If you’re a football junkie like me and you want to extend the football season by any means possible…then you might want to check out “NFL FULL CONTACT” a new series produced by NFL Films. You most likely saw the promotional ad for the series that ran during the Super Bowl…if you missed it…you can follow this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nLJuoi2OeWA&feature=related

Below you’ll find a description of the series from TruTV’s Web site plus an episode guide for your reference…however if you want more information about the series, you can go here: http://new.trutv.com/shows/nfl_full_contact/index.html

NFL FULL CONTACT reveals the sides of football the game day cameras never show, providing the ultimate look at what goes on behind the scenes of the National Football League. Every episode lets you eavesdrop into the tense and chaotic world of making a professional football game run smoothly and features crucial events of the 2009-10 pro football season: NFL KICKOFF, COWBOYS STADIUM OPENING, THE LONDON GAME, THE PRO BOWL, THE SUPER BOWL and THE DRAFT.

Kickoff – NEW!
Premieres Mon, February 8 at 10P
The worlds of football and entertainment collide as the NFL prepares for Kickoff 2009 in Pittsburgh, PA. Cameras follow security and staffers as they throw one of the biggest pre-game parties of the year—a concert featuring The Black Eyed Peas and Tim McGraw. TV-PG-L

Cowboys Stadium – NEW!
Premieres Mon, February 15 at 10P
It’s the grand opening of the brand new state-of-the-art Cowboys Stadium in Dallas. With more than 100,000 fans expected to attend, there is some question as to whether the stadium will be ready. A maiden voyage in a new stadium is always a challenge. TV-PG-L

The London Game – NEW!
Premieres Mon, February 22 at 10P
The NFL makes its third trip across the pond to bring America’s game to the U.K. It may seem like just another game on TV, but for the people behind the scenes, it’s a daunting task. TV-PG-L

The Pro Bowl – NEW!
Premieres Mon, March 1 at 10P
The Pro Bowl honors the NFL’s greatest stars. For the first time, the event is moving to the site of the Super Bowl, with the game being played the Sunday before the NFL championship. But whether this first Pro Bowl of its kind will go off without a hitch remains to be seen. TV-PG-L

The Super Bowl – NEW!
Premieres Mon, March 8 at 10P
The Super Bowl is America’s greatest sporting event, played out on the world’s biggest stage. This episode goes behind the scenes at Super Bowl XLIV, where there is pressure to put on a great show in front of the largest TV audience of the year. TV-PG-L

The Draft – NEW!
Premieres Mon, March 15 at 10P
It’s one of the NFL’s biggest events of the year, and it’s held at Radio City Music Hall in New York City. Competing TV networks, NFL staffers and security race against the clock to make sure the NFL Draft goes off without a hitch. TV-PG-L

I got all of these set to tivo, but the two I’m anticipating the most are the one on the London game and the one on the draft. The London game has been so successful, I had no idea so many people on the other side of the pond liked the NFL. As for the draft, well that one’s self explanatory. The draft is like Christmas in April.

Cory…I look forward to hearing your thoughts after you watch the series in its entirety. Perhaps that’s the smart way to do it…because frankly I watched the first epidode in real time and here is what I wrote to a friend immediately afterward…

“I watched the show and I wasn’t very impressed…I guess I’ve come to expect more from NFL Films…there were a few interesting “behind-the-scenes” moments but this isn’t “must see” TV…pretty tedious in parts…it’s the kind of thing you watch one time only…probably sold it to TruTV for broader distribution…however I think it belongs on NFL Network or maybe as an extra on a 2009-2010 NFL Films DVD…and after watching the first program…I wonder how different the remaining episodes will be…seems like it could be the same thing over and over…just the setting/location and logistics will change…I’m thinking about punting on Episode 2…not sure…”

The day after I watched the first episode I thought okay…maybe it’s me…so I decided to see if there were any reviews and here’s a link to one that I considered posting because it prettty much summed up my feelings about the show: http://www.unclebarky.com/reviews_files/a30c51f8039f6c40bc55c81fd516fca7-809.html

I didn’t watch or record the second episode last night (Monday 2/15)...though TruTV reairs it several times during the week so maybe I’ll record it and the remaining episodes and if I’m in the mood…watch them at a later time. Regardless..I am definitely interested in your take on the program…and of course if anyone else watches NFL: Full Contact...please share your opinion about the series here.

Bruno Boys Cory - 16 February 2010 05:24 PM

I got all of these set to tivo, but the two I’m anticipating the most are the one on the London game and the one on the draft. The London game has been so successful, I had no idea so many people on the other side of the pond liked the NFL. As for the draft, well that one’s self explanatory. The draft is like Christmas in April.

Cory…I wanted to follow up on your comment about the interest in American football on the “other side of the pond.” 

At various times in my life beginning at age 15, I lived, worked, and went to school in Europe and noticed a definite uptick in international interest in American football in the late 1990s. I hear that European interest in American football started in the 1980s (preseason games played in Euro cities?) and increased through the various incarnations of the World League of American Football/NFL Europe/NFL Europa (1991-2007) despite the fact that each lost money and ultimately folded. Interestingly enough, a week before the NFL pulled the plug on NFL Europa, a crowd of more than 48,000 people attended the World Bowl championship in Frankfurt, Germany. I think 84,000+ people attended the New England Patriots-Tampa Bay Bucs game - the Pats have a huge fan base in the U.K. (celebrity couple Tom & Gisele didn’t hurt) and the guy who owns the Bucs (Malcolm Glazer) also owns the Manchester United Football Club of the English Premier league.

Other people give partial credit to the rise in popularity of American football to the efforts of the International Federation of American Football (IFAF), an organization that promotes and develops football, flag football, and cheerleading at the youth and amateur levels - which also makes sense because if you can hook people in at a young age you have a shot at gaining fans for life. The IFAF is made up of something like 50+ countries from five continents and these countries belong to continental federations. Four continental federations (Europe, Asia, Oceania, and Pan American) are responsible for organizing games, tournaments and competitions for their member countries and then national federations oversee programs and activities for teams at the senior (players ages 20 and up) and junior (players ages 19 and younger) levels. There are federation specific championships each year and then every four years the IFAF sponsors a “World Championship.” The US Football International Student Program enables some of the better international players to play high school football here (one or more years) and an increasing number of ISP graduates go on to play college ball in the U.S. It seems that there are a lot of factors contributing to the growing popularity of American football as an international sport.

BBFantasyGirl - 16 February 2010 10:47 PM

Bruno Boys Cory - 16 February 2010 05:24 PM

I got all of these set to tivo, but the two I’m anticipating the most are the one on the London game and the one on the draft. The London game has been so successful, I had no idea so many people on the other side of the pond liked the NFL. As for the draft, well that one’s self explanatory. The draft is like Christmas in April.

Cory…I wanted to follow up on your comment about the interest in American football on the “other side of the pond.” 

At various times in my life beginning at age 15, I lived, worked, and went to school in Europe and noticed a definite uptick in international interest in American football in the late 1990s. I hear that European interest in American football started in the 1980s (preseason games played in Euro cities?) and increased through the various incarnations of the World League of American Football/NFL Europe/NFL Europa (1991-2007) despite the fact that each lost money and ultimately folded. Interestingly enough, a week before the NFL pulled the plug on NFL Europa, a crowd of more than 48,000 people attended the World Bowl championship in Frankfurt, Germany. I think 84,000+ people attended the New England Patriots-Tampa Bay Bucs game - the Pats have a huge fan base in the U.K. (celebrity couple Tom & Gisele didn’t hurt) and the guy who owns the Bucs (Malcolm Glazer) also owns the Manchester United Football Club of the English Premier league.

Other people give partial credit to the rise in popularity of American football to the efforts of the International Federation of American Football (IFAF), an organization that promotes and develops football, flag football, and cheerleading at the youth and amateur levels - which also makes sense because if you can hook people in at a young age you have a shot at gaining fans for life. The IFAF is made up of something like 50+ countries from five continents and these countries belong to continental federations. Four continental federations (Europe, Asia, Oceania, and Pan American) are responsible for organizing games, tournaments and competitions for their member countries and then national federations oversee programs and activities for teams at the senior (players ages 20 and up) and junior (players ages 19 and younger) levels. There are federation specific championships each year and then every four years the IFAF sponsors a “World Championship.” The US Football International Student Program enables some of the better international players to play high school football here (one or more years) and an increasing number of ISP graduates go on to play college ball in the U.S. It seems that there are a lot of factors contributing to the growing popularity of American football as an international sport.

knowing how much United fans hate the Glazer family and their ownership I don’t think that’s helping the cause. As for NFL Europe, I think the interest was there but I remember reading an article that said the NFL was losing too much money in the venture. Though I am surprised to see that 48,000 went to the World Bowl.

On a separate note I just watched the Full Contact episode of the Patriots-Bucs game in London. I was a little surprised at how poorly prepared some of the people were. The BBC couldn’t get on air, the SKY TV assistant had no clue who Wes Welker was despite repeatedly being told he wore #83, some NFL cameraman was bitching about having to use a backup camera instead of his personal equipment and didn’t have a ride to the stadium after one of his friends/coworkers ditched him. Looked like everything ended up going off without a hitch except for the BBC going on air late.

The next episode is the Pro Bowl. I’ll still watch it but I’m more interested in seeing the one on the Super Bowl and the one on the draft.

So I didn’t get a chance to watch much (barely any) of NFL FULL CONTACT and I wanted to know it is worth finding it on my DVR and letting the re-runs be recorded.  With that in mind, I have a few questions for you Cory, because it seems like you decided to watch…

Was it worth it? I know you wanted to see the Super Bowl episode and if you watched it, did it live it to the hype?  Also, BBFG, if you happened to catch any of the other episodes fill us in!

Thanks in advance and can you guys believe the 2010 NFL season is only six months away!