The adventures of “lionheart” the Nomad Dougal: American Football (Yawn....)

It was announced: we are going to Atlanta for the weekend to watch the Atlanta Falcons vs Dolphins Football game! Then we'll stay til Sunday, have a look around town and drop you off at the airport on Sunday. Great - fits perfectly!

It is a 2.5 hours drive from Aiken, SC to Atlanta, GA. A nice and pleasurable drive. We leave mid afternoon to arrive in time to check into our downtown Motel and walk to the stadium for the game, which starts @ 7.30p.m.

The Motel is very basic, no breakfast and only coffee - no tea at all. Well.... But we are downtown and in walking distance to almost everything....

Off we go to the stadium to watch the game. The stadium is huge... several stories high and 4 main entrances. It takes us a while to find our seats. The place is packed and the atmosphere charged with excitement and lots of noise. Michael rushes straight down to the first row to film the Cheerleader girls! Men.....

The Georgia Dome, the largest cable-supported domed stadium in the world, opened in 1992.

A total of 8,300 tons of reinforced steel was used to construct the Dome. That is more than the weight of iron and steel used in the Eiffel Tower.
The building covers 8.9 acres and contains 1.6 million square feet on all seven levels.
The 290-foot high roof is composed of 130 Teflon-coated fiberglass panels - covering 8.6 acres. The roof's supporting cable totals 11.1 miles and the Dome is as tall as a 27-story building.

Someone is thirsty....

Checkpoint Charlie...

Hall of Fame...

Great Fan....

It was more fun watching the 6-year olds play.... they were better at it than the adults!

Well... the Falcons lost, but what the heck... I bought the t-shirt, might as well wear it!!!

The game takes almost 4 hours, and it is soooo boring. It's not a game, it's a hyped-up performance of I don't know what?! There are so many players, they throw the ball - lots of screaming from the audience when one of the players actually catches the ball... then music, cheerleaders, noise, and change of players. And the same thing over and over. There is not actually a game happening at all. Everytime the players decide to have a strategic game plan meeting, they stop the time. Hence the whole thing takes up to 4 hours. Also, the players are padded to the tilt... not risk takers. I prefer a good Rugby game any day!

American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone
Each team has 11 players on the field at a time. Usually there are many more players off the field (an NFL team has a limit of 53 players on their roster, all of which can be dressed for a game). Players have very specialized roles and are divided into three separate units: the offense, the defense and the special teams. It is rare for all team members to participate in a given game, as some roles have little utility beyond that of an injury substitute.
A standard football game consists of four 15-minute quarters with a 12-minute half-time intermission after the second quarter. The clock is stopped after certain plays, therefore, a game can last considerably longer (often more than three hours in real time).

It was more interesting to watch the fans dressed up in fancy gear and getting excited..... Anyway.. had to experience this.

Afterwards, we went to the Hard Rock Cafe downtown for a midnight snack. Michael had a VIP card, as he is a seasoned Hard Rocker....so we did not have to join the queue and wait! Well done!