+ Visit Cardiff FC for Latest News, Transfer Gossip, Fixtures and Match Results |
I took up playing American football, I think it was about 1988. At that time, Channel 4 had started to screen NFL games, hosted by Mick Luckhurst. Understanding the rules to watch the game on TV is one thing, but knowing them to the extent that you can play the game without being flagged for everything you did, is another!
There was also the problem of getting the kit - you couldn't just walk into Giles Sports and pick it up. On that front, we had to go to, perhaps surprisingly, Talbot Green. The owner of the rather small sports shop had obviously foreseen a niche market and stocked a rather good selection of American football gear.
The cost was another factor why it made it difficult to get into, for example: a Riddell helmet back then would set you back £120, my shoulder pads alone were £145 and a pair of white Roos boots (not really necessary: hehe:) were £70... a lot of money back then!
There were many factors why this WASN'T an easy sport to get into.
The challenge with North American sports for the UK fan is obviously the time difference but the NFL I think offers the best chance of immersing. I’d recommend you joined an NFL fantasy draft league somehow. You’ll get hooked pretty quickly although I must agree that half the fun is the day to day banter around it. It’s only a 20 week season as well but for 16 weeks it kills any family time on a Sunday🤣.
In the US NFL is the same social currency as football is in the UK but in Canada it’s all about Hockey - my sports news programmes are wall to wall hockey and 70% of that is the Leafs. You have to understand it to survive with like minded people.
Fortunately I’ve got to love all of the sports over the last 10 years - basketball was maybe toughest but The Raptors won the NBA title this year so was difficult to avoid 2 million people on the streets of Toronto.... you sort of got carried on the emotional tide
I got hooked on American football from watching it on TV when I was young. I'm still hooked on it. My team has always been The Dolphins.
As ON says, next summer just go watch the Hundred or the t20s in Cardiff. It's pretty cheap, it's on a Thursday/Friday night and you can have a few beers watching. Worst case scenario, you have a few beers on a nice summer's evening with a sport being played in front of you! T20 is a great gateway into cricket and it's other (and in my opinion, better, forms). Test cricket isn't for everyone but in my opinion, when it's good there's nothing else that comes close.
Watch redzone if you think football is slow. It's like the Jeff stelling 3pm show, but they actually cut to and stay with live games when a team is likely to score (you just watch the games, there are no visible presenters). It's far from slow as you are following all the games at the same time. And watching a real game is not that slow normally, first half in particular. The drama of a real game can be incredible- the Minneapolis miracle and the patriots recovery in the super bowl a few years ago are two games that were just amazing to watch.
I quite like the BBC coverage too and is set at an audience with a limited understanding which suits me fine, so give that a go too.
I personally find NFL to be the best spectator sport for the neutral, there is just so much to enjoy about it. Or watch one of the Amazon documentaries where they follow a team for a season. The cardinals one about 4 years ago was great and it will mean you will at least know something about some of the players in the league.
Yeah, the quality of the documentary follows the quality of the season which made the cardinals one. Newton is a tit and the panthers were shite which ruined that one.
There was one that followed, I think, the rams a while ago. They showed case keenum being traded. He came across as a really decent guy which made me realise(or believe) that some NFL players aren't like the stereotype loud wanker. In fact if you look at some quarterbacks (brees, luck until he retired etc) you probably wouldn't even think they are professional sportsmen. These documentaries paint the players in a favourable light but nevertheless some of them seem decent in a way that footballers don't
If you haven't already, I can tell Friday Night Lights is so up your street. (I've watched it through twice). https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0758745/