Skol! Skol! Skol!

Our second sports review...

NY Jets vs Minnesota Vikings : Tottenham Hotspur Stadium

I've been to quite a few (ten?) of the London NFL games over the years and I always enjoy them with their good-natured atmosphere and knowledgeable crowds. I've always sat up in the gods due to the price of the tickets (and it's not like they're cheap these days either) but was intrigued as to how different things were closer to the pitch - so this year I decided to spoil myself and, with the exception of Glastonbury (which gives me a good four days enjoyment), spent more than I've spent going to an event to get a seat in row fourteen with an excellent view along the fifteen yard line.

Despite the best efforts of the Jacksonville Jaguars to adopt London as their second home, the London games are generally attended by fans of the game rather than fans of either of the teams on the pitch so applause tends to be unbiased and any attempts to get the crowd to "MAKE SOME NOISE!" are generally met by bemused shrugs. However, walking up to the ground this time, I was somewhat surprised to see a considerable majority of fans in Vikings jerseys (the designated home team) along with an impressive array of beards and helmets - I've always had a fondness for their lovely purple colour, but a lot of people had spent a considerable amount of money on outfits for this game.

Because the Vikings were the home team, they got to perform their pre-game rituals which included Viktor the Viking (who I saw before the game being escorted through the crowd by two somewhat embarrassed security guards) banging a huge drum to encourage a rowdy Skol chant before a huge Gjallarhorn was "blown" to introduce the team. It's all utter nonsense, but very enjoyable nonsense which everyone entered the spirit of well. There was also an impressive amount of rebranding in the stadium with the Vikings purple working well with the dark blue seats, really giving the impression of a home game (especially when compared with the green and white outfit of the Jets).

And the home game feel really continued as play got underway - I've never heard such a noisy and partisan London crowd, which really added to the atmosphere. And the Vikings responded to it well, opening up a quick 17-0 lead with the game being pretty much one-way traffic. However, the Jets slowly worked their way back into it with some slices of fortune and coping better with the persistent drizzle that somewhat spoiled the second half. With two minutes to go, the Vikings' lead was down to 23-17 but the Jets had the ball in hand meaning a touchdown would be enough for an unlikely comeback win - which really ignited the crowd. But not as much as the interception with 30 seconds left on the clock which guaranteed the Vikings were safe - the roof came off the place! It was a thoroughly entertaining match throughout - as evidenced by a pleasing lack of Mexican wave attempts all afternoon.

So - was the great game improved by being closer to the action? It certainly gave me a different view (and better pictures) but there was an awful lot more standing up and sitting down going on at that level. The other thing that you get at that level is some chance of getting one of the teeshirts randomly fired into the crowd but I never imagined I'd come close to one - so obviously one of the first ones of the afternoon was caught (very fortuitously) by the guy stood next to me. I think I would be tempted to upgrade again if it's just me going, but I won't be doing so if accompanied by my daughters (as I will be next Sunday for the Jaguars vs Bears game) - yes, they'd love the chance of getting a teeshirt, but it would actually be cheaper to just buy them one!

A few more random observations from the afternoon. I'd never heard of Breland before but he did a top job with the US national anthem - it's an easy one to undercook or overcook and he pitched it just right. Florence Rawlings did a perfectly acceptable job with "God Save The King" but why is it ALWAYS sung by women these days? I also have to congratulate the stadium for having greatly reduced food and drink queue times since I was first there five years - it's all very efficient these days and they were certainly benefiting from it with large alcohol sales as evidenced by the huge towers of pint glasses being assembled by the crowd and their amusing attempts to prevent the stewards from confiscating them.

Our final word goes to an American at the bar at half time at 4pm

Him (nervous) : "When do you stop serving?"
Server (confused) : "I'm not entirely sure"
Him (now panicking): "I NEED to know"
Server : "Err - 5:30 6:00?"
Him (confused) : "Really?"
Server (also confused) : "Sure"
Him (visibly happier) : "Oh OK - in the US they stop at half time, so I was trying to work out how many I needed to buy now"