NFL in London San Diego Chargers v New Orleans Saints

Had a great day out at the NFL Game in London at Wembley Stadium, despite the heavy rain early in the day. We set off quite early and also attended the NFL tailgate party outside the stadium. The party had some really good New Orleans Jazz and some various NFL themed items.

The game itself was very hard fought as was expected due to the fact that whichever team lost was effectively out of contention this year.

It was my first visit to the new Wembley and we sat at one end behind the in zone, my only real criticism was the quality of the PA system, which was pretty poor, this made it hard to hear the refereeing calls etc.

The atmosphere however was fantastic!!

A good day all round with New Orleans coming out close winners 37 - 32.

Looking forward to next year!!

NBA in the UK

Popped up to London's O2 Arena to see an NBA pre-season game between, the New Jersey Nets and the Miami Heat. A very good crowd watched a pretty tame game that came to life in the fourth quarter, leading to a narrow win for the Nets 94-92 after a number of turnovers from Miami.

The atmosphere was a little lukewarm as the audience were fans of basketball rather that either of the teams. Both fairly ordinary by NBA standard, kind of a Bolton v Villa type of thing, two good teams but not world beaters.

Dom Joly however was not impressed

A highlight of the evening was a wheelchair basketball match between members of the GB Paralympic wheelchair basketball tea which was played at high speed and with no little skill.

The O2 has come a long way from being the former dome white elephant, however concessions as it seems everywhere these days were horribly expensive.

May I suggest that you frequent the Starbucks inside the main entrance to the right as they are charging their normal high street prices and not £7 for a hot dog as in some places within the venue.

There also appears to be a massive shortage of toilets, this leads to 1970's third division football ground style long queues outside the few facilities that are available.

As long as you take steps on the food and drink situation a good night out can be had at the O2.