So I’m off to see the 49ers v Broncos at Wembley on Sunday.  I’m looking forward to the event, but not necessarily the match.  The 49ers have been poor this year, a shadow of the team I followed as an adolescent.  No quality.  No Rice, Montana, Young, Lott, Craig etc, etc, etc.  If the Broncos play like they did last Sunday this could end up 0-0.

I broke the habit of a lifetime and used TicketMaster.  Strange, that when the tickets first went on sale only the expensive ones were available – obviously to mug the fans (£8 fees too). (not like this – BBC watchdog report but squeezing the punter)  You can now buy cheaper tickets.  I do feel kind of ripped off, shouldn’t be surprised.  I’m sure there are thousands of 49ers fans who wished they could be there, what with it being an NFL home game for them.

I know how I felt about the rumoured ELP “39th game” and that was supposed to be an extra one, not a game taken away.

So, I’ll cheer on the 49ers extra hard, just to make up for it.