My Meeting With Members Of UKPatriots.com

[PatsFans.com Article]

My Meeting With Members Of UKPatriots.com
By: Russ Goldman

On Saturday night I had the pleasure of meeting with other members of UKPatriots.com. ...

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[harrylime70]

Ive been a member over there for a while now and have met a few of them. Us UK fans are very dedicated. I never miss a game online and will stay up to all hours to watch the Pats and have been doing that since 1985. Monday morning are very often a bleary eyed affair at work

I dont get a chance to roadtrip with them as I always come to Gillette with my family. I can tell you it is a very expensive exercise annually but one that I try not to miss. It is an unfair assumption that we dont understand the game, but one that hopefully will change with a few more articles like this and the more we get to meet up with American based fans.

 

[Joker]

I signed on over there today...you need more Yanks to talk to...one thing, it's minor but it does sorta matter...the NFL plays a "game", not a "match"...I sorta felt weird reading "when the Patriots match was over..."...made me want to make a pot of tea and toast some crumpets...:ukflag:

 

[Lampshade]

Good to hear. I'm not sure who is with UKPatriots nowadays, but they have always been a good bunch.

With the Internet there is literally nothing that UK fans do not have access to. Every game can be watched live. 24/7 ESPN and NFL Network. It's all very, very different to the early 80s.

 

[cmasspatsfan]

Yeah, its great to follow the team now with internet and instant information. I was in London in the early 90's and they did show a football game on sunday but they only showed parts of it, if there were a couple three and outs they just skipped right over those possessions, or they would just show the end of a scoring drive. They always showed the afternoon game that Maddon and Summerall did so there wasnt much choice.
Id be interested to hear how the UK members became fans

 

[harrylime70]

We get asked that a bit and there are a lot of reasons, though the most popular seems to be the England in New England. My own story is just random really. I used to play comp tennis in the mid eighties, and my doubles partner was big into the NFL, and a Pats fan, so I started following them and good old Tony Eason

Its funny as it turned out my Dad liked the NFL and was a Bears fan so the first year I really got into it our two teams met in the Superbowl that year. Hmmm he never lets me forget it.

On the England link my most prized Pats possession is a personalised photo from Brady saying " To a great Pats fan from OLD England", so I guess there is something in that.

Yeah, its great to follow the team now with internet and instant information. I was in London in the early 90's and they did show a football game on sunday but they only showed parts of it, if there were a couple three and outs they just skipped right over those possessions, or they would just show the end of a scoring drive. They always showed the afternoon game that Maddon and Summerall did so there wasnt much choice.
Id be interested to hear how the UK members became fans

 

[Mike the Brit]

I signed on over there today...you need more Yanks to talk to...one thing, it's minor but it does sorta matter...the NFL plays a "game", not a "match"...I sorta felt weird reading "when the Patriots match was over..."...made me want to make a pot of tea and toast some crumpets...:ukflag:

Interesting point. Slightly OT but: how far should you go? I don't write "favor" or "humor" just as I don't put on an American accent, but it's fair enough to adapt one's language when it's part of the game. So I do write "defense" or "offense", and I'm happy to put the home team last when we're talking about scores. But I can't bring myself to say that a player went "off-sides" or to say "road game".

As for becoming a Patriots fan, it's simple enough. I lived in New England for a year. The Patriots were terrible and all of my American friends were fans of much more successful teams (Cowboys, Raiders -- even the Jets and the Rams). So I could root for a team without being accused of being a bandwagon fan. Then came the miracle of the Krafts and Bill Belichick. And now I live in New England again ...

 

[Dufflebagz]

Interesting point. Slightly OT but: how far should you go? I don't write "favor" or "humor" just as I don't put on an American accent, but it's fair enough to adapt one's language when it's part of the game. So I do write "defense" or "offense", and I'm happy to put the home team last when we're talking about scores. But I can't bring myself to say that a player went "off-sides" or to say "road game".

As for becoming a Patriots fan, it's simple enough. I lived in New England for a year. The Patriots were terrible and all of my American friends were fans of much more successful teams (Cowboys, Raiders -- even the Jets and the Rams). So I could root for a team without being accused of being a bandwagon fan. Then came the miracle of the Krafts and Bill Belichick. And now I live in New England again ...

But they have offsides in soccer, right?

 

[As10]

Id be interested to hear how the UK members became fans

For me, my family originates from New Brunswick and Massachusetts was the closest place with teams in all NBA, NFL and MLB.

I didn't know until tonight that there was a UK Patriots forum but have signed up now!

 

[Mike the Brit]

But they have offsides in soccer, right?

No, in soccer (and rugby) it is off-S-I-D-E (because you are off the side you ought to be on).

 

[Dufflebagz]

No, in soccer (and rugby) it is off-S-I-D-E (because you are off the side you ought to be on).

Oh, I guess I always said it wrong.

 

[Mike the Brit]

Oh, I guess I always said it wrong.

I don't know. Maybe it's just one of those aluminium/aluminum things -- but I'm just too old to change!

 

[Ian]

Russ told me about this, but I had to work and was disappointed I couldn't go.

It's a great group of guys, and it's got to be tough following the team from so far away - and considering when they're on thanks to the time difference it certainly must be hard to do it. Although there is DVR these days...so hopefully for some that makes it easier.

Otherwise between those guys and our favorite fan over in China - it's good that the internet exists to help at least bring us together this way

 

[cmasspatsfan]

The 1 pm sunday games must be great, I think it would be 6 pm in the UK. Its the night games that would be a problem. I would use a sick day and take a nap and get up at 2am to watch it myself.

 

[Mike the Brit]

The 1 pm sunday games must be great, I think it would be 6 pm in the UK. Its the night games that would be a problem. I would use a sick day and take a nap and get up at 2am to watch it myself.

In the old days (i.e. about 5 or 6 years ago) it was fine because the night games would be on TV so you could record them and watch "as live" the next day. Surprisingly easy and enjoyable -- there's no danger of anyone telling you the score at work.

Regular games were more difficult. Play-by-play in the chat room plus the up-dates from the NFL network (but the internet connection would drop more often than not) then wait for the DVD of the TV broadcast to arrive in the post later in the week.

 

[shmessy]

Russ told me about this, but I had to work and was disappointed I couldn't go.

It's a great group of guys, and it's got to be tough following the team from so far away - and considering when they're on thanks to the time difference it certainly must be hard to do it. Although there is DVR these days...so hopefully for some that makes it easier.

Otherwise between those guys and our favorite fan over in China - it's good that the internet exists to help at least bring us together this way

....don't forget Abdul in Bahrain and Pat in Italy!

 

[Rossmci90]

The 1 pm sunday games must be great, I think it would be 6 pm in the UK. Its the night games that would be a problem. I would use a sick day and take a nap and get up at 2am to watch it myself.

The late games are hell, it kills me the next day. But, watching it recorded just isn't the same. Thankfully we have Gamepass now so i can watch all the games over the internet ($270 a season) which is great.

 

[Lampshade]

Watching Monday Night Football at any time other than 1:30am just seems really weird now.

 

[SunnyDenmark]

I will need to see if I can spare some time to visit the UKforum...as I really enjoyed the Pats / Bucs game last year at Wembley. Not only talking to some British fans but also some German NFL fans was fun.

As far as the game time start difference, in Denmark it is plus 6 hours so the games are at: 07:00 - 10:00 pm or 10:15 - 01:15 am. Which actually when you have a family is wonderful as you can spend time with the kids Sunday daytime and/or do yardwork, shopping and such. Then in the evening have the Mrs tuck the kids into bed and enjoy Pats and NFL action uninterrupted for the next 6+ hours. I actually can't imagine going back to afternoon games and killing a whole day in the process.

The only downside is the evening games which show here at 02:30 - 05:30 am. But thankfully those are usually only 3-4 times a year, and what was posted before- my co-workers are not interested so usually I can tape it (or watched the archived Gamepass version) the next day. Plus then the archived version cuts out all the commercials! Although if it is a critical game (Colts, Squeelers) then I just go to bed same time as my kids and set my alarm and watch it live - which makes watching the LOUD commercials even more irritating in the early morning wee hours.

As also stated by other posters- with everything on the internet now - you don't really miss anything and with the Nfl Gamepass option , you also get the NFL network included. So for the last 5 years or so (since Gamepass started) - there is no need to feel sorry for us overseas fans.....with exception much much harder to see a game at the Razor.

Cheers from Denmark. Land of Legos

 

[Patjew]

....don't forget Abdul in Bahrain and Pat in Italy!

The sun never sets on the Patriot empire.