Cheerleaders, a streaker and 1st down & how many?
Giants & Dolphins make history @ Wembley
Monday, October 29, 2007 by Alternate Setting | Discussion: WinCustomize Talk
The pitch, no - not a field you guys, that's what a cow stands in - the pitch, still new and prone to cutting up, challenged the natural playing style of the two visitors, resulting in a game that would I'm sure, have seemed lacklustre to true fans of the sport.
To a Brit, more used to rugby than American football, sliding through mud is often an integral part of a game. Not apparently so for our visitors, who every now and then would stand up with a face guard full of turf, leaving a fella to wonder if there was a particularly American phrase to cover such an occassion. If there was I didn't hear it uttered last night, although every now and then, body posture suggested we Brits could stick our 'thin' grass, someplace where the Sun doesn't shine as brightly as Miami.
Still the teams battled on, enjoying an atmosphere that will, together with ticket sales, have left NFL executives in no doubt that their presence was a welcome one. Entertainment came in different forms; fireworks, music and just enough of the Miami Dolpin Cheerleaders to bring a touch of that Florida sunshine to an otherwise grey London evening .
As players, notably Lemon, struggled early on to find a purchase on the ball, American commentators lamented the English supporters habit of risking confusion by quite literally blowing their own whistles. Not all distractions though, were met with same level of concern, as witnessed by these same commentators, seemingly quite entertained by that most eccentric of British traditions, the streaker. In this case a serial streaker who'd run onto the pitch dressed in a fake referees uniform before stripping off, presumably to exhibit his own version of a tight end.
It was a shame there wasn't a couple more minutes play to be had, the Miami Dolphins had just put themselves in a position to threaten the New York Giants when the leaders dug in to kill the last minute of the game - attracting a chorus of boo's from a frustrated crowd. It was a temporary clash of cultures, quickly resolved as the final whistle sounded and both sides were applauded by the fans, amongst which shirts representing every team in the league could be seen.
I meanwhile, having used the Sky Sports onboard guide to American football to master the 1st down and 10 thing, had thought I was doing quite well for a novice viewer....until I took my eyes of for a second, only to look back up and see the display telling me 1st down and 22......... 22? ............. nobody mentioned anything about a number higher than 10........ Perhaps, I hadn't quite decoded everything.
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Reply #2 Monday, October 29, 2007 6:30 AM
without Shula they might as well be playing baseball...........maybe they want to borrow the Bucs old orange uniforms???
Go Jags!
Reply #3 Monday, October 29, 2007 6:33 AM
that go's out to vStyler. 
Reply #4 Monday, October 29, 2007 7:33 AM
Shame about the weather. Since the deluge called the summer, we haven't had any rain here - until yesterday. Put an inch of rain on a new pitch and what do you get? Yeah, mud... It's not mature enough to play on yet.
For those in the US wondering why we have grass pitches, for football (real football) artificial turf causes too many injuries, so grass it is
As for the crowd, 90k+ and could have been sold out four times over! The vast majority of the crowd are very knowledgeable and will have been following the game for years. Some were new and brought their 'football culture' with them - something visiting teams will have to get used to...
Sure was nice to watch the game in HD. We normally get very poor picture quality sent over here 
Reply #5 Monday, October 29, 2007 7:48 AM
Go Jags!!!
Reply #6 Monday, October 29, 2007 8:01 AM
God forbid they ever get that desperate!!!!
And let's just all keep it in perspective...as bad as the Fins are doing this year ( and by bad I mean abyssmal), they are still the only team that ever went undefeated in a season.
Reply #7 Monday, October 29, 2007 8:02 AM
It's an Aussie tradition, actually...well it was until Dennis Lillee belted the streaker's bare arse with his cricket bat.
Reply #8 Monday, October 29, 2007 8:03 AM
let me reiterate the
Reply #9 Monday, October 29, 2007 8:09 AM
Reply #10 Monday, October 29, 2007 8:15 AM
Reply #11 Monday, October 29, 2007 8:19 AM
- maybe that could be a tradition too
Reply #12 Monday, October 29, 2007 9:23 AM
Reply #13 Monday, October 29, 2007 9:48 AM
I was born in Sanford, ever so slightly closer to Miami than Daytona. I've been to probably 30+ games in the Orange Bowl including a 1981 AFC playoff game against San Diego that's well known as the greatest game ever played. I have Dolphins memorabilia going back as far as 1970.
Your wrong, Don Shula was the team just like Landry was the Cowboys. Players come and go but the coach remained. I've watched Greise, Strock, Woodley & Marino. I can't go for hiring QBs that should be retired and having players on the roster who'd rather smoke dope than play. When Shula left I had no qualms about switching my allegiance. It's 6+ hours to get to a Dolphins game from my house. I can be in J-ville in 1:45
Reply #14 Monday, October 29, 2007 1:03 PM
Except when it's a lady streaker, which is when ya tie the coppers boot laces together and the run like they've two left feet and hope they never catch the entertai...offender.
Saw one a few years back at the Brisbane Cricket Ground...fortunately the first mrs starkers was absent due to a nature call, meaning I didn't have to pretend I was rooting for the coppers when I really wanted to root...er, have a fiver each way on the girl.
Guess it must be true what they say about clothes slowing you down, those coppers didn't get within cooee of that lass. So glad the cops didn't figure out about the clothes bit ....not exactly poetry in motion, if ya know wot I mean.
Reply #15 Monday, October 29, 2007 1:37 PM
When was the first recorded streaker in first-class or Test cricket?
The first recorded sighting of a streaker took place at 3.20pm on 5 August 1975 when Michael Angelow, a merchant navy cook clad only in plimsolls, leapfrogged over each set of stumps during the Ashes Test at Lord's.
He was subsequently fined £25 (the amount of his winnings from a bet) by St John's Wood magistrates.
Football started in 1974: LINK to BBC photo gallery
Reply #16 Monday, October 29, 2007 4:22 PM
Guess being a fan has different meaning for some folks......
Reply #17 Monday, October 29, 2007 4:53 PM
Here it's around $4000 or there-abouts now.
In Motor Racing, eg F1 ....it's not a police issue..... we [Race Officials] are charged with the duty of 'reasonable force' to 'take them down'. That tends to be getting the biggest flaggie to sit on them.
The Ass Comm of Police once suggested...."don't worry too much if you have to 'damage' them...we'll fudge the paperwork later..."
Some pivotal sports events have been destroyed by 'streakers' or pitch-invaders, etc....for Oz, the worst instance was the 'serial pest' Peter Hore ....who single-handedly ruined Australia's qualifying for a World Cup [Soccer]. He has 'crashed' all sorts of events...from Michael Hutchence's Funeral [INXS] to the Melbourne Cup.
2007 MotoGP, Phillip Island ....if we [officials] did not handle crowd invasion before the bikes were safely off the circuit and back to Park Ferme FIM would have pulled our license...no more Oz MotoGP round. We handled 'em OK...
Reply #18 Monday, October 29, 2007 5:05 PM
WWW Link
Reply #19 Monday, October 29, 2007 5:23 PM
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Reply #1 Monday, October 29, 2007 6:11 AM