DON'T TELL ME THE SCORE !!

You’ve all seen the scenario of sports fans trying not to know the score of a particular match so they can watch a replay or a recording, in order to keep the suspense of the game alive. In is not an uncommon situation. Indeed, on some news casts, when it comes to reporting the sports news, the reporter will say “If you don’t want to know the score, look away now”. A very decent and correct thing to do. It is a situation with which we are all acquainted and it is very sensitive of the reporter to understand the psychology.

The difficulty is, of course, avoiding any possible reporting of the game. The inadvertent comment overheard in a restaurant, or a shop, from the radio, television, from just passers-by in the street, or even, indeed, amongst one’s friends.  The spoiler alert sign looms large over one’s head to no avail. It is definitely not an easy task.

You would think that, so far as the American Superbowl is concerned, in the United Kingdom, it would be relatively simple to manage. Granted, the BBC must now think that there is a sufficiently large audience for the Corporation to pay the premium to broadcast the Superbowl live from the US.  The NFL show with Jason Bell and Osi Umenyiora, has been a regular fixture for a couple of years now and there clearly has been a reasonable, and perhaps increasing, fan base for the BBC to keep it going. Their commentary and analysis of the NFL over the season is a joy to watch and listen to. Consequently, the ups and downs of the leagues and the players become familiar.

In the leadup to the game on Sunday, much was discussed of the defence and offence of both teams, the growing skills of the young Joe Burrow (the possible successor to the GOAT Tom Brady), the great success of the young Sean McVay (now youngest head coach to win the Superbowl), the competitiveness of Aaron Donald and any number of facts and historical football lore. During the course of the season, the fan’s such as myself, have been able to keep abreast of the goings on.

As to the Superbowl being shown in the UK and round the world, the timing of the broadcast can be difficult. The time difference between London and Los Angeles, on this occasion, meant that it would be shown between 11:30 PM and 3 AM which would mean staying up till the small hours of the morning. In my younger days that would not have been a problem, a couple of beers, popcorn or slices of pizza would see one through. Nowadays that is more difficult. Technology however is a saviour. One can easily record the game on one’s new ultra-high definition tele and watch it during the course of Monday afternoon. Not too difficult to avoid the score as American Football, although becoming popular, is not the headline news it might be in the United States.

So you can imagine my surprise on opening an email this morning from Bob in California beginning: Surprise!!! Rams won!!

Followed by:

They controlled the ball enough in the 4^th Quarter so that their defence didn’t have to get back on the field for 15 plays. At the end the Bengals had under two minutes and one time out left, but the Rams defence showed up and stopped them with All Pro defensive tackle Aaron Donald accounting for stops in the last two Bengal offensive plays.  Whew!! 

It’s been about 71 years since the LA Rams won a professional football championship while playing in Los Angeles (the one in 1951 was an NFL Championship before the Super Bowl was created.  Compare this with the Pittsburgh Steelers and the New England Patriots with 6 Super Bowl wins each!  The Super Bowl was created in 1967. Of the teams that have won the Super Bowl, the LA Rams have the fewest wins at 1!  The LA Raiders won Super Bowl 18 in 1984. The Raiders now play in Las Vegas.

I realise he was just being kind and informative to those in distant lands where the NFL does not seem to have a presence, but surprisingly it does.  So, In case anyone is interested here are the highlights reduced to 16 mins. You can watch it on You Tube, just follow link.