Self-praise is for losers, be a winner. Stand for something. Always have class and be humble
John Madden — NFL coach, who never had a losing season and who holds the highest winning percentage of head coaches.
While the famous saying is 'Go West, young man', this old man headed south last weekend.
My first task was a spot of cat-sitting. When Sarah, my wife and I separated last year, Sarah kept 'custody' of our cats, Tux and Sandy. Not that anyone truly has custody of a cat. If anything, it's the other way around.
Sarah needed to travel to sort out some family matters, so I offered to stay at her place in Northamptonshire and look after the cats. Not that the task is very demanding. Once you've fed and watered them, it's a matter of coping with the complete indifference they show you until they decide it might be play or stroke time. At one point, Tux, our older cat, decided she would grace me with her company by curling up beside me and going to sleep. I know it sounds ridiculous, but I felt honoured.
Anyway, enough of domestic felines. Once Sarah got back, we had a couple of lovely gentle days together, and then it was on the train for me and to London.
I mentioned Wembley Stadium in last week's Meander. That was my destination last Sunday. To watch football. But not the round ball variety. And no, not Rugby football, but the American variety.
And just to go back to the shape of a Rugby football. Why do they have the shape they do? I've seen 19th-century photographs of a chap holding a couple of rugby balls distinctly rounder than those used today.
I've read that the oval shape developed from using a pig's bladder in the early balls. But the same is true of the original bladders of round footballs. The oval shape obviously lends itself more to a 'handling' game, yet Gaelic football, which uses a round ball, also traces its roots to Rugby football. Ummm, I'm sure a rugby aficionado out there can enlighten me.
Anyway, to Wembley and the NFL game between another type of cat, the Jacksonville Jaguars, against a bird, the Atlanta Falcons. You can see from the photo that I was in the cheap seats. The last time I was that high, I was in an aeroplane. Still, it offered a decent view from which to watch the game unfold.
I first saw American Football over fifty years ago when the BBC broadcast a short clip of an early Super Bowl on 'Grandstand'. And mentioning Grandstand, it was a surprise to discover how long ago that programme ended. In the early 1970s before I left the Northeast, and if I wasn't at St. James' Park watching NUFC, and the weather inclement, it was a staple winter Saturday afternoon of sport viewing for my father and me. I grew up with those familiar voices of Eddie Waring for Rugby League, Bill McLaren for Rugby Union, Peter O'Sullevan for horse racing and David Coleman for athletics.
I can't say I understood anything that I watched in that first glimpse of the NFL. It seemed a staccato affair with a morass of helmeted, padded, burly bodies crunching into each other. It was so different from the other 'contact' team games of the UK with their constant movement and pace.
American Football could have stayed a vague childhood memory if Channel 4 had not begun in 1982 to broadcast weekly highlights. Those now 'late great' coaches were still in the game. The likes of the fedora-wearing Tom Landry and Don Shula (he of the ‘perfect season’ of not losing a game in winning the Super Bowl that no team has since equalled, and now it's much harder to achieve it may never be). And while John Madden, who I quote above, was no longer coaching his insightful TV analysis was a boon to someone new to the game like me.
I don't have a favourite team, although I always look up the Dolphins' score, probably because of Shula and Dan Marino, who I first saw in his rookie year for the Dolphins in 1983. From the start, he was clearly someone of extraordinary talent. He was a classic quarterback of the time. Unlike most of today's quarterbacks, he was a pocket passer with limited mobility. But what an arm. He would undoubtedly have been a first-round draft pick for the English archers at Agincourt.
So, over the years, I’ve tended to have favourite players rather than a team. Some of those talented players have passed away. And I have in mind here Walter 'sweetness' Payton. He was a phenomenal player of the game. I recall watching the Chicago Bears, the team for which he played, severely mauling the Patriots in the 1986 Super Bowl. I'll never forget the 'novelty' play of the Bears' coach, Mike Ditka, bringing on a defensive end, William 'the refrigerator' Perry (a close to 22 stone player), onto the offence to score a touchdown. The way Perry ran over the Patriot defenders was akin to later watching Jonah Lumo score a try in the 1995 rugby World Cup while running over the top of Mike Catt, the hapless England fullback.
As you can tell, the sport soon hooked me. Never had I seen something that combined a chess-like strategy with such supreme physical endeavour. A quarterback's ability to sail a ball to any part of the field into the hands of a wide receiver. The speed and handling skills of said receivers. Running backs who can pause, accelerate, twist, and spin through or around the scrimmage line. Or those on that line who use their physicality to 'open up' a 'play', or if in defence, close it down. And if a play unfolds as it should, it can take on a balletic beauty. Of course, the defence is looking to interrupt such plays with a cornerback or safety always with an eye out for an interception or the offensive line looking to ‘sack' the quarterback or cause a fumble.
Given their similarities, it is unsurprising that American Football emerged from rugby football. It was Walter Camp, the 'Father of American Football' who, in the late 19th Century, introduced changes such as a scrimmage line, downs, the forward pass and blocking. Not long after came the concept of scripted plays.
I wasn't the only one in 1982 who took to the game. Viewing figures on Channel 4 soared, and I, and several million like me, tuned in to watch Super Bowl XVII, despite its late Sunday night start on the 30 January 1983. I continue that ritual to this day and at least the three o'clock in the morning finishes are less challenging now I don't have the demands of work later that Monday morning.
Along with its popularity on TV, many people across the UK began to form teams to play the game. It culminated in the creation of what became known as NFL Europe. Teams came from cities worldwide, including New York, Montreal, Amsterdam, Barcelona, Berlin, London, and Edinburgh. For a while, NFL Europe had quite a following. Sadly, it ended in 2007 as the quality of play, and players was not the standard that one could see on TV from the NFL in the USA.
The NFL International series began in the same year as NFL Europe disappeared. Teams from the NFL in the USA travelling to play regular-season games in London. So, since 2007, as well as watching on TV, I indulge myself by attending games in London. In the early days, most attendees were service personnel from the USA stationed in the UK or Germany. I guess attending the game gave them a feeling of being home. That’s shifted over the years. Attendees are now primarily from the UK with some travelling from the USA by way of a ‘package’ organised through the Jaguars team while others make their own way. Indeed, on the train back to Newcastle on Monday I fell into conversation with a couple from Buffalo who were combining a visit to the Jaguars v Bills game in London this coming Sunday with research on a relative who moved from Newcastle to Buffalo in the late 1800s.
The atmosphere at the London games is much more that of a rugby game than football. Also, as with rugby, there is a swift and firm dealing of violent conduct on the field. Men so big and fit could do each other severe injury (even wearing helmets and padding) if strict laws were not in place. Tackling headfirst, tackling a quarterback low, horse collaring (pulling a player from behind by his shoulder pads) or pulling the face mask are all penalised by significant yardage. And gaining yards is what the game is about. Even minor offences, such as holding, blocking in the back, and tripping, carry a penalty. I've seen many players ejected for over-aggression. Woe betides a player who aggressively questions an official, never mind touches them. Oh, and VAR is faster, too. Things that Premier League football is struggling to address this season.
American Football is not everyone's cup of tea. Still, I've yet to see a team sport where a game’s momentum can change on one play or mistake or offers so many last-minute if not last-second triumphs or disasters.
So, last Sunday, I again watched the spectacle that is an NFL game unfold. The result between the Jaguars and the Falcons went as form predicted, and the Jaguars ran out easy winners. A cat tends to come off best when taking on a bird. The Falcons not helping themselves with several costly turnovers. The result went down well with the crowd as the Jaguars see London as a 'home' venue, and the crowd of some 85,000 indeed showed their support. 'Sweet Caroline' is really the song of the Carolina Panthers however it’s now often sung at the Jaguars’ London games (their rallying cry is the title of this piece). Sunday was no exception and something for the ear to behold. Even when Neil Diamond's dulcet tones faded, the crowd continued with the rendition and in a rather good voice, too.
"…Sweet Caroline
Good times never seemed so good
I've been inclined
To believe they never would…"
Harry, this a great piece. Marino at Agincourt is classic. Ditka’s decision to give the ball to William Perry, rather than to Payton, who had yet to score, remains highly controversial. And then, of course, there was the over-the-top and great fun “Super Bowl Shuffle” song and video. If you can, check out ESPN’s “30 for 30” video documentary on the ‘85 Bears. It’s unbelievable. Thank you for sharing. I’m glad your trip went well.
Talk of sports - I'm not much of a sports fan, but there's a series called " Welcome to Wrexham ". Ryan Reynolds, AKA Deadpool & " Free Guy " is helping a soccer team rebuild a community that had a checkered soccer past. More human interest than actual soccer, but still good. He also finds time to hawk Aviation American Gin ( which he invested heavily in ) as well.