OK, I'm breaking ranks slightly here to bring you news of an interesting development back in the UK that looks a great idea from Over Here.
Just to digress, having covered the NFL for more than 20 years and enjoyed the amazing journalistic freedom it provides, in general terms, it never ceases to amaze me how truly backward and archaic the soccer reporters have it. Want to interview a player after a game? You'll be lucky sunshine! Need a manager's quotes? Maybe, if he can be bothered.
Don't believe me? Just check out
this blog from Chris Davies, now he is firmly back in the camp of the Football Writers Association. Go and cover soccer? Not bloody likely!
Insight
But, lo and behold, despite all the above, a new NFL magazine expressly for UK readers is now on the horizon. In fact, it has already sailed into full view and dropped anchor, ready to distribute its bold colour and designs in both digital and printed format.
It is just called
Gridiron (OK, not the snappiest title, but YOU try to come up with something new!) but it is written by Brits, for Brits and promises to add a fair bit of interest and insight to the coming season.
Sky's Neil Reynolds and Jeff Reinebold are already on board and - in the interests of full disclosure - I should also add that Sky Sports are helping to promote the debut issue, which is out later this month.
A monthly publication, it is available for £30 for a year's subscription (a mere three quid an issue) and can be delivered on all portable devices (albeit the full hard-copy version will cost more).
But there's a catch. It needs a solid show of fan support to provide momentum beyond Issue 1, as the publishers (sports specialists TriNorth) are canny enough not to want to over-commit for something that may get left, literally, on the shelf.
It's my estimation that there are certainly enough gridiron fans to make Gridiron a success. Interest in the NFL, in Britball, in the International Series and in whatever Jacksonville owner Shahid Khan might do next is at record levels. A UK-dedicated magazine to feed that appetite seems a no-brainer.
But then I've been wrong before. I tipped Tiger Woods to win this week's US PGA Championship, and, as things stand in the middle of Round 2, he'll be doing well to make the cut. And I thought John Carter was a pretty good movie (even though it lost about a gazillion dollars at the box office).
Yet there is a great chance here for NFL Brit fans to really stand up and be counted; get behind a worthy cause; and benefit from the whole experience.
Go to their website at
www.gridiron-magazine.com, check it out and register your interest. Better still, use
the special page on the NFLUK.com website and you could win a free copy of Madden NFL 25 from EA Sports as well as a year's subscription to the mag (assuming it lasts that long, of course).
I could be wrong, but I have a feeling
Gridiron is setting itself up the right way and is strong enough to last at least as long as First Down. Perhaps we should even resurrect AFWAB to share in its success. Now where is that number for Budweiser sponsorship when I need it...?
