Celebrityscraps

I wake early on sunday morning and make the agonising journey on packed public transport down to Wembley Stadium to see the once a year International NFL match. “I should have driven!”

Arriving at the stadium and very hungry I’m confronted with £6 burger prices and excessivly priced merchandise…. not a good start.

I enter the tailgate party which is basically a few bars… a stage with a New Orleans style band … and a big tent to drink in. That’s it…. this I was not impressed with, and must say that the tailgate party hosted by the Dolphins the previous year was much better…. maybe the Saints are trying to capture the atmosphere of “post hurricane New Orleans”??

Anyway I decide to stop wasting time and head for the stadium.

I arrive… get a reasonably priced beer and take my seat. It’s about 3 rows from the front so I’m pleased i’ll be able to get a good view of the cheerleaders… and the game too!

This is where the experience turned from a chore to a delight. As it was the home game every seat had a New Orleans Saints flag for us to wave merrily. That was a nice touch and definatly paid off from a TV point of view because as soon as the cameras are on the crowd all you could see was flags waving.

Right… to cut a long story short the game was in all fairness one of the best I’ve watched in a long time, and right till the last second (no word of a lie) could have gone either way. It will probably also win a competition for the most penalties handed out in an NFL match this season.

The Chargers played well… a bit rough.. but well, and the Saints put on a stunning performance that certianly pleased the crowd. Check the hightlights: HERE!

The trip back was another matter. 84,000 people hit the streets of Wembley and try to get on the London Underground…..EPIC FAIL!!!!

To resolve this transport issue my buddy and I run about 4 miles up the road to catch a different underground line… which we were able to get on although the situation did resemble that of battery chickens we were that packed in.

Bottow line… the game was awesome and worth it… but next year I’ll drive!

I’m recovering from my grueling weekend of madness. On Saturday I covered the MCM Expo (UK’s version of ComicCon) and caught up with Greg Grunberg and Brea Grant from ‘Heroes‘, Michael Hogan from ‘Battlestar Galactica‘, and also spoke to the cast and production staff for ‘Primeval‘ and new series ‘Demons’. The event was huge and even caught the attention of the police who turned up in force when they noticed the huge queue of 30,000 attendees snaking it’s way round the Excel centre in London.

On Sunday I rambled over to Wembley Stadium to check out the NFL International match between the New Orleans Saints and the San Diego Chargers…. and it was a cracker!

Keep a keen eye out as I’ll be posting my adventures at both throughout the week.

Two bits of bad news so far this NFL season. First being that Sky in their infinate wisdom (not) decided that they would not include the Kansas City Vs New England match in their 3 game screening… the other being that Tom Brady got his knee owned and is out for the whole season.

This means Matt Cassel will be taking point for New England’s offensive. I think he’ll do well too… he got top passer in the Kansas match so that’s a start.

Go Pats!!

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