The NFL has postponed The China Bowl. YAY!! I was not too keen on the whole idea of the China Bowl and I was downright displeased about the Patriots having to play in it, so I was extremely happy to hear the news that the China Bowl has been postponed until 2009. Frankly I hope by the time 2009 comes around that the whole thing will have been chalked up as 'what were we thinking' and canceled.

The downside? The only reason the China Bowl has been postponed is so that the NFL can focus on the regular season game that is to be played in London this year instead.

I can understand the NFL wants to reach an international audience, but I am completely against teams having to play a 'HOME' game, especially a regular season game, on a field that is an entire continent away in front of spectators who more than likely could not give a rats ass about the game's outcome.

This idea sucks.

If the NFL wants to do this international novelty game, since that is all it is to the majority of the people that will be in attendance, a novelty, they should do it as a special pre-season game, or as a Hall of Fame game, a game that does not count for anything except it's entertainment value.

I don't like it. Not one bit. And it's not even my team that's affected (this time).

I feel bad for the teams that are going to be playing in this game, the Giants and the Dolphins. This is going to be a huge disruption for the players, the coaches and everybody involved with the teams. On top of that, the game has been scheduled for October 28, so the game is going to take place during a critical time of the season for teams that are trying to get into position for the playoffs. This London game could potentially throw a big wrench in the works for the playoff hopes of either one of these teams.

And I haven't even mentioned how this is going to affect the Giants and Dolphins fans. What about them? Is the NFL going to ship the NY Giants and Miami Dolphins season ticket holders over to London so they can root for their teams? I doubt it.

The Dolphins have been designated as the 'home' team. So does this mean that Miami fans are now gipped out of one of their legit home games, you know, the ones that are actually played in Miami? Or is the NFL going to give the Dolphins an extra game in Miami to make up for it? I doubt it.

Can we expect that the people who will be attending this game in London will honestly have a clue about what is going on down on the field in front of them? Yes, I'm sure there will be people in the stands that are football fans, and there may even be some legit Giants or Dolphins fans in attendance, but let's be honest, the majority of the people that will be watching this game are going to be there to see a novelty event. They won't care about the game's outcome and, unless they are fans of NFL Europe and have watched the game of 'American Football', probably won't even know what's going on down on the field. Are they going to know when to cheer 'D-FENSE' and when to be quiet? I doubt it. Maybe in the days leading up to the game the NFL will hand out flyers around London that explain how the game of American Football is played... Yah. Sure.

I think the idea of playing a regular season NFL game in London or anywhere else that is outside of the NFL's home markets is a bad idea. Unfortunately, it's something we are going to have to live with and even worse, depending on the outcome, it could very well become a regular event.

I love football but sometimes the NFL really pisses me off. Of course it's entirely possible that I am just a jerk who knows nothing about the rabid NFL fan base that exists overseas which can't wait to see a real NFL football game live and in person. But I doubt it.

Ernie and Lili Von Shtupp are both so sick and tired of this

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