The View From...The NFL: Through an Englishman's eyes.

It may just be that I have aged and with my growing wisdom I have noticed it more but this year, the Superbowl and the NFL in general have got a lot more attention in this country (England). This post is about how we as a country and me as an individual, see the NFL; without using phrases such as: ‘they’, ‘over there’ and ‘across the pond.’

There is no doubt that across the pond,(damn) NFL is a big deal. Arguably, football in this country is as big but it is hard to compare. Over there,(damn) NFL is a show. The game lasts 60 minutes but the programme will last four hours. Due to stoppages, singing and dancing, NFL games require about 240 minutes of your time.

Football in this country may have an hours build up and twenty minutes after to assess what happened, but there is no singing and no dancing. Don’t get me wrong, I do not think that football, (soccer) can be improved by singing and dancing at half-time. I do not think Louis Spence would improve the Premier League.

Maybe it is because they (damn) love a show in America maybe the game of football isn’t enough in itself to keep people interested.

I learnt the hard way that it took the equivalent of Leeds to Bristol on the train to watch an NFL game. Last year I saw an NFL game, with the privilege of fast forwarding the adverts and stoppages, and loved it. I asked my friend who is a huge fan of NFL who to support. Due to my favourite colour being green, I now support Green Bay Packers. (I even have a hat that proves what a good fan I am) I then found out that they are quite a good team which was a bonus. Unlike Manchester United fans who find out they are successful, THEN support them.

I was determined to get interested, so, I did some research on the NFL. Then some research on the Green Bay Packers. I thought it would be incredibly entertaining.

The hype for the Superbowl then started. People even get excited about the ad’s, which in this country are the most despised thing about television. So even though my alarm was set for 6 ‘o’ clock in the morning, I stayed up to watch it.

It turns out it is hard to stay focused on a sporting event that includes less sport than it does anything else. With the blackout the game was even longer. I used this time to do more research . Then I stumbled across Ray Lewis’s story. This guy made it more interesting. He is essentially America’s John Terry. I know Ray Lewis’s story sounds worse, but  even with ’moral crimes’, America have to go one bigger.  

The point to this blog post seems non-existent. I suppose what I am trying to say is Association Football has gone global. I just can’t help but think the NFL could go global too if it wasn’t for the desire to ‘put on a show.’