By STEPHEN WADE
AP Sports Writer
LONDON (AP) - Iain Carey and Steve Bedwell act like your typical American football junkies. In 12 days beginning with the NFL opener Sept. 5 in New York between the 49ers and Giants they'll make a road trip to six NFL games and detour for two college weekends in Syracuse and Akron, Ohio, with a stop in Canton to visit the Pro Football Hall of Fame. "Just like any crazy American," Carey said.

Not quite. These two are crazy Scotsmen.

Meet the "Scottish Cheddarheads". Carey from a town near Glasgow and Bedwell from the Scottish Highland town of Killin. Carey and Bedwell have been to almost every NFL stadium and every one in
Europe where the American pro game is played. To distinguish themselves from ordinary North American fanatics, the two 30-year-olds wear kilts, topped with Green Bay-style plastic blocks of cheese painted with an orange and yellow tartan. They detail their exploits on their own Web site.

"It's not very sane, and it gets very hard to explain in the cold light of
day," said Carey, a Ph.D. trained epidemiologist. "For me, it is the ultimate team game," he added. "That's one of the reasons I love it, the idea that you have 11 guys and they all have to do their job to execute a play."

Football hasn't caught on everywhere in Europe, where soccer is king _ and not the way it was hoped when the U.S. import boomed in Britain and on the continent in the late 1980s and early 1990s. But it has spawned some hardcore fans and pockets of strength such as Frankfurt and Duesseldorf in Germany _ by far the two strongest franchises of NFL Europe, the NFL's six-team developmental
league. Other teams are in Barcelona, Spain; Scotland; Amsterdam,
Netherlands, and Berlin.

The NFL has spent more than $100 million trying to get a football foothold in Europe. After 10 seasons, there are small signs of success but no groundswell of popularity to rival soccer monoliths such as Real Madrid, FC Barcelona, Juventus, Manchester United or Bayern Munich.
"Internationally and with the media, we have gotten to the stage that no one questions if we are going to be around next season," said Jim Connelly, managing director of NFL Europe. "Four or five years ago, the story was: 'Were we going to be around?'"

NFL Europe is a money loser, with the NFL pumping several million dollars yearly into each team. But it's a part of NFL International, which does make money, Connelly said. "We are certainly nowhere near the point where we actually can recover all of our expenditures simply through ticket sales, sponsors and other revenues," he said.

On the field, the league is an undisputed success. There is even talk of
expansion, with Madrid, Spain, and Lyon, France, the two leading candidates for new teams. More than 300 former NFL Europe players attended NFL training camps this summer - 33 quarterbacks. Four of last season's 12 playoff teams were quarterbacked by NFL Europe products - Kurt Warner (Rams), Jim Miller (Bears), Jay Fiedler (Dolphins), Brad Johnson (Buccaneers). In addition, NFL Europe veteran La'Roi Glover of the Dallas Cowboys was a standout defensive tackle with Barcelona, and David Akers, a Pro Bowl kicker with the Eagles, played with Berlin in 1999.

Of the six NFL Europe franchises, the Frankfurt Galaxy and Duesseldorf Rhein Fire each averaged 35,000 in attendance last season. An NFL Europe- record 58,000 fans attended one of their showdowns last season. Part of the German success comes from the U.S. military presence in the country, and relatively weak soccer clubs in both cities.

In Germany, NFL Europe has also managed to convert American-style tailgating into what Germans call a pre-game "Power Party with food, drinking, dancing and all the other stuff that goes with it," Connelly said. "It's become a really big night out and it's been tough to replicate that in other places," he said.

Unlike European soccer, where rivalries are bitter and alcohol-fueled fights are common, NFL Europe has been successful in selling itself as family entertainment. "There is none of the aggression of soccer," Carey said. "You can sit together and feel no fan segregation like in soccer. We are building something new that has no history."

Bedwell, who works as an accountant in London, said the Germany pre-game parties "are as good if not better than the States." "The German beer helps you get geared up," he said. "With their food and beer stands, the country seems geared up for festivals."

Carey played football at Leeds University and Bedwell at Scotland's Stirling University. Dozens of British universities play in a league known as the BCAFL - British College American Football League.
"We were both receivers, small and too slow," Carey said.

Carey is a Rams fans and Bedwell is loyal to the 49ers, but NFL Europe's Scottish Claymores are their first love. They have seen the team's last 50 home and away games and have struck up friendships with several players who have made it in the NFL.

Rams receiver Yo Murphy was the MVP of the 1996 World Bowl when he played with the Claymores. After the Rams played the Saints last season in New Orleans, Murphy recognized the two Cheddarheads and handed them his gloves.

"A lot of the Americans enjoy their stay in Europe, where they have closer access to the fans," Carey said. "Those guys are holed up in Europe, often for three months in places where they don't want to be, so many appreciate the friendship of the fans.

"For the friendship we showed, we continue to get something in return."

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