Wednesday, February 10, 2010

The conflicted soccer fan

The honest truth is that I'm not a soccer fan. I don't watch soccer and I don't play the game. But for many years, I've been a faithful reader of Soccernet. Somehow, I enjoy reading about the news even though I'm barely a fan of the game itself. I also enjoy how talking about the soccer news connects me with many of the soccer fans.

After some years, I decided to adopt a team which I will support: Everton. I've written previously on why I decided on supporting Everton. Simply put, I like how the team is managed. With a tiny budget compared to the rest, it has consistently performed well.

Last week, I was a little unhappy because it lost to Liverpool. It was a physical game that could have gone either way. But today, I was really happy for them because Everton beat Chelsea! As a person who pride myself as rational, I'm ashamed to say that I'm indeed guilty of this indulgence. Simply put, soccer fanship makes no sense. They are totally unrelated to me. My feelings about their wins or losses makes absolutely no difference to what they do. I simply have none of Dave Barry's Concern Rays that can change the outcome of a game.

But I do want them to do well. Somehow now Everton matters to me. I am now a conflicted soccer fan.

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