related: The ShinGuardian preview:
Manchester City
Pop Culture Comparison: New England Patriots (2001-present). The first time they won something, it seemed, perhaps against all logic, somewhat endearing. Now, it’s just annoying. This football club has done everything to offend the senses of football purists short of Belichicking another team’s training session. They’ve actually done some wonderful things on the ground in Manchester (and around the globe), and they’re a rightfully well-loved club from the local area, but their supporters could not be more annoying from a distance. The supposed “long-suffering fans” narrative gets tired pretty quick in both Eastlands and Foxboro—I guess I’m just having a hard time believing that many of them were there for the cold rainy Tuesday night scoreless draws in Luton or pre-Adam Vinatieri.
This cracked me up, since I'm a Newcastle supporter and that's just about right.
ReplyDelete"10. Newcastle United (Northern England) – Black and White (Alternate: Dark Blue)
Cheer for the Magpies If: You’re a Phillies or Eagles fan who takes pride in the fact no one likes you. There may be no EPL team that would partner better with the rabid Phillies or Eagles fan than Newcastle."
Yuppppppppp. Thank god I was born a White Sox fan as well.
Whatever you do, not Man U, City or Chelsea.
ReplyDeleteArsenal would be aggravation. The owners are happy to perpetually finish 4th, rake in the guineas from their giant modern stadium and the Champions League. I hope Fenerbache takes them out in the qualifiers. The whole Luis Suarez thing? Total smokescreen. They knew that LFC would never sell to one of the other teams battling them for 4th.
I'd try to woo you to LFC, but Suarez really is a dislikable asshole. I can handle it, I had to cheer for the Pistons 25 years ago. Sure, Laimbeer, Mahorn, Thomas and Rodman were assholes, but they were my assholes and they delivered.
Try Everton or Swansea. I liked the work Roberto Martinez did with Wigan and they do have an American goalie, Tim Howard. Heck, Landon Donovan may even rejoin them to stay in form for the World Cup once MLS is over.
Swansea has played way over their heads the last several years by playing a passing, attacking, possession based game. They are so adept at the style that they are jokingly referred to as "Swan-celona".
This explains how I ended up selecting Liverpool to support when I decided a few years ago to educate myself on the Premier League. I loved those Bad Boys teams...
ReplyDeleteThere's other similarities as well. Detroit and Liverpool are two run-down industrial towns that gave the world wonderful music 45-50 years ago.
ReplyDeleteBut there's also the whole Steven Gerrard thing. Growing up in a Liverpool suburb, he lost a cousin in the 1989 Hillsborough tragedy. He then goes on to spend his entire career at Liverpool, with over 10 years as captain. He's passed on moves to Chelsea and Bayern Munich to stay with his hometown team.
Oddly enough, I started following LFC after Peter Crouch's Robot Dance stuff in 2006. Came for the Robot Dance, stayed for the history and drama. It also helped that I happened to look like a fat Spanish waiter at the time.
Still do, but the fat Spanish waiter's now at Napoli. And I ain't talking Reina.