Quote: (05-05-2013 02:57 PM)Athlone McGinnis Wrote:
I played soccer as a little kid, but got a bit too big for it as I entered my teenage years. I wanted to be more violent than the game allowed me, so I began playing American football. Managed to get to the NCAA's first division before leaving that game a couple of years back.
I began paying more attention to soccer then (I'm more inclined to call it football now, but I'll stick with soccer for the sake of differentiation). This began through my observation of my national team (Jamaica), and spread from there as I began following my team's players and their club careers across the world. I also started following Jamaican-descendants, which has led me to keep a close eye on England players and their club careers (there are dozens of players with Jamaican heritage involved in England's system from youth to senior levels, and up to 9 at the senior level right now).
International football is my favorite brand of football. While I appreciate club football across the world (Champions leagues and all that), I'm mainly sort of a nationalist fan-my interest in the game is usually tied to how many Jamaicans are involved in it, and I tend to primarily follow the teams that include Jamaicans. This year, that meant my EPL club was Reading (3 Jamaican nationals, 5 total Jamaican descendants) and my MLS clubs have been Colorado and Portland (each with 2 Jamaicans). I also keep a close eye on Norway's league to see how Aalesund (3 Jamaicans) is doing, and my eye is always trained closely on the English Championship (especially Watford, Huddersfield and Birmingham City this year). We've got some guys in Finland, Malaysia, Turkey and Sweden that I also keep an eye on.
As you can guess, I'm also a diehard fan of my national team. I pretty much live to see the Reggae Boyz play. We've got a friendly against Tottenham on May 23 (less than 20 days!) and commence another set of world cup qualifiers in June (Mexico and the USA at home, followed by Honduras away). I'm pumped for all of this.
Anyway, I'm glad to have this thread since I've found that, as an American, there are not a lot of people to talk soccer with. The American attitude towards the game kind of annoys me-it is too dismissive and often ignorant, and few bother paying much attention to the game. It gets quite annoying after a while.
Your a true fan Athlone, because the Reggea Boyz will be penciled in at 6 in the hex. It's not their fault, I like their spirit, and they give their all of a nation that size..