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Brits aren't quite Dolphins experts yet

LONDON — Londoner Tim Pickergill said he cannot name many Miami Dolphins.

"Just Joe Montana, really," he said.

Actually, Joe played for — well, never mind.

That's not important now, as we take a break from Wimbledon and stand in line for fish and chips in the shadow of London's Wembley Stadium.

What matters is knowing that Dolphins fans are not so much losing a home game Oct. 28 against the New York Giants as gaining brother and sister Dolfans across the pond.

The historic regular-season contest to be played at Wembley no doubt will tap into pent-up demand created by the closure of developmental league NFL Europa, announced recently amid reported annual losses of $30 million.

The only trouble seems to be finding the same fans whom Miami coach Cam Cameron met on a fact-finding trip here.

"Everywhere we have gone the people have been very welcoming, and I have been pleasantly surprised by the depth of knowledge of the people over here," Cameron said. "They really know about our sport and our team."

Let's ask around. Your favorite Dolphin, sir?

"The Rock," said North London's James Day.

Technically, it was the Miami Hurricanes for whom the wrestler and actor once played, but let's call that partial credit. It's more than Day's goofy Yank questioner knows about British sports, which is limited to tennis and the phrase "Bend it like Beckham."

Day's pal Ryan Kuhn offered the most common response on the British street: a friendly shrug and four words.

"Football's my sport, really," Kuhn said.

Perhaps an NFL advance team mistook those words for an expression of rooting interest. What our new friend meant is that soccer is his sport. Over here, what the Dolphins play is American football.

Maybe this explains something about NFL Europe, known poignantly toward the end of its life as NFL Europa. Soccer remains the undisputed king of sports in Europe, where fans tend to have fiercely loyal tastes. In Britain, there are some 92 professional soccer teams.

"Unless you find a way to break that monopoly, you're pretty much buggered," Pickergill said.

Still, he catches a few highlights of American football on satellite TV.

"That Bears quarterback — What's his name? — he played so well until the final," Pickergill said. That would be former Gator Rex Grossman at the Super Bowl at Dolphin Stadium.

Mudassar Zaman, who works at Nico's At Wembley Fish & Chips, said he might watch more often "if it was not on at 4 a.m."

But the signs are certainly there for a tremendous upwelling of support. After all, someone is buying the tickets, with the first batch of 40,000 snapped up quickly.

The cultural cross-currents go back a long way. Rugby gave birth to modern football. Ceramic artwork on the walkway leading from the Wembley Park underground station contains what are believed to be representations of American football among other sports. In one panel, a Stanford-era John Elway appears to be wearing a Formula One racing helmet, or he may in fact be throwing the first pass on the moon.

And there is at least one representation of Dan Marino within hailing distance of Wembley. It can be found in an advertisement for American Bowl '88, an exhibition of yesteryear, framed on a back wall at the First Class Sports Bar.

"The Miami Dolphins are one of the teams I'd know about," said bar owner Alan Coulston. "They're one of the most successful teams."

Another man leaned in from the direction of the bar to say, "I wish it was the Patriots."

Coulston continued, "Always room for one more sport. Absolutely. It's wonderful they're bringing the Super Bowls here."

Charles Elmore writes for the Palm Beach Post. E-mail: charles (UNDERSCORE) elmore (AT) pbpost.com