Sports

LANDED IN LONDON

The last time I landed in London the top news story in the local newspapers was the death of John F. Kennedy Jr. Not exactly the best way to start a vacation. The headlines yesterday were more the norm for British tabloids, including one that read: “Free Naked Poster Inside.” The last time I landed in London the top news story in the local newspapers was the death of John F. Kennedy Jr. Not exactly the best way to start a vacation. The headlines yesterday were more the norm for British tabloids, including one that read: “Free Naked Poster Inside.”

I purchased it only for research purposes.

Usually, my routine when I travel to Europe is to take a quick nap after the over-night flight, get up about 2 p.m. local time and stay up as late as possible. But after landing at about 6 a.m. yesterday (it was still dark) and making my way from Gatwick Airport to London via train (NJ Transit is less crowded at rush hour), I only had time for a quick shower before heading out to the Giants practice.

The bus ride courtesy of the NFL was supposed to take about an hour. That’s what our British tour guide Karen said. It wound up taking about 90 minutes, which I’m sure didn’t please the Giants who were on the same exhausting schedule. I did, however, learn the new Batman movie is being filmed in London as if we really need another Batman movie.

The facility where the Chelsea football club plays is impressive. The grass is as lush as Augusta National and they’ve got fields for days. Some of the Chelsea players watched the Giants go through a short workout, probably wondering how it feels to run around in all that equipment.

The weather was close to miserable: cold, damp, cloudy. “It’s like New York basically,” Coach Tom Coughlin said.

Plenty of media, American and European, was on hand, including one reporter amazed by Jeremy Shockey’s tattoos. “Get a close up of that,” he told his camera man.

Meanwhile, back downtown; a few fans wearing Giants colors have arrived as well as a sprinkling of Fish faithful. Otherwise there’s little evidence that an historic game is going to be played here on Sunday. I’m not sure why the NFL feels the need to play a regular-season game overseas. Miami loses a home game because of this and the writers, er players, miss out on a trip to South Beach.

Preseason exhibitions around the globe are good enough. There are only eight home games during a season. One of them doesn’t need to be played 4,000 miles away.