My Personal Approach to Soccer Fandom

My girlfriend asked me a few weeks ago which of the sports teams I follow I like the most. It was a very good question and a hard one to answer and when I did, I initially left out my favorite soccer teams. The teams I named first were the New York Giants, New York Mets, and New York Rangers and the BC Eagles. I'm trying to get into the Knicks but I can't make any promises. Anyways when she asked why I didn't name my soccer teams I had a good long thought about it. I do root as hard for them as I do for my other sports teams. My mood might change depending on a win or loss for them just the same. But I guess what it really comes down to is the connection I have to the teams in particular. For my other sports teams the connection come from things like geography (I am originally from the great state of NY), the fact that I went to school at BC, and from other important things like my parents being fans and most of the people I grew up with also being NY fans. With soccer the natural connections are a bit fewer but the reasons I chose the teams I choose to support help explain a little bit of my approach to soccer fandom.

With no real connection to non-American soccer leagues, geographic or otherwise, and a scarcity of soccer on American TV anyways, I believe the reason I chose to fall in love with my first soccer team really was simply that it was one of the few teams I ever got to see. The Italian Channel that we got on cable, I don't remember its name, always showed AC Milan matches. I couldn't understand anything but I just remember from a young ages watching matches at the San Siro, the passion, the colors, the pace. I loved it all and since I could follow their progress somewhat consistently they became my first club team. My national team came first.

Italy is my favorite international soccer team. I am in fact from an Italian American family on my lovely mother's side but I don't think this played to much of a role in my adopting Italy as my team. It would make more sense to support the US geographically here but as I alluded to in my first post the first time I really payed close attention to soccer was during the '94 World Cup. I would have been seven then and I doubt I had any kind of self-identity about my ancestry playing a part in choosing what I did and did not like. But I liked Italy, particularly Mr. Roberto Baggio. Italy's number 10 enthralled me all tournament. His miss in the final, when he participated despite being injured, was heartbreaking but I have been un tifoso of the Azzurri ever since.

My association with Liverpool and why I support the Reds is the best example of how I generally view soccer. I started watching Liverpool because I liked one particular player: Michael Owen. I thought it was awesome how young Owen was and how skilled he was. Never the biggest, he was always hustling, and scored some spectacular goals. I started following his Liverpool squad and the rest is history. When Owen left Liverpool I remained a casual fan of his but remain a die hard fan of the boys from Anfield. So basically now that I have some set teams to root for I'm basically back to the way I was with Owen. I tend to root more for players than for actual teams. There are of course different levels of my like and dislike for certain teams but usually besides my favorites I am pretty neutral. As long as they play good soccer and have some good players they're fine by me. Even teams that would fall closer to the dislike side of the spectrum have players that I admire and respect such as Chelsea's Joe Cole, Terry, Lampard and Kalou, and Inter Milan's Hernan Crespo and goalkeeper Julio Cesar.

So throughout the course of this blog you'll see me shift my feelings for certain clubs and countries as well as players based on actions and performance. But I'll be a Red, Rossonero, and Azzurro all the way through.