. It's weird when the players are all stood on the field waiting while a band is playing or they're doing a competition on the big screen. The fans are into the game and knowledgeable, and cheer for TDs etc but I wouldn't say they were as intensely into the action as they would be at a PL game. Maybe it was because they were 1-5, or it's the nature of a longer sport but they are happy enough to miss some plays. If I could compare it to anything atmosphere wise it would be an England RL game outside of the heartlands. Oddly I thought, the loudest the crowd would get (outside of a TD) is a defensive 3rd down. Also, it's funny that whenever there is a flag, they seem to instinctively know if it is going to be a good or a bad flag. The thing I was most surprised by, was that everybody left with 5 minutes to go and maybe 10-15% were still left at the final play. They hadn't won for over a year, but there was no cheering them off at the end or anything like that - maybe they were too plastered, they certainly enjoy a beer! It's definitely something I'd do again. Whilst not as intense sporting-wise as a PL game or competitive RL game, it's much more of an event and a spectacle.

Haha, if the Bears win I'll be happy. Hoping the place would be rocking with a first win in 390 odd days!

I was just talking to my mate, who said something similar. He said one thing that struck him was the number of people who basically had no clue what was going on but had gone for the experience. I'm just surprised there are that many people like this that they easily sell out multiple games a year with high demand. You'd think that once the novelty wore off, they struggle to sell for some of the lesser teams.

Over the years I've got more used to it, but I still preferred the days when we were GB. I'm sure it's partly because of what I grew up with. The RFL however, did a great job of completely killing it off a few years ago.

I completely get what you're getting at amd agree about it being an invented term. I'm not really meaning culturally close to them, more about how we've been historically treated. The book I was talking about makes the point that the whole Tory/Labour split is largely along these lines. London aside, it falls along these lines of largely the North + Celts being Labour and the South being Tory.

I'm well aware of that, but it's easier than saying 'Scots, Welsh and Irish.'

I'm the opposite (apart from the bunting). I've always preferred to call myself British than English. As a northerner, we have more in common with the celts than the southern English. I can remember when the Scottish referendum was happening, I felt like if Yes had won it was taking away something of my identity. Presuming it would've meant the end of the UK, I really didn't like the idea that 'England' would be my state. The England football team is the only really English patriotic thing that I get fully on-board with. I was gutted when GBRL became England RL but I obviously support them. If I'm honest with myself, I'm not sure how much my thoughts are affected by not supporting England RU and even for a long time seeing them as the enemy. They are literally the team of the English establishment, and as such I have negative connotations with that type of England. Somewhat contradictarily, I have very little time for the whole 'Scouse not English' thing that you see in Liverpool now, and see it as a bit silly.

I know, it's gonna be a classic

So my first and maybe only ever NFL game is this weekend, at the 1-5 Chiacgo Bears in a game tipped to be one for the purists. I couldn't care less, and am hoping to see Chicago's first win in over a year.

Less IMO. I've not long finished a Short History of England and it is very good at making the argument that what we call England has always really meant the South of England. Until relatively recently, the North was pretty rebellious. There is bound to be some hangover to that.

I actually thought the result was about right. It was dreadful fare, and Fury is no professional boxer but after the first round, he did all the chasing and landed the better shots. KSI just clinched after every interaction. I think a lot of people think a deduction meant a 10-8 round for KSI when it didn't. Even with it, Fury only had to win 4 rounds and he probably did at least that.

Now deducted a point. Might need a KO already.

KSI taking the first round against 'professional boxer' Tommy Fury.

I think a dump is extremely strong language. Compared to Tottenham it is certainly dated, but it's better than the likes of Elland Rd or Goodison. I've also been Man City and Liverpool and much prefer OT. The best thing about the GF is that it is largely populated by RL fans which is in no small part due to its location. Maybe it could've been held in Cardiff with a bigger crowd but it would be far more people with a passing interest or a curiosity. The CC final fills that role IMO. Frankly, there just isn't anywhere in the North big enough to fill the role of the GF. If we're to believe talk of near 60k, then had Saints won we might be talking a sellout.

It's an interesting question. It has a lot going for it in my opinion: the location is ideal for a sport based around Yorkshire and what was Lancashire: the capacity is about perfect; there is the history of all non-covid SL Grand Finals as well as previously the playoffs and finally it is a stadium that looks pretty good when it doesn't sellout. If there's 55k there tomorrow, it won't be the first thing anybody sees on TV. Contrast that completely with Wembley and say 70k. It is looking old, and it isn't my favourite ground by any stretch but I think there's nothing at this time that could do the same job. I suspect it'll get decent upgrades soon anyway. Bear in mind, they're one of the world's biggest football clubs. They'll only be kept down for so long.

Don't even... We got it for the kids and they would've been devastated already. It was a really strange situation, there was no indication how long it was going to last and we didnt realise how much the total was until the end. We originally took it into an out of hours vets and they said we had to transfer it to a day vet. They just kept saying 'we're not 100% happy' and were waiting for certain levels to come down. We had to move her a few times this way over a couple of days. Eventually, the levels went below the accepted amount but they still wanted to keep her in a third day. At that point, I just had to say no more.

On a similar note, I've seen a few things going around again about a possible London NFL club. I've always been interested in whether it would work or not regardless of if I think it will, which I don't short-term at least. I'm not 100% sure on the rules, but I suspect it'd need to be an existing franchise which makes the Jaguars or other ailing franchise most likely. This would be a problem because it would mean they'd likely not be tapping into an existing fan-base. If they were allowed to switch names, that would probably be better. Then there is sustainability. I've little doubt for a season or two, they'd have no trouble selling out Tottenham. But over time, especially if they're not doing well? I'm not so sure. It was a long time ago, but the Monarchs soon went from 40k+ to 15k.

IIRC the earliest games weren't quick sellouts? Now of course, they are hard to get tickets for which I find odd if the experience isn't that great. Surely there's only so many NFL fans amd casuals wanting to try the experience. As I said, I don't think my mate would go again unless it was at Tottenham and a big team.

Has anybody been to one of the NFL London games? I've got a mate who is a big NFL fan and was at Wembley last week and he was quite disappointed by it and said he probably wouldn't go again. I totally get it, as they often seem quite quiet affairs. However, the one at Tottenham today looked a lot better. Of course I think the Bills made a big difference compared to the Falcons.

My tip: do it and do it quickly. We have a young cat and just hadn't got round to it after a couple or months. I was literally talking about price the same day that she decided to eat some lillies. A couple of grand later she was fine...

Well the Bears got a win! It was starting to look like my first and possibly last NFL game would be at a team who were 0-6. Tbf they should've won last week but blew it big time against Denver. For a period in the 3rd/4th quarter it looked like it might happen again.

Judging by the start, the Jets are going to end very similar to last year. 6-11 or 7-10 I reckon.

I'm going to do the half and then see whether I think it's achievable. I watch quite a lot of stuff from the Running Channel and the presenter Sarah completed her first marathon and it was much like you explained. However, she had to stop at one point. I'm totally not judging, but for me doing a marathon would involve running the whole way. Is this something you were able to do?

Bit annoyed to find that Sky changed the scheduled game from the Jets-Patriots to the Vikings-Chargers. Then I realised they might be doing a favour looking at Jets offense in the first half...

Believe me we're not talking that