Watching American football normally brings out my cynical side.
Like most people who grew up believing that a sport called “football” should mainly involve ones feet, I generally find gridiron games to be overly long, complicated and the passage of play maddeningly fractured.
Out of professional and patriotic duty, however, I chose to watch the NFL’s regular-season game between Minnesota Vikings and Pittsburgh Steelers in London. And I have to say, I thoroughly enjoyed it.
It probably helped that it was a fantastic sporting contest, featuring a Hollywood-style touchdown from Minnesota running back Adrian Peterson and some ridiculously long throwing by Steelers quarterback “Big” Ben Roethlisberger.
But it was more than that. There was also the context in which the game was played.
Namely, while the English football establishment was stamping its feet and gnashing its teeth at the notion of a one-off month-long winter break to facilitate the 2022 World Cup, here was the NFL, happily sharing its game with the wider world, as it has done every season since 2007. We Brits, who like to think ourselves so worldly and cosmopolitan compared to our American cousins, are more conservative than any Appalachian hillbilly when it comes to tinkering with our national game.
Of course, I realise that support for the London games was not universal among the NFL family.
Nonetheless, the idea became a reality and it is delivered each year with gusto and conviction. From the articulate and media-friendly players to the idea of encouraging all NFL fans to attend in their own colours, regardless of which “franchise” (yuck) they support, it felt like a breath of fresh air – even to a hardened cynic like me.
Yes, they use their hands. But at least they also use their heads.
sports@thenational.ae
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David Haye record
Total fights: 32
Wins: 28
Wins by KO: 26
Losses: 4
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The Perfect Couple
Starring: Nicole Kidman, Liev Schreiber, Jack Reynor
Creator: Jenna Lamia
Rating: 3/5
Israel Palestine on Swedish TV 1958-1989
Director: Goran Hugo Olsson
Rating: 5/5
Royal wedding inspired menu
Ginger, citrus and orange blossom iced tea
Avocado ranch dip with crudites
Cucumber, smoked salmon and cream cheese mini club sandwiches
Elderflower and lemon syllabub meringue
How to protect yourself when air quality drops
Install an air filter in your home.
Close your windows and turn on the AC.
Shower or bath after being outside.
Wear a face mask.
Stay indoors when conditions are particularly poor.
If driving, turn your engine off when stationary.
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Like a Fading Shadow
Antonio Muñoz Molina
Translated from the Spanish by Camilo A. Ramirez
Tuskar Rock Press (pp. 310)
Unresolved crisis
Russia and Ukraine have been locked in a bitter conflict since 2014, when Ukraine’s Kremlin-friendly president was ousted, Moscow annexed Crimea and then backed a separatist insurgency in the east.
Fighting between the Russia-backed rebels and Ukrainian forces has killed more than 14,000 people. In 2015, France and Germany helped broker a peace deal, known as the Minsk agreements, that ended large-scale hostilities but failed to bring a political settlement of the conflict.
The Kremlin has repeatedly accused Kiev of sabotaging the deal, and Ukrainian officials in recent weeks said that implementing it in full would hurt Ukraine.
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Eyasses squad
Charlie Preston (captain) – goal shooter/ goalkeeper (Dubai College)
Arushi Holt (vice-captain) – wing defence / centre (Jumeriah English Speaking School)
Olivia Petricola (vice-captain) – centre / wing attack (Dubai English Speaking College)
Isabel Affley – goalkeeper / goal defence (Dubai English Speaking College)
Jemma Eley – goal attack / wing attack (Dubai College)
Alana Farrell-Morton – centre / wing / defence / wing attack (Nord Anglia International School)
Molly Fuller – goal attack / wing attack (Dubai College)
Caitlin Gowdy – goal defence / wing defence (Dubai English Speaking College)
Noorulain Hussain – goal defence / wing defence (Dubai College)
Zahra Hussain-Gillani – goal defence / goalkeeper (British School Al Khubairat)
Claire Janssen – goal shooter / goal attack (Jumeriah English Speaking School)
Eliza Petricola – wing attack / centre (Dubai English Speaking College)