Irish NFL fan in America Trip 3 Review (Oakland & San Francisco).

Best Game?

By all accounts it could well be. The Giants win over the 49ers in Levi Stadium on Monday night could be the best game I’ve ever been to, all things considered. The game was exciting the whole way through culminating in a last second game on the line win or lose throw. The stadium was the best I’ve ever been to. The pregame party was awesome. Getting on the pitch after the game was an experience of a lifetime.

Having said all that the atmosphere, overall, wasn’t as memorable as the Bills.

The San Francisco 49ers was a great experience. The Bills was an unbelievable experience, if that makes any sense.

When they built Levi Stadium in Santa Clara some 40 odd miles from downtown San Francisco they done it right. The stadium itself is just tremendous. It’s ultra modern. It has a patio at the top which probably hosts the best bar in all of sports. The inside of it is like club areas throughout. The stadium itself is a joy to behold. It is fresh, it is ultramodern, it is really just very impressive. Despite it being a few years old now everything about it seems brand new.

It’s the best stadium I’ve been to in my lifetime anyway.

I don’t think I can ever remember up until this year a game truly being on the line with one second left on the play-clock and yet there I was only my 6th game in and I had just seen it happen for the second time. It brought me right back to Philly as I looked up at that 0.01 on the screen. And it wasn’t just a Hail Mary left either, it was a genuine red zone opportunity, both times. This time it was the home team driving, last time it was the away team, ultimately neither of them would get the touchdown.

So what about the Raiders? I had high hopes for the Oakland Raiders. I was giddy the day I got a ticket in the black hole because I thought it was going to be an experience to remember for life getting in there. It wasn’t. It was good, it was memorable but it just wasn’t as good as I had thought it was going to be.

I suppose the big difference between the two games I went to last weekend were the kick off times. I think if you reverse the schedules I have two completely different experiences.

Monday night football is the nuts, plain and simple. I don’t know what it is about it but it seems like the crowd have waited all year for this fixture and are just so much more up for it than a daytime kick off. I’m sure the full day’s drinking probably helps.

I don’t think there’s any doubt about it that the Raiders are San Francisco’s team. That is, until they move to Vegas! They are so much closer to San Fran than the 49ers. Hell the 9ers aren’t even in San Francisco they’re in Santa Clara. I often wonder how the fan base of teams like that is made up. Who are these people in the stadium? Are they the Candlestick Park brigade? Are they new Silicon Valley blow ins that now have a team on their doorstep? Are they tourists like me? Who knows. Maybe a combination of all three. The Oakland Coliseum certainly had a more distinguished crowd. It had much more of hometown feel to it.

San Francisco itself was a good city without me actually loving it. I can’t really put my finger on why but it was my second time there and although there’s plenty on offer with the bridge and Alcatraz and tramcars going up big hills to me it was just not my type of city. North beach which I only passed through very briefly on Sunday night looked more like my kind of place but the city itself of San Francisco in and around Union Square was a bit humdrum, a bit lacking in atmosphere. It was more Chicago Bears than Buffalo Bills. I think I’m looking forward to getting out of the cities and in to the sticks with this tour.

Which brings me nicely on to my next trip, New York!

I’ll be back next month with my takings from the big apple just before Christmas where I’m going to see you guessed it, the Giants and the Jets.

Those vagabond shoes, they’re longing to stray.

Oakland - City (N/A)
Oakland - Raiders Gameday experience 6.8/10.

San Francisco - City 6.9/10
San Francisco - 49ers Gameday experience 8.1/10 

Irish NFL fan in America Trip 3 Preview.

Man, these NFL seasons are short.

My plan from the start with this has been to get four trips in a year and that’s exactly what I’m going to do. The problem what that is you really need to squeeze them in as you only have four months of regular season.

Although next year I might roll the dice and go to a playoff game with my fourth trip. Surely there’ll be some teams in there I haven’t seen!

All this means is that I’m away again this weekend for NFL trip three, this time to San Francisco.

It’s the 9ers and the Raiders this time and they take on the Giants and the Chargers respectfully. Should be two good games. With the exception of the first game in Philly all of the games I’ve been to have been pretty one sided affairs with long odds on favourites getting it done. The Raiders Chargers game could be more of the same but the 49ers Giants game should certainly be more of a contest with two teams that have only managed three wins between them from a possible 17.

I’ve got some nice tickets for both games. Section 105 of the Oakland Coliseum is considered the black hole by Raiders fans and that is exactly where I’ll be on Sunday. This should make for an amazing experience and it’s just as well after my trip to Buffalo. Standards are high!

For the San Francisco game I managed to get postgame field access, premium game seating and pregame party tickets as part of a 49ers fan deal. This should also provide a cool experience and it’s important as the last thing I want is any two games being similar or the same. I want each and every one to be distinctive in some way or another come the end.

I’ll be in San Francisco for six days without any travelling bar the short trip to Oakland (20 mins driving) which means this trip should be a lot less hectic that the last two.

It’s a privilege to be able to do this and I’m really glad I’ve followed through with the idea. The vlog has been well received and like I keep saying I think it will get better as I go along.

Other than that not much else to say other than time to tackle San Francisco! Expect a review and vlog from trip three sometime late next week.

Irish NFL fan in America Trip 2 Review (Chicago & Buffalo).

A tale of two cities.

Chicago and Buffalo. Two very different cities. Bills and the Bears. Two very different teams.

I didn’t spend a lot of time in Buffalo (only 17 hours) but I’ve seen livelier places. It was a ghost town. Chicago on the other hand was absolutely vibrant.

However, their teams did not match their cities. The Bears game was entirely forgettable. Soldier field subdued. The brand of football unexciting. Even their jerseys are dull. I left with almost no love for the Bears.

It probably didn't help that the Jets are one of the weakest teams in the NFL this year and really struggled in this game on both sides of the ball. The Bears were certainly too good for them on this occasion, not that they really needed to be.

And then I went to Buffalo.

I said at the end of my last blog that Chicago and Buffalo would have to bring the party to me as I hadn’t got much planned and by Jesus did Buffalo oblige.

I don’t know what a frat party is but I’m guessing I walked in on one in New Era field on Monday night. 

I knew within 5 miles of the stadium that it was going to be good. Parties bopping, stereos pumping, say what you want about Buffalo they know how to party.

You know when you’re driving up to a stadium or a concert or whatever and you get within a mile or two of the stadium and you just think “this is going to be good.” That was exactly what driving up to New Era field was like.

It may have been because it was Monday night football. It may have been because it was the Patriots, but I have a good feeling you could go to any Bills game against any opponent at anytime and be almost guaranteed a good time.

They are going to be hard beaten. I literally sprinted into the club store soon as I got there to buy a hat and jersey and believe you me I ain’t rich enough to be doing that each time. I felt physically compelled, drawn to their merchandise like a magnet. Only then could I possibly feel comfortable. Only then could I settle in. It was almost tribe-like.

I’ll put it like this. The idea crossed my mind to drop the whole tour and just buy a Bills season ticket instead. It was that good.
The area in and around New Era Field was absolutely bouncing. It was like a rock concert. It was raw, it was loud, it was wild, it was totally compelling. I didn’t want to go to the game it was so good outside! But I did and that was great too. There is just such a great party atmosphere at Bills’ games. It’s a sight to behold.

I don’t know if I’m going to see a more exciting team than them to be honest. I know I’m only 4 games in and 28 to go but I will be very surprised if any team tops it. It was that good.

Chicago itself was a marvellous city with lots to do and see I’d say you could spend a year there and still not have seen a lot of it. The lake running through the middle of it makes it very beautiful. I would recommend it to anyone for a holiday vacation.

Buffalo not so much. But for game-day, there might be no better.

Buffalo - City (Didn't see one! N/A).

Buffalo - Bills Gameday experience 9.5/10.

Chicago - City 8/10.
Chicago - Bears Gameday experience 3/10.

Irish NFL fan in America Trip 2 Preview.

First off I’d like to thank each and every person who watched, commented and liked my first video blog from trip one. It was quite an effort putting it together as it was all completely new to me but I was happy with how it turned out. I think the vlogs will get much better as I go along.

I’m looking forward to getting on the road again and making another one which I hope will be better this time around. That’s the aim, improve each time.

I’m going to see Tom Brady play this weekend. 

Not for the first time and hopefully not for the last either as I plan on catching a Patriots home game in 2019. This time he’ll be away from home in what should be a hostile atmosphere against the Buffalo Bills.

Unfortunately for the Bills they won’t equal their playoff birth of last year and getting within a touchdown or two of the Patriots this weekend would probably be a good result.

Quite amazing that despite only being two games in to my NFL adventure I’m already about to see the same team twice!

The Bills barely put a score on the board in week one in my game in Baltimore but hopefully with home field advantage and a grudge match feel against the Patriots they can put on some kind of a performance for me this time around.

I’ll also hopefully get to see one of the most exciting players on the defensive side of the ball in Chicago Bears outside linebacker Khalil Mack. He has simply exploded onto our screens this year in the Bear’s uniform and has been one of the stand out players in the early parts of this season.

I’m only going to be in Buffalo for one day which is probably the least amount of time any Irishman has spent in one US city. I haven’t got high hopes for Buffalo as a tourist destination so it may be just as well. Hopefully I’m wrong and I leave rueing the fact that I only spent 24 hours in the best city in America.

I have no idea what the best city in America is but I’d imagine Chicago would certainly be a contender. I’ll get three whole days in the windiest of cities to see if that’s the case and I am most certainly looking forward to finding out.

I’ve no real plans for this trip just going to take it as it comes. I’m hoping Chicago and Buffalo will bring the party to me this time.

Fill you all in next week!

Irish NFL fan in America Trip 1 Review (Philadelphia & Baltimore).

€299.

That’s how much my flight to Philadelphia cost me. Return. It was a direct transatlantic flight, no transfers. They checked in my bag, there was a personal in flight entertainment system there was drinks and meals on board, I went on a Wednesday afternoon and came back the following Monday. What I’m trying to say is there was no corners cut, everything was as you would want it.

Now maybe I’m wrong but to me that all just seems insanely cheap.

How can they provide all that and turn a profit? I certainly hope and would have nothing but respect for them if they do.

People have spent more on a night out than that.

Now there’s plenty of people out there who are good at saving money but it’s a two way street. You gotta be good at spending it too.

I challenge anybody to spend €299 better than I did on that flight.

So what I’m going to say next was that it was an amazing trip and everything went perfectly. Of course it didn’t but for the money I spent on the flight I couldn’t really go wrong could I?

It’s all personal preference I suppose but to me I think the best way you can spend money is on experiences as that’s the whole reason for being on this planet as far as I can see it and travel is certainly nearly always guaranteed to be at least that, an experience.

So how was the experience? Isn’t this supposed to be a blog about NFL? Why are you on paragraph ten and you haven’t even mentioned the whole reason for this blog yet?

I’m getting there. I’ve a 6 hour plane journey home to kill.

I’ll start off by saying I much preferred Baltimore to Philadelphia.

Philadelphia is an aggressive city. You walk out of a train station and stop, someone’s on you. You go to a coffee shop get something and stand outside, someone’s on you. I don’t think I’ve ever been accosted as much in my life as I was in the three days that I was in Philadelphia. And they were loud too. Everyone on the hustle, everyone wants a dollar and everyone wants it from you. I don’t think they have any concept or respect for personal space in that city. I certainly left it with a newfound thankfulness for mine as I was something I had sort of taken for granted my whole life.
Towards the end of it I just felt like screaming “FUCK OFFF” at the top of my lungs to the next person that interrupted me in the streets unsolicited. A man should be allowed to get on with his day without constantly getting interrupted in both a forceful and aggressive way. 



But the reason I went wasn’t to form an opinion on the local street beggars in their hometown but to go to the Philadelphia Eagles game which very deliberately happened to coincide with a Super Bowl victory presentation.



The game itself was tremendous. The atmosphere was as aggressive as the city itself and despite being low scoring the game itself was a hum-dinger that went down to the wire. I watched it back a few days later and it was just as compelling second time around. The NFL never ceases to throw up weird and wonderful ways in which the games themselves ultimately come to their conclusions. The back and forth nature of it really lends itself to nail biting finishes much like what we would have seen down though the years in the GAA and the way that their championship games usually finish. But to see one second left on the game clock and the game still very much in the balance is almost like something you’d see in a movie and that was the finish I got. I’m glad the Eagles won it. I had a bet on them and I have a bet on them to win the Super Bowl again this year so it was the result I wanted. Plus you kind of feel partial to the home team once you’re there. And it was quite the home crowd. I don’t think I saw one falcon fan in the stadium up until the 4th quarter. Maybe they had their jerseys covered up! 



Maybe I got a bad impression of Philly but I was happy enough to leave it after that. I must give a shout out to the bus driver though who let me get on at 03.30 in the morning somewhere near the stadium with no Uber’s or taxis in sight despite the fact I had no cash and only cards which he couldn’t take. The city of brotherly love was very much on show on that occasion.

I did get to the golf on Friday which was cool as I’d never been to a PGA event before. Or any golf event for that matter. To see the superstars of golf who I watch week in week out up close was quite a thrill and it was a nice way to spend an afternoon in what was a gloriously sunny day.



The next day I was Baltimore bound and heading to the train station the heavens opened. There had been storms at the Eagles game and again the following night after the golf but this time they were here to stay and didn’t leave for the rest of my trip.
To say I would end up getting soaked at the Ravens game the next day would be putting it mildly. I got absolutely saturated for the entire game. No let off. 



It proved to be not just a washout but a near shutout too with the Ravens winning 47-3. I really enjoyed the atmosphere in the Ravens stadium they put on a great show with things like the players entrance's, screen displays for things like MOVE, THOSE, CHAINS and TOUCHDOWNBALTIMORRE they really help get the home crowd on-side and loud. I found Baltimore to be a much, much nicer city. Far prettier, far cleaner far better looked after place with a much more comfortable atmosphere generally for a tourist walking around the streets a bit like Dublin or Manchester or some other suchlike European city that’s not massive like London or Barcelona which was what Philly felt like but with just the worst parts and not the good parts as well.



I’m not sure how I’m going to rate the cities and the teams as I go along because there’s so many different ways in which you can rate them but I do feel like I should probably keep some sort of log for the purpose of cross comparisons and so as to compare each city and team’s experience as I go along.

I would have much more of a personal preference towards the Eagles than the Ravens but I must admit having done this trip I have a much better appreciation towards the city of Baltimore and the Ravens now than I did before and if a neutral was to ask me which city to go to out of the two I would definitely recommend Baltimore for both the city itself and as a place to watch a game as I found the game-day experience to be better in Baltimore after what I must admit was a very good experience too for the game in Philly.



I had a lot of small chats over the few days with various people that I met along the way but two that stood out in particular was getting to meet Eagle fan Justin Kelly just inside the gates of the stadium at the fan benches who proceeded to frighten the life out of me when he told me a Scottish guy had already done something identical to what I had been doing and it had been very popular and well embraced in a way that was like when Fr. Ted was in the lift and heard his Eurovision entry was in fact a very well known song from yesteryear that just about everyone had known bar him and would think he had just copied despite being completely innocent. Also nice to meet Rick Noppenberger (and his wife Joanna) who runs the Baltimore Ravens fan page on Facebook and who very kindly agreed to meet me at halftime and let me sit with them for the second half and make me feel like I was at home there. 




So my trip one scores are as follows.
Philadelphia - City 4/10.
Philadelphia - Eagles gameday experience 7.5/10.



Baltimore - City 6.5/10.
Baltimore - Ravens Gameday experience 8.5/10.



So that concludes trip one.

I expected going into this trip that the vlog would be really weak and the blog would be good but in actual fact I think it’s going to be the other way around. It is far from Martin Scorsese I can assure you but I think there’s some good stuff in there that will hopefully show up on screen. Should also be a better way of getting a feel for my trip than what I have given here. The beauty of being able to do a blog and a vlog is that even if one isn’t great the other one should make up for it and I think that will the case with the vlog below.

Enjoy!

Irish NFL fan in America - Trip 1 preview.

Apparently I’m a Cleveland Brown.

That’s according to the same American couple that claimed that I “in no way whatsoever match the personality of a Dallas Cowboys fan”.

To be honest I’m not sure whether to be offended or impressed that my personality best represents a team that has won one game in the last two years. It’s certainly a drop from thinking my allegiance was best aligned with the most famous NFL team there ever was. Perhaps I have the underdog spirit.



This morning I bet on the Cleveland Browns to win the Super Bowl. Not because my personality best represents them, but because at 100/1 I think they’re overpriced. Their new quarterback is a decent prospect and they have been drafting all around him for the last few years. I can probably tear up the slip after 3 games but if I don’t I think they’ll have a chance.



But this preview is not about which NFL franchise my personality best represents or which 100/1 shot I’m betting on to win the big dance but instead to preview my upcoming trip. The first of my Stateside NFL tour.

On Wednesday next I fly out to Philadelphia to see the most recent Super Bowl winners host the Atlanta Falcons in this year’s NFL season opener. This will be one of 16 trips I’m going to take over the next four years in which I’ll see each and every one of the 32 NFL franchises play once at home.



Philadelphia looks like a fun place and not just for its cheesesteaks. The city of brotherly love should be neigh-on bouncing for the season opener in which their team takes to the field as world champions for the first time in the franchise’s history. The rocky steps will be run up, the Liberty Bell will be rung and that’s all before I hop on the train to Baltimore for game two. For the home of The Wire will be my second stop in what is going to be a hectic last few months of 2018 in which I’ll get to see 8 different NFL teams play.



What am I looking forward to most about my trip to America? In a word, breakfast. Or as I like to call it gorge-fest. Pancakes? Yes. Omelette? Yes. French toast? Hell yes. Coffee? Absolutely. Cinnamon buns, banana loaf, chicken and waffles, syrup on everything it’s all kinds of wrong yet all kind of right. Every time I go to the States I always find myself waking up early (thank you jet lag) hungry and ready to eat a lot so I go find the best local diner around and indulge in all a United States’ breakfast has to offer. It is just about the best part of being in America and it will be a constant joy throughout this trip.



Another part I enjoy is the nightlife and for once in my life being considered exotic. Yes I’m really from Ireland. Yes I’ve seen leprechauns. Yes we should get married. Sure isn’t it destiny? Be gorra be gorra sure it definitely is.

The thing I am most apprehensive about is starting a new vlog. It certainly doesn’t seem natural to me or something which I’ll be good at but I feel absolutely obligated to at least give it a go. Hopefully it turns out alright. It’s something which I envisage will definitely get better as I go along.

I recently purchased tickets to all of this year’s games and I’ve managed to garner quite a collection. Each and every one has an angle or story to them which I will share as I go along.



I went for club seats to kick off the trip in Philly and then literally the cheapest seat in M&T Bank Stadium for game two in Baltimore. Should be interesting to contrast the premium seating with the worst seat in the house all in one trip.

I have no idea which trip is going to be the best or most interesting. I haven’t even thought about which city will be the best. I’m just going to do it and see how it goes. It’s all rather exciting.

Looking forward to getting going now and getting this show on the road. Philadelphia, get the cheesesteaks on and the bud lights ready. I'm on my way.

32 NFL teams, 4 years, USA via Dublin.

Sunday nights, anytime from September through to start of February, you can guarantee the last thing my eyeball sees is either a game-winning touchdown or a game-ending interception.

And it's been that way for years.

I have been totally and utterly absorbed by the NFL, its short five month season, the botched game winning field goals, the bad play calls, the under the hood reviews and most of all the utter drama it delivers week in week out, season in season out. It's like your favorite TV series and your favorite sport all rolled into one. It keeps you up all night.

The Cleveland Browns. The Dallas Cowboys. The New York Giants.

Famous places, famous cities, teams that have become so familiar to me and yet all so far away.

I live in Dublin. My nearest team is an ocean away from me. I'm so far removed yet so deeply engrossed, so familiarized, so fanatical.

It's quite the paradox.

I think Razorlight said it best when they said 'all my life, watching America'. Anybody living in Ireland will know exactly what I'm talking about. And not just NFL fans either. We consume so much US media and yet as I look at this map of the world in front me, we're absolutely miles away!

Which makes my next mission all the more daring. 

I'm going to go and see each and every one of the 32 NFL teams play in their home stadium at least once before I die. But instead of taking my entire lifetime to do it, I'm going to do it over the next four years.

Let me say that again, That's 32 teams, all dotted across America, each and every stadium, each and every city in four years. And I live in Ireland.

So how am I going to do this? I'm going to take four trips a year, two games per trip, over four years which means 4 x 2 x 4 = 32 teams seen by 2022.

Now how I'm going to get from Kansas City, Missouri to Phoenix, Arizona or wherever it may be as the adventure goes on, well that's just going to be part of the fun.

How am I gonna fund this? In short I have absolutely no idea. It's going to be expensive but it's going to be well spaced out. 

Although not as spaced out as the person attempting it.

It's a leap of faith but I think I'm going to be able to do it. Would be great to get to see all the cities let alone get to see NFL too everywhere I go. The whole idea just seems so right to me how could it possibly go wrong?

In 2014 I went to the World Cup in Brazil for three weeks. The year after that I went to Vegas to see the Mayweather Pacquiao fight. I'm not saying these were the best moments of my life because they weren't, but they were probably the most memorable. It's the sort of trips you'll remember forever, these things, and I haven't done anything like that since then.

Now's the time for a new project.

It would be a shame not to do a blog about the whole adventure which is why I'm starting this today to document the trip. In fact I'm going to go one step further and start a travel vlog too, one vlog from each trip, 16 videos in total.

I've never vlogged before but you have to start somewhere. I think the story is so interesting it would be a shame not to film it.

It's been a dream of mine to do this for quite a while so I might as well start and take it year by year. If it takes me longer than the four years then so be it. I've been thinking about it for four years and I'm no closer now than I was then so any trip would be an improvement. 

My plan is to pick off the easier cities first, or in other words the ones that Aer Lingus fly directly to from Dublin. Which means this year I'll be going to Philadelphia, Chicago, San Francisco and New York. All things being equal I'll probably go to Seattle, Los Angeles, Washington DC. and Miami next year.

I can't wait to sample the atmosphere of each city, meet the fans and see their teams play. I'm sort of a free agent myself at the moment after falling out of love with the Dallas Cowboys over the years a team I liked but who ultimately broke my heart as one by one they pushed, shoved and unceremoniously dumped each and every one of my favorite stars out the door. Plus I've been told by a real life American that I "absolutely in no way whatsoever match the personality of a Dallas Cowboys fan."  

Maybe I'll end up right back where I started when its all done. Or maybe I'll find myself a new team. This trip is definitely one way of making an informed decision on that front. 

With none of the teams having any direct link back to Ireland I think the best way to chose one would be to visit each and everyone of them and decide for myself. Don't you?

So really, that's it. My first trip is going to be the opening game of the season in Philadelphia when the freshly crowned Super Bowl champion Eagles host the Atlanta Falcons on September 6th after that it'll be the train down to Baltimore to catch the Ravens host the Bills.

32 teams, four years, USA via Dublin.