Panic on the streets of London
Panic on the streets of Birmingham
I wonder to myself
Could life ever be sane again?

—The Smiths


When the sun sets tonight over London’s skyline, the populace will know that there is only one more sleep left before the entire city is dumped headfirst into Opening Day 2010.

The Barclay’s Premier League kicks off its football (the European kind) season tomorrow, and for the first time, I will be paying attention.  See, I’ve always watched soccer at a distance. I’ve respected the athletes but found it very hard to become emotionally invested in the sport.  It’s kind of hard to do when the best teams in the best league play in Europe and some of the games start before 8AM Eastern Time.

But, with this year’s World Cup I found my interest transformed. I didn’t just watch the games, I absorbed them.  The more I watched, the more I began to see why the rest of the world finds so much to love in this crazy, beautiful sport.

Sure, I’ll admit that Landon Donovan’s last minute goal against Algeria helped, but there were games involving teams I didn’t care a lick about that had me nibbling my fingernails in nervousness.

I have some friends who are soccer fanatics. They recognized this change in me and plainly stated that if I really wanted to sink my teeth into the sport and keep myself interested, I needed to pick a team to root for.

Makes sense, really. You’re always more likely to pay attention to something in the long term if you have a rooting interest.  So I did my research.

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