Something strange in London

London

The Minnesota writers from the Twin Cities in London for the Vikings game have developed a morning routine. We eat breakfast, scan the papers, look at each other and say, ``Nope. Nothing.''

There has been no mention of the Vikings-Steelers game at Wembley in the major morning papers. I haven't seen a mention on the television, although at least one member of our traveling party has seen a 20-second clip of a Vikings' practice.

In a country that reveres soccer, cricket, the America's Cup, Olympic sports, snooker and rugby, this is not particularly surprising.

What's surprising is that the Vikings are being covered by a large contingent of reporters who seem to be both legitimate and British.

Unless the NFL hired a squad of actors to imitate reporters and legitimize the game.

The British journalists ask intelligent questions and seem keenly interested in American football. Maybe they're saving all of the coverage for Sunday.

I landed at midday Monday. I think I had completely recovered from the flight, jet lag and time change by Thursday morning, about 72 hours later.

The Steelers arrived Friday morning. They'll be playing an NFL game about 54 hours after having landed.

I agree with Jared Allen. The NFL can talk all it wants about putting a team in London, but no NFL player will want to play for a team based here.

We're covering Vikings practice in Watford right now. Mark Craig, Chip Scoggins, photojournalist Carlos Gonzalez and myself will post columns, news stories, videos, photos and blog posts all day at Startribune.com.