So here it is -- the biggest report you’ll get this season for a game involving the Dolphins. But, of course, this is more than that. Finally, 81,000 people plus myself will get their first chance to see live football without a TV being in the mix.

This took a long time to sink in with me -- it only really hit me once I got inside Wembley Stadium -- but American sports networks, Web sites, interviews and a general media bombardment truly started during the game between the New England Patriots and the Miami Dolphins on Oct. 21. It is here that the diary of events I dutifully collected starts.

And as a ploy to get your attention early on, I will advertise genuine mentions of ESPN being idiots, the incompetence of both British and American media outlets, a player that does not know what London is or where it’s at, Mexican waves, nudity and the Miami Dolphins cheerleaders (although I can not promise those last two are linked).

Also worth a mention are two of my previous articles detailing NFL Europe’s demise and a somewhat unofficial first part to this piece about sporting America coming to Britain; it really is amazing how many of those topics were thrown into the air during numerous broadcasts and writings.

21 October

It’s official. I hate NFL commentators. Before they were so bad, they were good – John Madden, a.k.a. Captain Obvious, being my personal favourite (and Terry Bradshaw, given that he’s a legend) -- but way to offend an entire nation, guys. A week before the league’s biggest experiment, they decided to spend a good half-hour mocking the British. Granted, some of it was funny… in a “so unfunny, it’s funny” way, surprisingly. The best came when one turned to the other and said:

“You gotta feel sorry for the Brits that have to watch a 0-7 team next week.” (Fair point.)

“I don’t think half of them know what 0-7 means!” (errrr…)

“They’ll be confused by the whole thing!” *cue Dick Van Dyke English accent* “Who are these blokes?”

To make matters worse, BBC Sport would play up to this by feigning stupidity later in the week.

23 October

My boss and editor of the site, David Hale, sends me a touching email that -- although loaded with class -- ultimately makes me sigh given the line-up, when originally announced, actually seemed pretty good.

“Enjoy the game this weekend, although allow me, as an American Football enthusiast, to apologize for you being forced to watch Eli Manning vs. Cleo Lemon. Really, it’s generally much better than that.”

Cheers for that reminder, boss.

24 October

And so begins the BBC’s descent into American Football. Think of, say, ESPN as a 10 for football knowledge. BBC was about a 3 before this week. Knowing its audience to have little knowledge, they lowered themselves to about a minus-2 by the Sunday evening highlights.

However, BBC’s Inside Sport video regarding the game (specifically from the Dolphins’ point of view) was good for many reasons. Although the compilations of hard-hitting tackles seemed badly slapped together by someone who just liked seeing bodies breaking (although I certainly enjoyed seeing one clip of Jason Gildon destroying Jay Fiedler), the interviews were carried off with the true class of the BBC.

First up was Dave Hyde, reporter at the Miami Sea Sentinel. “I did a column questioning why the Dolphins are going to London,” he said. “Within 12 hours of saying that I got emails and emails from England… I was stunned by the volume of emails, and I realized of course, that all of them had become fans because of Dan Marino.”

And that was genuinely reflected on the Sunday. Dan Marino is a pure icon -- the American version of our Bobby Moore holding the World Cup, one might say. The No. 13 jerseys were out in force. Marino’s legacy turned out to be one of the most popular conversation-starters during the week, and Jay Feely was happy to continue the praise.

“Dan Marino was my favourite player when I was a kid,” fawned Feely, traipsing through Dolphin Stadium. Pointing at the mural of Marino: “I love coming in and seeing that.”

Fuad Reviez - the Fuad-o-matic himself, now looking more like an ex-D lineman than a kicker - commented on his trip to London in an exhibition match, and the overall failure to win over the fans for an obvious reason: “They wanted to see the superstars. They were expecting to see Dan Marino for four quarters -- they saw him for 4 minutes.”

By this point I was getting pretty annoyed. These interviews were filmed about a week previous to broadcast, and after 7 minutes there was no mention of the Giants, the state of affairs this season, or any current player interviews. Then Wayne Huizenga, the owner of the Dolphins himself, seals the deal:

“We decided to take the best of the best, in a game which counts towards the playoffs.”

…are they still trying to kid the clueless British contingent?

Thank the Lord should he or she exist, when the downsides of this match-up set in. Working on the 80/20 principle of good and bad, the stereotypical style of BBC reporting was glaringly apparent with 2 minutes left, in which everything bad in football - aside from that STUPID FOX robot from their game coverage intervals - was touched upon.

“They raise our prices and we have one less game,” whines a Miami tailgater. “The Giants haven’t played here in maybe 10 years. Miami’s loaded with New Yorkers!”