The talk all throughout the week on this side of the pond was how amazed the Brits and all of the other Euros would be at the biggest sport stateside. The NFL forgot to mention that they were bringing in the 0-7 Miami Dolphins to play role of sacrificial lamb against the 5-2 New York Giants. On paper, it was going to be a exactly that. Fortunately for the aqua and orange, the late October rains and the cold became somewhat of an equalizer. The energy at the beginning was incredible, but it took very little for the novelty to wear off. By the time the second quarter was coming to an end, the fans headed for the gates.
Listening to the Dolphins radio feed, color guy Joe Rose was talking about running to the gates at the end of the game and telling the fans "it’s not like this". By the second half, there could be more interest in a severe case of pneumonia than in this game. Overall it was a bad game. For the people who have no clue about the game, there were way too many intricacies, specialties, jargon, and minutiae that
There was a constant reference to Liverpool, "The Arsenal", and "Manu United". For a second I though that it was a group of fans that followed the San Antonio Spurs. "I’m a ‘Gooner’, " said Jim Mandich. Mandich being known as a "man’s man" decided to go for that side since they were part of the old armory.
Somehow the game became secondary and that was the only thing that they could talk about in order to give some spice to the game. There was a bit of excitement in the end, but all for not when Jay Feely kicked an onside kick that went out of bounds helplessly from the mangled Wembley pitch.
Seeing the Giants kneel down the last few minutes earned the ire of the prospective converts. As the Dolphin boradcasters said, "seeing this game, soccer players might not have much to worry about."
Football is great to watch, but let’s be honest it will never have the appeal that basketball will outside of North America. The NFL was taught which football is king for real this weekend.