Game days are just the best thing ever. There is so much excitement that happens, especially when you're in a stadium with the capacity of Wembley. It was huge.
I got there early in the morning and was greeted by a few members of the PR staff. They showed me the way around the stadium and how to get from the press box to the TV gantry, the two places I hung out most of the time. The TV gantry was where the instant replay guys sat, coaches from each team, and Fox sports. Get this: I got to see and chat with Troy Aikman, who was talking on the "Wake up to Wembley" program with Fox Sports. Such a nice guy. We started chatting when he asked me where he could spit his gum out, I took that as the golden opportunity. The rest is history.
Anyways, my main job up there was to basically make sure everyone had what they needed and to solve problems if there were any. It went pretty well and everyone was happy. Mainly, I talked with the people that were up there waiting.
I was talking with one TV crew guy who was kind of laughing about the NFL in England. He said that if you look out into the crowd, the majority of the people don't have the right team colors on, or aren't even wearing sports apparel at all. So, I scanned the crowd and as the game went on, I realized how true this was. There were people wearing almost every team jersey in the NFL, one or two wearing cheese heads, and a small number of fans wearing anything Detroit Lions or Atlanta Falcons. He said that people don't care so much about the team, they just want to see a good game. This was a totally different perspective.
Seriously, this game couldn't have had a much more shocking or exciting ending. After being behind the whole game, the Lions game back to win in the last 4 seconds by making a field goal on their 4th down. They kicked and missed on the 3rd down, but there was a penalty on them. They got a few yards penalty and this time, made the fieldgoal. Perfect ending to an exciting game in London.
I really can't thank the entire PR crew for welcoming me and allowing me to help out. I can't wait to be back in London in a few short weeks to watch the Dallas Cowboys take on the Jacksonville Jaguars.
This is the coolest photo of the day, in my opinion. After a Lions win, the stadium was lit up blue.