NFL @ Wembley

Having extravagantly paid for "expensive" seat a Wembley to continue my goal of watching live most of the sports I've seen on TV - I've added to the list I've "watched live", one I'd previously only seen late at night on Channel 4 or 5 - American Football...

From NFL @ Wembley

The New Orleans Saints played host to the San Diego Chargers. It was very obvious who the "home team" was - the Chargers got little looking in terms of branding or valuable merchandising! It was the Saints' cheerleaders that had to freeze on what was a brisk autumn evening - at least the rain stopped. I've still not been at Wembley when the roof has been required. Having supported the Saints that play football with a round ball all my life - through good and bad time, to a lesser or greater extend, I had no problem supporting the home side. I even supported the systems that hosted the Saints first web sites - before the internet was such a big thing!

Before the real show the number of players involved in an American Football match became clear - each team warmed up separately - there wasn't room on the pitch for them at the same time. The final pre-match entertainment was a few songs from the Sterophonics - promoting there upcoming tour, then the National Anthems. A good rendition of the Star Spangled Banner, which is often murdered! Then a bare foot Joss Stone managed to murder God Save the Queen - and there was nothing the crowd could do to rescue her! Then it was game time - and it became clear that this was a sport aimed at TV viewing. Without the replays and close ups it was challenging to follow - not helped by the fact that the PA system didn't work half the time to let us hear why flags had flown. It turned out to be a high scoring match - and despite the lack of a audible PA was very entertaining. The advert breaks didn't impact things noticeably - there where plenty natural breaks in the play. It was surprising to see how little of the Wembley pitch was used - they played on a very narrow 100 yard strip. That left plenty of space for the cheerleaders - great additional entertainment!
Next sport on my list is Baseball...