So, I have a confession to make. I've come to love the game of football. That is, I've come to love the game of football that the rest of the world plays, known as soccer in the United States and a few other English-speaking countries. It happened on the afternoon of June 23, 2010 in the penultimate day of group stage play. It happened when Landon Donovan crushed a rebound off of Algerian goalkeeper Rais Bolhi into the back of the net 45 seconds into extra time. It happened when the United States went from certain elimination in one moment to unlikely winners of their World Cup group stage - a feat they had not accomplished in 80 years.
I fell in love with the game when I went to my first MLS match and sat with the FC Dallas supporters groups in the corner of the stands (Dallas beat Salt Lake 2-0). I knew then why this is the biggest sport on the planet. I discovered that this game is not boring, that low scores and ties are not unreasonable outcomes. The free-flow tempo of a non-stop game, while something foreign, was fascinating to this traditional American-sports fan. No timeouts, no commercials, and sometimes no stopping for injury. In my limited exposure to the sport, I already see what Valdir Pereira meant when he called it "the beautiful game."
Growing up in the American culture, I've been groomed to expect my sports to be fast-paced, hard-hitting, and high-scoring. I am by no means the mahatma of American sports, but I can hold my own in a conversation with any red-blooded American male when it comes to football, baseball, basketball, or hockey. But I find myself to be a neophyte, a total newb when it comes to soccer.
[BTW, is it still ok for me to call it that? I suppose it is proper to call it "soccer" when your native land's professional league (Major League Soccer) is the only professional league in the world to use the S-word? We're not the only culture to use the term "soccer" but we seem to be the only country that REFUSES to call it "football." It's actually English in origin, so if you take one thing away from this blog know that the term "soccer" was NOT invented by America and we are not alone in using it. But for the purposes of this blog series, I will call it soccer even though we are in the minority in its use.]
As I discovered more about the sport, I found that I couldn't stop researching the subject. I wanted to learn about how soccer has been adopted in America and how its future looks (the jury is still out). I wanted to know what the best leagues in the world were, how the World Cup worked in the 4 years leading up to it, etc. I found out about things like the CONCACAF, the international governing body for North American soccer (including Mexico). I found out that most professional leagues have teams that participate in concurrent competitions such as the FA Cup for England, and the UEFA Europa League for the whole continent. That's crazy! Imagine your favorite NFL team playing in some international playoff game between weeks 11 and 12. That's what soccer teams do. There are MLS teams fighting to make the playoffs while at the same time playing in the CONCACAF Champions League tournament. This completely foreign to the American sports fan.
I inevitably came to learn what I suspected before I became a fan - the MLS is a league that is not taken very seriously by the rest of the world. But I also came to learn that the MLS is improving in many ways - attendance, profitability, and quality. David Beckham was not the savior of the league, and Thierry Henry won't be either. But Landon Donovan impressed the English when he played for Everton, and that has certainly helped.
I learned that many of my American soccer friends have adopted a team in the English Premier League. It makes sense because the EPL is one of the best leagues in the world, it is accesible to Americans through cable TV rights, and the announcers speak the same language as we do. It was easy for me to pick an MLS team - I live in Dallas and we have a team. But how do you pick a team in a foreign league where you have no ties? I thought about selecting a Scottish team because my family is Scott-Irish, but then I found out they have their own league (Scottish Premier League) and it is dominated by the Celtics and Rangers - two teams whose fans identify with the religious and political origins of both clubs. They totally hate each other. I don't think I'm ready to wade into that pool yet.
So now I'm on a quest to select my English Premier Team. In trying to find a team, I've decided to analyze each game of the season and award points to the teams. The team with the most points at the end of this season will be my team. I doubt anyone will follow this, but what the hell?
Pre-SeasonSo how will this work? I really don't know - I'll probably wing it as I go along. Take now for an example - I'm going to give points to my early favorites based on completely aribitrary criteria. But I will have to set some rules, so here they are. I will award points each week to teams based on criteria that is important to me.
1. Performance - Win = 3 points, Tie = 1 point (just like the league does)
2. Impressive plays - 5 through 1, I will award points to the teams that executed plays that impressed me. 5 points for the best, 4 for the 2nd best, etc.
3. Fandom - I will give up to 5 points to the teams with the best fans.
4. Rumor mill - A bonus of up to 3 points will be awarded to the teams with the the best human interest story of the week.
5. Finally, I will award 5 points to the team that just made the biggest impression for the week.
Lame? Maybe so. But it beats some of the tortured reasoning I've heard from some fans.
So, read and enjoy!
