I had my first spell of homesickness yesterday. During the singing of the Star Spangled Banner at Wembley Stadium, I stood staring at the massive American Flag on the field, and for the first time in a month had that feeling of truly being thousands of miles from home in a foreign county. The feeling slowly dissipated as the kickoff boomed down the field and I was watching an American Football game in London.
It was incredible. The game itself was extremely high scoring with the San Diego Chargers falling to the New Orleans Saints by a score of 37-32. It was truly like no football game I had ever attended. First, most games have fans wearing the paraphernalia of either the home or away team. This game featured fans wearing any football jersey they could get their hands on. If you look back on the video of the singing of “God Save the Queen” you can really get a feel for the mélange of jerseys featured at Wembley Stadium yesterday. The cab driver on my way home last night discussed the absurdity of the massive jersey wearing. He told me that if he were in New York for a Arsenal-West Ham game per se he would never dream of wearing a Chelsea jersey just to prove he was a football fan. It seems a truly American act that everyone showed up in their own team’s jerseys to prove they knew what they were in fact true fans of the sport. I joined them representing my New York Giants in my Eli Manning jersey.
Secondly, even though there were a huge number of people in various jerseys, I was shocked by the number of real Saints fans who actually made the trip. Seated directly behind me and to my right were two families born and bred in New Orleans complete with that great Cajun accent. It almost felt like a true home game for the Saints judging by the number of Saints fans and the roar from the crowd when the Saints went marching in time after time.
But more than anything else what threw me for a loop was the smell of the field. In all the stadiums I have attended, you can never actually smell the grass. The first thing I noticed when I sat in the stadium yesterday was the smell of mud. It was so weird. I wonder if they had treated the grass in some special way. Last year after the Giants played the Dolphins of Miami at Wembley, there was an issue that the turf could not hold up to the pounding that American football players put on turf. This year the turf held up much better and the product presented to the Europeans fans was much better.
My own personal enjoyment of the game was enhanced by the fact that I attended the game with my best friend from high school, and his friend, a Parisian female. I had a great time trying to teach her the game as it occurred in front of us. She had no idea what was going on, but got a kick out of how much my friend and I were emphatically cheering every hit, every pass, and every inch of the game.
But I enjoyed the game so much more because I turned a profit on it. London has betting parlors on every corner allowing anyone to walk in off the street and bet any facet of any sporting event taking place on any day. I had to this point kept myself from losing all my money to football bets but decided since I would be in attendance for this American football game I would put some money on it. Sure enough, the Saints’ victory netted me 33 Great British Pounds.
All in all it was just as I had dreamed it would be. A little slice of home all the way here in England…
GUNNER UPDATE: Another great week in Arsenal land. Solid victory on Wednesday night against Fenerbahce coupled with a strong performance against London club West Ham yesterday. The game finished 2-0 on an own goal by the Hammers and a strike from Emmanuel Adebayor. Arsenal sits in 4th place, one point behind second place Chelsea and Hull. Liverpool sits atop the table four points ahead of the Gunners. This weeks games: Wednesday against Tottenham, Saturday against Stoke.
JOE RUGBY UPDATE: We took a huge beating on Wednesday against Queen Mary’s College in London. They showed up an hour and a half late. We were under the impression that they weren’t showing up and had gotten a forfeit. Since we all still wanted to play, we trained for over two hours before they finally made their appearance. Needless to say we could barely pick ourselves off the field at the end of four hours of Rugby. This Week: Training tonight followed by a match Wednesday. Team TBD.
BRITISH SONG OF THE WEEK: New album from the Kaiser Chiefs. Best song titled “Never Miss a Beat.”
