This is my opportunity to welcome all of my friends to my personal obsession: Futbol aka Soccer in this backward land of Xtreme Sports, Golf and Neck-Car being more in the public zeitgeist than the most important global sport bar-none. Welcome, and be glad that I will give you some great information, some highlights of the week and my personal opinions. A little about who I am and how I have become a fanatico.
I, like many Americans, have been on the periphery of “Soccer” for more than 20 years. As a kid I saw Pele play for the New York Cosmos and I saw Maradona play for Argentina in Mexico against England when God’s hand and EL-Pive’s gonads entered the public consciousness. It was like a time lapse picture of a generation of players, Dennis Bergkamp, Christian Vieri, Ruud Gullit, Hristo Stoichkov, Romario of Brazil and Roberto Baggio that had all taken hold of my senses but by the time that I could give the sport my undivided attention, by watching DirecTV’s coverage, my favorite players had gone or had aged badly.
Today I have imparted my passion for the game to my oldest son, my youngest is following his brother and I am happily single and free to follow my passion for the sport. I follow Arsenal because Dennis Bergkamp still manages to make his much younger Gunners better every day. Nick Hornby, who writes my favorite mainstream novels (of which Fever Pitch denotes his own Gooner-obsession) cemented my own Arsenal fanaticism. I also follow Real Madrid in Spain, AS Roma in Italy and pretty much anyone who plays an exiting, attacking game of football that reminds me of Maradona’s Argentina, Romario’s Brazil, or Baggio’s Italy in my youth. The rest is for tomorrow.
The future lies in the 2005 FA Cup final of Arsenal v ManU, the 2005 Champions League Final of AC Milan v. Liverpool and finally the summer transfer window which is my favorite time of the year. Until next season, Cheers! Go Arsenal, Go TiTi, Go Reyes and Go Totti.
