American Football

Being an American expat in Halle, Germany, is often rewarding, but it
would be so much better if only American sports were shown on
television. The NFL and NBA aren’t carried on the normal cable stations because there are just too many other fascinating sporting events going on: the Eurosport channel devotes its prime time to the biathalon, snooker, horse jumping and other equally gripping sports.

DSF, the very German version of ESPN, occasionally devotes time to
soccer matches, which for lack of an option I grudgingly watch, but
otherwise they show just random crap like poker or dart throwing. It’s a
sad excuse for a sports station.

Now, I could shell out 150 Euro for a contract, another 100 for the
equipment, and then 60 Euro per month thereafter for the premium
satellite TV packages that include North American sports, but there we
run into problems with length of contract. If we leave the country
before the contract finishes, we would be obliged to buy it out, which
could end up gouging us for more than 700 Euro were we to bolt early.

So with these options, I have to very much rely upon the finicky
Internet to keep up to speed. Which works for the most part: If I want
to listen to NFL radio broadcasts, for example, there are several
outlets, including nfl.com, which also has some really neat play-by-play
progress. And while I have been able to find some highlight reels for my
favorite ball games, live broadcasting seems to be a thing of the
future.

As one who relies on the Internet for my American sports Jones, my vote
for the best innovation of the year goes out to the iTunes people, who
were clever enough to come up what they call “Bowl Blasts.” Essentially
highlight reels of the four Bowl Championship Series games, bowl blasts
are downloadable for $1.99 each and run between 15 and 25 minutes. And
since I couldn’t see any of the live action, believe me, it was well
worth it to see that loser from Florida State shanking kicks.

But stop the data stream! I am told that a pub in Berlin, a two-hour
drive away, will be showing the AFC championship game this weekend, and
with a very doable 10 p.m. kickoff time to boot. Fair warning has
already been given to my semi-understanding wife, who will not be
joining me.

My cajoling that it might be her only hope of watching the Steelers play
live this season was met with folded arms. “Unless they win,” she said.

She was right. After we deck those Broncos (they’re just Yonkos) I’ve
found a pub nearby that – praise be to the Terrible and Benevolent God
of Football – is actually showing the Super Bowl this year! Kickoff is
at an unsavory midnight local time, but you can bet your bus I’ll be
there.