Further ramblings of a self-made pauper

The Athenaeum Club awaits the arrival of wallabok and Mr Dreyer, the Zimbabwean turned Welshman, before we take a cab across to Wembley for the New York Giants v Miami Dolphins NFL Game.

I have been looking forward to this for months, never having seen a real NFL game except on TV. I did manage a baseball game at Wrigley Field some ten years ago when I managed to see a rare Cubs win, but the only live Gridiron I've ever seen was years ago when the now defunct London Monarchs (or as the over enthusiastic American announcer would have it, "Your vaary own Loandoan Moan-arks") played in the now equally defunct World League of American Football. They were only second division games at best, so now I get to see the real thing in the newly rebuilt Wembley Stadium.

It's a while since I've been to Wembley, and this is the first time since it has been redeveloped. Now all I have to hope is that there is some reasonably priced merchandise available. If they charge the dollar price as pounds, someone will be very disappointed, particularly with the exchange rate having the dollar at around the 50p mark.

I did look for something to turn into a suitable American Football icon for this post, but decided instead to make a new Opus picture.

Those of you paying attention will recall that I mentioned a few days ago, that I am taking part in an on-line Gridiron game, developed from a play-by-mail version that folded about ten years ago.

Other than obvious differences, primarily the interface - now browser based, not ye aulde penne and ye paper, much of the original game rules and style survive. As does my apparent incomprehension of said rules and interface.

Like most games spawned in the US, Gridiron (American Football), is well suited to statistical play, and therefore on-line simulations (there is no animation, it is all about formulae and statistical manipulation, who says I'm a geek? You at the back, there. Stand up and face the wall). Sadly, the thing that passeth for my brane is clearly less suited.

I distinctly recall building a team with a solid rush offense (please note that I shall only use that spelling of "offence" in relation to American Football. Similarly, "defense"), and some short passing ability. I also recall drafting in a massive Inside Line Backer so that I could build a monster mLB defense.

Well, I seem to have got it half right. In my pre-season game, I was defeated by two points (!) in a defense dominated skull crusher, where the total scores were two field goals and one safety. My beloved Scapa Flow Dreadnoughts (geddit?) lost 5-3 in what must have been the most defense dominated game of all time. And yet, my boys made all the yardage, and stopped all the Boston Pirates' offense dead in the water. And that yardage was made almost entirely by the Tight End (Ooh, Matron!). And there's clearly something wrong with the stats reporting. If accurate, I seem to have played with both offense and defense on the field for 42 minutes, and yet still lost...

I am confused. Oh well, there's another pre-season game coming up; I daresay the program will be tweaked before we get to play that, and again before the regular season starts. In the meantime...

Oh, and all coaches like to keep their play books secret, but this is ridiculous. My defensive plays are now inaccessible to me.

Argh.

Time for bed.