Getting paid to be a Sports Junkie

I feel old today. Real old.
Last night I went to London to watch Norwich play QPR and, although the match was a shocker played in driving rain, the 1-0 win could prove crucial if we are to avoid the dreaded drop to League One.
I’m not really familiar with this part of town, but after speeding down the A12/M25 to my auntie’s house in Middlesex, I had a trip on the Tube involving a serious amount of changes.
I ended up at White City just before 7pm and walking past the BBC TV Centre I called Lorraine and told her I was waving at the building in the hope that I would appear behind Adrian Chiles and Christine Bleakley on the One Show backdrop.
It wasn’t to be, but inside the ground as the action started, I did spy a BBC presenter. I sat, well, stood, behind Jake Humphrey, Norwich fan and BBC Sport presenter.
Jake’s a man who gets paid big bucks to present Formula One all over the world. He was at the bloody Super Bowl a couple of weeks ago and for a man my age, has an enviable job.
I thought about mentioning my book as it’s due out in a few weeks and I know he’s a big NFL fan but was too concerned with the on-field action.
When I got home I Googled Jake, to see how old he was.
The git is three years younger than me!

Young Sam passes the football test

It's a big year for me 2009 - it's 25 years since I first went to Carrow Road to watch a live game of football.

Yes, back in November 1984 aged nine years and eight months I saw Norwich hammer Everton 4-2.

Without kids of my own yet, I always felt a bit of responsibility to my take my oldest nephew Sam when he was roughly the same age. And today, aged nine years and eleven months I took him along with my brother Andrew to watch Norwich take on Barnsley.

Norwich have gone through big changes since I went to that game in 1984 and big changes since I was last at a game with my brother - that would have been March 1987 - 22 years earlier!!

Back then Andrew and I went to two games in a fortnight at Carrow Road as Norwich took on Wimbledon and Luton.

Both games finished in 0-0 draws, the quality on the pitch was so bad that I vividly recall standing on the River End and Andrew saying to me early in the second half of the Luton game that he wanted to get some doughnuts and go wait outside for me.

He stuck around and would have seen Bryan Gunn doing his best to keep the likes of Mick Harford and Brian Stein at bay.

Gunn of course was made Norwich boss this week and this was his first game in charge - a fact lost on Sam who only knew one Norwich player and that was Wes Hoolahan because someone at his school knew him.

Sam looked half asleep in the first half and quite right - the football was rubbish and the only time his eyes lit up was when he devoured a huge half-time hot dog.

I was praying for goals to give the kid something to tell his nephews about in the future and my mind went back to November 1984 and the fact I saw City hit four.

Lo and behold the goals came as who else but Hoolahan gave Norwich a 55th minute lead. Sam sort of stood up and cheered a bit. Jamie Cureton made it 2-0 with a tasty lob on his return to Carrow Road and by the time Sammy Clingan and Darel Russell notched up late goals, he was really starting to enjoy it.

I'd say he passed the test - so thanks Norwich for making it so memorable!

Joy and pain of Munich

I've always wanted to visit Munich ever since my brother returned from a school trip to the German city in 1988 with a Bayern Munich mug.

Having seen them play at Carrow Road back in 1993 against Norwich in the UEFA Cup the famous German side were always on my hitlist of teams to see on the continent.

And so last Satuday me and Gordo jetted off to the freezing cold German city to catch the Bayern boys in action against Energie Cottbus in the Bundesliga.

If Munich itself was cold, the area around the Allianz Arena was brutal. A couple of hastily consumed bratwurst at the station were very welcome as we trudged our way to some cracking seats.

Once the action started, well there could only be one winner right? Well. it didn't exactly go to plan as Ervin Skela gave the visitors s surprise lead with a free-kick to delight the handful of Cottbus fans to our right.

Bayern soon restored order with a cracking Franck Ribery free-kick before Martin Demichelis nutted home the goal that gave Bayern a 2-1 lead.

After the break Miroslav Klose popped in a third before Luca Toni smashed home a volley from a corner.

The Allianz is a great ground, the only problem was you needed special tokens to buy any food inside the ground. Outside the souvenir shop was rammed in the run up to Christmas but Gordo still found time to pick out a rather dashing hat!

Leaving the Allianz behind was for me the best view - it was all lit up in Bayern red.

The day after was a day of contrasts - while the crowds descended on the Christmas markets, we took a throat-lumping trip to nearby Dachau, the former Nazi concentration camp just a few miles from Munich's city centre.
My nanny was in a similar camp in Westerbork in Holland, a camp especially for Dutch Jews - lucky them!

So I took plenty of pictures of the familiar rows of beds, communal toilets and exercise yards and even for a couple of tough Brits with no real connection to the events of 60 years ago, there was still a pretty sombre feeling shared by us.

I'm sure my nanny will shed a tear or two when she sees those pictures too.

It takes all shorts, Maria

Wimbledon today for the fourth time in three years and a first time on Court One.
Last year I sat with Lorraine on soggy Centre Court day without the roof watching bits of Serena Williams against Daniela Hantuchova while 12 months earlier it was seats for the men’s final, the first one between Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal.
Two years ago, just days before that final, I was lucky enough to be on Centre Court for the ‘oohs’ and ‘aahs’ of Maria Sharapova in her quarter-final.
Today, it was Maria again, and not much has changed in two years. It’s now four long years since 17-year-old Maria was on Centre Court stunning Serena Williams by taking the title.
Since then she’s been a bit rubbish at SW19 and today I fear she’s heading the way of Anna Kournikova – there’s just far more style than substance.
Today, after watching Richard Gasquet out-dazzle Mardy Fish, Maria came on court to the usual camera clicks and flashes to take on French outsider Stephanie Foretz in their first round match. Such is Sharapova’s on court aroma that everything stops when she arrives from the locker room and today, she was teasing us with her annual first-match ritual of warming up in her jacket, towelling herself off and then giving us the big reveal.
Just like Federer loves his SW19 fashion, Maria is no different.
From high up on Court One it looked like a normal dress until off came that Nike jacket to reveal, well I’m not quite sure what really.
A sort of see-through buttoned waistcoat, the see-through bits were of course in the wrong (well, right) areas and there were shorts.
Nice fitting, big-button-at-the-top shorts.
I’ve never seen a woman look better in a pair than Maria!
As for the tennis, she did the usual first-clenching after each crucial point, the preening, the ‘vamos’-ing.
All great to watch and let’s be honest, nobody does it better.

Giants pull of the ultimate upset

THIS column comes to you from New York City - and what a time to be in the Big Apple. Last Sunday the New York Giants pulled of the mother of all shocks beating New England in Phoenix and ruining their hopes of a perfect season.
I was in Arizona for the big game and it was certainly something else to be in that state with such a huge event going on down the road. I drove past the stadium a couple of days before the match and the atmosphere was already starting to gather pace - they had an NFL exhibition there for a couple of weeks before it - kind of like a massive fairground devoted to various NFL activities.
I drove on from Phoenix to Tucson, Arizona and stayed there with my uncle, also named Nick for a few days. I hadn't seen him in 20 years so it was great to catch up and watch the match with him.
He is 51 and also a Sports Junkie as he has devoted a separate room in his house to signed baseballs, photos and newspaper clippings from Phoenix and Arizona's many professional sports teams.
Of course we got on like a house on fire and spent a few days working out what to do for Superbowl Sunday while eating at some of Tucson's finest eateries.Uncle Nick was in the US Air Force for around 25 years and he had the idea of watching the game on the Davis-Monthan Air Force base that he used to work at.
On the morning of the game it was certainly a strange atmosphere as we drove to the huge air force base. Jets were patrolling the sky from an area covering Mexico to Nevada to keep the skies free of trouble - if the World Trade Center was a prime target for a terrorist attack seven years ago, you can just imagine what a prized asset an attack on the stadium holding the Superbowl would be.
Thankfully there was nothing to worry about and inside the air force base it was time to get into party mode.
Around 50 of us - serving air force men and women and their families watched on a big screen with food and drink provided and a game of Superbowl bingo to play - essentially you cross off what takes place in the match on your bingo card.
I cleaned up in the third quarter with a Giants punt and scored myself a cap and T-shirt, and also won the prize for being closest to the half-time score.
Watching the Superbowl at 4pm was strange - normally its a solitary 11pm start for me and I struggle to stay awake, but this time it was one big party.
Any American will tell you that the Superbowl is not only about the action taking place on the field but also about the adverts - most of America's biggest companies pay big bucks to broadcast new adverts during the game - and the next day the New York Post ran a Top 25 countdown of the best. Indeed, some of the watching crowd were more interested in the commercials than the outcome of the match!But the audience that did watch a sensational game was almost part of history - almost 100 million viewers tuned in - and it was revealed on Monday that only the viewing audience for the final episode of MASH in 1983 was bigger for a single event.
And as for the game - well it was no classic but it turned on one piece of genius from Eli Manning in the final two minutes to give the Giants an incredible win. As a Patriots fan I was a tad gutted, but I was just pleased that I wasn't sitting by myself in Suffolk and could enjoy the game with fellow NFL nuts.

Patriots all set to go 19-0

THREE months ago I was sat at a soaking wet Wembley watching the New York Giants defeat the Miami Dolphins in the first regular season game outside North America - and little did I think they'd make it all the way to Superbowl XLII.

It wasn't just me.

Of eight home games this season, they lost five.

No other team with such a bad record has made it to the biggest single sporting event in North America.

The reason for their incredible run is easy - their away form has been historically good. Ten straight wins on the road has secured their place in Sunday's end of season Arizona spectacular - and that's no mean feat.

New York Giants are the NFL's equivalent of Tottenham - a well liked club who've had glory spells in the past but more often than not fail just when it seems they're destined for greatness. Imagine Spurs getting to the FA Cup Final by winning at Arsenal and Chelsea and then defeating Liverpool in the semi with a last minute winner. That's essentially what the Giants have done - won at Tampa Bay, won at Dallas which was a big shock, and then won in ice cold Green Bay when all of America was expecting Brett Favre to lead his team to Arizona.

Since arriving in the US two weeks ago, Superbowl fever has been growing and growing. I'm right in the heart of Arizona and as I munch on a warm piece of pecan pie with cream, the TV's are blurting out non-stop coverage of the build up to the game.

The New England Patriots, who face the Giants on Sunday are on their way to an historic season. They won all 16 regular season games (a feat only matched by Miami in 1972) and are on course to go 19-0 - an unbeaten season which is unheard of. The key to their success has been the leadership of quarterback Tom Brady and the success of running backs Randy Moss, Wes Welker, Donte Stallworth and Laurence Maroney, coupled with a strong defense.

Only Tiger Woods ranks higher than Brady in American sport superstar status these days - his ankle injury that he picked up in the AFC Championship game against San Diego kept even the death of actor Heath Ledger off the news pages last week.

Brady appeared in New York with his foot in a brace - and all the talk has been about whether he will be fit for Sunday's game. Just like the hype in the UK in recent years over Becks and Rooney's metatarsals, Brady's ankle has been the hot topic going into this game.Brady has seen and done it all before - leading the Patriots to Superbowl wins in 2002, 2003 and 2005 and rightly his team will start favourites on Sunday.But the Giants have plenty of reason for optimism. The Patriots had won 15 games and faced the Giants in the last match of the regular season at the Giants and the New York side almost handed them their first defeat. The game ended 38-35 and the Giants, known as The G-Men will take the fact they came so close to beating Bill Bellichick's team as great encouragement.Eli Manning, brother of Peyton Manning who won the Superbowl with Indianapolis last year, is their star man and will look to the likes of Plaxico Burress to score points. But it's the Giants defence, marshalled by Michael Strahan that will need to be at their best to cope with the ammunition coming from Tom Brady's arm and that really will be the key to the game.

I wont get inside the University of Arizona stadium in Glendale, Phoenix for the game unless some miracle happens but it's great to think its all happening just around the corner from me.

PLAYERS TO WATCH:

NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS: Wes Welker. Welker was so ineffective that the dreadful Miami Dolphins released him last season due to his slender frame and lack of height (5ft 9ins). But at New England Welker has flourised and his size, once his weakness has become his great asset. Expect him to be the option if Tom Brady cant get the ball to Randy Moss

NEW YORK GIANTS: Michael Strahan. Veteran Strahan is key if the Giants are to win the Superbowl. He offers great strength in the G-Mens defence and if Tom Brady is sacked (caught in possession of the ball) it's odds on that Strahan will be the one responsible. NICK'S

PREDICTION: New England Patriots 31 New York Giants 17