Chicago Bears @ Wembley

Bears. London. America.

As I've said to many friends here in the UK, I've never been to a Bears game in Chicago for various reasons... the tickets are super expensive because there are so few games in a season, they're hard to come by, the weather at the end of the season is a gamble as you might be sitting in sub-zero wind chill with the breeze coming off the lake.... The fact there are only 7 home games in an American football regular season was mind boggling to my football (soccer) loving friends.

Over the past 6 years living in the city, I routinely gathered with friends to watch Sunday football but I never actually made it to Soldier Field. Never mind, they conveniently came to me and the tickets were easy to obtain!

Last weekend I attended the Chicago Bears vs. Tampa Bay Bucaneers NFL game at London's Wembley Stadium with some friends and it was bloody brilliant. 

Because your home is in London but your heart is in Chicago

Entering the tailgate, it was apparent that this was a celebration of American football for any fan, as we saw pretty much every NFL team's jersey represented and of course the cheese heads were out in full force (I had to explain this costume). The crowds were taking in football throwing "festival like" games, the Chicago Bears drumline performed, there were competions for fans to win prizes, an NFL apparel store, foot long hot dogs, and..... Budweiser. I haven't had a Bud Light in months but being a Miller Light fan, it sufficed and definitely felt like a taste of home. I steered clear of the hot dogs however, I didn't want to be disappointed!

On to the best part of the tailgate... WGN news was wandering nearby and I said "oh, that's a Chicago TV station". That's all it took to get dragged over to see if they'd talk to us. We made it in the segment on the 9pm Chicago news that night. My 30 seconds of fame! Too bad they cut me off mid-sentence and didn't air much of what we said, but it was good enough! My parents were super excited to see me on TV at home.

The Goo Goo Dolls randomly played, the "Star Spangled Banner" and "God Save the Queen" was sung and then the game began. Aside from the streaker that stormed the field and took his shirt off running around like a mad man high-fiving players before getting tackled by security, the crowd was relatively tame and the stadium was pretty quiet! I know the football (soccer) matches aren't like this though. It seemed like a lot of people weren't rooting for a particular team and waved their free Tampa Bay flags every time the jumbotron told them to.

 
Bears won 24-18. The only thing that was missing was the Chicago Bears song at the end!