Yup. You made it to the WC. You might or might not be there again. Go balls to the wall. And from my perspective the WC is not "serious" like following your club in the league, which is more work than pleasure. This is more like a circus. Give us a good show.
My workplace during the 1990 Cup was full of gridiron fans who were more or less coming up to me saying "Well, this is your time, isn't it?" because I had been counting the days. And then Caniggia eliminated Brasil after the Selecao chipped all the paint off the posts and bar for 80 minutes. What to do now? I was part of a thread a few years ago where people were talking about how they were going to make do until the next World Cup. One Brit weighed in by saying he'd "watch (his) club, which matters more" and suddenly I realized how stupid that thread was in the first place. The World Cup is an event. It's not like an Olympiad, where only a handful of sports have more meaningful championships than a gold medal (the NBA championship, the Stanley Cup, and the majors in golf and tennis). Club football is the lifeblood of the sport. I'm not proud that it took BigSoccer for me to learn that, but it did.
Yes. I love the WC because I don't take it that seriously. It's an awesome show once every four years. When I was a kid I thought about the future in terms of how old I was going to be by next WC, so there's that kind of sentimentality around it too. Club football is all about suffering. I read a quote once (I don't remember the source or the time because I've arrived at an age where I never know if something happened two weeks or fifteen years ago) to the effect of, "I'd rather Arsenal win a throw-in than England win the World Cup." That's how I feel about Legia and the Polish NT, and it makes the WC all the more enjoyable for me.
But you CHOSE a suffering club, and what's more, you chose one on the other side of the pond! I mean, if you're gonna UEFellate, it may as well be a team that wins. Birmingham City can't even get out of my Master League second division. Where do you live, if I may ask?
I got to see it live!. BTW The Russians do love Putin. pic.twitter.com/C9tAcvjd4y— Cesar Madrigal (@DHARMAPALAS) June 16, 2018
Choose a club? I don't know what that means. It's in my DNA, it's in the family, it's growing up hearing the Kop roar. It's going to Anfield with your mates every home game from the time you were 10 years old. It's following that club, good times and bad standing on the terraces in all weather just to cheer your team on, win or lose. It it wasn't a choice. But the World Cup is a once every 4 years to see the world stage. England have won it once and struggled other times. Not many country's out of the 160 something can say that.
But you're a Brit! Your whole life has been a wonderful footballing experience compared to what we have here. American Brummie is... American. Unless he's got ties to England, he chose BCFC to support. That's on him.
Birming'um used to be a force to be reckoned with. Teams rise and fall and the Brummies fell....heavily.
A Wiki check shows them winning absolutely nothing of significance (that would be a top-flight title or an FA Cup or a European Cup). Living over here, with no ties to England (that's still TBD, as Brummie hasn't replied), why would anyone choose them to support? It's like those guys who pseudo-cleverly "support" some club like Hull City or Charlton in hopes of dodging charges of gloryhunting. A lifelong American who's supporting an English club is already gloryhunting. Why not just roll with Manchester United and be done with it?
Nice. Although personally, I could never travel to any place that's famous for having many Russians in it.
I saw Bergkamp live in Orlando in the Netherlands's second round match versus Ireland in 1994. I was mesmerized and started supporting Arsenal a year later when he went there. MLS was still a year away and even so, I lived a 10 hour drive from D.C. or a 7 hour drive from Tampa. I guess maybe that was glory hunting -- I dunno.
Yes, it is (today), tho benign. Bergkamp is a player anyone would love seeing. But did you live and die with Arsenal, or just watch and hope they pulled out the win? Every big UEFA club has players I'd love to watch, but I have a club and only so many hours in the day to sit before the screen. If I'm watching football, I'm watching my local* club. Who plays for Hull City or Charlton that you'd want to see? *I don't live in ATL atm and I'm not a native Georgian aaaand Nashville will be much closer when they get started up in 2019, but I've never lived in Nashville, and I have years of living in ATL. It's essentially my second home. I won't switch to NSC just because they're closer or if they get bigger.
Somewhere in between. Didn't live and die, but for a long while after 1995 -- or more accurately 1998 or so when it became easier to watch them live -- a loss certainly darkened my mood a bit for the next few hours. That changed with having a kid. I still watch the AFC every weekend (or at least when they don't clash with one of my son's matches) and I still go to London to see them usually once each season, but I have too many other things going on to let a loss bother me all day now.
His winner against Argentina in '98 is one of my all time favorites As I remember, the Orange had been playing nothing but nice, crisp short passes for an hour, then Bergkemp makes his run and de Boer(?)(IIRC) launches the longest ball of the 2nd half
She probably calmed down after an initial rant. Who leaves their man because he started an Internet thread about random women (who aren't even nude, if that matters)?
I truly hate it for you and for all the Crew fans. Real talk... you were an original part of something I never thought I'd get to enjoy, and I appreciate y'all's role in making it big enough that I can.