Soccer To Me, Part II: Soccer 2 Me
Past Augusts might just have been times for baseball pennant races to arrange themselves and for networks to air preseason football games as if starters played more than a quarter. This year, August is different because of the World Cup having just been played. With all the free time I had this summer and all the afternoon bar visits that filled a thimblefull of that time, I got to watch more World Cup than I ever had and even as I may have insulted it with one side of my mouth, I lauded it twice over with the other:
It’s as good as soccer gets! Every match counts!
…The worst of hockey is better than the best of soccer. Stuff happens in hockey.
Games are usually morning and afternoon, EST! They’re brisk and don’t last three to four hours or even past midnight sometimes!
…Why spend even two hours watching something that two times out of three ends in a tie?
It’s virtually uninterrupted athleticism! It draws your undivided attention!
…Yeah, it’s only interrupted by fake injuries, which are more abhorrent than commercials.
You’ve heard all these before.
Well, don’t look now, kids, because the English Premier League is well underway! And it’s brought to you by Barclay’s!
I thought of giving the league and the sport a chance two years ago when I came back from Ireland half-drunk and entirely pretentious. This year I’ve been putting to use what’s left of my World Cup enthusiasm and have been following Arsenal through its first couple of matches/games/competitions.
Now, I first chose Arsenal as my team the very first time I heard their name, over ten years ago, while playing FIFA 99 on PlayStation my freshman year of college. I loved the name of the team, how it was all full of threatening potential (I’d name a minor league baseball team the Powderkegs for the same reason). Fans have chosen teams for lesser, uniform-related reasons, I’m sure, and so my mostly arbitrary choice was made. I did recently go so far as to look up Arsenal’s history – you know, to know the team I supposedly “cheered” – and confirmed that while they’ve had success, they aren’t the superior team in the history of the league. And that’s perfect by me, because while I accept New York-area fans of the Yankees, I roll my Met fan eyes at, say, Estonians who visit the U.S. and bring Yankee fandom back home because they’re recently and historically dominant. Then again, I’m not sure how rooting for the Cubs would play in countries that (aren’t necessarily Estonia and) don’t exactly hum with optimism. Maybe thousands of miles is a little too close to home for those folks.
Last week I tuned in for Arsenal’s first regular-season matchup, against Liverpool. I looked forward it for days and considered going to the bar at 10am on the Sunday, before declining. But I watched it at home with breakfast (another perk) and things picked up right where the World Cup left off: Liverpool scored the first goal seconds after I left for the bathroom, and when I did get back, I fell asleep for most of the second half. Then, keeping things rolling, I misread the schedule and missed the first part of Arsenal’s second game, of which I watched five minutes until they went ahead 3-0 and which they eventually won 6-0.
Soccer: It’s Fun-tastic!
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