Ok, I know I've already eliminated them form my search but regardless of that I'm pretty certain I won't be getting the St Louis bug in October.The NFL International Series is an amazing event. I've attended a wide range of sporting events around the world and can honestly say that the Wembley game is one of the very best.
The atmosphere, the spectacle, the fans and the organisation are all brilliant. I've attended the event 3 times and watched five different teams play. Five teams with an opportunity to turn me into a fan, to make me follow them for life. And they all failed!
It goes back to the intangibility of who people support. I could easily have turned into a fan of any of these teams in the same way that I hope a lot of people will become Rams fans this year. When I became a fan of the football and cricket teams I support, it was because of the instant hit I had when I first saw them play. Seeing as I was 6 at the time I was probably more easily influenced back then! As an adult, I didn't "take" to the Wembley teams when I saw them, so they've missed their opportunity to have me as a fan. Which means I can eliminate a whopping 5 teams from my search. But why didn't I fall for any of the 5 teams...
New Orleans Saints - My first visit to the International Series was in 2008 and was by some distance the best match of the 5 Wembley games thus far. As the home team, there was a heavy Saints theme to the pre match Tailgate proceedings - traditional New Orleans food, mardi gras, Saints cheerleaders etc. It made for a great afternoon, comfortably the best of the Tailgates I've been to. And the Saints won a pulsating game, playing some excellent football along the way.
But I didn't end up supporting them, I guess as it was the early days of my NFL support I was still learning and didn't know as much as I do now. Maybe, if it had been the Saints in 2011 I would have jumped at the chance to support them? Either way, they had their chance to win my support and failed to do so.San Diego Chargers - Definitely in the near miss category. A started liking the Chargers during the 07/08 playoffs I enjoyed the fired up intensity/anger of QB Philip Rivers, the speed of the tiny Darren Sproles and the winning touchdown by back up Billy Volek against the Colts. When I joined the nfl website, I picked the Chargers as my team. When the Chargers were selected as the Saints opponents for the Wembley game I was excited about seeing my favourite team play. But then...nothing. I wasn't yet into following the league during the off season and to all intents and purposes I lost interest in the Chargers, so when the 08 season began I was back to square one. I was watching different teams every week and the Chargers were just tone of the 32 again. By the time Wembley cam around I was pretty much neutral about the outcome. But how knows, maybe if the Chargers had won I'd have become a fan. A last second hail mary away from finding my team?
Tampa Bay Buccaneers - The Bucs have been the home team on 2 of my 3 Wembley visits (I couldn't make it in 2010). Both times they lost, for at least 75% of the time they played poorly and quite frankly they didn't do anything on the pitch to endear me to them. But support isn't just about picking a winning , it's aobut developing a love for a team. Sure, on field success helps but the Bucs could have lured me in without getting a W on the pitch.
The main reason they didn't was the atmosphere around the games, at both the Tailgate and the pubs around Wembley it felt like I was at some kind of NFL fan fest (which in many ways it was!) rather than a Bucs home game. Naturally enough, fans of other teams were wearing their teams' shirts and the Bucs weren't really any more prominent than any other team. I'm not blaming the Bucs for this as it's normal for fans to show their support in such a way at an annual event, it just didn't lend itself to encouraging people to support Tampa Bay. As an aside I think this is something the NFL need to address for the Rams game, there are a lot of people open to supporting a new team and having the matchday experience feel like a Rams home game will massively help in this area.
New England Patriots - Nobody likes the school bully! As the Pat's cruised to a comprehensive win in 2009, I couldn't muster anything in the way of enthusiasm for the way things went down. It was comfortably the weakest of the 3 games I've attended. No fault of New England and it was a pleasure to watch Tom Brady perform, but picking off the array of no name Bucs was a simple task and not really a great opportunity for them to showcase how great they can be. Again, who knows - if it had been a victory over a high quality team I may have develop some love for the Pats.
Chicago Bears - Similar to the Saints, this is a bit of an intangible. The Bears played well, I like quite a few of their players (Forte, Urlacher, Briggs, Hester) and I enjoyed the match. But it just didn't click, I was watching them from a neutral point of view and I actually wanted the Bucs to win in the final quarter. I guess it's the British penchant for routing for the underdog and wanting a last minute winner. So again, through no real fault of their own the Bears are eliminated from my search.
Phew, that seems like a hefty chunk of teams to eliminate, but it seemed a suitable time to write about the International Series and my experience of it. And, of course, it allows me to get down to 22 teams....
Eliminated - Colts, Jaguars, Steelers, Rams, Bears, Bucs, Patriots, Chargers, Saints and Chiefs
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