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Jonesin for the NFL

3124 Views 23 Replies 7 Participants Last post by  joelpb, 
L
Does anyone have any good ideas about how I can watch football (and not that ballerina thing they call 'football' in Europe) from my home? I live in the country, far from anywhere likely to have access. I know I could pay 30 euros a month for Canal+ or TNT and get games when there isn't Pantywaist United v. Cheatingdiver FC or some other game of soccer available, but that infuriates me as an idea and is too unpredictable. I have downloaded TVU and Liveplayer, but they inevitably crash on Saturday and Sunday, probably due to traffic.

Anybody got any ideas?
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<<< that ballerina thing they call 'football' in Europe............. Pantywaist United v. Cheatingdiver FC......... >>>

Hmm, there's probably a contract being placed on you right now - don't go outside without a disguise and beware of teh black helipcopters.

That said, I like your style - it's a sad fact that the frogs seem to be in love with the modern style of footballers as the brits are.

However, as to what you asked for, the only thing I could suggest is that you get the DVDs recorded back in the USA and have them sent over. Im not sure even Sky UK has that much American football on its sports channels.
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Bevdeforges
Only thing I can suggest is to take a look at the "sports" channels package for CanalSat (or TPS, if that's still around).

CanalSat (at least) offers a channel called ESPN America, which apparently is the vanilla ESPN you know from back home. If they have American football on, then you should be able to get it - though it starts about 10 pm.

It will cost you at least 30 euros a month, as you need a subscription with the "sports pack" option.
Cheers,
Bev
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MichaelS
Bevdeforges said:
CanalSat (at least) offers a channel called ESPN America, which apparently is the vanilla ESPN you know from back home. If they have American football on, then you should be able to get it - though it starts about 10 pm.
Bev
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ESPN America is nothing like the ESPN back home, but it does have lot of NFL football (which ESPN back home doesn't have so much of). They show the original CBS,Fox, etc broadcasts with ridiculously bad editing to try and cut out the US commercials you are not supposed to see here, but most of the game comes thru okay. They have a lot of NHL games, and college football too, but no NBA and no sportscenter :-(

Sport+ usually shows one game on Sunday evenings too (tape delayed and edited and dubbed over in French).

If you can import a Sky satellite system from the UK they show a few NFL games per week too.

--michael
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L
Like I said, I know I can pay for Canal or TPS or TNT, but the only terrestrial television I'm interested in is sports. Is there no way to get the NBC, CBS, ABC, or FOX in my home in Europe? I've looked into it and ended up with many technical reasons (satellites too low, sponsoring conflicts, etc, etc...) yet somehow we manage to have CNN, FOXnews, MSNBC and the rest of the useless streams of propoganda without any trouble. But when we want some good old fashioned sports the whole thing goes out the window. WTF? 30euros a month to watch commercial TV? I'm no British rube.....
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L
I would suggest just watching it online then.
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Joppa
lovetotem said:
Like I said, I know I can pay for Canal or TPS or TNT, but the only terrestrial television I'm interested in is sports. Is there no way to get the NBC, CBS, ABC, or FOX in my home in Europe? I've looked into it and ended up with many technical reasons (satellites too low, sponsoring conflicts, etc, etc...) yet somehow we manage to have CNN, FOXnews, MSNBC and the rest of the useless streams of propoganda without any trouble. But when we want some good old fashioned sports the whole thing goes out the window. WTF? 30euros a month to watch commercial TV? I'm no British rube.....
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Even CNN, FOXNews, MSNBC aren't exactly what you see in US, but European version of them primarily for European audience. They are carried as part of the basic package on SKY, and many other satellite and cable channels in Europe. You cannot get the network TV channels you have in US because of technical, contractual and commercial reasons, just as you cannot get BBC, ITV, TF1 etc in the US as they are shown in their home countries. Each network/broadcaster has a commercial division that sells programs internationally to generate profits, which are then carried by local TV channels in Europe, some of which are free, others you have to pay subscription for. If, for example, Canal+ has bought certain football programs, they then have exclusive broadcasting right in France and don't want anyone else to be able to watch them in some other way. Main technical reason why you cannot receive US network TV is that the satellites they use are located above North America, and they lie below the horizon when viewed from Europe. Individual live programs are relayed over another satellite over the Atlantic for transmission in Europe.
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T
learn to like rugby ;)
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L
I do like Rugby. Well Union at least.

@Joppa; Thanks for that. Those were basicly the reasons I had discovered otherwise. Basicly I was hoping some cunning soul had found a way around this travesty.

@Liv77; Thanks for that. Have you read what I posted above? I havebeen trying to watch online but apparently I am not alone. Once the net is saturated I lose the signal, hence my original question. If you have a great idea about where I might watch online then I'm all ears. I've tried Justin.TV, Chavster, TVU, Liveplayer.... No dice.

I have a freeview box, but all I get is Arabian porn and British soap, so no joy there.
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Bevdeforges
The only partial solution I've found in 15 years of living in France is to get an MP3 player that does videos, too. You can sometimes download "podcasts" of US broadcasts (after the fact, of course), though I don't know if sports events are available as podcasts these days.

Heck, they even blocked the Daily Show videos to Europe, due to rights issues, though at least you can still get the "clips" version of the show online the day after it is broadcast.

Face it, you're not in Kansas (or wherever) anymore. Give it a few years and you'll wonder what you ever saw in American football.
Cheers,
Bev
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G
lovetotem said:
Does anyone have any good ideas about how I can watch football (and not that ballerina thing they call 'football' in Europe) from my home? I live in the country, far from anywhere likely to have access. I know I could pay 30 euros a month for Canal+ or TNT and get games when there isn't Pantywaist United v. Cheatingdiver FC or some other game of soccer available.../...
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?!? American football, a tough sport?! Full body armour, helmets, neck pads, butt protectors, knee pads, thigh pads, padded gloves to protect their dainty little hands... What part of the body isn't covered with padding? It must take an hour to get their kit on before the game!

Then after all the effort getting padded up, the game has to stop every few seconds between plays for a rest. The game may drag on for hours, but actual play time is what - a mere hour? The rest of the time the players are on their butts adjusting their padding.

And how many players take part? There seems to be an unlimited number of substitute players that can come on for special plays, while the others go off for yet another rest ;)

Of course it all developed from rugby, but while we stuck with the real thing, a gum shield and shin guards being about the most protection a players has, playing two full 40 minute halves non-stop, the cousins turned it into a game for pussies :D
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Pete, you REALLY don't come here for the hunting, do you?:eyebrows:
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L
lovetotem said:
I do like Rugby. Well Union at least.

@Joppa; Thanks for that. Those were basicly the reasons I had discovered otherwise. Basicly I was hoping some cunning soul had found a way around this travesty.

@Liv77; Thanks for that. Have you read what I posted above? I havebeen trying to watch online but apparently I am not alone. Once the net is saturated I lose the signal, hence my original question. If you have a great idea about where I might watch online then I'm all ears. I've tried Justin.TV, Chavster, TVU, Liveplayer.... No dice.

I have a freeview box, but all I get is Arabian porn and British soap, so no joy there.
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@lovetom

Due to the "polite" nature of your message I no long feel the need to help you out. But yes it is possible to watch online! Happy Hunting!
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L
@Frogfondler; Rugby = manly game, no denying that, and hey, if it was on more often I'd watch it, but for one reason or another it remains a distantly observed spectacle rarely watched even by the cro-mags who invented it *ahem*. As for 'girdiron' as you limeys like to call it, I have no interest in defending the value of that sport to you sir, as you are clearly not evolved enough to to understand it, much in the same way as I wouldn't try to explain chess to a toddler fixated with the amusement of scratching its' ass (or 'arse' if you'd prefer). But thanks for your opinions anyway.

@Liv77; yes, easily said, but unless you can point me in the right direction I guess I'd just call it an unsucessful attempt at provocation.

Thanks anyway,
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MichaelS
Ah... The internet really does bring out the best in people.

Although having recently spent a Sunday night at the pub (slightly inebriated) attempting to explain/defend American football to my European drinking pals, I can see where lovetotem's frustration is coming from :)
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L
MichaelS said:
Ah... The internet really does bring out the best in people.

Although having recently spent a Sunday night at the pub (slightly inebriated) attempting to explain/defend American football to my European drinking pals, I can see where lovetotem's frustration is coming from :)
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I'm actually not frustrated at all, but just enjoying the beginnings of a lively cultural exchange. I'm not, as it says above, an expat newbie at all. I've lived overseas for the better part of 20 years, and some of that time was spent among the 'rosbif' so I know their diatribe by heart. I understand that the cryptic nature of the rules of American football are too complicated for most people to invest the time to understand.

That said, I understand cricket, a game played with helmets, pads, protection everywhere, which can last 5 days and produce a tie. The English love it, so once one understands that all their petty quips about 'gridiron' kind of go out the window. I don't, however, criticize cricket because I actually quite like it and have played it at a village level. But then that would be an 'ouverture d'esprit'....

I didn't think anyone on here would really have any great ideas for me, but I thought it might be worth a shot...
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lovetotem said:
@Frogfondler; Rugby = manly game, no denying that, and hey, if it was on more often I'd watch it, but for one reason or another it remains a distantly observed spectacle rarely watched even by the cro-mags who invented it *ahem*. As for 'girdiron' as you limeys like to call it, I have no interest in defending the value of that sport to you sir, as you are clearly not evolved enough to to understand it, much in the same way as I wouldn't try to explain chess to a toddler fixated with the amusement of scratching its' ass (or 'arse' if you'd prefer). But thanks for your opinions anyway.
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You are welcome. :)

Interesting comparison of American football with chess, there is certainly about an equal danger of injury to players resulting from physical contact in the two activities. Mind you, that's where the similarities end; as you suggest yourself, chess requires an IQ over 50 ... ... ;)
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frogblogger said:
You are welcome. :)

Interesting comparison of American football with chess, there is certainly about an equal danger of injury to players resulting from physical contact in the two activities. Mind you, that's where the similarities end; as you suggest yourself, chess requires an IQ over 50 ... ... ;)
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As opposed to your national sport which requires a tutu and a will to cheat.
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lovetotem said:
As opposed to your national sport which requires a tutu and a will to cheat.
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Well my national sport is rugby, ie the real thing. As for the sport that really does involve using one's feet, at least when they have world championships the winner really can claim to be the best in the world, with virtually every country there is taking part at some stage. Unlike the American football equivalent, with about 15 nations scraping teams together, if you include a couple that were hastily recruited in some downtown bars to make up the numbers :)

Anyway, enough banter - actually I really hate football (soccer) these days :D. Boring, with hugely overpaid prima donnas. Mind you, the NFL isn't immune, when you look at the income of the likes of Asomugha, Peyton Manning...

Back to your original query, there used to be a fair number of games via the Sky/BBC package on Astra, I'm sure it was C5 (also in that package) that regularly had games for insomniacs in the early hours of the morning...

If so you need the Sky freesat card (a one-off payment), a Sky digibox, and a dish that can receive the Astra 2D signal, to get Channel 5.
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frogblogger said:
Well my national sport is rugby, ie the real thing. As for the sport that really does involve using one's feet, at least when they have world championships the winner really can claim to be the best in the world, with virtually every country there is taking part at some stage. Unlike the American football equivalent, with about 15 nations scraping teams together, if you include a couple that were hastily recruited in some downtown bars to make up the numbers :)

Anyway, enough banter - actually I really hate football (soccer) these days :D. Boring, with hugely overpaid prima donnas. Mind you, the NFL isn't immune, when you look at the income of the likes of Asomugha, Peyton Manning...

Back to your original query, there used to be a fair number of games via the Sky/BBC package on Astra, I'm sure it was C5 (also in that package) that regularly had games for insomniacs in the early hours of the morning...
If so you need the Sky freesat card (a one-off payment), a Sky digibox, and a dish that can receive the Astra 2D signal, to get Channel 5.
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Ah, that would make you Welsh then -apologies and respect. The NFL will always remain a uniquely North American phenomenon for a number of reasons, much the way that soccer and rugby will always struggle to gain a foothold there; commercial television. The same thing which aggravates people -the startie/stoppiness(endemic in all popular American sports when one thinks about it) is the trait which makes them commercially viable in a market where a television license would be considered socialism(not appreciated). Rugby and Soccer don't have enough places to put ads to make them pay thus those sports will never get much exposure. Now Brits have always criticised this -although, as I said above they seem to be able to watch cricket for some reason- but I quite like it in that it gives one time to go to the bar/fridge or have a piss. How many times have I missed the only goal of a soccer match while in the pisser?:eek:

Thanks for the idea about the sky box. I already have freeview, but have recently lost film4, five, BBCnew24, and a couple other channels. Where did they go? I read that I may need to re-tune my freebox, but I've no idea how to do that. It's a Fortec lifetime II.

Finally, as a Taff, how would you compare the French sheep to the Welsh? Do they put up as much of a fight, or go docilly into the night?.....
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