Perhaps the sentiments contained in the following blog, are not yet sufficiently fashionable to procure them general favour; a long habit of not thinking a thing wrong, gives it a superficial appearance of being right, and raises at first a formidable outcry in defence of custom. But tumult soon subsides. Time makes more converts than reason.

If Thomas Paine were alive today, he’d be a Philadelphia Eagles, Philadelphia Phillies and Philadelphia 76ers fan and he’d be sad that his city had never won a Super Bowl. In 1776, he published Common Sense, a strong defence of American Independence from England. The Common Sense pamphlet was so popular that as a percentage of the population, it was read by or read to more people than today watch the Super Bowl. That it was written by an Englishman brought a unique perspective to American thought at the time and ushered in centuries of growth and prosperity (for some at least and ignoring centuries of slavery, terrible race relations and proxy wars in far off countries).

More importantly for my purposes, Common Sense eventually brought about the creation of new sports, which much like the ignoble creations of McDonalds, KFC and Wal-Mart, have permeated markets outside of its borders, landing on the shores of the UK. As an Englishman who has emigrated his sporting interests to the NFL, the NBA and the MLB, I will provide my own uniquely English perspective on typically American sporting issues and events, although without the blessing of wonderfully written prose and/or any semblance of an audience, likely until such time when I get bored and give up.