New Orleans Tea Party Plays Big in Olde England

Although he has two small children, I knew it was OK to call my friend Ian in London late on Super Bowl Sunday night/Monday morning. An Oregonian living abroad for the last few years, he figured to be wide awake from the 11:15 p.m. kickoff to the 2:45 a.m. finish for his annual fix of the ultimate in Americana.

Here’s my question, I told him. I know what a lot of people in New England are doing--watching the game on television. What about Olde England?

“Same thing,” he said.

Of course, more people in England viewed Sunday afternoon’s FA Cup game between Chelsea and Liverpool. Even though the royals are in trouble, soccer still rules.

But Ian said American football has had a “serious cult following” in England since 1986, when the Chicago Bears played in the American Bowl at Wembley Stadium in their first preseason game after winning Super Bowl XX.

The difference, he said, is that the sport’s fans were then fixated on William “the Refrigerator” Perry but now are considerably more sophisticated. They know Johnny Majors from John Major, he assured me.

Sunday’s game was available in England on two channels, one free and one cable. For fans in London who preferred not to watch at home, the World League of American Football hosted parties at two nightclubs. Several sports bars, including a popular new one named “Babe Ruth’s,” also carried the game.

English fans, Ian said, like the Raiders because of their colors, the 49ers because of Joe Montana and the Vikings because they are presumed to share a common European heritage.

In the Super Bowl, they favored the Packers.

I didn’t think they would like a team from New England called the Patriots.

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Pasadena and Rose Bowl officials were criticized for sending a delegation last week to New Orleans. But if San Diego cannot fulfill its commitment to play host to next year’s Super Bowl because of problems financing stadium expansion, the Pasadenans were there to let the NFL know the Rose Bowl could be ready. . . .

The Rose Bowl is a proven late-inning reliever. When the NFL pulled the 1993 Super Bowl out of Tempe, Ariz., because of the state’s failure to vote for a Martin Luther King holiday, the game was awarded to Pasadena. . . .

The challenge would be greater this time. In conjunction with the L.A. Sports Council, Pasadena had 22 months to organize the ’93 game. Super Bowl XXXII is less than 12 months from today. . . .

Jack Kemp and Jim Mora are out of work, but a former Occidental College teammate is at the pinnacle of his football career. Ron Botchan of Granada Hills worked his fourth Super Bowl on Sunday as the umpire. Botchan has a day job teaching physical education at L.A. City College. . . .

It won’t be the No Fun League with Mike Ditka back in it. . . .

Teams that started in the NFL, including Pittsburgh and Baltimore, have a 24-7 record in the Super Bowl. The only AFL-bred teams that have won are the Raiders, three times; the Dolphins, twice, and the Chiefs and Jets, once each. . . .

The NFC team that wins the next Super Bowl will be whichever one plays in it. . . .

Another Super Bowl here? In this weather?

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Companies paying $1.2 million per half minute for their Super Bowl commercials were, for the most part, let down by their advertising agencies. The most clever, I thought, was Bob Dole’s for Visa, even if it was somewhat misleading.

About a visit to his hometown of Russell, Kan., the commercial actually was shot in Pittsburg, Texas.

Pittsburg also made news before last year’s Super Bowl, when, showing allegiance to Dallas before the game against the Steelers, the town changed its name for one day to Cowboys, Texas.

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According to “Daily Variety,” Oliver Stone is producing and directing a movie about the NFL for Warner Brothers. If he’s looking for a topic, I have some suggestions.

“RFK.” Overbearing owner played by Albert Finney defies Congress and moves his team from the nation’s capital to Maryland. Definitely fiction. It could never happen.

“Allen.” Anthony Hopkins plays an eccentric coach driven from his job in a second term with the Rams. Just because he’s paranoid doesn’t mean somebody isn’t out to get him.

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While wondering what the question is if Jim McIlvane is the answer, I was thinking: Rudy T isn’t watching if he doesn’t find Eddie Jones a place on the all-star team, Travis “Big” Knight should be starting instead of Elden Campbell, NBA fans voted for the wrong Hardaway.