Traveling the world has been a challenging, rewarding and fun experience. Although Kevin has been great at embracing our new lifestyle, there is one other thing that he misses most: the NFL… specifically the Broncos.
Kevin is a native of Colorado and a loyal Broncos’ fan. Following the acquisition of Peyton Manning and the Broncos disappointing loss in the playoffs, Kevin was looking forward to this season. From the moment the season started, Kevin has been anxiously (almost compulsively) following the Broncos season…and from the start of pre-season, all Kevin can talk about is how he wishes he could watch the games.
Luckily for him, Kevin’s brother (with very little encouragement) purchased a Slingbox at the beginning of the season. This was a dream come true for Kevin—at least until we discovered our internet access was often inadequate to stream video. The video was quite “choppy” at times but the more common problem was that we found ourselves traveling during the games.
Watching the Broncos beat Kansas City during a well timed layover…thanks to Rich and his Slingbox.
Despite the obstacles, we were able to catch a few games via Slingbox. We watched the season opener in Krakow from our apartment; we watched one game from our hotel in Shanghai and another game in an airport lounge during a layover. This helped alleviate some of the trauma of missing the whole NFL season even if it was on a seven inch iPad screen!
One lazy Monday morning in New Zealand, we actually got lucky and stumbled upon an NFL game. While flipping through the channels we were surprised to see the Green Bay Packers taking on the Pittsburgh Steelers. The site of NFL football on our TV in the land of kiwis was quite exciting to both of us. Although we did not have a vested interest in the outcome of the game, we found ourselves immediately absorbed with any taste of the NFL.
The playoffs are quickly approaching and one of the first things Kevin did on our arrival in Melbourne was scout out any bars that would be playing the games live. (Note: the games were still more than five days out.) He found a couple of options, so that we would be able to scout them out in advance. However, while flipping through the channels on New Years Day, we happened to find a channel that was re-playing some of last weekend’s regular season games. This immediately sent Kevin into a frenzy researching what channel was playing the upcoming weeks’ playoff games. Luckily for us, the games will be broadcast live here in Australia on channel ONE, which we will be able to enjoy from the comfort of our apartment!
