Soccer

Hell yeah! Another Spurs fan here. My dad used to live in London and I was too contrarian to like Arsenal or Chelsea.

I played soccer for twenty years here, left full and center mid. A couple of knee surgeries have slowed me down but we just had a boy so I'm hoping he enjoys soccer.

The Spurs seem to be teetering on being contenders. Hopefully by the time my kid's old enough, they'll fully have their act together.

I was pretty much exclusively a baseball fan growing up, and that's the only team sport I was any good at from early childhood all the way up through college. I played soccer every fall when I was a kid, primarily keeper. I got tall early so I was pretty formidable until I reached high school, at which point just being big wasn't enough. I didn't have the leaping ability or overall athleticism necessary to continue between the sticks, so I was shifted to second-string defensive midfield. I had a reasonably good understanding of positioning but no other valuable skills besides a long throw-in, so I was basically the Rory Delap of the JV squad for two seasons before I quit playing and focused on baseball year round.

My younger brother was the soccer player in the family. He had the speed and athleticism that I lacked, not to mention the true passion for soccer that I had for baseball, so he was an excellent midfielder until he started having chronic pain in his shins and knees and had to give up playing competitively after leaving high school. He still plays semi-regularly in rec leagues and pickup games, but nothing too serious. Anyway, this was all in the mid-late '90s. MLS wasn't really in the public consciousness yet, but you could find some Premier League games here and there on cable. My brother fell in love with Arsenal; to be fair, they were awfully damn good in those first five or six years under Wenger, and who wouldn't want to watch the likes of Bergkamp and Overmars and Henry and Pires at the height of their powers?

I was away at college, so I didn't catch the bug myself at that point. But my dad did, and he got sucked into Goonerhood along with my brother. Around 2001-2002, when both my brother and I were in college, we'd watch some games together with dad when we were all home for the holidays or other breaks. I figured we all supported the same teams in the major American sports, so why not change things up and have a little intra-family banter from time to time? I knew next to nothing about English football, so I asked them who Arsenal's big rivals were. They said the head would say ManU because they were the big dog challenging Arsenal for domestic trophies at the time, but the heart would say Spurs because their fans and Arsenal's had been engaged in what amounted to a slow-simmering local civil war for the better part of a century.

That was all I needed to hear. I wasn't particularly interested in latching onto a frontrunner; I'd grown up around far too many kids who were Dallas Cowboys fans despite the fact that we'd all lived in New England our whole lives. f!@k that shit.

Spurs ticked all the boxes for me.
Hated rival of Arsenal for built-in family bantz? Check.
Cool uniforms? Same colors as my high school and college: check.
Kickass name? Tottenham Hotspur! Big check. (I had briefly considered Sheffield Wednesday on this basis a couple years prior. Dodged a bullet there!)
Do I know someone who plays for them? Kasey Keller was probably the most identifiable American footballer for me at the time, me being a keeper at heart and all. Check.
Are they at least somewhat better than awful and occasionally fun to watch? Check.

So I was in. Albeit on an admittedly casual basis until I spent several years living in England, where the sport just completely permeates the culture and you almost can't help but become something of an obsessive. It was that period of my life when I really learned the game and became a supporter more than a fan. I'd never experienced anything like the atmosphere of a good, hotly-contested Premier League game in person. It is awesome, and I mean that in the "cool" sense and the "potent mix of admiration and fear" sense. Singing your heart out for the better part of an hour and a half and, if you're lucky, feeling thousands of people all around you explode with joy when your team scores...that's one of the best highs you can get without chemical assistance.

COYS!

Awesome stuff here guys! Mattbert, great background on your progression to becoming a soccer nut. I don't have much time to type my story but I'll try.

I played soccer growing up as well and to toot my own horn I was damn good at it. RW was my position and 9 times out of 10 I took the corner kicks as well. I was speedier than most but not the fastest and I also loved to track back and defend to help out the RB as my defensive skills were pretty damn good for a RW. I played outdoor, indoor, and in tournaments as well travelling to California and all parts of Arizona to play. My moment of glory was when I scored a goal off of a corner kick in a tournament in Camp Verde, Az. I took it from the keepers right as I am right footed. Admittedly I was trying to curl it to the back post for my striker to get a head on it but I ended up getting the perfect amount of height and curl on it and that f!@king ball curled and dropped right into the net over the keepers reach.It surprised the shit out of me but I just strolled back down to midfield like "yep, I meant to do that".

So I quit playing as I got older as there wasn't much to progress to other than college soccer and I wasn't aware of the European Leagues at the time and there was no MLS yet, I dont think. So believe it or not the one thing that kept me into it was video games. Yep, I always played FIFA and around 2003 I discovered this club called Manchester United, maybe you've heard of them? Anyways I always played with them on FIFA and Igot to know the players through the video game before I ever saw one minute of a Premier League game. So I became obsessed with finding out who Paul Scholes, Roy Keane, David Beckham, etc..really were. But there was one player in particular who struck my fancy because I would score like 2-3 goals with him every game and I had to know who he was, that was Mr. Ruud Van Nislerooy. Ruud became my favorite player.

So I called my cable company and immediately ordered Fox Soccer Channel and the rest is history. I was glued to the screen. I watched every game I could religiously. I became obsessed with the sport. They also showed Bundesliga games at the time, particularly Borussia Dortmund games and I would watch them too as I loved their stadium and the atmosphere their fans created just blew me away.

So in 2003 I went to a Manchester United game in Seattle at the current Seahawks stadium. Man U did a summer tour of the US and they played Juventus that game. The atmosphere at that game was awesome but probably nothing like an actual game in Europe. So yes fellas, I'm a Man U fan. No bandwagon fan here though as I've stuck with them through their terrible David Moyes season last year and they're still my team this year and always will be.

Mattbert I've got to say I've always enjoyed watching Tottenham play and I always root for them when I watch them, except of course when they are playing Man U

BTW Mattbert, how thoroughly effin enjoyable was it to watch Spurs put 5 past Chelsea? Oh did I relish that game. Just to see the look on Mourinhos face on the sideline as his Chelsea defense was being penetrated and violated (I will let you all insert your own "that's what she said" jokes here) like they haven't been in years was priceless. The post match interview with Jose was just as entertaining as the game.

I have no particular animus towards ManU, although I did find some of Fergie's arrogance fairly grating "back in the day". But he earned that right as much as anyone can, so whatevs. Plus, turning you guys over at Old Trafford for the first time in ages was an absolute highlight of the last seven or eight years since I became a serious fan. I admit those 2007-09 teams were really something to behold with Ronaldo, Rooney, and Tevez up top in the 4-3-3. I'd get cold sweats ahead of the ManU fixtures just thinking about what those guys were likely to do to Spurs' back line.

I have a love/hate relationship with Jose. He's entertaining as hell, and I'm always in favor of more "characters" in sports as opposed to bland, cliche-spouting bores. But he can be such an absolute f!@king cock sometimes. It's complicated. And then there's his marriage with Chelsea, the one club in England I loathe more than any other. Having a small group of Chelsea fans hiss at you (a charming favorite of theirs; mimicking the sound of Nazi gas chambers because of Spurs' long association with the Jewish community) just because you had the nerve to wear a Tottenham scarf on the subway ... that'll engender some genuine animus in a man. So, yes, despite my strange affection for Jose, giving his defense the heaviest shellacking they've EVER had under his stewardship was beyond gratifying. Of course we went right out and gifted three points to f!@king Palace the very next week, so who's laughing now, right?

Atalanta fan from my days working in Bergamo with Torino right up there with them. Lived in Roma/Lazio territory for a few years and in 2006 when Italy won it all. Enjoy watching the Italian national team, but never grew an allegiance to either Roma, Lazio, or Fiorentina (where my then fiance/present wife was living).

Bolton fan, too.. haven't been the same since losing big Sam, though, and doubt they'll reach any point of prominence anytime over the next decade, but loyal nonetheless. I used to travel to Manchester for business quite frequently and would stay at the Reebok stadium hotel (de Verre Whites) while there. Occasionally had a room that faced the pitch during match days, too.

Guess I'm destined to support teams perpetually striving to either achieve promotion or avoid relegation.

There aren't too many defenders in the world who might be worth 37 million quid, but he's one of them. That would be an awfully nice get for United.

How 'bout that free kick from Erik-sen-sen-sen last night, eh? Sexytimes.

https://vine.co/v/OTVF1DJ7BtK

yep, Eriksen scored again from a free kick this weekend.

That was a delicious ball in from Bentaleb for the winner. Team effort.

I enjoy the fact that Balotelli exists because I like to be entertained and he is certainly an entertaining figure. But holy shit does that guy get under my skin whenever he's up against Spurs, and to make matters worse he always seems to be pivotal in some of our most memorable losses. Ever since that game a few years ago when he tucked away a spot kick for Man City to win it at the death when he should have previously been sent off for deliberately stamping on Scotty Parker, I have dreaded seeing him in any match against Tottenham. Because it is a foregone conclusion that he will score against them or get away with some sort of ghastly behavior or both.

That combination from Lamela and Kane for Spurs' first equalizer was the f!@king sex, though. I really hope Lamela can continue slowly finding his feet because it has been tough to watch someone who's so ridiculously talented be unable to really unleash what he can do.

I think there are quite a few Americans who started following the Premier League within the last decade or so and latched onto Spurs because during that period the club's been good enough to be interesting but not so good as to make its new overseas supporters into obnoxious frontrunners. And then of course the team's play was pretty easy on the eye under Jol (when Keane and Berba were an appealing partnership up front) and Redknapp (Modric and Bale Show). Wide open attacking football and plenty of goals (both scored and, unfortunately, conceded) probably appeals to the average nascent American footy fan more than, say, Mourinho's Chelsea grinding out another 1-0 masterclass in defensive, disciplined counter-attacking. Those, er, tactical nuances can be more difficult to appreciate.

I remember exactly where I was when I was watching that game drstrange.  That was one hell of a Champions League Final and was probably the only time you will find me rooting for Liverpool.  You are right, AC Milan was the team to beat at that time and they were at the top of their game.  Going 3-0 down to AC in 05 should have been game over, lights out, but Liverpool made a memorable comeback.  I was screaming and jumping up and down like I was a Liverpool fan that day and I remember my neighbor came over and knocked on my door and asked if everything was ok because he could hear me shouting next door...lol...gospel truth.  


Plus the Italian sides were always notorious for giving ManUtd a hell of a time so for that day, and that day only I say, I was  Liverpool fan .  I had that game on my DVR for years afterwards but it eventually was deleted.