NFL EXTREME 2016 !

AusRam

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Trevor
Thought there might be some interest in a bit of a travelogue of my latest US Trip. My buddy Chas and I did a US NFL trip back in 2004 and we had a ball. About two years ago we started talking about doing another one before we both get too old to enjoy ourselves! He’s a Dolphins fan, and with me being a Rams fan, it means our teams only meet every 4 years, so 2016 was looking good.

Of course the Rams moving back to LA threw a bit of a spanner in things, as it meant we’d have to be on both sides of the country to see home games. Another impact on any planning is that the NFL doesn’t release the schedule until mid April, so it’s difficult to work out anything beyond what cities might be involved until then.

When the schedule was finally released, it wasn’t looking all that great for us as at first glance the trip looked very similar to what we’d done in 2004. Not really what we wanted at all. So I sat down and chewed on the schedule and came up with a possible trip that would include some pretty great games as well as let us both see out teams at home and away. I named it the EXTREME version, just because it was. It meant both flying and driving across the country. It wasn’t going to be easy, the schedule was tight and things would have to go just right. It wasn’t going to be cheap either.

So I sent my buddy the itinerary and he agreed, it was a matter of go hard, or go home! So NFL EXTREME 2016 was born. The next 6 months would see a lot of planning with bookings made and tickets bought. In the end, it really was the trip of a lifetime. We managed to fit in 7 NFL games, 2 College Football Games, an NHL game and an NBA game all in 4 weeks. We also did 3 Stadium tours, the LA Auto Show as well as a bunch of tourist attractions. We even managed to squeeze in a few card shops along the way.

To anyone out there who’s ever considered doing a US Sports trip, my advice is to give it a go. The atmosphere at the games is amazing, and the fans we met were all pretty great, even if you’re barracking for the away team! Do your homework, and if at all possible allow extra in your budget as it can get a bit expensive at times. If anyone has any specifics, post a question, I’d be happy to offer advice if I can.

On with the show. It might take a while to get through this with Christmas and all, so please bare with me...
 
We flew out of Melbourne for LA with a quick stopover in Auckland. Now maybe we should have thought better than to fly the national airline of a country whose national animal is a flightless bird, but things didn't go well for us with Air New Zealand. At the stopover in Auckland, there were issues with our plane for the LA leg. What should have been a 2 hour layover ended up being something like 5, which was a real problem for us as we only had 3 hours in LA to get to out connecting flight.

We finally got to LA, but missed our connecting flight to Minneapolis and the next one wasn't until the next day which would impact the start of the trip. After a major hassle with United who were sold out and couldn't do first class (we were knack by now and wanted the extra comfort) tickets at their online price at the airport, things were looking a bit grim. We were looking at having to change plans before we even got the trip underway!

On the off chance we wandered around to American Airlines who had a flight leaving in about an hour, asked the lady at the desk if they had any first class tickets. She said, yes no worries, and in a few minutes we had tickets with TSA Pre-Check (awesome!) at way less than even United's online price. It was a smaller plane and as such First Class wasn't all that flash, but that was probably the best flight of the trip. We were back on track, thanks American Airlines!

We rocked into Minneapolis at about midnight. Caught the shuttle to the hotel and got some Zzzz's. Next morning it was back to the Airport to pick up the rental car. The we hit the road for our first stop on the trip, a tour of the (not so) Frozen Tundra of Lambeau Field. It was Saturday and the weather was spectacular and the place was really busy, lot's of people looking around the Atrium, going to the bar and pro-shop, doing tours etc. The tour was really good, the Green Bay folks sure do love their team and their history. Even for non Packer fans like us it was well worth doing.


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Next day was Gameday #1. The Colts were in town. Another spectacular day weatherwise, not what we were expecting in Green Bay to be honest. We got to the field early, but even then, tailgating was in full force. Game was good and they certainly put on a show with the bands etc. The Packers don't have official cheerleaders any more, but a squad from a local college were there. As the game progressed small groups of the band members would pop up in different areas of the stadium and play briefly then disappear only to pop up somewhere else.
One thing we did notice was how there seemed to be so many delays and stoppages in the game. Didn't really notice it the last trip, but it was certainly noticeable this time. Must be the TV ads and constant play reviews. Doesn't seem so bad when watching on telly, but really slows things down at the stadium. Makes the Cheerleaders all the more important I reckon ! ;-)

Final score Colts 31 Packers 26

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Next trip stop was the Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio. We visited here in 2004, but it's always worth another visit. There was even a special exhibit of featuring Football Trading Cards. Sadly, no photo's allowed in the card exhibit, but you can read about it here http://www.profootballhof.com/huntc...hall-of-fame-card-collection-exhibit-is-open/ The outside of the HoF had changed considerably since our last visit, and there's more to come with a Stadium upgrade and onsite Hotel in the works.
I was always kicking myself for not taking photo's of the bust hall in it's entirety last trip, so finally got to fix that. There's a lot of interesting stuff on display, lots of history, but even a good amount of more recent stuff. If you can ever get there, do so, as it's well worth making time for.

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Next stop wasn't a sports one, but might be of interest. We swung by the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland after Canton. As it happens it's right alongside the Browns Stadium. We only had a couple of hours, so mightn't have done it full justice, but there's some interesting stuff there.

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And to cap of an already full day, that night we traveled to Kent to see the Kent State Flashes play the unbeaten Western Michigan Bronco's. And it was wet - poured with rain nearly the whole game. Not much of a crowd, but it certainly didn't seem to phase the the Band! The Flashes got off to a good start, but in the end were no match for the Bronco's. Final score 37 - 21

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Thanks Tazhawk, I needed the reminder to update ! I'm a big airplane nut, so the next stop was the Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly VA, which is part of the Air and Space Museum - where they keep the big stuff that won't fit in the museum in Washington DC's Mall.. Lots to see here, the place is massive and there's some real history there, like the Enola Gay, a Concorde and the Space Shuttle Discovery. Just over the road is "The Fantastic Store" - the retail outlet of Blowout cards. Had a good catch up with the guys here, bought some packs and killed a couple of hours going through boxes of singles. Well worth a visit if you're nearby. Lastly for something a bit different, we visited the Civil War Battlefield of Manassas. Stonewall Jackson anyone?


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So now a few of you are probably thinking, "I didn't sign on for holiday snaps, where's the NFL ??" :p
Well that night, after a major battle through Baltimore traffic, we went to the Thursday night football game. The Browns were in town! Fans were pretty brutal on both the visitors and the home team. Guessing being a night game helps, but one section behinds us had about 6 people taken out by security...just a bit too rowdy it seems! Easy win for the Ravens in the end, 28-7.
Oh, and the Ravens won the award for the "Raunchiest Cheerleaders" !;)

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Then it was up to Buffalo and Niagara Falls. On the we stopped and called in to visit Brad at Dave and Adam's who I've been dealing with for years, and he gave us a tour of their warehouse. So much stuff, pretty amazing to see. Didn't get to take photo's unfortunately Good to talk to the guys there, they were all pretty interested in the Oz card scene and OCT was well known. Visited the US side of the falls that night and then walked across into Canada for about 3 hours the next morning. There's not much on the US side at all really, but the Canada side has a lot more going for it as well as a better view of the Falls. Well worth seeing.

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From Niagara we hightailed it across to "The Big Apple" stopping at one of the Dave and Adams retail stores to stock up on card supplies and of course packs to break ! We were staying in East Rutherford not too far from Metlife Stadium. We had planned to walk to the Stadium, but on arrival were told it was both dangerous and illegal. As it turned out it was a fair way, so probably best we didn't anyway. But as luck would have it, there are guys running shuttle buses from most of the Hotels to the Stadium every 30 minutes or so, and this worked a treat. Gameday was my beloved Rams squaring off against the Jets who weren't travelling too well either. The game itself was far from pretty, but after seeing 4 Rams games, I finally saw us win a game... 9 - 6!! Oh and if you can imagine what being at a New York Football game with a typical New York crowd would be like, that was exactly what we got in our section. Great crowd, good natured and with lots of funny comments all in that New Yorker/ Brooklyn accent.

Oh and while Case Keenum played this game out, we did get to see #1 Pick Jared Goff in warm ups... a sign of things to come maybe ? This was Bryce Petty's first start.


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Next day was sightseeing in NYC. Have been there a few times so for something different, we took a cab to the ferry terminal and caught a ferry in (and back out). Have to say this is an awesome way to get in and out of NYC! No expensive cab ride in traffic, no problems trying to find cabs willing to leave Manhattan for East Rutherford etc and you can choose from a number of spots to get on or off. Worked a treat and pretty cheap to boot. We visited a number of attractions, did a little shopping, and seeing it was an awesome day weather wise, we walked across the Brooklyn Bridge and back again (well worth doing). Would have liked to have checked out the Intrepid museum, but we were very short on time and didn't think we could justify the admission price - so a couple of pics from the shore was all I managed.

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But it was Monday, and lucky for us, it was a New York double header with a Giants MNF game right after the Sunday Jets game. So it was back to Metlife again that evening, using the shuttle service to see the Giants take on the Bengals. Giants win, but only just 21 - 20. Sadly, not a Cheerleader was to be seen.... :(

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Next morning it was off to Vegas! As always, Vegas is a bit of fun if you can put up with all glitzy crap that goes along with it....LOL! Can't tell you too much of course, as we all know "What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas" :p
We stayed in the Luxor Pyramid which wasn't too bad, my first time staying in a big casino on the strip. There's a pretty good restaurant downstairs for a decent breakfast which is handy. Went out to Hoover Dam for a looksee. Bit of an NFL connection there with a pretty impressive bridge named after Pat Tillman of the Cardinals, the Safety who left the team to join the Army after 9/11 and was eventually killed in Aghanistan.

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From Vegas, it was on to LA. We stayed on South Figueroa, smack bang between the Staples Center and the L.A. Coliseum. Our first stop was on the night we arrived - an NHL game between the LA Kings and the Edmonton Oilers. Our seats weren't too bad. Took a while to get the hang of the game though, things happen very quickly and that puck certainly moves when you're watching live! Final score Kings 4 Oilers 2. No cheerleaders, but we had some pretty scraper/flag girls! And check out the fan enjoying the fight!

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