Blimey, I'm Going Brit

I have undergone a strange transformation this year. The most obvious external manifestation is this: on Sunday afternoons this fall, I can usually be found slumped on the couch in near-somnabulence, a beverage and perhaps popcorn at my side, the TV on, tuned to a football game.

No, not that football. The original football. Soccer.

English soccer.

Somehow, I have managed to have my U.S. passport revoked, but the facts are true. Lately I have been more likely to watch an English Premier League match on a Sunday than I am to watch an NFL game. How has this abomination in the face of all that is American (this is our country, after all, as Mr. Mellencamp endlessly reminds us) come to pass?

I chalk it up to a couple of developments over the past few years. First, the unexpected. Several times in her short school career, Kelly has been given an assignment to produce a project designed to celebrate her "heritage." That is a pretty loaded concept around here, and usually results in a project-day malange of Armenian pizza, tamales, colorful Eastern and Mid-eastern dress and a broad sampling of non-Western music. These assignments forced me to confront, seemingly for the first time, what kind of mutts we are. In the time and location I grew up, European muttishness was the norm, and as a result, "cultural heritage" assignments did not exist, as they would only accentuate the differences of the relatively few minorities in our midst (although, to be fair, I grew up with quite a diverse population, with a prominent Asian faction in particular).

In our community, however, Kelly is a distinct minority, by coloring as well as heritage. As is often the case with minorities, I suppose, I began to focus on what that heritage truly is. Through her mother, Kelly relates back to the very first American settlers, including John and Pricilla Alden. As a result, she has a distant but direct English background, as well as Germanic heritage through her maternal grandmother. On my side, she has a strong and relatively recent Scotch/Irish lineage, with plent of English and some German thrown in. So, for us, heritage-wise, it is "Rule Brittania."

These ruminations came against the background of the past two World Cup soccer tournaments in 2002 and 2006. I watched quite a bit of the 2002 World Cup, which was an accomplishment in itself because the tournament was held in Korea and Japan, meaning that the games typically aired at about 4 am. This year's tournament was held in the much more convenient location of Germany. In addition to be a superb venue for the games (the parties outside the stadia looked like a tremendous amount of fun), the games came on relatively conveniently in the early morning (watch before work) and lunchtime (home for lunch).

I watched or followed most of the games this year, and found myself drawn to the English team (as well as the American team -- I'm not a complete turncoat). I found myself enjoying the spectacle and excellent play of the athletes simply as a fan of sport, similar to the enjoyment I derive from the Olympics. As I followed the commentary of other fans on sports-oriented websites, some of those in the know suggested that us newbies enjoyed this soccer, we would really enjoy the English Premier League. The sales pitch was that the teams were comprised in part of many of the same international-level players featured at the World Cup, the gameplay was even better than the World Cup due in part to more aggressive tactics and less diving, and many of the games are broadcast in the U.S. on the Fox Soccer Channel and a couple of other even more obscure channels.

Lo and behold, I discovered that our cable system does have Fox Soccer Channel (but not the NFL Network -- go figure). During the summer, the off-season for the Premiership, I watched replays of key games from the prior year, enabling me to learn some of the key players and teams. At the same time, prominent internet sportswriter Bill Simmons of ESPN had a similar revelation, and wrote a long series of articles about the Premiership as he had his readers help him pick a team to follow. The pros-and-cons of each team laid out by the true fans helped me identify the important teams and players to follow. By the team the season started, I was good and ready to give this a go. After three decades of being a sports fan, picking up an entirely new sport was a bit of a daunting task, and I felt like a bit of a Johnny-come-lately, but it couldn't be helped. I was in, for good or ill.

I even picked a favorite team, very organically, I think. As I watched old games, read about the players and learned the recent history of the game, I found myself following one player in particular, a midfielder whose innate abilities had been celebrated since his youth, who had signed and remained with the team he had idolized since childhood even when he had opportunities to sign for big money elsewhere, and who had almost singlehandedly lifted his team to the top in the past season. It is because Steven Gerrard is such a great player (see some of his exploits here, if you can bear to watch soccer highlights) that Liverpool became my team of choice. Truly, there are few in the world who can imagine, let alone execute, some of the long-distance diagonal passes he makes. When he's on top of his game, he is amazing to watch.


Shockingly, the first replica jersey I have ever owned is a Liverpool Reds kit.



I always thought the first, and perhaps only, jersey I would hang in my closet would be a (now vintage) Will Clark San Francisco Giants uniform top. What happened to me?

All I know at this point is that after years of watching baseball and football (American style), I am really enjoyed getting to know a new sport, a new league, new players, and the droll English TV announcers. Saturdays are now enlivened with three English games in the mornings, two of them live. It is all new to me, and thus not boring. I haven't been there, done it all. It helps that I am predisposed to enjoying soccer because I played it, and because the kids play it now.

And if you are curious about this whole thing, if you will only consent to watch one English league soccer game this year (or any year), check out the game this Saturday between Manchester United and Chelsea. It is a clash of the titans, the two top teams in the league, fielding what amount to all-star teams.

Now, if you don't mind, please turn off that American football rubbish and switch the telly over to the Prem; the Gooners and Spurs are about to take the pitch in a classic London derby (pronounced "darby," doncha know).