Flight tickets from LHR to SD in November: http://www.opodo.co.uk/opodo/flights/search?locale=en_GB&cm_counter=11&CMP=
I'm the 3rd Scot on this thread! Got into the NFL through the madden videogame a few years ago and then discovered that it was on free to air late night tv (channel 5). Started to understand the game and have been a chargers fan for about 3 years. I have my powder blue LT shirt and wear it every time they play. In the UK we get every Monday Night Football game and the NBC Madden and Michaels game when the crappy baseball is finished. Some Random thoughts I hate Tony Kornheiser and believe death is too good for him. We have won 9 out of 10 when wearing the powder blue throwback jerseys. Does anybody know if we are wearing them against the steelers??
Damn I think we will still win though, Big Ben is concussed and he did have serious head trauma in his motorbike accident and surely we can put up more than 10 points this time?? I think the defense has improved quite a bit and they are far better against the run than the pass. We should wear powder blue every game
A hearty to Bolttalk!!! I am glad you found this thread.Thank you for sharing some of the background on how you became a NFL then a Charger fan. I have a strong confidence in the wearing of the powder blues, too. -Rexy, a Shebolt
The game may not be primetime in the States this weekend but I must admit I'm looking forward to watching at 9.30 PM. It will make a change from the last 2 weekends having to watch at 1AM. I'll be able to have a beer at the same time for a change.
Yes there is a change from last two weeks, but 10.45 in Central Europe will lead to at least 2 am in the morning, and I have no free day again.
Hi Eurobolts One of my mates works in London for The Disney Corporation (Europe) and has forwarded me an internal email he received, the text of which is copied below. For those of you who have access to SKY broadcasts, this may be of interest. I shall be having a look this weekend to see what the level of coverage is. Tony Tony I know you like American sport - you may be interested in having a look at ESPN over the weekend (part of the Mouse Empire) as it is free all weekend to Sky subscribers. I quite like ESPN classic channel as it shows matches from the 70s and 80s but the rest leaves me cold... Ted From: London Disney Communications Sent: 30 January 2009 08:48 Subject: NASN Network becomes ESPN America ESPN RE-BRANDS NASN NETWORK As some of you know, on 1st February 2009 North American Sports Network (NASN) becomes ESPN America - our first ESPN-branded live television channel in Europe. Since we acquired NASN in 2007, the network has expanded rapidly. NASN has broadened its reach from one million households across six countries to 14 million households across 43 countries, with an additional audience in 19 countries across the Middle East. ESPN America is the only network in Europe completely dedicated to North American sports and leagues. The channel broadcasts over 800 live and as-live sports events each year, including NFL, MLB, NHL, and NCAA Football and Basketball. ESPN America will also show the Super Bowl in a number of key countries. Additionally, the channel airs ESPN original studio programmes, such as NBA Fastbreak, PTI, Around the Horn, The Sports Reporters, Baseball Tonight and College GameDay. ESPN America will help our company further serve sports fans in Europe and the Middle East, sitting alongside ESPN Classic, ESPN360 and our digital properties -Soccernet, Cricinfo, Scrum and Racing-live.com. With this re-branding, and a continued focus on refining our programming, production and marketing approach, we will continue to grow the ESPN brand in Europe. This is an important date for ESPN in Europe. To celebrate this milestone we will host a variety of staff, media and industry marketing initiatives in the days leading up to the launch. Yesterday evening, for example, journalists, advertisers, clients and senior industry executives joined a small number of the ESPN team for a UK launch event in central London. And we're running other launch parties in the Netherlands, Poland, France and Germany, where we have rights to show the Super Bowl. In the UK, this weekend will be a 'free' channel weekend for SKY subscribers (which means that anyone with subscriptions to this service will be able to see the channel). I would encourage those of you who can to tune in to see the great new on-air branding. We are also running competitions for staff as well as other events in the Hammersmith building (see attached ESPN America flier). If you're based in London, be sure to pick up a copy of Sport Magazine this Friday too, where you will be able to see the off-air creative that forms part of the marketing campaign to support the launch. Lynne Managing Director ESPN EMEA
It'll be worth a look- maybe it'll be a seperate subscription now rather than having to buy like another 9 or 10 channels that you'll never watch
Norwich:icon_eek: Ipswich Town FTW! Never Felt more like singing the blues, When Ipswich win and Norwich Lose. Oh Ipswich, You got me singning the blue
Bolt fan's are Bolt fan's, it doesn't matter where you reside. You become part of the brotherhood or sisterhood, whichever the case may be.
Got an email from BoltsFanUK. He's been keeping a lookout for flights from London - SD in November. Opodo seems the cheapest and he's just been quoted £591 return via Atlanta for 2 people. Let's get this schedule released and get our flights booked!
Do the airlines give cheaper seats to groups? I think you have to be an awful lot of people. I need the weekend first for planning. Sometimes I can get special tickets from Airline members.
hah I'll be happy that I'll get to at least watch all the games on tv for once, and at a normal time!
Lucky you! You'll be able to arrange cheap accommodation for your fellow Eurobolts in November. The pride of that gesture will surely be payment enough, but I'm sure we would also manage to use some of our saving to club together and buy you a beer for your troubles! Tony
So - it looks like our plan for the Thanksgiving trip to SD has been put to bed for this year. Lots of emails being sent between Eurobolts at the moment about when we intend going over. At the moment I will only be able to make one of the earlier weekends in November. As soon as the full schedule is released, we can make firm plans and start booking flights and accommodation.
Hey Airw0lf... being from New Zealand, could you please fill us in? We'd love to hear your story. 1.) What made you first become a NFL fan? I don't know but I'm assuming that it's not as widely televised over there. Were you able to watch it at home or did you have to go out to watch it? Please fill me in. 2.) What made you choose the Chargers for your team? 3.) What would you say are the most popular NFL teams in your area? 4.) What are the most popular sports in your area? I went to Australia two years ago. They love their Cricket and Rugby.
Hi all, nice to see some International bolts out there. I'd thought i'd fill out the form on page one for y'all to read NAME: Joe AGE: 20 WHERE WERE YOU BORN: High Wycombe UK WHERE DO YOU RESIDE: Didcot, Oxon, UK MARRIED: I don't think so! KIDS: I hope not! WHO IS YOUR FAVORITE EX CHARGER: Drew Brees WHO IS YOUR FAVORITE CURRENT CHARGER: Toss up between Darren Sproles and Philip Rivers WHERE HAVE YOU SEEN THE CHARGERS PLAY IN PERSON: London, SD and Oakland WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE CHARGER MOMENT: Going to see them against Denver just after xmas last year. Was an awesome game WHAT IS YOUR WORST CHARGER MOMENT: Losing to Pats in the playoffs. ARE YOU PLANNING TO MAKE A GAME THIS YEAR: Yeah i'll see you all at the Q against Cincinnati in December! WHAT WILL THE TEAMS RECORD BE: 7-9 WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE FOOD AT A GAME: Nachos but i prefer to have a drink or two (or three or four) WHO IS YOUR FAVORITE BASEBALL TEAM: N/A OTHER COMMENTS: No!
Hey, those are some good questions...here are my answers. 1.) I got into the NFL because my company does a lot of work in the USA. Since 2005 I've done a fair bit of travel into Southern California (Riverside County.) Now I'm a sports nut in general so in 2006 I decided I go watch the Chargers play Seattle in a pre-season game. Had fun at the game but didn't really get all the rules...once I got back home I started paying more attention to what was happening in the NFL. It's actually not too difficult to watch games over here because you can get ESPN who broadcast the Sunday Night and Monday Night games. There's also SportsCenter, NFL Primetime, etc...So if you want to follow American football it's not too difficult. But most New Zealanders don't really give a damn! My only problem with the coverage is that I can't watch all the Chargers games. The only ones I can watch are when we play Sunday/Monday nights. So I watch the highlights on NFL.com a lot! So anyway, that's how I got into American football. It wasn't too hard for me to appreciate the athleticism and most of all the great strategy involved. 2.) Becoming a Chargers fan was a no-brainer for me because I really enjoy coming to Southern California and San Diego in particular. Loved the atmosphere at the Q for my first game as well, even if it was just a pre-season game. I also empathised with the team's efforts to win that 1st Super Bowl. I'm not one to jump on bandwagons so there was no way in hell I'd support New England, Indy etc.! By the way I was lucky enough to get to watch a second game in San Diego - season opener in 2007 vs. the Bears! 3.) In my area basically the interest level for the NFL would be at less than 1%! Most people in the street wouldn't have a clue what's going on. The funny thing though is that in my circle of friends I do have two or three NFL fans - guys who have been watching much longer than me. One of them is a Buffalo fan, and the other one is a New England fan (I try to not hold that against him! To his credit he was a fan from way back, back when they kind of sucked.) 4.) Yup, it's cricket and rugby as you said. Did you know there are two types of rugby - rugby union and rugby league? (Check out Wikipedia sometime...) Rugby Union is like religion in New Zealand (think football in Texas) but it's really the most boring form of rugby. Rugby League is far more exciting and that is the form I watch. I really find Rugby Union to be terribly boring. Oh, and if you look up the Rugby League rules you will see that it has a similar system to the system of downs in American football. Anyway, that's a bit about me. I'm hanging out for another trip over to the States this winter. If I'm over in Socal you can bet I'll be trying to get down to the Q.
