Australian live blog of Jarryd Hayne’s first 49ers game is amazing
Australia is anxiously watching Jarryd Hayne’s first game with the 49ers and one man is keeping an incredible live blog of it
Jarryd Hayne is playing in his first NFL game for the San Francisco 49ers on Monday Night Football against the Minnesota Vikings in Week One. The Australian former rugby player wowed the masses in the preseason with his big-play ability, particularly in the return game. Obviously, Australia was anxious to see their countryman take the field for his first NFL action.
To commemorate the occasion, Australian blogger Matt Cleary decided to keep a live blog at The Guardian and the results are absolutely incredible. It’s one thing to have a man start watching a game at 3 a.m. local time, but it’s even better to have a man who describes himself as someone whose American football experience includes only the Super Bowl every year keep a live blog of a game at that hour.
There’s so much to love about Cleary’s observations and analysis of Monday night’s contest. When a Vikings lineman went down with an injury, Cleary described him as “a big Viking” and said fans were waiting for him to be resuscitated. More highlights include defenders being “naughty” and receiving penalties, frustration over the lack of points as Cleary claimed, “no-one can score,” and complaints over the amount of commercial breaks, which then led to a rant about a bad analogy that was fantastic.
However, there’s nothing that will top the shear disappointment of Cleary (and assumedly the rest of Australia) after Hayne himself took the field for the first time and proceeded to muff the punt and give the ball back to the Vikings. Here’s how that went because only Cleary’s words do it justice:
"Here’s the Hayne Plane! His first touch in the NFL. And… he drops it? Oh my goodness me, he drops it! His first touch is a fumble! He’s grassed it. Oh my."
Let me say that “he’s grassed it” should become a phrase in the football world immediately. It’s impeccable.
Cleary’s observations aren’t humorous in a way of poking fun at him, but rather in the simplicity of a novice following the game and pointing out just how silly this game is to an outsider. Even better is how he chooses to describe things with alternative phrases that are actually 1,000 times better than what we’d refer to it as.
In the end, Cleary should live blog every NFL game. If that’s a bit too much, we can all settle for him taking on every 49ers game. Even if this is the first and last attempt at it, though, it’s been worth it following along.
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