After My First Trip To London I Am Ready To Start Barstool-England
I am sure there are people on this site and on twitter who are tired of hearing me talk about the wonders of Nottingham Forest. This will be the last one (for at least today).
We recorded before I took my trip to London and if I could go back in time I would've picked going to London and Wembley for the first time. And I could REALLY go back in time I might pick moving to London when I was 21. That is how much I loved the city. I haven't spent a Donnie Does amount of time abroad, but I have managed to finagle my way to cites in Ireland, Germany, France, Switzerland, and Austria. London blew them all away. I had an AMAZING time. A different sort of amazing than Stu drafted
London is an absolutely incredible city. I would say borderline perfect for me, personally. If you follow along on Dogwalk you know that I have discovered after all of these years of being alive that I am in fact...a nerd. Big nerd. London is a GREAT city for the nerds. The center of the world with places and castles that you've seen in textbooks and the history channel for your entire life right in front of your face.
That is the Tower Bridge picture taken from the Tower of London. The original capital and living quarters of the English Royal Family. It was also a prison. It was incredible to walk through a place where the Crown imprisoned and put thousands of my Irish ancestors to death. It only took a few hours and 28 quid to walk the grounds. There's seemingly history everywhere you walk. It's imprinted into the layout of the city. London has main roads and traffic like anywhere else, but then you simply take a turn and you're walking up a crooked, narrow street that was clearly designed with horses in mind or not "designed" at all.
And somewhere on that random street there was inevitably going to be a small little quiet pub. I LOVED the drinking culture in London. Now, it is obviously a MAJOR city so you can find anything your heart desires with a little bit of effort, but what my heart desires was always in my face. Dark wood, barely a tv, and not a DJ in sight. The only "music" would come from random songs that people would start up after they've had a few pints. Just guys being mates sitting around drinking pints pumped by a bar maid. Literally pumped. It looked like those old timey cranks that you see in the Peaky Blinders bar, "The Garrison". Everyone just sat casually telling jokes, breaking balls, laughing at stories. Strangers would come up to our tables, have a pint as they were passing through, buy a round, and leave. It was perfect. If you've been following Barstool Chicago you know our love for Declans in Old Town. In London there was seemingly a Declans on every street. And maybe that isn't for you, but for me it was heaven. Nobody too loud, nobody really too drunk. Just a great time and you can't help but stumble into a place like that in London. ELITE drinking culture. There's even history in the drinking. We walked into pubs that were older than America. Ben Franklin could've sat in that same spot on his way to curry favor with the King after The Revolution and before he started up with his French prostitutes.
The other thing you can't help but notice when you're walking around is how beautiful EVERYTHING is. The architecture is like a mix of the best parts of Paris and the best parts of Boston. A few sections of the skyline are dotted with skyscrapers, but they don't come close to dominating the city the way they do in New York or Chicago. I LOVE Chicago, but there is something spectacular about the main hubs of the city having these gorgeous broad leaf trees lining the streets and the buildings are all like 300+ years old and are mostly 5 stories high or less.
Also, if you're a guy who sweats (I am a guy who sweats) the weather couldn't be better. I was there just a week ago and the weather was like 60 degrees the entire time. London has a reputation for gloomy weather, and I got lucky with nothing but blue skies when I was there but gloominess will never bother me. They don't really have a winter the way we do. Average low temp in winter is 41 degrees. Average high in summer is like 74 degrees. Basically London gives you Chicago Octobers year round. That is the sweet spot. Never truly have to embrace tshirt weather. My titties can stay hidden comfortably forever.
The sports culture there is unlike anything I have experienced. The biggest difference is that they don't give a shit about anything except their team. They don't really have other sports. When the Cubs inevitably suck we transition to the Bears. When the Bears inevitably suck we transition to the Hawks and Bulls. When they suck it is time again for pitchers and catchers. It's a roller coaster of distractions, optimism, and failures, but there's always something coming around the corner. That isn't the case over in England. All the eggs are in one basket. They have cricket and rugby, but they don't seem to actually care about those. The closest comparable is probably SEC Football, but with the SEC you are talking about 12-15 games per year over a 4 month span. English soccer is unrelenting. 38-50 games, usually two games a week a cross different competitions from August through the end of May and in that little two month window of an off-season is an unparalleled rumor mill of player movement that doesn't give a fuck about existing contracts or loyalty or anything. If the player is "unhappy" and the bag is big enough then anyone can move at anytime. It is patently absurd and completely foreign to how we do sports in America.
As for the game I went to…the Championship Final for the right to move up to the Premier League…I am convinced that there is no bigger game in all of sports. If you win you get all the glory that any championship would bring. If you lose…chaos, death, destruction of your favorite team. There is no "we'll get them next year". Imagine the Blackhawks losing to the Red Wings in 2009 Western Conference Final and then having to sell off Kane, Toews, Keith, Seabrook, and everyone that the team and the fans have invested in because they simply don't have the finances to pay them. That is what is at stake. You don't just lose that game. You lose EVERYTHING and everyone that got you to the brink of glory. If you win it is an instant $200M which gives you a good chance to retain your best guys. If you lose, you're rebuilding with little or no hope of getting back to the game you just lost. It is sports Russian Roulette. There is literally nothing more intense because there is no equivalent downside.
It's why every single fan of Nottingham Forest was literally crying in the stands when they won. They returned to the glory of the EPL. They had wandered around the lower tier desert of English Football for 23 years and now they are finally back where they belong and have the money needed to hopefully stay for a while. The win made the trip to London all in all. I am not sure how I would feel about my "first Wembley experience" had they lost, but now I can't wait to go back. I am going to take a trip in the Spring. I will see a game in London and then head north to Nottingham for a game at City Ground. Maybe I will just stay. The country, the culture, and the weather agree with me. I was overwhelmed while also feeling right at home. That is right where you want to be and I can't wait to be there again.