Super bowled over by rival American fans

The Seattle Seahawks #3, Russell Wilson, in action. Picture: Tom Pennington/Getty Images

I was visiting relatives in Los Angeles when I managed to secure tickets for me and my son for the Raiders v Seahawks American football game at The Coliseum. Bedecked in Seahawks t-shirts as ‘our’ team, due to the fact that relatives of ours had emigrated from Leith to Seattle back in the late 50s, we duly deposited ourselves in our seats in the stands, which, as they were not segregated, meant that we were sitting cheek by jowl with a heavy (emphasis on heavy) group of Raiders fans.

After a healthy portion of nachos washed down with a liberal dose of Budweiser, we made our way out of the stadium to the car park. Now, during the game the most that we had to put up with was some jovial banter from the home support, who took great delight in referring to our team as The Seaducks – banter which was short lived as the Seahawks made light of the Raiders’ home advantage by spanking them 28-0 (or 28-zip as we fondly reminded them).

On reaching the car park for the “tailgate” party, we were met by several Raiders fans proffering tins of beer and toasting our success. I remarked to my son that, had we been back in Scotland at the fitba’ after tanking the other team, the only tins of beer we would likely have seen from the opposition fans would have been proffered through the air with a velocity that Concorde would have been proud of, accompanied by the invitation to “take that ya *****”.

Although I shared a good time and a couple of drinks with Auchinleck fans at the weekend, I fear that, given the tendency for some morons masquerading as true football supporters to wreak havoc, we still have some way to go before we can favourably compare ourselves to Raiders fans that day.