Are You Ready For Some Football?

Football of a different type takes to the airwaves again.

Are You Ready For Some Football?

Baseball is known as America’s Game but for me, my favourite sport from across the pond has always been American Football. I understand the reservations that some people have about its stop-start nature, the seemingly relentless breaks and the fact that a minute on the clock can actually take 10 minutes or more to play, but once you see past that to the sheer athleticism shown by the participants, the need to think quickly and change tact in the blink of an eye, and the tactical knowledge required to be successful, there is a wonderful sport to be discovered.

It is also a sport that is greatly growing in popularity in the UK, something that has been aided by Sky Sports’ fantastic coverage and the NFL London games that have been taking place since 2007. We keep hearing that it is only a matter of time before London has its very own franchise and I’m genuinely quite surprised that it hasn’t happened to this point.

My love of American Football started back in the days of it being on through the night on Channel 5. I remember watching some highlights when Channel 4 had the rights at some point in the 90s and had read about Brett Favre’s Packers and John Elway’s Broncos whilst a subscriber to the excellent Sported magazine (I still have every copy ever made), but I never had the time or the capacity to watch regularly. As I was still at school, it wasn’t really viable to be staying up into the middle of the night on a Sunday or Monday evening.

Come the summer of 2002 however, I had left school at the end of 5th year after my Higher exams and was taking a year out to work and earn some money before going to university the following September. I was only working four hours a day from 12 until 4 so realistically I could stay up as late as I wanted and still manage to have somewhat of a lie in before getting ready for work. This was fantastic for having the odd midweek night out, but also meant that I always able to discover the world of American sport that Channel 5 had on offer after the normal person went to bed.

Baseball, MLS and occasionally Ice Hockey were also on offer, but it was Mike Carlson and his series of different co-presenters (over time, names like Nat Coombes, Martin Bayfield and Colin Murray are ones I remember but there were others too) that drew me in to the NFL. Whoever his partner was brought the questioning but Carlson himself came across as a font of all knowledge on the sport and helped me to understand the intricacies of the game far better than if I had just been trying to work it out for myself. My usual routine would be to watch the opening round up of the games that had already taken place and then the first quarter of the televised encounter and, depending on how it was going, I would either continue watching or press record and watch the rest before work the next morning.

Being the way I am, I had to pick a team to follow and after siding with one or the other of the televised teams for the first few weeks of the season, I eventually plumped for the San Francisco 49ers. I had picked up on a bit of their history and their success in the 80s and early 90s with Joe Montana (and then Steve Young) as quarterback and was also satisfied that they were not the best team currently playing but also weren’t awful so it never felt like glory hunting.

In 2002 there had been a reshuffle of the divisions due to an expanded number of teams and the 49ers found themselves with new divisional opponents. Under the guidance of Head Coach Steve Mariuci, the stewardship of quarterback Jeff Garcia and the flashy play of wide receiver Terrell Owens, they had a decent season, finishing top of the NFC West with a 10-6 record. They won their first playoff game in a controversial finish against the New York Giants, another team that I came to appreciate, but then lost in the next round against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers who went on to become the eventual Super Bowl champions that year, funded by the money of the Glazer family who later bought Manchester United.

Unfortunately, following that season it was a series of disappointments for the 49ers, who didn’t make the playoffs again for another 9 years, but that didn’t stop me from learning more about the game and enjoying the performances of different teams and stars.

The rise of the dynasty of the New England Patriots and the great Tom Brady is the obvious story of this era in NFL history and I enjoyed watching the beginnings as much as anyone else. By the time of the following season in 2003, I had started university in Glasgow. The university did an exchange scheme with a few other schools in the States, including Boston College, so by the time the Super Bowl rolled around and the Patriots were playing, my friends and I were able to watch it with some visitors who were genuinely supporting one of the teams at our student halls. Staying up through the night, we made a real party of it and it was nice to get some insight from some true American fans. However, as the Patriots rolled on year after year, the eternal fan of the underdog in me became more and more desperate to see them lose, which they did on quite a few occasions too.

I was also watching when the New Orleans Saints won the Super Bowl in 2009, not even 4 years after Hurricane Katrina had devastated their state and left so many looking for shelter, some of which was found in the Saints’ own Superdome stadium. The Saints gave the thousands of people left to rebuild their lives something to rally behind and reached their pinnacle when they beat the Indianapolis Colts to attain eternal glory. It was a good news story for everyone to follow.

The success of the Manning brothers, Peyton and Eli, over their careers was also a wonderful story to follow. Peyton is one of the greatest quarterbacks of all time and led a superb Indianapolis Colts team for years, but they just couldn’t seem to win the big one, often being bested at the final hurdle by those pesky Patriots. He finally broke his duck in 2007 though when the Colts beat the Bears to win the Super Bowl. Little brother Eli wasn’t quite the same quality of quarterback that Peyton was but still led the New York Giants to two Super Bowl titles. The first was the year after Peyton’s first win, in 2008, when they defeated a heavily favoured New England Patriots. It was a low scoring game and the Giants winning drive in the fourth quarter was nothing short of incredible, highlighted by David Tyree’s ‘helmet catch’.  They repeated the trick 3 years later, beating the Patriots again. Not to be outdone by his sibling though, Peyton had a late career resurgence with the Denver Broncos and won his own second Super Bowl in his final game in January 2016.

The Pittsburgh Steelers were a dynasty in the mid- to late-seventies but then won another two Super Bowls in the mid-2000s led by quarterback ‘Big’ Ben Roethlisberger and coaches Bill Cowher and then Mike Tomlin. The Steelers were a team built on solid defence who always played to their strengths.

More recently, the big story in the league has been that of the Kansas City Chiefs and their star quarterback Patrick Mahomes. Over the past five seasons, they have reached four Super Bowls, winning three of them, and are building their own dynasty to rival that of Brady’s Patriots. Mahomes is the epitome of the new ideal quarterback who oozes athleticism and can run with the ball almost as well as he can throw it. He is the current megastar of the game. However, he is not the only star of the team. Tight End Travis Kelce is another fantastic player and is has found lots of limelight himself thanks to his never-say-die spirit and, of course, his relationship with Taylor Swift. It remains to be seen how long they can keep their run of success going for.

There are so many individual stories to tell, even over the course of the just over twenty years I have been watching, that I could go on for a long time but it is the overall entertainment value that the sport produces that can really draw people in.

From the cheerleaders and fireworks to the massive hits, superhuman throws and catches and dancing in the end zone, there really is something for everyone. The fans of teams are a show in themselves, often trying to outdo each other with costumes, face paint and general craziness. Fans go wild for the sport and the tailgate parties that precede most games where supporters get together in the car park to eat BBQ and drink plenty of beer are legendary.

TV coverage has also improved exponentially since I began watching and Sky Sports really do have it nailed. The Redzone show on a Sunday from teatime (UK time) shows the action points from all of the games that are going on at once, endlessly flitting back and forth from stadium to stadium and allowing the viewer to feast on all they could want. It seems to me that this was the inspiration for the Champions League goals show that I have raved about previously. Mix the action with in depth analysis from knowledgeable pundits and the coverage really is unrivalled.

American Football is not a sport that I have managed to attend live myself yet, but I am really keen to. When I was in the States in 2008, I had a ticket to go and see a college game in San Diego. College football is just as big a deal, if not bigger, than the NFL and the fans are partisan to say the least. Needless to say I was incredibly excited to be getting my first ‘football’ experience. Imagine how gutted I was then when the Greyhound bus that I was riding on from Las Vegas to San Diego broke down about half way. Around 3 hours were spent sitting on the side of the highway in the blazing heat, constantly checking my watch and wondering when we would get going again. Alas, the answer was too late and we arrived well after the game had started. My disappointment was compounded when I arrived at the hostel I was going to be staying at to find that there was no one there except the receptionist as everyone had left 20 minutes previously on the weekly trip down to Tijuana in Mexico. Another fantastic opportunity missed due to the breakdown. Gutted!

Thanks to the coverage on ESPN UK, I did get into college football for a bit as well, Notre Dame and Michigan being the teams that I followed, but despite it being fun to watch, and a nice opportunity to see lots of great talent before they became huge stars, my already busy sport watching schedule just didn’t allow me the time to invest properly.

So yes, the wait for my first live game continues. Rather than going to one of the London games though, I would rather wait to get my first experience when I go to the States again as I would like to do it properly. Obviously, going to see the 49ers in San Francisco would be amazing but I would be satisfied with visiting any of the huge stadiums that the teams play in.

As well as being a big fan of the game itself, I have also taken a great interest in some of the excellent documentaries that have been released on a variety of different streaming platforms. Programmes like Hard Knocks, All or Nothing, Quarterback and Receiver give tremendous insight into what goes into being successful in an incredibly high pressure environment and show both the highs and lows for those involved. If you are new to the sport, they are a great way in to becoming more invested and building understanding.

I also couldn’t write an article about American Football without also mentioning one of the best TV shows that I have ever had the pleasure to have watched, Friday Night Lights. I had seen Peter Berg’s film based on the book by H.G. Bissinger about the trials and tribulations of the stars of a high school football team (they play on a Friday night, hence the name) and had really enjoyed it. When I heard they had announced a TV show based on the same material I was interested to see what it had to offer. Initially it seemed that it would just be another teen drama in the ilk of the many that had preceded it but clever writing along with brilliant performances by the likes of Kyle Chandler as coach Eric Taylor helped to create a series that showed how boys grow into men and how real and, at times, terrifying growing up can be. Taylor nurtures his team and helps them grow at every turn. If you get the chance, give it a watch. You won’t regret it. Clear eyes, full hearts, can’t lose. Indeed. 

Back to the real stuff though. This week marks the start of the new NFL season and the chance for fans to become excited again about how their teams will perform this season. Will anyone be able to stop Mahomes and the Chiefs? Tune in to find out.