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Hello Singaporepatsfan -- and let me add my voice in welcome!
(I'm sorry I didn't spot this thread earlier. I have been busy, but not as Box_O_Rocks supposes. You only have to suggest that you may once have been to a bar -- in fact, you only have to let on that you're a Brit -- for the Americans to have you flagged as an alcoholic. I think it's the Puritan legacy ... But in my cashe itsh jusht not true (hic!))
It sounds to me as though you've already been given the best advice, but here are the options as far as I know.
1. Pontel. (www.pontel.com) send out DVDs of the official broadcast. I found them reliable -- they replaced a DVD that didn't play very efficiently. They weren't cheap but I didn't mind the cost. It was nice to have the DVD to watch bits of games again. The only negative was not seeing the game until the weekend before the next one.
I evolved quite a nice routine, though. Follow the game live on the play-by-play on NFL.com and through the Patsfans chatroom in another window, then watch it the next Friday or Saturday.
2. The NFL gamepass has been mentioned. This started after I moved to the U.S. and seems criminally over-priced to me but my fellow-Brit Gomezcat has used it and seems happy.
Older members of the board will know that I have a bee in my bonnet about how bad the NFL is at promoting itself overseas, despite the fact that they say it's a top priority (supposedly that was one of the reasons Kraft favoured the new Commissioner). It's not about sending guys to far-off places to play one-off games, dummies! It's about making your product available in a palatable form at a palatable time to as wide a TV audience as possible -- that's what internationally oriented global brand sponsors want. Otherwise you'll have to stick with Coors Light, Detroit motorized mastodons and other products no sane person outside the U.S. would dream of buying. ...
When they announced the Gamepass everyone said "nice idea, but way over-priced". The number of e-mails that came my way towards the end of the season with "special offers" suggests that even the half-wits behind the international marketing of the NFL may have noticed this so I expect it will be cheaper next season.
OK, rant over.
3. There certainly exist streaming sites for U.S. TV. I suspect many are based in China. I wouldn't know about them, but I bet that you wouldn't have to look far in Singapore to find someone who did.
4. Have you thought of Slingbox? I think that our friend, Patjew, who has moved to Hongkong will be relying on one to relay games to him from New England. Apparently the technology works pretty well. Of course, you need a friend in New England, but you might get the functionality of the NFL Gamepass for much less money.
I'm sorry I don't have better ideas, especially because I too became a Pats fan during a stay in New England (mine was a lot earlier -- I gave my allegiance after a 2-14 season in 1981-82).
I've only been to Singapore once but I knew lots of Singaporean students in the UK -- indeed, I once spent an evening with the Singaporean Minister of Community Development (who was also an opthalmologist who had trained in London, as it turned out). I found Singapore one of the strangest places I've ever been, I must say. I was going to say that it was unlike anywhere else, but the odd thing was that it was like a number of other places put together -- but very different ones that I would have thought incompatible.
One thing is indisputable, though: the food in Singapore is GREAT! That multi-ethnic tradition really pays off (I still remember having something like an English cooked breakfast of eggs and spiced chicken sausages. Just delicious!)
Best,
Mike
(I'm sorry I didn't spot this thread earlier. I have been busy, but not as Box_O_Rocks supposes. You only have to suggest that you may once have been to a bar -- in fact, you only have to let on that you're a Brit -- for the Americans to have you flagged as an alcoholic. I think it's the Puritan legacy ... But in my cashe itsh jusht not true (hic!))
It sounds to me as though you've already been given the best advice, but here are the options as far as I know.
1. Pontel. (www.pontel.com) send out DVDs of the official broadcast. I found them reliable -- they replaced a DVD that didn't play very efficiently. They weren't cheap but I didn't mind the cost. It was nice to have the DVD to watch bits of games again. The only negative was not seeing the game until the weekend before the next one.
I evolved quite a nice routine, though. Follow the game live on the play-by-play on NFL.com and through the Patsfans chatroom in another window, then watch it the next Friday or Saturday.
2. The NFL gamepass has been mentioned. This started after I moved to the U.S. and seems criminally over-priced to me but my fellow-Brit Gomezcat has used it and seems happy.
Older members of the board will know that I have a bee in my bonnet about how bad the NFL is at promoting itself overseas, despite the fact that they say it's a top priority (supposedly that was one of the reasons Kraft favoured the new Commissioner). It's not about sending guys to far-off places to play one-off games, dummies! It's about making your product available in a palatable form at a palatable time to as wide a TV audience as possible -- that's what internationally oriented global brand sponsors want. Otherwise you'll have to stick with Coors Light, Detroit motorized mastodons and other products no sane person outside the U.S. would dream of buying. ...
When they announced the Gamepass everyone said "nice idea, but way over-priced". The number of e-mails that came my way towards the end of the season with "special offers" suggests that even the half-wits behind the international marketing of the NFL may have noticed this so I expect it will be cheaper next season.
OK, rant over.
3. There certainly exist streaming sites for U.S. TV. I suspect many are based in China. I wouldn't know about them, but I bet that you wouldn't have to look far in Singapore to find someone who did.
4. Have you thought of Slingbox? I think that our friend, Patjew, who has moved to Hongkong will be relying on one to relay games to him from New England. Apparently the technology works pretty well. Of course, you need a friend in New England, but you might get the functionality of the NFL Gamepass for much less money.
I'm sorry I don't have better ideas, especially because I too became a Pats fan during a stay in New England (mine was a lot earlier -- I gave my allegiance after a 2-14 season in 1981-82).
I've only been to Singapore once but I knew lots of Singaporean students in the UK -- indeed, I once spent an evening with the Singaporean Minister of Community Development (who was also an opthalmologist who had trained in London, as it turned out). I found Singapore one of the strangest places I've ever been, I must say. I was going to say that it was unlike anywhere else, but the odd thing was that it was like a number of other places put together -- but very different ones that I would have thought incompatible.
One thing is indisputable, though: the food in Singapore is GREAT! That multi-ethnic tradition really pays off (I still remember having something like an English cooked breakfast of eggs and spiced chicken sausages. Just delicious!)
Best,
Mike
