All of my life I have enjoyed watching sports. I grew up a Chicago Bulls NBA fan, fully immersed in the Michael Jordon era. I enjoyed the occasional free tickets Dad was able to get for my brother and I. And then somewhere along the way, I found football. I kept watching until I figured out exactly what the heck was going on. And then there was the unrequited love of the Chicago Cubs, from a grandfather who would turn the television on, yet put it on mute and listen to the radio commentators instead. At least they knew to talk about the actual game.
My first NFL game (the Jets), in which we trounced the Cincinnati Bengals in a thrilling, freezing shutout game. My new love of the New York Rangers hockey, and pretzels with cheese.
And what does The Netherlands have? The Hague have? ESPN America.
Baseball... baseball... and more baseball
ESPN America is the sole American sports channel I’ll have, mostly focusing on baseball (a bit too much), football, and basketball. There’s not much hockey on it, although there’s not much hockey on the regular ESPNs over here in the states, either.
With the time zone difference of 6 hours, the NFL pregame shows will be starting around 6PM Dutch time, for the early afternoon games. So on a good day, we might see one of the early games before we sleep. The late afternoon and night games are out. No Monday Night Football. But my fiancé did state that I should plan to stay up late to watch the Super Bowl and take the next day off. Perhaps find an expat gathering and hang out late into the night.
Some pros – I might actually watch enough soccer to like it. There’s not enough on to enjoy it over here. Perhaps I’ll be able to watch enough of the Tour de France to understand what everything means, as they never show it live over in the States it seems.
It’ll be an adjustment. But still, at least there’s ESPN America. And a lot of downloaded TV shows.
Life in the Hague 