Ideas on how to feed my football addiction whilst abroad?

by Silverblood on Sep 20, 2008 11:01 PM MDT Comment 13 comments

So, in about a week and a half, I will be leaving Colorado to head for Oxford, England, for a year. While I am insanely excited about this and am counting not only days, but hours (well, pretty much) there remains the small problem that I will be missing out on watching the rest of the season live (the last game I will be able to catch on TV is the Chiefs) as well as all of the playoffs. I'll be 7 hours ahead of MT, which means that I may be able to check in on the game threads, but will only have Gameday (a poor substitution, as I am sure you know). And once the night games start, I am doomed (HAVE TO MISS BRONCOS VS. PATRIOTS ARGH ARGH, it will start at 1:30 am in the morning. I'd be even more furious if it was Cutler vs. Brady, as I've been looking forward to that matchup for so long, so I suppose it's a cruel consolation prize that at least it's Cutler vs. Cassel).Not to mention I won't get to watch the Super Bowl or any of the playoffs live, so how am I supposed to see Cutler and Co. tearing it up? (Knock on wood). I will also have to miss college bowl season. Maybe there is one TV in all of England I can hijack for its God-given purpose.

So, what do I do? Become a soccer fan? (It is not football, and I don't care if calling it soccer will get me jumped by hooligans, I know what football is and that is not football, it's soccer). Invest in some black-market Internet TV that will record the games for me? Buy some off iTunes to salve my yearning for live football, and not just multi-colored lines going one way or another on a dinky little field diagram? I cannot afford tickets for Chargers vs. Saints at Wembley, although that did occur to me. (I am, as a matter of fact, redonkolously poor).

So, help me out, MHR. What are your brilliant ideas for feeding my football addiction when TV and live games are not an option, and my budget is miniscule?

This is a Fan-Created Comment on MileHighReport.com. The opinion here is not necessarily shared by the editorial staff of MHR

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buy tivo and sunday ticket

off of direct tv its a little pricey but maybe you can get a deal since no one in england probally has sunday ticket

by robbo650 on Sep 20, 2008 11:22 PM MDT reply actions 0 recs

Well, I won't have a TV

so that too may be an issue, and if I did, would those services be offered over there anyway? And/or without costing a fortune? It’s worth consideration, but I am unsure…

Rockies 2008 Season Motto: "Naaaahhhh."

by Silverblood on Sep 20, 2008 11:38 PM MDT up reply actions 0 recs

gamepass?

If you haven’t got a TV, you may have trouble. Skysports shows four Sunday games (two at 6pm, 2 at 9pm), Five (a terrestrial ‘free’ channel) shows the late Sunday night game and Monday night games.

If you still have the net over here, your best bet is Gamepass: http://www.nfl.com/gamepass

and the sing along songs will be our scriptures - we gotta stay positive!

by Orange & Blue Badger on Sep 21, 2008 9:40 AM MDT up reply actions 0 recs

common man !!!!

Dont bloody GO !!!!!!!

by broncosfaninphilly on Sep 20, 2008 11:45 PM MDT reply actions 0 recs

Unfortunately that is not an option

and fortunately, I don’t really want it to be. I have been looking forward to this for a long while, so I have to plan the football part around it. ;)

Rockies 2008 Season Motto: "Naaaahhhh."

by Silverblood on Sep 20, 2008 11:55 PM MDT up reply actions 0 recs

I recommend finding the nearest American base

Even though games will be after midnight, I bet that American servicemen will be watching and cheering for their favorites. Most bases have a recreation center and the ones overseas usually stay open late (local time) for American sporting events.

When I was in Kuwait last season I used to go to the rec center and watch football well past midnight. It was a great way to break the monotony.

by Arctic Bronco on Sep 20, 2008 11:47 PM MDT reply actions 0 recs

Can't help you with the time difference...

but Oxford has plenty of pubs that show football on tv. It starts around 6 p.m. (supper time) and lasts till around 1 a.m. (hammered time). Great way to make new friends.

Anecdote: I lived in Glasgow when the raiders were last in a Super Bowl, and accidently I watched the game with about 80 die-hard raider fans, from the university football team. As was custom every body chipped in a pound in a betting pool, and beeing at the party I chipped in too. It was all god fun, untill they announced that some idiot, had bet against the raiders. At half time one of the coaches got into a fight with one of the players, and the atmosphere started to go sour, as more and more people got involved. I guess raider fans are the same all over the world. I never did collect my winnings, as I was more concerned with my personal safety (and finding a pub, where I could watch the last quarter with normal people).

by Jeeeeens on Sep 21, 2008 12:44 AM MDT reply actions 0 recs

I was in London last season.

I haven’t spent too much time in Oxford, but I’m sure there will be a pub showing NFL games on Sundays (its kinda late, but you have to deal with that). Whether or not they show the Broncos kinda depends on the matchup and quality/popularity of the teams playing. If that doesn’t work out, you can buy a subscription from nfl.com for either audio or video. I’ve done the audio. Its good, you can listen to the radio broadcast for every game, home or away announcers. So you can get 850 koa’s for every game, its not that expensive. I have no experience with the video, its pretty expensive. Anyway, its a sacrifice, but England is a lot fun. Good luck!

by nburns on Sep 21, 2008 2:22 AM MDT reply actions 0 recs

As someone who's been doing this now for the last couple of months...

I have no tv access to the games, but the internet is a beautiful thing. Between here, ESPN, and pro football weekly(plus the Denver area newspapers you can get online free) I haven’t been hurting for written info.

On top of that Denverbroncos.com has good video interviews and game recaps. NFL.com is good for video too.

Trust me, I feel your pain. So far I seem to stay pretty well informed on the major stuff. It’s not perfect but it’s as close as I can get.

by JR_G on Sep 21, 2008 7:15 AM MDT reply actions 0 recs

i sent you an email SB...hope it helps.

If God is not a Bronco fan, then WHY are sunsets Blue and Orange? - Jon Tollerud 5/22/08

by Tim Lynch on Sep 21, 2008 8:31 AM MDT reply actions 0 recs

There has got to b e some bars to visit over there (here)!

If not, www.myp2p.eu helps me out. It will, however, be an enormous dropoff from the coverage you are accustomed to. Never the less it keeps you up to speed.

And yeah – Soccer isn’t football… But a sport just as demanding as football – its just another skill-set…

Remember: New England won 18 last year; Oakland's won 19 in a half-decade
/The great Dane - formerly known as Claaaaas!

by Claus Vestergaard on Sep 21, 2008 10:20 AM MDT reply actions 0 recs

you could try yahoo gamepass

http://sports.yahoo.com/nflgamepass

It’s only available outside the US… they have live streams and also archived streams (if your too to stay awake for the live streams) until midnight on Wednesday.

Or you could have someone you know with directv get the nfl sunday ticket and superfan and watch all the sunday day games (doesn’t do monday or sunday night games) using supercast. but this doesn’t have archives and is an extra $100 on top of the $250 for Sunday Ticket.

by Chuck "DeadDrunk" Breedlove on Sep 21, 2008 7:03 PM MDT reply actions 0 recs