Here my collection of some cups. From NFL teams I have Broncos and two Raiders (not visible) only. All others are from MLB teams.

This thread hits my venn diagram of Patriots hate (Dolphins fan and FL native living in New England for 25+ years), celebrities behaving badly and Naked Gun references. Enjoy your time....

Also, 14 kids, Shaun? That's insane.

Small update ahead of main one coming later. I did indeed meet favourite former Seahawk Shaun Alexander, and then immediately won a mini helmet (stop it) signed by him!



I was then involved in a skit for NFL TV once they learned I was from London.

All to be explained once I’m back in the hotel and have my laptop. It’s been a great day so far

Someone got the reference! My work here is done!

Gosh, well, what was initially planned to be a couple of hours nap and then back out for some dinner and an explore actually ended up with me sleeping a solid 12 hours! That has not happened for a long time - and yet somehow I still feel tired…

When I eft you in the last major update, I was still on the plane - I forewent the light meal, aiming to have a decent meal and a relatively early night once at the hotel. Border crossing with Global Entry was not it’s usual easiness as the agent didn’t seem to have ever seen anyone use the app before, so a bunch of us were left in a queue while he sought help from someone more knowledgable - which took a while, After that was very quickly onto the BART and on my way.

Getting out at Powell St, right where one of the cable car turning points is was quite an eye opener - I’d been there a few years ago when Mrs Lemsip and I did a west coast road trip, and it was clean, full of high end shops etc. Now they were all closed and it was very run down. A real shame to see.

A few mins later I arrived at the main hotel of this trip, the Grand Hyatt - it seems this is the hotel where On Location put all of the Seahawks that booked through them, here were hundreds of us there!

As I was unpacking, a massive wave of tiredness and hunger hit me, so I checked in with the events concierge to pick up my pack and then had a very average burger and fries in the hotel bar - for which I completely forgot to take a photo, but you’re really not missing out on anything.

Went back to my room and inspected the bag of swag:



The first of the mini helmets and the program are great, as is the cap, but the monopoly game seems to be more of a ”what have we got in the cupboard that needs getting rid of?” addition, and won’t be coming home with me.

I then made a terrible mistake - it was about 7:30pm, and I laid down on the bed and closed my eyes for 5 minutes. Except when I reopened them it was 2:30 am. Damn it!

Back shortly with the full summary of day 2

Having woken up at 2:30 I figured I was done for, but managed to doze again until around 5:30, when I just gave up and had a call with home, and then on to the first order of the day - watching West Ham.

Anyone that’s followed my trip reports know I have a terrible run of watching them when abroad - I don’t think we’ve ever won when I’ve watched them from the US or Singapore. But, not to be deterred, I looked up where the Bay Area Hammers meet up, and it was about a 15 min walk from my hotel, so I set off to be there in time for the 7am kick off, looking forward to talking through our recent recovery with some new people.

I was the only one there



7am start commitment

And then West Ham won. I don’t really know how to handle that.

With that out of the way, the fist of the organised fun events began:




As a Brit, look how happy I am to be in a queue - nobody does it better than us

15 mins later we were dropped off in a bar and spent a few hours mingling (I get the feeling I was the only person there on their own) and got a good laugh at everyone’s reaction at where I’d travelled from (more on that in a bit). But the highlight was meeting Shaun Alexander, the man who got me into NFL. He was very humble and very funny, I’ll post the picture I had taken with him when I get sent it - I was basically like a kid at Christmas. And then I won the mini helmet (I said stop it) posted above and was even more kiddier at Christmasier.












And then a bunch of very excited people came over and introduced me to an NFL TV lady as “Mr London” whereupon I was immediately talked into standing there, surrounded by other Seahawks fans and when the crew asked where I was from, everyone around me shouted “LONDON!!!” It was like an episode of Friends. I don’t think I’ve ever been redder. If I can find it, I’ll send a link should they publish it.

And then when we got back to the hotel I shut my eyes at 5pm and just woke up at 7am!

And now today is the day… I’m so nervous. A lot of pacing is about to begin

More to come!

This happened to me almost everytime I went to a NFL or MLB game. I came into contact with my neighbours and their were very surprised. It is always a lot of fun and they will look for you that you stay hydrated.

As I was in Toronto for a language study and went to two Buffalo games organized as a tour. As we arrived at the US border the officer asked to hold the passport in the air so he can see who is not canadia. Well my shiny red swiss passport put some attentation to the people around me. And I was the man of the day. So almost the same fun you have.

Enjoy

Congrats on the win!

We only went and won!

Full update in the morning

Respect for wearing the original navy blue jersey

Indeed, congrats on the win, well deserved. One line summary of the game��generally, a bunch of field goals versus a load of punts�

Congratulations! You must be absolutely buzzing

Very cool experience.