Dolphins now suck on two Continents

Everybody was wet. There's a word for that in London; they call it life.

Even the inevitable streaker got wet -- well, after materializing just before the second-half kickoff and performing three push-ups, a minor feat given his regular-guy flab quotient.

Intercultural weirdness did appear here and there.

It probably was the first NFL regular-season crowd to boo a Chelsea soccer star (John Terry) because this is North London, not West London, and it might've been the first real NFL game featuring an Everton banner over a wall. (Note: That's a soccer club in Liverpool.)

Somebody in one end zone brought along a whistle and used it liberally, "which caught me a couple of times," Miami defensive end Jason Taylor said, adding that he'd let up a little bit. (Note: That's really annoying at American football.)

Booing reigned when Manning knelt on the last three plays to exhaust the clock. "The only thing they didn't understand, quite frankly," Coughlin said. (Note: They might've understood but disliked it anyway.)

NFL TO PLAY IN LONDON THIS WEEK

Talk about a mid-season road trip. The Miami Dolphins and New York Giants are probably planning their sleep schedules now.
As teams get ready to play this Sunday at Wembley Stadium in London, the National Football League says more regular-season games overseas may be in the offing.

The league today unveiled a 26-foot-tall replica of Dolphins defensive end Jason Taylor in London's Trafalgar Square. The replica, which the NFL is calling the biggest animated human figure ever built, was created by London-based SFX Company Artem. It has moveable feet and arms.

The Dolphins, at 0-7, could probably use this thing!

And in case you can't tell who that is standing at Taylor's feet, it's a movie star......... OK, I was using the word "star" loosely. Yes, that's Christian Slater, and no, I have no idea how Christian Slater was chosen as the American "star" to help the NFL promote the American brand of football across the pond.

NFL pulls the plug on Europe

National Football League officials bet in the early 1990s that the world — or at least North America and Europe — would embrace a brand of football that was of lesser quality than the one the league’s 32 teams play in the United States.

But N.F.L. Europa, born 16 years ago as the World League of American Football, lost money, ran through television partners, narrowed its trans-Atlantic focus largely to Germany and finally was shuttered yesterday. The N.F.L.’s strategy will shift to playing some of its own regular-season games overseas.

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