NEW ORLEANS - Brad Wing told his friends back in Melbourne to Google "Tiger Stadium."
Jesse Williams tried to explain what US college football is like to his pals in Brisbane by describing what Tuscaloosa, Alabama, is like on an autumn/winter Saturday.
"I wouldn't say crazy, that's a little mean," he said. "On another level, definitely."
For the first time in as long as anybody can remember - perhaps ever - two Australians will have starring roles in the BCS championship when Louisiana (LSU) meets Alabama on Monday night.
Wing is the brassy freshman punter for the top-ranked LSU, the kid who grew up playing Australian Rules football and dreaming of making it big.
Williams is the mammoth defensive tackle for the No.2 Crimson Tide, the guy covered with tattoos and sporting a Mohawk whose soft voice and thoughtful demeanour manage to put people at ease.
They don't know each other, except by reputation, but they've earned quite a following back home, where the game will be aired to an audience that still views American football as a novelty.
"I don't think it'll ever happen again," Wing said, "and I'm not sure if it's ever happened before.
It's sort of a once-in-a-lifetime thing. It's crazy to have two Australian kids playing in the biggest game in American sport. It's really good for Australia."
Wing's introduction to the game came through his father, David, who was a high-level Australian Rules football player and once tried out for the Detroit Lions as a punter.
The elder Wing was coaching for the Sandringham Dragons, one of the clubs in the feeder league for the AFL, the most widely followed competition in Australia.
His son was just a sprightly fellow on the youth team, but his talent for delivering accurate, booming kicks had already started to emerge.
It was the rest of the game that Wing struggled to grasp, though. Soon it became evident that no matter how good of a leg he had, his ability would only take him so far.
"He realised very quickly there's not much point being a pauper, kicking around a country town for a hundred bucks a week and saying, 'I'm a professional footballer,"' said the Dragons' regional manager, Wayne Oswald, who has followed Wing's career across the Pacific.
Wing knew his father tried to make it as a punter, so he figured, "Why not try it myself?"
Some family friends in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, agreed to host him for his final year and a half of high school, but it was still difficult to move.
Even now, he admits there were many nights he wondered whether he had made a mistake.
Source: http://www.fijitimes.com/story.aspx?id=190340
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