Saturday 4 July 2015 11:25, UK
It's America’s Independence Day on July 4th, so we thought it was important to tell you 10 things we love about our neighbours across the Atlantic.
Self-confessed Americophile – and US sports reporter Alex Ferguson gives you the list. Feel free to comment….
1) The Super Bowl is spectacular
A long, brutal season ends with an event that reminds you why you love the NFL: The Super Bowl. Not only is it an event on the field, but it’s an event off it, too. Note to journos: get prepared to drink a lot and write endlessly about not a lot for the week preceding it. Oh, and if you can get the chance to watch the US NFL ads…do. They are amazing (and sometimes the best thing about the game). We broadcast it here on Sky Sports (capping a season where we show you a-million-and-one NFL games including the play-offs!).
2) We love the Game sevens and we cannot lie….
People pray for a World Series, Stanley Cup or NBA Finals Game 7, because usually they are really, really special. We wish there we more of them. But the play-off battles before even getting to the finals are mayhem. And that’s glorious. We went to a Game Seven once – Boston vs New York Yankees in the 2003 American League Championship Series. And saw a walk-off home run. That was OK, too.
3) Your university kids play sports
Why is this top on the list? Easy. There aren’t many countries in the world, if any, where you can effectively get a university scholarship to play a sport – sometimes in front of tens of thousands – as well as a four-year education. We’re even getting closer to the kids getting paid instead of exploited. Would love to see UK universities do the same…we might see an explosion in sports other than football!!
4) March Madness (or the first weekend)
Isn’t it cool how America’s office productivity goes down in March for the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament, known as March Madness. 64 teams go down to 2 in three weeks. And almost all the games are interesting. And even if they are boring, the fact that another one’s coming on the opening weekend makes them watchable….
5) The roar of engines
While NASCAR’s Daytona 500 is much-loved, The Indy 500 is still one of the most exciting races on motorsport’s calendar. Both are great events, that’s for certain! But for us, we’d advise you to go to Bristol Motor Speedway to watch the Sharpie 500, a NASCAR night race. Half-a-mile track. 43 cars. 38 degrees of banking. Carnage. The hairs on your neck rise as you hear “Gentlemen, start your engines” and you roar along with 160,000 people, trying to hear yourself under the roaring engines. There’s no place you’d rather be.
6) Different terms for ‘last minute winner’
We love you, America. We love it that a last-gasp touchdown is called a ‘Hail Mary’. We love it that the home run or hit to win a game is called a ‘walk-off’. We love that shots that are put up with no time remaining on the clock is a ‘prayer’. Never grow up, commentators…
7) You know how to immortalise your heroes
America knows how to immortalise it's sporting heroes. If a player’s had a really good career in his career in a chosen sport as a professional or college player, he gets to go to the Hall of Fame. It’s a pretty big honour. And sometimes the great, great players get their numbers retired by teams. Unless it’s Jackie Robinson – who was the player who broke the colour barrier in baseball – who has had his number retired by EVERY baseball team. And that’s OK. But seriously baseball, get on with it and put Pete Rose in the Baseball Hall of Fame. He was one of the greatest hitters who ever lived.
8) An afternoon’s baseball game
We love an afternoon baseball game in the sun. There’s nothing lovelier on a summer’s day than sitting in the sun (or the shade if it’s the height of summer) with the legs out, supping a cold beverage, and watching nine innings of baseball roll around. People bring their gloves in the hope of catching the home run or foul ball as a souvenir, and most people are wearing ‘the kit’. There’s a rumble of conversation around the stadium. At the seventh innings the crowd sings ‘Take Me Out To The Ballgame’, and it’s a really love-in. Our favourite scene during the afternoon’s baseball game? The father taking the daughter to the game. We need to see more of that at the cricket.
9) Your college football games are an event
College football games aren’t just an excuse for students to turn up and cheer on their team. It’s an event. In some parts of the South, weddings are planned meticulously around the college football season (best piece of advice would be: “Don’t get married during September to December”). But at the games, it’s an occasion – especially in SEC Country, where it’s an event. While women sup champagne in cocktail dresses, men have a ‘cold one’ in their bow times. And they are really polite (well, until the alcohol takes over). For a more intimidating atmosphere, night games at Penn State’s Beaver Stadium are pretty much unbeatable.
9) America’s good at coming together
America just can’t back down. In every sport that we’ve seen the Americans take part as a national sport, they just don’t back down. It’s a belief, a strength. The country comes together in celebration as much as it does in tragedy. I know – I was there during 9/11. I was there for the attacks (in Boston), and I was there when baseball came back with flags on the field and a tear in eye. But also, when America finds itself in a deficit in sports, you can’t count them out. They come back, and back, and back, and never give up. Maybe it’s in the genes.
10) The Welcome
But most of all, we love the welcome that you get given in all of America’s stadiums. Americans seem to LOVE to hear that you’re from Britain, and you’re here, watching their sports. We only wish we could be so great to our US friends when they come-a-watching. Note to self: Be as nice. Just encourage them not to buy half-and-half scarves.
