The Bucs and Patriots are heading across the pond to play some American football in London, England this Sunday. The NFL wants to go worldwide and just like the Catholic church it wants to show everyone their version is better, so please convert to the football that isn’t round.

This Sunday the Brits are going to see one of the better NFL teams: the Patriots; and the worst NFL team: the Bucs. In soccer terms it would be like Manchester United and Portsmouth playing a match on some pitch in Washington, DC. The biggest difference is nobody would come to the soccer match and Wembley Stadium will rocking with hoodlums and pasty white people drinking pints.

By sending a team from Tampa and  Boston, the NFL is sending a very nice representation of America, because the teams, cities, standing and fans couldn’t be any more opposite. The Tampa fan is blue collar, redneck, trailer, pick-up truck and non-affluent society. The people are down to earth, the pace is slower and the traffic comes to a screeching halt when the old people start arriving this time of year. Budweiser really is the king and thinking about what if the South had prevailed is a common thought. Even though I’m not seeing quite as many flags this year, I’d say Tampa fan sticks with their team through the good and the bad times.

Now Boston fan is something quite different. I’m a transplant from SoCal and living here in Tampa is the first time I’ve ever been exposed to so many east coast people. NY fan can be obnoxious, but they can handle a good rebuttal and be objective, but Boston not so much. The first thing about Boston fan is their arrogance and attitude of superiority. If you are familiar with Boston fan,  you’d think they believe we live in a caste society with how they look down on people that aren’t from Boston. They are pretentious and the mere fact that they have to share a sidewalk or office space with non-Boston people is bothersome to them. They also have their what if’s, but they revolve around sports like what if we hadn’t traded Babe Ruth, what if David Tyree hadn’t made the catch, what if Bill Buckner didn’t let the ball roll through his legs or what if a labrum hadn’t torn? If the Red Sox choke, then they have the Patriots and if they fall short, then they have the Celtics and if KG gets injured then they fall back on the Bruins. It’s truly year round.

The Bucs are 0 – 6 and they have an outside chance at matching the Lion’s futility of 0 -16. The playoffs are something that may happen in 2011. The Patriots are at the top of their division and just gave the Titans a 59-0 beat down. The Bucs have 2nd year QB Josh Johnson. The Patriots have future Hall of Famer Tom Brady. Bill Belichick and his hoodie patrol the sidelines for the Patriots and the Bucs have rookie Raheem Morris. Even the Patriots throw back jerseys are cool, the Bucs are going to roll with Bucco Bruce.

As much as there is disparity between the cities and teams, I think the game will be closer than most think and tell you why in my next post. Remember I’m 5 -1 vs Bucs spread and like an index, middle and pinky finger this week is going to be a shocker.