Marc Stein, Footie fan?

[DMunited]

I was reading espn.com's NBA preview trying to analyze the fate of my beloved Utah Jazz (My bold prediction we are going to shock the world by NOT being the worst team of all time or even the last team in the league. Hell we may even win 30 games).

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/preview2003/columns/story?columnist=stein_marc&id=1644951

When discussig the possiblity of NBA moving to Europe, Marc fantasizes about having a team in Manchester to along with "my beloved City". I am assuming he is refering to Man City? Did anyone esle catch this? I follow the NBA only slightly less than I follow soccer and I seen never any other soccer references from Marc.

Is he an MLS fan or just EPL guy? It'd be nice if MLS could get some references in espn's more mainstream press coverage. But it seems like a good sign that more sportswriters are footie fans (even if closeted). Does anyone have any more info?

[usagoal]

http://www.kicksfan.com/players/stein/

[DMunited]

Wow. I guess that answers that. Does he write out of Dallas? Does he attend Burn Games?

[Sachin]

About half his columns have some soccer reference. He also advocated the NBA moving to a "soccer-style" relationship between club and national teams.

Sachin

[geordienation]

Stein is a good guy. Insane Man City fan (although, you'd have to be insane to support them, wouldn't you?)

[ElJefe]

Originally posted by DMunited
Wow. I guess that answers that. Does he write out of Dallas?
Yes.
Does he attend Burn Games?
One word: Eurosnob.

However, in fairness to Stein, I can't really fault anyone who boycotts the Burn until Opening Day 2005.

[Dr. Wankler]

I'm pretty sure I read a column of his last december where he was responding to basketball questions (which is probably a good idea for a basketball columnist). But somebody wrote in asking his opinions on the NFL playoffs. He responded by saying he was going to talk about the kind of football he cares about, and then he gave his brief take on Man City in the Premiership. So yeah, he's a fan.

Thanks for the link to his Sidekicks "career" stats page, usagoal!

[boffo]

Not much new information here, and what everyone else said is correct: He is a fan. I exchanged a couple of emails with him a year ago where he confirmed his love for real football. Given that he writes about the NBA in this age of internationalization in that sport, it gives him an insight that other NBA writers don't have, so I don't mind at all that he's not writing about soccer for ESPN. Anyway, I think that the more people there are like him -- sympathetic, even if it's not their day job -- the better the coverage will be in the long run.