Shaun Phillips: In London, talking American football

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Shaun Phillips is a linebacker with the San Diego Chargers and posts every week on this blog.

LONDON -- The NFL is the No. 1-grossing sport in America. It’s also the No. 1 most-watched sport in America, which makes me wonder why we travel halfway across the world to play a football game.

We are in Europe and playing an American game that most people here don’t understand. I’ll be honest and say that I love playing football no matter where it is, but I wish the natives here were as excited to have us here as we are to play here!

London is a great place and I could see myself living here some day, but the fact of the matter is, soccer players run this country and rightfully so.

Nobody here knows anything about American football, nor do they seem to care.

I have done a fair share of media since I have been here, and it still seems as if American football is irrelevant. I know the main reason that they don’t care is because no one knows enough about the game -- they simply have not been educated as to what American football is all about.

The natives always ask me, ‘Why does the game stop so much?’ or ‘Why does everyone just run into each other?’ And they always want to know if it’s like rugby.

I even had a woman say to me, “Football is good, but they’re not as tough as rugby players.” I told her that rugby players are tough, but most of them don’t understand the strategy involved.

Well, it’s already Thursday, we have a couple more days to prepare for the game, and I’m feeling good about everything.

-- Shaun Phillips
http://www.spf95.com