I've given in.I'm a huge sports fan. Basketball, football, hockey. Even a little baseball on occasion.
I watch pro, college, Double-A, Triple-A, you name it. If it's on, I'll watch it.But I've always steered clear of the world's game, the "Beautiful Game."
Why?
Because it's boring.
There's no action.
THE GAMES END IN TIES!
(Not the kind you wear, mind you...)
The game is extremely un-American.
There's hardly any contact (and please, don't tell me that a slide kick or inadvertent tackle is contact...), all these guys do is run, and, hell they kick the ball backward. I mean, really? Who goes backwards to go forwards?
So I've held out.
The only cups I've cared about were those that I wore (jeeze, that's super gross and you don't even know me... ughhh.)
Okay not to be so damn cynical, but really, the Stanley Cup is pretty much the only cup that's been in my life thus far.
So how did I get to this point?
Very randomly.
Now I've always kept a tab on anything dealing with USA sports, so I have watched the national team play in a few games, or just watched the highlights.
But one day, after a few libations, I told a buddy of mine (and again, I was feeling pretty good...) "hey, we should watch a soccer game some time."
Of course, at that point, the beers were doing most of the talking, but he held me to it.
My first official game I watched was the UEFA Champions League (Union of European Football Associations, for those of you who are in the same boat as I am), featuring Borussia Dortmund and Real Madrid... which was more like Dortumund's spankin' of Team Messi.
And, though I never paid much attention to anything that soccer had to offer, it was pretty interesting to watch.
I enjoyed the game, the passion of the fans, and the effort that Dortmund put in (which I thought was a HUGE upset, come to find out that that was one of the best German teams against the best Spanish teams, so really it was like Duke playing North Carolina in basketball).
And fortunately, or unfortunately as my fiance believes (yet another sport to watch?!), I liked the game enough to watch the next couple matches in the championship.
So now I'm kinda hooked.
But I've still got issues with the world's game, which you'll all read or hear about, but I'm giving peace a chance here.
I'm going to pay attention to soccer this season. NBC will help me to pay attention to soccer this season. Some of my friends will help me to check this out as well.
I'm not just going to watch all the games on television- while this is Tucson, Ariz., there are things to do here. And soccer teams from MLS and Mexico routinely stop by, so plan on me live-blogging from there.
Also, FC Tucson is big in town, and while they are currently on the, "fourth tier of competiton," according to Wikipedia, they've got some rabid fans (I've seen them at a few bars in town... are you starting to sense a patter here?). Also, the University of Arizona has a women's team in town, so you can bet I'll drop by for a few matches.
Now I'm not giving up all my other favorite sports. Lord knows Arizona Basketball rules my life, and I just bought new season tickets for Arizona Football, so my Saturday nights will be booked.
But on the days where I'm not watching the big three (see above if you forgot...), I'm going to be commenting on soccer.
I'm ready to jump head-first into this wonderful game played round the world, and I'm hoping you'll jump in as well, with some comments, questions, concerns, and overall thoughts of my journey to soccer fandom.
I watch pro, college, Double-A, Triple-A, you name it. If it's on, I'll watch it.But I've always steered clear of the world's game, the "Beautiful Game."
Why?
Because it's boring.
There's no action.
THE GAMES END IN TIES!
(Not the kind you wear, mind you...)
The game is extremely un-American.
There's hardly any contact (and please, don't tell me that a slide kick or inadvertent tackle is contact...), all these guys do is run, and, hell they kick the ball backward. I mean, really? Who goes backwards to go forwards?
So I've held out.
The only cups I've cared about were those that I wore (jeeze, that's super gross and you don't even know me... ughhh.)
Okay not to be so damn cynical, but really, the Stanley Cup is pretty much the only cup that's been in my life thus far.
So how did I get to this point?
Very randomly.
Now I've always kept a tab on anything dealing with USA sports, so I have watched the national team play in a few games, or just watched the highlights.
But one day, after a few libations, I told a buddy of mine (and again, I was feeling pretty good...) "hey, we should watch a soccer game some time."
Of course, at that point, the beers were doing most of the talking, but he held me to it.
My first official game I watched was the UEFA Champions League (Union of European Football Associations, for those of you who are in the same boat as I am), featuring Borussia Dortmund and Real Madrid... which was more like Dortumund's spankin' of Team Messi.
And, though I never paid much attention to anything that soccer had to offer, it was pretty interesting to watch.
I enjoyed the game, the passion of the fans, and the effort that Dortmund put in (which I thought was a HUGE upset, come to find out that that was one of the best German teams against the best Spanish teams, so really it was like Duke playing North Carolina in basketball).
And fortunately, or unfortunately as my fiance believes (yet another sport to watch?!), I liked the game enough to watch the next couple matches in the championship.
So now I'm kinda hooked.
But I've still got issues with the world's game, which you'll all read or hear about, but I'm giving peace a chance here.
I'm going to pay attention to soccer this season. NBC will help me to pay attention to soccer this season. Some of my friends will help me to check this out as well.
I'm not just going to watch all the games on television- while this is Tucson, Ariz., there are things to do here. And soccer teams from MLS and Mexico routinely stop by, so plan on me live-blogging from there.
Also, FC Tucson is big in town, and while they are currently on the, "fourth tier of competiton," according to Wikipedia, they've got some rabid fans (I've seen them at a few bars in town... are you starting to sense a patter here?). Also, the University of Arizona has a women's team in town, so you can bet I'll drop by for a few matches.
Now I'm not giving up all my other favorite sports. Lord knows Arizona Basketball rules my life, and I just bought new season tickets for Arizona Football, so my Saturday nights will be booked.
But on the days where I'm not watching the big three (see above if you forgot...), I'm going to be commenting on soccer.
I'm ready to jump head-first into this wonderful game played round the world, and I'm hoping you'll jump in as well, with some comments, questions, concerns, and overall thoughts of my journey to soccer fandom.
Here's to futbol!
-JB
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