My Musings
It's taken me a week to stop crying – or was I laughing? – about the inanity of the NFL bringing "their brand" to the land of bratwurst. German fans of American football (or maybe American expats living in Frankfurt) were treated to a tremendously awful game, as the New England Patriots lost to the exceptionally mediocre Indianapolis Colts.
There was a time when Patriots-Colts represented the best the NFL could produce, with dazzling performances by Tom Brady and Peyton Manning and an outcome that invariably would hinge on the last drive of the game. This wasn't one of those contests. Mac Jones threw a brilliant pass, if his intention was to hit the defender in the numbers. That underthrown ball may have been the worst pass I've ever seen in my life.
If the NFL exported that crazy-bad pass, and an only slightly less awful wounded duck a few moments later by Bailey Zappe, to the schnitzel-eating public in order to grow the sport beyond American shores, they surely failed. It was an awful game. Boring, even if close. They have probably had more luck this year exporting head injuries, torn ACLs, and broken ankles to Europe, rather than a love of gridiron action. To be honest, I doubt the NFL will make much headway in Europe beyond continuing to display couple of games now and again to a few curious souls in England and Germany. But maybe the fans will petition to have the English Premier League and the Bundesliga start trotting out scantily-clad women to lead the cheering during soccer halftimes. Drunken football hooligans are hoping so.