For someone really easily frustrated by computers I've really found myself in the thick of it these days. Much like other men of my ilk, I've been led into this world by porn and sports. In many cases I curse my most insistent yet least intelligent parts for getting me into, as the fat one of Laurel and Hardy would put it, another fine mess. Messes which usually involve lots of cursing and wasted time trying to figure out what to do about my latest computer problem.

Of course, I wouldn't keep at it if there wasn't a payoff and the payoff is substantial. We modern computer literate men have access to a dizzying array of porn that our ancestors couldn't even imagine. Hmmmmm,.... porn. But I digress.

Through the thinking of my most insistent and least intelligent part, I wound up being a semi voluntary exile in Sweden. This was on many levels a disaster of titanic proportions and one of the most painful levels was the one that saw my access to my beloved NFL severely restricted.

As in any crisis you find out who your friends are and both the fashion commissioner himself and my oldest brother jumped in to avert a cranial implosion from sudden football decompression syndrome. Games were sent to me by video cassettes in the mail on a weekly basis and it was a godsend.

On rare weeks I wanted to know about a game live I used NFL.com's Field Pass which at the time was a graphic of a football field with indicators of what was happening in the game accompanied by the radio broadcast of the game. It was primitive but it beat the hell out of nothing.

But to watch a game the best option was the week old video tapes. This required avoiding all media that might mention american football scores if you wanted to watch the game without already knowing who won. However being the only guy in town with these tapes had the happy side effect of bringing my current football watching group into being. I'd met some other estrogen shipwreck victims with the same football access problem and started inviting them to my place to watch the latest videotape. This same collection of belligerent, ignorant, opinionated drunks continues to congregate and annoy neighbors on a regular basis. But I digress again.

As the past 6 years have gone by since I got here, each year brings improved access. First one of the euro sports channels, available only at the sports bar in town, started carrying Monday night games, Then they expanded that schedule. Then that channel became more widely available to the point where some in our group got it in their home cable package. Then I got an american satellite hookup that improved the offerings and things were looking better and better as far as watching games in real time and getting a better selection of games to choose from.

Enter the NFL's Field Pass. Field Pass is available only to fans living outside North America and is offers a few different levels of access to games through the computer. Games can be purchased individualy or packaged into season long access. You can pay for access to your favorite teams games all year for 179 in the HD version or 159 in the lower quality version. Or you can go whole hog and get access to everygame played for 239 in the HD version, 209 in the other.

This is not chump change but when rationalizing this purchase to myself; I thought of it as a reasonable per game price of 14 bucks per. Still not cheap to watch a game on TV but consider these perks. 1. When watching games you are spared any form of foreign sportscasting. If you've ever listened to a game with Swedish commentary you know what it's like to pray for death. 2.You also come to appreciate just how much funny commercials add to the entertainment of watching a game and to someone deprived of this aspect, I find it a welcome change to a feeling of normalcy in my football viewing 3. Inclusive in this package is access to archives of any game all season long at the click of a button. This is huge. 4. Access to pre-game shows, post game and highlight shows. This too was a gaping hole in the experience that is taken for granted until taken away. 5. The program allows you to put little screens of other games under the main screen if you like to track several games at once. I personally have discovered that I prefer to focus my ADD attention span onto a single match but appreciate having the capability on rare occasions.

The top screen show what the game selection column looks like and once the game is selected I usually just put it onto full screen and then also run the picture from my computer to my TV. The picture even in it's HD format does lose significant quality going to a larger screen but is pretty good on my computer screen and welcome, even if only a few ticks above bearable, on my larger TV screen.

Drawbacks. See paragraph above. Like all computer related stuff, sometimes it freezes up and needs to be restarted. Thankfully this hasn't happened at any critical junctures in a game but the potential of that happening is scary. Occasionally the picture gets herky jerky for a minute before correcting itself. The feed is a good minute or two behind any satellite feed showing the same game, which leads to me getting calls from friends all excited about a play that has yet to happen in my version of the game. As you can imagine, this can be annoying.

The bottom left picture shows little icons on the right that represent a few different broadcasts of NFL gameday or NFL live. The bottom right picture shows one of those programs playing in full screen mode. The picture there is of the Cardinals blocking a Dallas punt which led to them beating the 'boys in overtime and was chosen to annoy the Cowboy fans in my football watching group. Cheers boys!

So the verdict? Thumbs up baby! Yes, it's expensive in its high end version but considering what it offers, I have to say that just past the one third point of the season, I'm loving it. Knowing that you won't miss your favorite teams games is key. Knowing that you can choose any game according to what the best matchups are or who you're going to watch with is tremendous.

As much as I love the memories of watching Summerall and Brookshire sit in front of that cheesy football shaped coffee table and show highlights of the week, it just can't compare to the combination of the NFL website and Field Pass even for someone stranded on the soccer side of the Atlantic. Field Pass is a winner.

(and yes I'm aware that the Thomlinson image at the top of the page has been decapitated but it reminds me of South Park's Terrence and Phillip so I decided to leave it that way... Blame Canada! abooot, abooot, abooot ; )

Ken