Since D-1 football of a sort kicks off tonight – tickets are still available on StubHub, believe it or not – it’s time to bring out this GTP chestnut to welcome the 2014 season.
A Brit who knows next to nothing about the sport, two programs I don’t care about and I still love that clip.
And, yeah, I’ll tune in and watch some tonight.
Get The Picture 
Don’t really know what to make about all the tickets available on Stubhub. Never really looked at the numbers before.
Oh, and I’m ready for some football.
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Our game is far and away the most expensive, starting at $130 for a 600-level seat. Easy to see why there are some resale tickets available.
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I’m surprised that he’s surprised at all the hoopla, particularly given their unbridled love of soccer. EPL matches are utterly nuts over there, and in fact often are more intense than SEC games. Sure, most of the stadiums over there aren’t as big, but they play 50 or more matches a year (EPL+FA+LC, etc.) Not to mention that England has less than 1/6th our population.
I had a chance to experience an Arsenal vs. Chelsea match a few years ago at The Emirates (similar to the Iron Bowl here), and let’s just say that my day begun with libations at 6 am. Next thing I know I’m surrounded by 60k crazies, all standing, chanting and screaming for the entire match. Before then, I never thought I’d be a part of anything as crazy and intense as the UGA blackout game in ’07 vs. AU, but that day in north London trumped it. Somewhat easily, I might add.
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Attending a high level EPL game like that is one of the things on my bucket list. Love hearing all the chanting, singing, etc when watching on TV, can only imagine what it’s like in person.
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If you love the atmosphere of a big time SEC program/game, then you’ll love an EPL match, regardless if you like soccer or not (I’m personally a very casual fan, but these days follow Arsenal a bit since that great experience). Man U, Arsenal, Liverpool, and Chelsea would be ideal, but even smaller clubs matches still will be a lot of fun.
Its funny–at Sanford Stadium, everyone screams for you to sit down, but over there often they scream for you to stand up and yell louder. Oh, and the banter between rival fans of SEC fans is tame compared to over there. There its instant yelling/screaming at someone wearing a rival jersey walking by or whatever. UGA and UF fans in Jax are like old friends getting together for afternoon tea compared to rival EPL fans.
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Two big distinctions (I would guess) is the pomp and circumstance of college ball (especially a serious rivalry game) and the amount of females in the stadium. Correct me if I’m wrong, but you didn’t see lots of well dress ladies, much less 70 year olds in sweaters at the match you attended?
I’ve never been to a Premier League match, though I did catch Plymouth Argyle vs. Oxford Union some years back. There was some chanting and taunts but these were minor league outfits and the “supporta’s” weren’t nearly as intense.
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It really depends on the team and where in the stadium you are, based on watching various EPL matches over the past few years. That day at The Emirates was indeed mostly men around me, though there still were quite a few couples (pretty similar to UGA I guess, though yes less women overall). Women there don’t dress up like they do here, as the culture is different as is the much colder/cloudier weather. However the club level was definitely well heeled and more dignified, if you will.
I had great seats in the lower level around the penalty arc (roughly 25 yard line equivalent), and it was a mix of rowdy younger to middle aged men and somewhat more relaxed men/women. Behind the goals in particular seemed to be the most nuts…they didn’t sit down the entire match except for halftime.
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Also, did they have all the pomp of bands, jets and birds flying overhead? I think he was stunned that this was an armature event with college kids etc. Not sure if ELP league is the proper comparison.
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Amateur event…ugh auto correct. Oh and EPL not ELP.
Dang Sat cant get here soon enough.
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No, no birds, bands, jets, etc. One could say that the EPL isn’t a proper comparison, but let’s be honest here…the SEC is basically the NFL these days when you look at the talent and money involved; never mind the attendances and such (which, on average, are probably on par if not higher than the NFL). A majority of the athletes are there because of their athletic talent, as compared to the academic talent of a more typical student. Yes, its still “amateur,” as the NCAA desperately wants, but not for long given all the pay for play talk.
Obviously they don’t have such a collegiate setup over there, which is why they are placed in training camps at an early age and groomed for a professional career down the road. The ages often aren’t all that different either, as many EPL players are in their teens and early 20’s, with an average age of (I’m guessing) 24-25 or so. All in all, IMO the whole ‘amateur’ label tagged to big time college football these days is just that…a label. And the only ones even remotely trying to convince us as such is the NCAA. Yet even they are basically throwing in the towel at this point.
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Yes the amateur thing is really just a worthless label we all can agree on. Maybe our Brit on the video still assumes there is something to that term. This may contribute to his astonishment–as well as the association with colleges. If he understood that these players are essentially in an NFL training camp that sometimes doubles as a college education, he would understand it a little more? It certainly is a weird setup that we got.
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Perhaps. With all that I said (including my opinion that big EPL matches are more intense than big SEC games), if I were a Brit attending my first major SEC game, I’d probably be speechless and jaw dropped too, whether the SEC was truly considered amateur or NFL like, in which the players were payed and thus considered professional. Again they just don’t have any of that extra pomp over there, so no wonder he was utterly amazed at everything.
Overall, I think he actually was paying Americans/SEC fans a big complement with all the adjectives (both positive and negative) he used to describe the whole scene. If you think about it, SEC affairs are a bit ridiculous and preposterous…yet charming and wonderful at the same time. And most of us wouldn’t have it any other way. Not sure why we get our panties in a bunch when a foreigner points out something we generally know deep down already.
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Overall I had no qualms with his adjectives to describe it. Its all pretty over the top and silly at times, and most of us wouldn’t have it any other way.
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From my amateur Wiki research, some of those stadiums used to be far bigger (the stadium in Brazil that hosted the final in the World Cup held around 200,000 at one point, though likely in conditions that made Neyland look roomy).
Pretty sure most EPL stadiums aren’t piping in lousy top 40 music to get people showing up either.
Now, what would be interesting would be if say the Big 5 not only got some special rules, but adapted a promotion/relegation model similar to the top soccer leagues. Imagine how much more fun it would have been for UF to have gone 4-8, and then sent down to Div 1A this season?
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Absolutely. As a casual follower of the EPL, I love the whole relegation/promotion setup and wish there was a way to somehow incorporate it here.
No piped in music there or “where’s Uga” game (sponsored by Delta/GA Power/Aflac during a stoppage of action.
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“A local darby among amateurs.”
It’s the “amateur” bit that really got me. That’s one cheeky Brit.
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Love this clip and love his two reactions at the end. The first to the singing of “God Bless America” and the second to the fighter jets buzzing the stadium. Good stuff for sure.
The loooonngg wait is almost over!
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He’s sitting there thinking “this shit couldn’t be any more over the top” then the jet fighters fly overhead and he looks like his mind is blown. Funny stuff.
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That Entire “In America” series is on Netlfix. Pretty much every episode is great. The British obsession with the American South (just read any of their music mage like Uncut, etc) runs deep over there.
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I watched that series, and you’re right that it’s great–at least until he moves west, when it seemed to drag a bit. A large part of that is because Fry is such a congenial person with an eye for the interesting in American culture.
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If you want to see EPL like fans attend a game in Seattle.
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Not to mention that said Brit is an openly homosexual, unabashed atheist Brit. (I’m guessing he wasn’t necessarily sharing those details with the Auburn crowd during the game).
Seconded on the “In America” series mentioned above. That thing is great.
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