Anyone from Pontiac, MI area or did the NFL GJC

[chimpgym]

Yep, saw the games. They were interesting. I had never heard of the Global Junior Championships before, but this was evidently their 10th year.

For those of you who don't know about them, they are an official NFL Super Bowl event, and involve high school age (19 or younger) teams from around the world. This year there were teams from Canada, Germany, Japan, Mexico, and the US. They are played each year in the host city of the Super Bowl. This year they were played in the Pontiac Silverdome. I found info about them on http://www.nflhs.com and by talking to people at the Dome.



Some interesting tidbits/observations:
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The Silverdome had a brand new Field Turf field put into it by the NFL just for the Steelers to practice on this week for the Super Bowl. Word is that the field itself will be donated to the Pontiac schools after the Super Bowl.

Rumors continue that the SilverDome will be torn down, and the land sold and developed. This might have been the last football game played in it. That's a shame because it's still a nice facility. But evidently the land is too valuable, and the Dome just isn't used enough anymore.

They used NCAA rules with some modifications. Evidently most of the world other than Canada and the US (except TX and MA of course!) use the NCAA rules. The modifications were mostly for formations, who could blitz, etc. Supposedly, some were for safety and some to help keep it competive.

From what I could see, they didn't need to worry about it being competitive. The other countries did a fine job.

I was a bit surprised that the Germans didn't do a little better. They almost tied the US, but overall, they didn't have a very good record. Like I said, a bit of a surprise to me as I understand American Football is really big over there.

Canada had a fine team. They weren't scored on during the tournament and won it all. Much of their coaching staff came from the CFL champions.

Mexico and Japan were a lot of fun to watch. Both are really coming on strong in football. Japan was really quick and had a lot of heart. Mexico was not only quick, they were tough!

The US was a big disappointment. I think they were lucky to get into the Championship Game.