Compelling Soccer

First posts are for hellos. I tend to get long winded, so for those who prefer, there's a short version at the end.

I'm no expert. I like to consider myself well informed on a lot of things in sports, but I would fully admit to knowing less about soccer than I do about say, baseball. That said, I'm no novice. I played as a kid through junior high school and have watched plenty of games over the course of my life. I've written about it in blog form before, but on an individual basis rather than as the general subject matter for the blog itself. Like many Americans I watch the World Cup intently, though I also have a working knowledge of the club scene in Europe. In other words, I can name most of the teams currently up in the Premiership, I know all about relegation and can name players other than Beckham, Ronaldo, Rooney and Donovan.

Yeah, I can name the guy to the right. Points to you if you can too.

I've seen enough to be able to make decent player judgments. For example, when Alexei Lalas says Landon Donovan is a top 20 player in the world, I can laugh heartily, knowing he's talking out his ass. It also won't stop me from making my share of commentary, because how entertaining could this be if I didn't think I knew more than some people. *coughBobBradleycough*

In any case, this is a journey as I see how far my soccer fandom can grow now that it has proper outlets. I also hope that perhaps I can infect those around me with the bug a bit, because seeing soccer take off in the US has always been a dream of mine. It's closer now than it's ever been, though as many astute people have pointed out, not in the form people would have expected back in the 70's and 80's or even the early 90's. Back then, it was always about creating a league here that people would fall in love with. That would get kids into it. That's how soccer would take off. Instead, the shrinking of the world we live in has changed matters. It's brought the global game to the US and is part of the reason for my enhanced interest.

I've always liked the game. But the means for me following it were more time consuming than my interest would allow at the time. Soccer simply was not readily available in mainstream America for a long time; or at least soccer I considered watching. There were two forms of soccer that one could get easily four or so years ago; MLS and Mexican League soccer. The Mexican league games could be and were entertaining, but often were on Sunday afternoons when NFL games were on. Plus they are in Spanish which, despite what people might think when they look at me, I do not speak.

MLS is it's own separate issue. The quality just hasn't been good enough on the times I've watched to make it commitment worthy. The speed of the game, the finesse, the things that make it fun to watch are less apparent in MLS. It's a lot of long ball, lobs into the box and generally is boring. You didn't see runs like you did in the World Cup or European leagues or even the Mexican leagues. And of course, there was always a general sense that what you were watching was third or fourth tier action. If it was fast pace and fun, that wouldn't matter so much. But when it's slow plodding and methodical, you lose interest. Whenever I'd catch glimpses of other leagues, whether it was England, Italy, Mexico or hell, Argentina, what always amazed me was the speed of the games compared to MLS. In the case with Mexico and Argentina, the fundamentals might be less, but it was more entertaining to watch.

But the times they are changing. Top flight soccer is now becoming more and more available. ESPN is showing a premiership game every Saturday morning and La Liga every Sunday. And for those who are persistent, there are also ways to watch games on the internet. Plus, now that I'm no longer a college student who wakes up at 1 PM every weekend, or an unemployed young adult whose body clock functions like a college student's, it doesn't take an extra effort to wake up in time to watch European games anymore.

I've now watched soccer every weekend since the start of the Premiership season and I've seen part of every Liverpool game this year. Five years ago, that wasn't possible, at least for me, without having to wake up at 9 AM and walking to a soccer bar. Considering I barely was capable of waking up in time for New York Jets games which started at 1 PM and I could watch from my dorm room bed, it was simply not happening.

With the best club soccer available now for consumption and the international game at it's peak with World Cup qualifying winding down, there simply is no time better for me to embrace my interest.



And for those of you who only wanted the short version, here it is:

-I've watched soccer since I was 11

-I have a love/hate relationship with US Soccer, personified by Clint Dempsey

-The Soca Warriors have a special place in my heart

-Steven Gerrard's goal against West Ham in the 2006 FA Cup final makes me feel tingly inside

-Landon Donovan is overrated in America, underrated to non Americans

-MLS isn't my thing, as in, I'd consider watching the Danish league over it.

Note: the short version actually contained nothing from the actual introduction. But they are things I'll be discussing here in the near future.

Welcome again to compelling soccer, where the pitch is always open and there's plenty of room on the bandwagon. Hop aboard.