London - Day 8, 9, & 10

I realized keeping up with a blog is a lot of work.  Especially when I have the large readership and the tons of comments I continue to get (note the sarcasm), so I decided to take a hiatus from writing the blog for the weekend.  (Actually I realized I wasn't getting much sleep and it was starting to affect how I was feeling during the day and compound that with no one is really commenting, I felt like a few days wouldn't be missed.

So now you are left with what I will call the USA Today of a blog - A weekend's worth of coverage, leveraged into one blog.  Here goes....

Old Church and Graveyard in a park near Octagon

Friday - Day 8

We made our way over to Octagon, which, along with IMG, is the biggest Sports, Marketing, and Entertainment Agency in the world.  If you don't believe me, take a gander over to the site and check it out.  The athletes and entertainers they represent is enormous.  We got to listen to their pitch about how they do business and what their corporate goals are locally, regionally, and worldwide.

Honestly, I came away feeling a bit cheated by what I saw.  It all felt very homogeneous to what IMG is about as well as other sports agencies.  I really wanted to know what set them apart from the others and all I got was the line, "we believe we are the biggest and best because we do it this way...."

What was interesting about their presentation to us was they kept asking us how their presentation was.  The lady, who had a thick Aussie accent, stated at least three times that she hoped their presentation was the best of what we had seen.  Of course we said yes and while there were a few people that came away amazed at the dog and pony show they gave, the large majority of us came away thinking it could have been much better.  The biggest thing I think I missed hearing was where they were wanting to go globally with the Olympics coming up in London.  Not a word about it.

View of Putney River

Buckingham Palace - Changing of the Guard

Saturday - Day 9

Today was our first "free day" of the time we have been here.  A group of the folks I've been running with decided they wanted to use the day to catch all the major sights of London.  Therefore, we got up and headed out around 10am to head in to the city.

Westminster Abby

Big Ben

First up was Buckingham Palace and watching the Changing of the Guard.  I've been around long enough to know that when you are in peak tourist season, going to a popular event, and add on a additive to that event, that it will be a mass of people (If the Peabody Ducks draw a stupidly large crowd, then this is going to be insane).  I tried to explain this to the folks I was with and quickly remembered that I've also been around long enough to know that when women set their mind to something, they're doing it.  So I trekked with the gang over to try and get a glimpse of the spectacle.  Oh, did I mention there was a 70% chance of rain?  Yeah, well, we got their and it began to pour.  I'd say cats and dogs, but this was more like lions and wolves...it was miserable.  I did however act as a fullback blocking for nine running backs and make my way through the masses to catch the changing of the guard.

Second up was trekking through the monsoon and going to Westminster Abby and see the church that the royal couple got married in as well as stop to get some cover under a building.  One person checked on how long we'd have to stand in line for a tour of the building but it was an hour or more so we decided to venture elsewhere.

We then made our way over to look for the Imperial Museum and find out how much of the English influence has actually had on the rest of the world.  We walked around in circles for about an hour and realized it was across the Thames River, so we trekked over the bridge next to Big Ben and Parliament (Que Chevy Chase).  Walking by Big Ben is something to admire.  It is massive.  I can't think of anything more noticeable in London than Big Ben.

View of St. Paul's Cathedral and other buildings - Looks like one is melting

We then grabbed a bite to eat and decided that some folks had different agendas with where they wanted to go.  So the guys split with the girls and we headed over to St. Paul's Cathedral.  Up to this point, Big Ben was the coolest thing I'd seen up close.  Then I went to St. Paul's Cathedral.  Something about being on the grounds of St. Paul's was spiritual.  You could just feel the hands and prayers of the people that had come in and out of that place over the years.  We walked all around that place and then walked inside right before a mass/service.  I really wanted to stay and listen but we had to get to another location.  In a word, Beautiful.

We then headed to a place called Monument, which is dedicated for the Great Fire of London in 1666 that destroyed most of the city.  It was built as a way of showing the city was rebuilt and has been a popular tourist attraction ever since.

After that, we headed back to the dorms and got cleaned up.  At this point my feet were killing me and I wasn't really interested in going back out.  However, I needed to take an item back that I had purchased, so I came back to the craziest part of London called Piccadilly Circus, which I call the Times Square of London.  It's just a mass of tourists, consumerism, and advertising.  We then grabbed dinner at a really good restaurant and headed back to get some shut eye.

Sunday - Day 10

Today was the day I'd been looking forward to for quite some time.  One of the things I really enjoy is going to sporting events that have a huge significance in their respective field.  Today was the final day of the British Open at Royal St. George's in Sandwich, England.  Sandwich is located on the eastern coast of England.  We took a 2-hour train ride there and jumped off ready to catch the event.

Side note: I was a little worried about whether I would be allowed in the event since I purchased tickets that were marked for 16-21 year-old.  Back a few months ago when I knew I was going to England, I went to purchase the tickets but all that was left were this type of ticket.  Regular tickets were 55 pounds and these were 25 pounds.  So while it was a gamble, I at least knew I wouldn't spend as much in the long run if I wasn't allowed in.  I came with my student ID in tote and was determined to talk my way in (I had a handful of strategic ways to make it work, but you'll have to ask me in person for those).  Much to my surprise, they didn't even budge or look at the ticket when it was scanned.

So we had a thirty minute walk from the train station to the golf course and when we got in, it was something to be seen.  From talking to a local golfer there, the course is ever changing because of the conditions of the weather.  It was extremely windy and raining, so the course erodes quite often and thus maintenance is always at a premium.  I've had the pleasure of being on a lot of golf courses in Memphis and around other parts of the south and I've never seen a hillier course than this one.  It was a workout just walking from one section hole to another.

We decided we would walk the whole course and check it out, then go and sit on 18 and watch the finish.  The most impressing hole was the 4th.  It was a 495 par 4 with two bunkers that is inset in the ground facing you.  Put it nicely, if you hit it in the bunker, you would almost surely have to hit your ball to the side or backward.  Pictures don't do it justice, it is a huge bunker.

After making our way around the course and seeing the large following that Rory and Sergio had, we decided it best to head to the 18th and sit in the grandstands to watch the final hole for all the golfers.  This was the point that Phil Mickelson began to make his charge to the top and ended up tying Clarke for the lead.  Then the rains came.  What was a light drizzle before turned into a downpour.  Fortunately for me I have rain gear supplied by the U of M Soccer team that is rain PROOF, unlike the many around us that wear flimsy rain resistant jackets and pants.  Not a bit of me was soaked other than my shoes.  Only problem is that everyone turned up their umbrellas and you couldn't see anything.  So we would wait out the rain and it would get sunny again and everyone would clap when it happened.  Then 30 mins would go by and it would pour again.  This happened about five times and every time, the leader board would change - all with Phil dropping in the standings.

We stayed to watch Phil make it in and decided with the winner already decided, we'd head back.  The largest ovations in this order were: Tom Watson, Rory McIlroy, Phil Mickelson, & Sergio Garcia.

All in all it was a great event and I am so very blessed to have seen it.  As someone told me, it was a Bucket-List type of event.  I'd say, I agree.  Check.

Only downside is they do not allow cameras for the event, so we didn't get any pics of the golf course.  Stinks, I know.

Panoramic of Buckingham Palace

Action shot of the Changing of the Guard

Jumping Pic

Beautiful Cloud Covering at St. Paul's

Charting Cross Train Station

Beautiful Cloud Covering at St. Paul's

So that does it for now.  Sky Sports is up next.

London - Day 7

Lord's Cricket Media Center

After a pretty awesome day yesterday, I didn't have much expectations as far as how good of a day it would be by going to a place where Cricket is played.  However, I actually really enjoyed it.

We started the morning with a lecture of how Cricket was started and how baseball draws its roots from Cricket.  We then learned about how it is played and how colonialism in the West Indies, Africa, and India helped grow Cricket to what it is today.

Players Clubhouse and Members area

After the lecture we ventured out to Lord's Cricket Grounds, which is essentially the Augusta of Cricket.  It is a members only club steeped in tradition.  We took a tour of the facilities and learned that Lord's was actually the place where tennis was invented as well.  Then people from Wimbledon sort of took the idea and ran with it.  They have, what is called, Proper Tennis courts at Lord's now, which is a mixture of tennis, squash, and racquetball.  Hard to describe over the computer, but it looked a little more fun than tennis, but I can see why it never caught on.

View of the whole grounds

After we toured the grounds we received a lecture from the Marketing Director, who just so happens to be a graduate of this program I am doing and my major from Memphis.  It was fun to chat with her after everything was said and done and pick her brain on what she went and did.

Regents Park

We headed over to Regents Park, which is a famously huge park in a well-ta-do part of London and where they house the London Zoo.  While we did not make it to the Zoo, we walked around for a few hours capturing tons of photos of some of the sights.  They had some of the most beautiful gardens I have ever seen.  I even convinced my fellow friends to take a jumping picture.  They did pretty well I must say, even one is a trampoline gymnast for Canada and hoping to qualify for the London Olympics in 2012.

Beautiful gardens

The park provided much needed down time and rejuvenation, so we headed to the pub in the area and grabbed some food and headed home.  When we got to the bus station, hardly anyone was there, but we did have an interesting thing happen.  As we were standing around waiting, a man walked through our group and sat down.  I noticed it because it was rather rude how he did it and when he sat down, I noticed he had blood all over him and a towel on his face.  He dropped his towel on the bench and I realized what had happened.  His nose looked mangled and he had a gash across the brow of his nose.  I immediately felt compassion for the guy and looked at him and said, "hey buddy, are you ok?"  He looked up at me as if he had never had someone engage him before and said that he was, he just got his "arse" kicked.  It because aware to me that he had been drinking and didn't have his wits about him, but I still pressed him.  I asked if he knew where he was and if he needed help?  He said to not call the police or hospital and kept saying it.  As I looked away, he reached in his bag and presented me with a large melon (I know, completely random).  He said thank you and here, this is for you.  I told him I did not want his melons, but only wanted to make sure he was ok.  Again, he kept repeating himself and requesting we do not call the police or hospital.  It was clear to me he had some bookies take a go at him and rough him up a bit.

Jumping picture

I couldn't shake the issue and when the bus came, we left him there to fen for himself.  It was haunting me in the bus right home and an English woman spoke to me while we were driving.  She told me to not read in to it very much because it was a common occurrence there and I just needed to look the other way.  Then I asked her politely, "I understand what you are saying, but at what point did he stop becoming human?"  She didn't give me a reply.  She sat and wondered and eventually said it was just one of those things that you see a lot.  Again, I told her that I agreed that it would get old eventually seeing the same thing happen, but I still believed he was worth saving and everyone should make sure someone is well enough to take care of themselves.

Interestingly enough, one of the girls said to me after we got off the bus that she really appreciated how I cared for the man and that I showed a lot of compassion.  Made me feel good, but still was eat up with thoughts of how easily we tend to look past people in situations where they just need a little help or just some acknowledgment. 

For my UT friends

Sherlock Holmes door

Today, we head to Octagon, which, I believe is a Sports Agency.  Don't know much more than that, so I'll let you know how it goes.

London - Day 6

Today was far and away the best day I've had since I've been in London.  I'll try and contain my joy into a single post...

The morning started off with a lecture from Dr. Ben Carrington who is a professor at the University of Texas who deals with sociology in media, culture, and sport.  He spoke on all of those and how they are interwoven in British-ness.  He explained differences in the North and South of England and how ideologies are formed from an idea of nationalism in England.  He showed us videos of pop-culture and how England (imo) much like America, is becoming a melting pot of different cultures.  This has been initially been received with a bit of backlash because of the "idea" of what GREAT Britain is (Notice the GREAT).  One of the videos was particular funny in that comedian Al Murray, plays on America and how great Britain is.  Yet in it, he plays on a caricature of who we expect the typical English person is.  Take a look at the video.  I must warn you, it's English, so it is NSFW.



I was able to speak with Dr. Carrington for a bit after and pick his brain on specifics he discussed in sport - specifically dealing with racism in the game in Europe. It was refreshing to hear his thoughts.

Premier League Offices

After that, we hooped on the tube and headed to the English Premier League (EPL) headquarters. The building itself isn't something you'd think you'd see for a huge league, but inside it is very nice.  They had already won me over in my mind and heart, but when I walked in to the room we were being lectured it, it smelled like choc chip cookies.  Much to my surprise, they had made (warm too) fresh cookies for us and were delicious.  Needless to say, I ate more than Mrs. McGoo would have allowed me to eat (But she's not around).  For those that do not know, I am a huge Arsenal supporter and was really looking forward to hearing about how the EPL is run. We were met by Nick Noble, the Press & Communications Manager who took us through the full gauntlet of how the EPL is run.

It is really different than the NFL in that is does not seek to make profit for itself, but primarily for the clubs. I see similarities of it being like the NCAA in that it is comprised by the 20 clubs to help them run better. Their commercial interests lie within centralizing revenue streams from broadcast rights, title sponsorship and commercial licensing. All of these profits are shared evenly among all 20 clubs. They allow the clubs to take care of their own ticket sales, sponsors,and merchandise. In those ways, you see the differences between the Man U and Arsenal's of the league and the Bolton and Fulham's.

Premier League Logo

I enjoyed the Q&A session with him as I was able to ask some questions that got some positive feedback from my professors and even Mr. Noble was encouraging to me at the end of the session. He sought me out and applauded my interest and questions posed to him. He was extremely nice. The best part was being able to have a long conversation with him about my passions with football in Africa and talked to him in brief about the sports program God has allowed me to start. In doing so, Mr. Noble gave me his card and told him to get in touch with him and he'd see if he could link me up with the individuals that started their "Creating Chances" program.  This completely took me off guard and I was blown away by the chance to share my vision and potentially work with the EPL!!!!  This is like the NFL of Europe.  In a word...HUGE.

Collage of past champions on the wall

After that, I was on cloud nine and decided the best way to handle that was to take in the US Women's World Cup match and headed to a sports bar called the Sports Cafe'.  We went there for our scramble the other day, but this time it was packed with Americans, so it was really cool to be in another country and have all the bar cheering when we scored each time and won.  Afterward, I headed back to the university for a quick chat with Mrs. McGoo and am now heading to bed.

Don't know what this is called, but looked cool

Piccadilly Circle (Times Square of London)

 Going to Lord's Cricket Grounds tomorrow.  While I do not know much about Cricket, I do know this place is the Augusta or Wimbledon of Cricket.  If you take a look at the site, it's pretty immaculate.  So while I don't like Cricket, I can certainly respect going to the best venue for it.  (Kind of like Daytona)

London - Day 5

The gang waiting to get in to Coke

First of all, I apologize for the lack of pics today.  We had lectures this morning and went over our scramble and how that translates to globalization.  Then we went and met with the sponsorship director for the 2012 London Olympic games at Coke.

I thought his presentation was pretty interesting to say the least.  He talked about how they are targeting 16-24 year olds with their Olympic campaign in London and how they go about integrating their brand into culture.  Also, there is going to be a strong push by them for their brands - Powerade and Vitamin Water (I didn't know that was Coke).

Look from our dinner table

Everything was going great with our question and answer session until I asked the rep about ambush marketing and he replied, "that's a bad question."  Ugh...

He did say it in jest, I think.  But he did answer it very well and talked about the investment they make in things and a certain expectation they have with the Olympics and local government to police those things.

 After that, we came back to the dorm, rested for a bit and then went out for a bite to eat.  Pretty simple day really.  Not much sight seeing.  Tomorrow we are heading to the Premier League offices and get to see where the biggest sports league in the world (Yes, bigger than NFL) does business.  I'm pretty excited about this one.

My dinner party

The Boathouse for dinner

Maybe my favorite pic of the day

London - Day 4

Harrod's. Massive

Day 4 in London was my first official classroom day. We started with a morning lecture on globalization and how it has turned in to glocalization. We sat and listened to how the world has become more integrated and how technology and information continue to push us to continue to evolve in an ever changing world. Seeing all this at work, it really puts in to light how the rich get richer and how the gap between us and the poor continues to widen.

Speaking of poor, I don't know how anyone affords anything in this city. It is REALLY EXPENSIVE. I went and bought some soup today just so I wouldn't have to eat out everyday because the prices are really high.

Glass fusbol table

Niketown shoe display

After our morning lecture, we broke in to groups of six or so and headed out into London for a Scramble/Scavenger hunt. We we asked to go to different places and see how each place represents different things. Our first trip was to Harrod's in London, which would be considered by some similar to Macy's. It is crazy because you have this massive, historic looking building and everything inside is divided by room. One room might be a purse and bag room, next will be Egyptian Cotton room, next will be a room for booking travel on a yacht, next will be a Lee jeans room, while the next is a fine china room, and so on. It is just interesting to see how they have integrated something as simple as Lee jeans in one room and the next is a recreation room where a pool table is 20,000 gbp. The building is massive and looks very historic, yet around it looks modern.

Niketown

We then went to Niketown London. Apparently, this place is so big, it has it's on town name. It was basically the online Nike, made in to a Nike store. It was really large as well, with 5 stories of product. One whole floor had football (soccer) and an endless supply of Arsenal gear (my favorite club). The top floor was all girls workout clothes and I must say, some of the stuff was more about sex than working out. Even the pictures were objectifying women. Some of it you would never see in the states because it showed a little too much.

We then headed to a place called Lillywhite's, which prides itself on being the largest sports store in the world. I have to admit, it was like the Foot Locker on steroids. It was quite large, but after a few rooms, unimpressive to me.

One of the cooler displays I saw

Street and buildings we went saw along the way

Then we headed to a place called the Sports Cafe. The whole idea of this place was built around integrating US sport culture with European. There you would see signs that would tell you that you could watch "US ESPN" while having a Bud Light. They had waitresses that were dressed in cheerleader outfits and looked really out of place. Our waitress was from Australia and she had never seen a cheerleader before she moved to London only three months earlier.

We then made our way to two more places that were just complete tourist destinations. Large markets/squares where the typical people could go and buy everything you could buy in a mall in America. GAP and so on...boring.

The Times Square of London

Historic next to Modern

Just looked cool from a walk

Our boy and his liquid confidence

One of the guys that was in my group turned 21 today, so we headed to a pub after we got back and took him out for some drinks. Needless to say, he was feeling pretty good after a night out with some of his close buddies and decided to sing karaoke. His song of choice? "Sweet Home Alabama.

London - Day 3

A view down the street we walked along

Today was a bit of a boring day.  I’m still getting adjusted to the change in time, so I actually didn’t fall asleep until 2am here.  I did make myself wake up earlier than I have been in hopes of making myself a little more tired in the evening.  My cousin’s wife, Ally, played wedding planner for some folks yesterday and was completely exhausted from the whole event, so they both slept in a bit.  I didn’t want to wake them, so while I woke up around 9:30, I stayed in my room for a few hours piddling on my ipad and playing some games.  I came out and sat with them for a late breakfast and listened to Ally talk about the wedding and then started to figure out a game plan for getting from their house to Roehampton University.  

All Bar One - Where we ate

If you were to look at a map of London, Roehampton is on the Southwest part of London and where Andrew and Ally live is in East Dulwich, which is Southeast London.  It doesn’t sound much like a trek to get to Roehampton, but it really takes a long time to get through the city.  I really like the public transportation here (buses, tubes, trains, and cabs) but they make so many stops, it can take one a really long time to get anywhere.  Andrew says I’m bad luck because every time we have been on a bus we seem to get delayed for some reason.  

Needless to say, I left around 2:30 from their house and got to Roehampton around 4:00.  

The river we walked by

After I arrived here, I checked in to my room.  It is pretty basic with a bed, desk area and has its own bathroom.  It has a solitary confinement feel to it though.  Everything is concrete except the desk and bed.  I have a wonderful view of everyone coming down the stairs, so I have to be a bit careful in the morning and evening.  Oh, and another thing…if anyone has ever seen “28 Days Later” they’ll know what I’m talking about.  There is absolutely NO ONE here.  It is completely empty and everything looks like it was just abandoned.  I walked into the cafeteria and it looks like people just stopped drinking and eating and vanished.  There are wrappers and glasses everywhere.  Really kind of creepy if you asked me.  Has a feel of a Zombie movie.  Unfortunately, because of international travel rules, I wasn’t allowed to bring the necessary things one might need to survive a Zombie attack.  

I feel pretty confident I could hold off a good number of them if they are slow walkers, but if they are the fast ones, like in 28 Days Later, then I’m a goner.  All that being said, here’s to learning…  

Panoramic view of the bridges and river. Also a guy playing the guitar

We met up for an informal meeting with the whole staff and students and went over the expectations for the upcoming weeks.  After that, we headed out as a large group to grab a bite to eat and headed in to Richmond (some nice part of London) and got to know one another.  FYI, half of our program is made up of University of Maryland students and the other half are Memphis.  So we have a lot of kids from New Jersey and the other half is southern which should make for some interesting dialog and convos.  There are two people that latched on to the Maryland program from University of Michigan and two from the University of Toronto. 

After dinner we walked down by a really nice stream and bridge (I have no idea what it was called) and then headed back.  

Some of the houses that overlooked the river

Heading to bed now, so hopefully tomorrow brings more to my day than this one.