Date and Location: August 9 2025, Raymond James Stadium, Tampa, FL.

Reflections: From near-drowning to random explosions, I’m honestly amazed my first ever NFL game didn’t put me off the sport entirely.

If you’re ever planning to attend an NFL game for the first time, heading to a pre-season game is not a bad way to go about it. It’s generally far cheaper than buying a ticket to a regular season game, and in the eternal words of Whose Line is it Anyway, “everything is made up and the points don’t matter!” It’s also a great atmosphere. As I write this at the end of March, the regular season seems so painfully far away that I swear I’ll dance into my seat next August. Although the regular season hasn’t started yet, it’s still football, and you’ll be surrounded by fellow fans feeling that same giddy relief.

Just make sure and check the weather first.

Attending my first NFL game “just to say I’d been” gave me a perfect excuse to plan a trip to Tampa, and in doing so visit a state I’d only ever really heard about through their eponymous (and horrifying) Florida Man memes. I hadn’t been warned about the weather. Oh, God, the weather. I visit Texas whenever I can afford to, and had just come back from a 108F Vegas day trip. It really thought it couldn’t be that bad-

It was that bad. It was worse than I’d ever imagined.

Although the temperature was lower than Texas and Vegas, the swamp-like humidity meant that my body couldn’t sweat. The torrential rain that should have brought relief from the unending sweat heat poured down around us on the way into the stadium, meaning my already misunderstood outfit was irreparably soaked. I’d attempted to look like the original Buccaneers logo, and ended up as a drowned pirate wench. Okay. Not ideal, but cottons are breathable, or so I thought. I realised, a quarter and a half into the game, that the air was too humid for my clothes to dry.

The game itself was great, and entirely one-sided. The graphics of the pirate ship were very cool – the sudden and unprompted explosions of cannon fire, less so. Between the jumping out of my seat and the drenched clothes, I ended up leaving my first ever NFL game at half time, during which time the Buccaneers were only a single play up. By the time I was home, they’d mopped the floor with them 7-29. While I missed the second half, it turns out I hadn’t actually missed much.

Please don’t let my final reflection put you off, potential NFL attendee: bring a friend, an umbrella, and maybe galoshes and you’ll have a great time!

Final Score: 7-29 to the Buccs.
If it was any other team, I’d claim the cannons might have given them a home field advantage, but the Titans are just… like that.

Best Food or Drink: Disclaimer! I did not drink it, as I wanted to live long enough to get home. The “Florida Man” beer can, with its 9% ABV, stared me down from a shelf. A threat. A promise. A nightmare. It would still have definitely been better than my waterboarded soft pretzel.