A Confluence of Events Screws Up Everyone's Schedule; 49ers in London while Giants prepare for Series in SF

When the NFL schedule for 2010 was drawn up over a year ago, nobody had a clue that the SF Giants would be playing in the World Series.

Enter personal, situational , logistical nightmare. Hello SF 49ers vs. Denver in London.

For starters, the  49ers invited some of their biggest advertising and broadcast execs on the trip across the pond to London--not to mention the biggest Giants cheerleader, KNBR's Ralph Barbieri, who will miss the first two games of the Fall Classic Wednesday night at AT&T Park.

Worse yet, there is no Ameci's pizza in London.

Also on the trip is KNBR GM, Lee Hammer, and countless Comcast people, among others. Again, this isn't the end of civilization, but you have to laugh that a great many people who just might rather be watching the World Series will instead be housed in Europe watching a 1-6 NFL football team that just lost on Sunday to one of the other worst teams in the league.

The upside is that London has some of the best pubs in the world and is the cleanest city on the planet. I was there for a week in 1986 and had a blast at the lovely Grosvenor House overlooking Hyde Park.

Then again, I'm going out on a limb, but I'd bet there's a few people who would just as soon be ensconced in the city preparing to watch their beloved Giants as opposed to a lousy football team whose coach is probably updating his resume.

Chip chip, cheerio.