An American Football Fanatic Learns the Beautiful Game, Soccer Diary Day 001

I have been thinking about broadening my sports horizons for some time now.  I am of course a college football fanatic, a PGA junkie, and a Mets fan. (As sad as that is.) You would think that would be enough sports for one man, it's not.  I love learning about new sports and how they are played. I love watching fanatics of other sports and learning what they love about it, and sometimes, learning to love it myself. If I am going to broaden my horizons, why not do so with the number one sport in the world?

I have never really been a soccer fan, I just haven't ever sat down and figured the game out.  I know some of the rules, I even played a little soccer as a child.  Well, more accurately, I sat on the bench or played in the chalk lines while other kids played soccer.  I do watch the world cup without missing a match every four years, this has more to do with my love of chanting USA, USA, USA, than my love of soccer.  Now I want to really understand the game, the nuances and rules, not just the Vuvuzelas.  I want to pick a team to root for and cheer on in success and defeat.  I want to become a real soccer fan, to see what all the fuss is about.

I figure a good first step will be to sit down and watch a couple matches.  I browsed over to ESPN 3 and there are about 12 soccer matches going on today.  If you are a soccer fan ESPN 3 has to be your Mecca.  There always seems to be a few matches to watch, no matter what time of year.  I could use a sport to fill those dull and dreary sports months of June and July.  I mean the Mets are playing, but it's the Mets, hardly counts.

It's time to find out what all the hype is about, why is soccer the worlds most popular game?  Is it really that great?  I will be updating this soccer journal daily, so you can follow along with me on my journey if you like.  Let's learn to be "international" sports fans!

I am very open minded.



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