Author Topic: An American Baseball Fan in London (Read 4081 times)

lc_db · « **on:** May 10, 2006, 02:28:47 pm »

At the end of the month I will officially be a Central Londoner.

Hopefully, I can find a place that might broadcast the occasional Sunday afternoon game as I don?t see myself staying up past midnight for webcasts of the EAST coast games. Let alone home games and the dreaded west coast trips.

Reading game caps and looking through box scores just aren?t the same.

Anyone have experiences with watching ?live? baseball overseas?? Anyone?? Anyone?? Limey?? Bueller??

Cheers.

Greg M · « **Reply #1 on:** May 10, 2006, 02:33:47 pm »

Congrats. I'd kill to live in London. I used to live in Egypt but that was back in '99, pre-webcasts. I always listened to Milo on the day games. If you have enough restraint, you can hold back from checking the boxscore and watch the archived broadcast from that day.

Rod · « **Reply #2 on:** May 10, 2006, 02:46:40 pm »

I just got back from visiting my dad over in China and I was able to watch every Astro game over the internet.

The way i was able to watch the games was using this thing called a sling box. The Link

Check out the link to get all the details. Basically my dad hooked this sling box up to his Cable/Computer here in Texas and is now able to watch the same channels over the internet in China.

Another option is MLB.TV. My dad used this last season when he didn't have the sling box. He was able to watch all the games using MLB.TV even the ones that were blacked out.

gleach · « **Reply #3 on:** May 10, 2006, 03:08:56 pm »

I have the Sony equivalent of a slingbox. I use it daily. As a matter of fact, I am watching Judge Joe Brown in my office right now through the signal from my cable at home. Works like a charm.

Uncle Charlie · « **Reply #4 on:** May 10, 2006, 03:28:05 pm »

Quote:

I have the Sony equivalent of a slingbox. I use it daily. As a matter of fact, I am watching Judge Joe Brown in my office right now through the signal from my cable at home. Works like a charm.

Had a friend that just moved home from Moscow. He said that there is a UK based "North American Sports Channel" or something like that which worked for him okay. He was on the way to getting a slingbox before he was transf. back.

Interestingly, he was a CWS fan, so we set up the iSight and watched the WS games at the same time. Believe it or not, he actually saw the action before I did. I guess the delay on US TV is longer than the transit time of the waves to Russia.

Uncle Charlie · « **Reply #5 on:** May 10, 2006, 03:46:08 pm »

One place to try in London if you like Indian food is a place called Mela. Food is just short of great & atmosphere is fantastic for an average price (~20 pounds/person). Don't count of fast service, but it will be good service.

Augie · « **Reply #6 on:** May 10, 2006, 03:52:52 pm »

Congrats. Most of my family lives in London and they seem to love it there. Unfortanutely you'll have to listen to Milo more so than watching the Astros on Tv. Hope all is well, enjoy your new life in London.

Ty in Tampa · « **Reply #8 on:** May 10, 2006, 04:30:48 pm »

"Limey's Primer on Drunken London"

ukstro · « **Reply #10 on:** May 10, 2006, 06:37:11 pm »

I lived in London from March 2003 until March 2005. North American Sports Channel is the only cable/satellite alternative --it's not that great and it's quite expensive. I found it disappointing because NASN tends to show only the events it thinks have the widest appeal (e.g., Notre Dame football trumps everything). As an Astros fan, I never counted on games being on NASN.

There is one, yes ONE, American style sports bar in central london. It's near Trafalgar Square and it's called The Sports Cafe. They try to combine "sports bar" and "hooters" and, believe it or not, there's a good chance you'll walk away wishing that the waitresses were wearing more clothes. The crowd is almost entirely Americans. During the 2004 playoffs, I tried like hell to find another bar to watch the games but was unsuccessful. There are many other pubs and bars that show football matches and promote that they will show American sports, but that is a bit of a pipe dream...(as it should) local taste prevails.

One benefit to being overseas is that if you sign up for MLB.com, you can watch playoff games over the internet, as well as regular season ones. During 2004, that was my lifeblood.

Only the World Series is televised on "regular" English TV. The Super Bowl is as well. At curious times (not just due to time changes) NHL and NBA games seem to pop up here and there.

If you're not already into "football" or rugby, London is a great place to get excited about those sports. Unlike an American city, London may have 4 or 5 "major" league teams playing and tickets are reasonably easy to obtain (except for the rival games, of course).

Enjoy, and be glad you're going abroad during an age where broadband access is readily available. I lived in France in 1994 (with no internet access) and my only lifeline was two-day-old Astros scores via the European edition of USA Today.

Also, you are very fortunate to be there during a World Cup summer. It's unreal how the entire country is transfixed. For Euro 2004, the last match England played was watched by something like 2/3 of the entire English population. Very cool.

Guinness · « **Reply #12 on:** May 11, 2006, 08:15:57 am »

NASN is part of Setanta now, you pay ?14.95 per month over and above whatever you pay for Sky or cable (our Sky bill is ?34/month plus NASN, but we have all the sports channels). Their adverts say they'll be broadcasting something like 250 MLB games this summer, and so far they seem to have 3 or 4 a week, including a Sunday evening double header. The Astros have been on twice, once against the Nats, and once against the 3rdinals. They broadcast live, but they also replay the games 'as live', meaning in full, the next day at more hospitable hours. Channel 5, a terrestrial station, also does one or two games a week. IIRC, they show the ESPN Sunday night game, and 1 on Wednesday (I think), but those are on at 1 or 2 am.
If you sign up for NASN, you'll also get Setanta Sports 1 and 2 and Setanta Ireland, plus the Rangers and Celtic channels. Setanta is great for watching Irish sports, like hurling and Gaelic football.
And Limey's right--everything is incredibly expensive in London, and you end up with pounds (no pun intended) of change; imagine instead of a $1 bill you had a $1 coin.

Happy to help with any questions on living here, from an American point of view! It's great here, you'll love it.

Guinness · « **Reply #26 on:** May 12, 2006, 12:12:49 pm »

There's also a list on the NASN site of bars and hotels that carry the channel: The Link

NeilT · « **Reply #27 on:** May 12, 2006, 08:30:16 pm »

Speaking of turning white, international sport, and the world cup, did anyone else notice this picture in today's chronicle?

The Link

Author Topic: An American Baseball Fan in London (Read 4081 times)

Guinness

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