Are You Ready for some FOOTBALL!

Down here in Mexico there is not a lot of interest in sports, plural. Once you cross the Texas border the single physical competition that garners seemingly all of the media coverage is “fútbol”. Well, I’m trying, earnestly I’m trying but as of yet my blood just isn’t green, white and red enough to find much satisfaction in being a spectator of this event.

The one island oasis in this sea of soccer is channel 512, The NFL Network.

Currently in North Carolina the schemes of Ted Turner keep many from accessing this broadcast but here in Mexico City it is available 24/7. Never before has the start of the Football pre-season been so anticipated. Did I mention that the NFL network will televise all 65 pre-season games? (And as an added bonus this channel is aired 100% in English!)

However, the NFL network does contain one unexpected negative that seems inseparable from its programming. On very regular intervals this station will show commercials for Golden Corral. I don’t know if it’s just my perception but the extremely gratuitous close-ups of steaming yeast rolls, glazed bourbon chicken and inch-thick USDA steaks have never appeared so explicit. We’ve learned that the censorship rules governing the public airwaves are a bit more relaxed in Mexico than in the US but this level of exposure borders on the intolerable.