CONVERSATION STARTER because it's like tumbleweeds around here

Discussion in 'Real Salt Lake' started by goobx1, Nov 27, 2018.

  1. goobx1

    goobx1 Member+

    Jul 9, 2007
    Salt Lake
    I think that we have had this conversation before but I'm interested in the other teams that you all like to follow besides RSL.

    For example, I don't have an EPL team but I do have a team in the EFL that I follow Crawley Town FC.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crawley_Town_F.C.

    The have been around for 122 years and only went full time in 2005. They play in League 2 and it's only their 8 year in the EFL.

    We went on a vacation, excuse me holiday, to England a couple years ago and considering that I really don't have a favorite EPL team but I am partial to teams like Burnley, Swansea, Nottingham Forest, Stevenage, Leicester City, Crystal Palace, Norwich and the like. I was always looking to find one of the teams that are looking to stay in the EPL but can't quite make a go of it.

    I didn't want to just go with the obvious like ManU, Man City, Arsenal, Liverpool, blah, blah, blah.

    It also was pretty damn expensive for 5 people so we found a team that was close to where were staying and Crawley Town was the winner. We had an amazing time at the stadium, Broadview now, but it was Checkatrade at the time. There were about 2,700 people at the game in a 7,000 seat stadium but it was an absolutely fantastic time.

    We bought 5 tickets for less than one EPL ticket.

    I follow them every week on Twitter and other things like ifollow and love being a part of their fan base even from across the pond.

    Looking forward to watching the Reds rise up the table and into the EPL! Ok, hopefully they can make it back their highest point, League One, soon and maybe the Championship. Dare to dream.

    I also follow Mainz05 in the Bundesliga. Not as religiously as Crawley Town but because I let my wife choose my allegiance in the Bundesliga and she liked their logo the best. It was a good choice, they have the best logo.

    Anyone else?

    [​IMG]

    COYR!
     
    2nd Mouse, 15 to 32 and RSLer repped this.
  2. 2nd Mouse

    2nd Mouse Member+

    Apr 11, 2012
    Salt Lake City, UT
    Club:
    Real Salt Lake
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Bit of a tangent (if that's possible in a thread like this) but I've had a good time following the U of Utah women's soccer team the last few years. My daughter played with one of the current U players who I thought might be THE NEXT BIG THING, and she's doing well but isn't a world beater. They seem to be up-and-down every year but they've got a nice field, it's a treat to watch a game without all the fake injuries/overacting, the sportsmanship seems really good and it can be a really pleasant way to spend a Thursday evening or Sunday afternoon. There's also some pretty good soccer from time to time, too.

    I'd be interested to know if any of us BSers are following a team because you've got family or close friends playing on it.
     
    RSLer, 15 to 32 and goobx1 repped this.
  3. goobx1

    goobx1 Member+

    Jul 9, 2007
    Salt Lake
    I have also been following BYU women's soccer team. We have been to a bunch of games down there and it's a pretty fun experience. We know no one that has played there I just caught a few games on the internet or something and away we went.

    I agree that the women play a lot more straight up and there is much less gameswomenship on their side of the gender spectrum.

    They also play a pretty offensive minded game and are always playing forward and putting pressure on the opposing defenders.

    Fun stuff.
     
    the cup repped this.
  4. 15 to 32

    15 to 32 Straw Hog

    Jul 1, 2008
    Salt Lake
    Club:
    Real Salt Lake
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    #4 15 to 32, Nov 27, 2018
    Last edited: Nov 27, 2018
    <------- From a professional perspective, I follow AC Milan and Manchester United. Though not nearly as religiously as RSL or as much as I used to.

    I think I've shared the story on this before, but I'm not known for my ability to remember things so here goes. When I was playing youth soccer we had about 4 or 5 teams in my age group that were good but not great. The talent was spread out. So, through ODP, we discovered that we played well together and formed a super team (way ahead of the Warriors). Though we left out the Sparta kids because nobody likes Sparta*. In doing this, though, we burnt quite a few bridges with local youth clubs and ended up landing in USA. Once there, we weren't satisfied with just being a USA team (I don't know why either) so we gave ourselves the name "USA Milan".

    I had really never followed Italian soccer much but when we got these glorious black and red jerseys to wear in tournaments (the club was adamant we wear the USA gear in regular season games) my interest peaked. I searched out this Milan team and fell in love pretty much instantly. It helped that this was a time when Milan was absolutely dominate. If they weren't winning Champions League they were at least making the finals and tearing up the Italian league. I was drawn to Maldini, in particular, as a Center Back myself. My future planned trip to Italy entails a Milan game at the San Siro, preferably a derby game if I can somehow afford it.

    *I played for Sparta my last year of youth soccer as I had a falling out with the new coaching staff. In a the thickest piece of irony, we had moved from USA and found a new coaching staff/home at Inter Football Club on the east bench.


    More recently my time is spent on the coaching side of the game at the young levels. After all this game has given and continues to give to me, I wanted to give back. I see far too many coaches ruin players. I had a couple coaches that nearly ruined me. I also had some truly amazing coaches that taught my stuff I'm still just realizing today. I want to control that as much as I can and ensure a child I coach never loses their love of the game while growing as a human. In fact, the age I love to coach most (U8-U12) is all about discovering that love, building technical skills, but more importantly building character.

    So now, honestly, I get most excited when I see a kid I once coached playing at a higher level. I don't claim to have "made" that kid. No honest coach does this. They provide opportunities and learning experiences, but the kid makes their talent. I just love to watch the kids blossom. There is a girl, in particular, that I coached for a few years that has the makings to be a truly phenomenal player. Her only bit of weaknesses is that she hasn't hit a growth spurt in a few years. Her technical skill is at a level 5 years beyond where she plays, but her body size is that of 3 years prior. It's bizarre. Once that growth happens, though, she won't get pushed around as easily and will utterly dominate games.

    Funny story about her - she played on the boys team because she couldn't stand the pace of the girls game in her age group. Other teams would laugh and be like "there is a girl on that team" but by the end would actively find ways to go around her because she dominated the game so much. Multiple coaches would approach us after the game simply dumbfounded by her skill. If any of you remember him, she had the technical ability of Santi Morales (Javi's son).
     
  5. elkaholic

    elkaholic Member+

    May 28, 2009
    Club:
    Real Salt Lake
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Other than the big clubs we are fans of, we also follow Real Oviedo in the Spanish 2nd Division. This is because back in 2012/2013 the club was in dire straits financially, so they started selling shares of the club to their supporters. I saw this and thought it would be cool for my son (9 at the time) to have an "ownership interest" in a professional soccer team. He loved it. They are currently sitting in 10th, and their most recognizable former players who started their career there are Juan Mata and Santi Cazorla.
     
    the cup, RSLer, 15 to 32 and 1 other person repped this.
  6. goobx1

    goobx1 Member+

    Jul 9, 2007
    Salt Lake
    That is an awesome story.
     
  7. CrazyJ628

    CrazyJ628 Member+

    Jul 16, 2007
    The center of the Earth
    Club:
    Real Salt Lake
    On the soccer front, I used to follow Tottenham religiously. Living in the Mountain time zone makes that hard as I'm usually not awake in time to see the majority of their games. I also tried to follow Heart of Midlothian but that's even harder. I visited the UK when I was a senior in high school and went through the Tottenham area when we were in London and we went past Tynecastle when we were in Edinburgh. I know those are weird reasons to like teams but we're all bandwagoners here. We've been saving up for a trip to the UK and my wife already knows that we'll be visiting at least one game while we're there.

    I've obviously followed FC Cincinnati from the start as it's my hometown and I used to work in sports in the city. I'm amazed at the progress they've made and they're my Eastern Conference team now that they're in MLS.

    Working in sports for a decade really soured me on most college and pro sports. Not for any political or moral reasons. Mainly I saw so many games that it took the excitement away.
     
    the cup repped this.
  8. Ismitje

    Ismitje Super Moderator

    Dec 30, 2000
    The Palouse
    Club:
    Real Salt Lake
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Pool Boy as a future signing?
     
  9. SpiffCoug

    SpiffCoug Member

    Nov 10, 2004
    Orem, Ut
    In 2003, we had a Brit on my team in Iraq who was from Kingston Upon Hull. He was a Hull City Tigers supporter. He made us all honorary members of Hull City Fan Club Middle East Chapter. We even took a picture of all of us holding a Hull scarf and sent it to the club. They published it in a game program and sent us a copy and invited us to attend a match if we were ever in England (haven't made it yet).

    At any rate, 15 years later, I still follow them. That 03-04 season they were just coming out of bankruptcy and an ownership change. I've watched them win the English League 2 and English League 1 and then bounce between the Championship and Premerieship.

    Good memories. I haven't seen that Brit since early 04 and he'd probably get a kick out of me still following the Tigers.
     
    the cup, Taragui, SenordrummeR2 and 4 others repped this.
  10. the cup

    the cup Member

    Jul 10, 2002
    Club:
    Real Salt Lake
    #10 the cup, Nov 30, 2018
    Last edited: Nov 30, 2018
    I used to follow Osasuna in Spain, its been a few years since I followed them though.

    I started following them because I felt they had a hand in helping RSL get the stadium built back in 2006-2008. Indulge me for a moment.

    It was because of them that Real Madrid was able to come and play that friendly back in the summer of 2006, which had they not I always felt it would have been harder to show soccer had a chance of succeeding in Utah.

    But for awhile there it looked like Real Madrid wasn't going to make it since they were in 3rd place in La Liga behind Barcelona and Valencia. Had they finished 3rd they would have had to play some extra games to qualify for the Champions League and they would have had to cancel the game against RSL.

    But thanks to little known Osasuna beating Valencia on the last weekend of the season, Real Madrid finished in 2nd spot and Valencia finished in 3rd.

    And we all know what happened after that, Beckham comes to Rice Eccles stadium along with Roberto Carlos and the boys, soccer fans and local media swoon, (it was almost as if the Beatles had just landed in the US) they break ground on the new stadium that hadn't fully been funded yet, Checketts is able to hob nob and make a big show of it all, and the stadium is eventually funded and built.

    Plus it is a little spooky how Osasuna's colors and logo is so much like RSL's with the crown and lion, etc.

    osasuna.jpg
     
    Todorojo, BalanceUT, RSLer and 3 others repped this.
  11. 15 to 32

    15 to 32 Straw Hog

    Jul 1, 2008
    Salt Lake
    Club:
    Real Salt Lake
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    thats a beautiful crest and we should totally steal it
     
    the cup repped this.
  12. El-ahrairah

    El-ahrairah Member+

    Sep 20, 2004
    Wanker County
    Club:
    Real Salt Lake
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Due to where I have lived and travelled over the years, I have followed to various degrees of fandom the soccer teams of Catania, Cagliari, Lazio, Milan, Juventus, Mainz, Frankfurt, PSG, Marseille and Flamengo.
     
  13. RSLer

    RSLer Member+

    Sep 24, 2008
    Stansbury Park, UT
    Club:
    Real Salt Lake
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Jealous of the inferred time in Italy.
     
    El-ahrairah repped this.
  14. Taragui

    Taragui Member+

    Aug 13, 2006
    Northern Utah
    Club:
    Real Salt Lake
    #14 Taragui, Dec 4, 2018
    Last edited: Dec 4, 2018
    Spent a few years in Buenos Aires (code speak for LDS mission) and since it was only 6 months after the 1986 World Cup, Maradona frenzy was still in full force. Since I was mostly in the less wealthy parts of the city, the predominant pick of the people was "Diegito's" former team Boca Juniors. River Plate was only for the rich people, I was told.

    I continued to follow Boca Juniors pretty closely until the Argentina league moved to BeIn Sports and I'm too cheap to pay the extra fee.

    Then the tear gas thing happened against River a few years back at the Bombonera, and then just a few weeks ago the Copa Libertadores final has to be postponed and moved from Buenos Aires because River fans attacked the Boca team bus and it just all feels like a dumpster fire and not worth my attention.
     
    RSLer and Ismitje repped this.
  15. PumaJohnny

    PumaJohnny Member

    Nov 30, 2001
    Draper
    Club:
    Real Salt Lake
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Pre-RSL, I was a major DC United fan. As a kid from Orem, I went on a school trip to DC during high school. This was my first exposure to MLS. In the metro, there was a big ad with a picture of Jeff Agoos doing a scissor kick and a sign that said "Finally, DC United" with the old MLS log and an Adidas logo.

    I was so stoked to follow the new US league as it developed and DC was a fun team to watch. I ended up living in DC for some grad school work and loved going to games at RFK stadium where the Barra Brava side literally bounced.

    I moved back to Utah a few years later and have loved seeing players I used to watch in DC move to RSL. It's been great to follow Rimando's stellar career and see Petke, who had a stint with DC, as the new coach.
     
    rslfanboy, 15 to 32, RSLer and 3 others repped this.
  16. goobx1

    goobx1 Member+

    Jul 9, 2007
    Salt Lake
    Anyone have a sleeper in the FA cup they like?

    I was certainly rooting for Woking but alas.

    I remember a couple years ago when Stevenage made a deep run in the FA cup and I was hooked.

    Congratulations to Newport, my Crawley Town League 2 fellow competitor, for knocking off an EPL side in Leicester. Nicely done.
     
  17. trackrunner

    trackrunner Member

    Apr 5, 2011
    Club:
    Real Salt Lake
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Not a sleeper or giant killer, rather a giant, or former giant. I hope Ole and Mike Phelan can turn Man United around and win FA Cup. UEFA champions league would be nice but I am being realistic.

    While Man U has not played top 6 club since change they look and play better even compared to similar domestic competition under Jose.

    For a giant killer I have to pick AFC Wimbledon just for the history
     
  18. El-ahrairah

    El-ahrairah Member+

    Sep 20, 2004
    Wanker County
    Club:
    Real Salt Lake
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    I'm rooting for the Watford Long John Silver Impersonators.

    What? You mean that there isn't an English soccer team with that name? The next thing you'll tell me is that there isn't a team called the Bournemouth Gynecologists either.

    What about the Wessex Sassenachs? The Jorvik Vikings? The Lindisfarne Fightin' Monks? The Londinium Legionnaires? The Hastings Normands?
     
  19. Taragui

    Taragui Member+

    Aug 13, 2006
    Northern Utah
    Club:
    Real Salt Lake
    Thank you for reminding me that there are all sorts of people in this world, some of which I will never understand. And that's OK!
     
    El-ahrairah repped this.
  20. the cup

    the cup Member

    Jul 10, 2002
    Club:
    Real Salt Lake
    Sorry if this is old news, but it just came up on my Facebook feed the other day.

    The Real Madrid Foundation Soccer Camps offers the unique and exciting opportunity to experience specialized soccer training, bringing their expert UEFA coaches selected by the Academy of the world’s most successful soccer team to help you improve your soccer skills.

    You can enjoy the Real Madrid spirit in any of the19cities throughout the country where we will celebrate our clinics: Portland, Seattle, San Francisco, Sacramento, San Jose, San Diego, Nashville, St. Louis, Kansas City, Minneapolis, Philadelphia, Washington, D.C., Baltimore, Charlotte, Salt Lake City, Pittsburgh, Detroit, Las Vegas, Phoenix
     
  21. RSLer

    RSLer Member+

    Sep 24, 2008
    Stansbury Park, UT
    Club:
    Real Salt Lake
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    $424 for 5 full days. In Rose Park. 1 RM coach for every 75 kids. 1 local coach for every 14 kids. Several kids from each camp will be invited to train in Madrid.
     

Share This Page