No Lights Go! OR The NFL is STILL human

Alright so I've been M.I.A for a while but I am back, and thankfully have been catching enough sporting events (Raptors preseason tilts, CIS and NFL games) to provide some content around the site. The first thing to touch upon however is quite a unique experience that I experienced this past weekend.

As everyone knows by now balloons got the best of the Buffalo Bills this past weekend. I heard that the television coverage was very spotty, I was fortunately there at the game so luckily I didn't miss a snap. And while there were a couple short delays, for the most part the Buffalo-San Diego game was just played for the most part with a bipolar scoreboard. Well, they also lacked a game clock for a period in time as well - there was a couple bursts of anger from Phillip Rivers, the Chargers QB, on a few Delay of Game calls when they was no clock countdown but rather just the ref yelling, "5...4...3...2...1...", which was obviously drowned out by the fans (rather easily too).

It wasn't really that bad though - well, alright, having the lights go out in an overpacked washroom TWICE was less than favourable, but beyond that the overall game experience was not really hampered too much. But what struck me was that this happened at an NFL game, and while it's unavoidable and out of their control does it not seem unacceptable for something as large as an NFL game? It was for this reason I was very excited to be in attendance!

For starters It DID make me feel a lot better about a gaffe during a playoff game at University Stadium a few years back in the playoffs, where Laurier's scoreboard went on the fritz for the entire second half. I shook my head thinking "man, this is so bush league!", but you know what we DID have a working time clock, so we were instantly one better than an NFL franchise!

I am fully aware that this isn't the first time a power outage has come into play, although it is more suited to arena sports - which is, yes, far more troublesome since there's no option of playing at that point in time period! But I did enjoy the setback because it made even the most powerful and successful sports league in the world seem a bit more human. While outages happen every now and then in the NBA and NHL, they NEVER happen in a football stadium really. So in celebration of the momentus event I instantly went and bought an overly priced beer in celebration of my new found companionship with the National Football League! (sadly that overly priced beer was still better priced than the ACC, but that's another matter altogether...)

It was a great game on the field, the Bills re-establishing themselves as AFC contenders, and Trent Edwards reaffirming his MVP contending status. It was also exciting to partake in such an odd and random happenstance as that of an on-again, off-again football stadium. And as long as the guy peeing in the corner missed your shoes as you exited the washroom, an overall fun experience not to be forgotten soon!