NFL Experience in Shanghai

Oh yeah baby, Football was in China this past weekend at Shanghai Stadium. I’m not talking about futbol, with a lower case f. No. I’m talking about high-impact Middle Linebackers coming at you like a freight train Football. I’m talking about 6-foot 6-inches, 350-pounds, I-can-run-40-yards-faster-than-you-can-drink-your-beer FOOTBALL.

Yeah, that stuff, in Shanghai, for the first time EVER. And even though the only tackle game played on Sunday wasn’t the Dallas Cowboys vs. the Green Bay Packers, it still felt pretty good to see a game, especially since the only other sporting event in town was the China Open Badminton tournament (no offense Lin Dan).

I once got into a…hmm…“discussion” with a Canadian expat friend about whether hockey players were better athletes than American Football players. As expected from my hockey-loving Maple Leaf friend, he was so adamant that not only are their athletes are the best in the world, but that hockey was a better overall sport.

He talked about how tough and fit they have to be because of the speed of ice hockey, compared with the slower-paced on-foot sport of American Football. He complained that American Football players are fat, out of shape, and simply have to run for short 30-second plays with so many breaks in between.

Then it was my turn.

Without disparaging the wonderful game of hockey, with which I have a love-hate relationship (mostly hate, but a little love), this guy was completely nuts. American Football players, specifically those playing in the NFL, are superior to athletes in any other professional full-contact sport on earth. (yes, I said it; my email address is at the end of this article if you want to leave me hate mail).

11 extraordinarily grown men on each side of the ball, chomping at the bit to go full speed towards each other when the ball is hiked, until they explode in a moment of impact that defines what the NFL is all about. Unless Gladiators are still performing in the Roman Coliseum, it’s pretty much no contest, American Football is the most physically demanding sport in the world.