An American Football [Game] in London

Sunday left little time to recover from all the traveling and birthday-ing from the earlier part of the weekend. There was, after all, a concert to go to and a Superbowl party to attend. With the help of the non-functioning Northern line, the most important line for the evening's journeys, we had to negotiate the bus system quite a bit as well.

KoKo, the club where OK Go was playing, was an amazing venue. I think it must've been an old theatre at some point, but the inside was huge and full of fun levels and balconies. There were two opening acts, one of which was seemingly Scottish and the other of which was Swedish. The first one was enjoyable, the second one strange but somewhat amusing. OK Go was completely amazing. And, despite my ruined voice, I screamed and sang with the rest of the crowd and had the time of my life. (My voice, if you're wondering, was surprisingly better upon return home in the early hours of Monday morning.) We, unfortunately, had to leave early, but learned later that we didn't miss more than 3 or 4 songs, so I'm not heartbroken about it.

Getting to the Superbowl Bash hosted at Battersea Evolution was lengthy and cold. The entirety of the trip was a good 45 minutes to an hour by bus and an additional 15 or 20 minute walk. Really conveniently located, let me tell you. Once inside, it didn't seem as bad as I had expected. It was the only place in my entire life I've ever seen no line in the Ladies' room and quite a long one for the Men's. There were 3 massive screens to broadcast the game to the fans in the stadium seats and standing along the front. Meg and I arrived just when the pre-game party was ending and the cheerleaders were dancing about. We found a conveniently out-of-the-way place to stand and watched the exhilerating first quarter (which I am not being sarcastic about - I actually jumped up and got excited!). We planned to leave just after it, but ended up talking to a Brit who happened to be a long-time fan of American football and seemed to have a lot to share, particularly about sport marketing when he found out the class was the reason behind our attendance. He was extremely nice and certainly helpful and, when we left during the second quarter, he shook my hand and wished me luck with the class.

We ended up pouring into the flat around 1 or 1:30, and with all the excitement, I didn't get to bed until 3:30. Not the usual Sunday night fare in London - American bands and sports - but I quite enjoyed myself.