Bill Simmons on the Match

[animalmom]

Simmons is a US sportswriter who is mad for Boston sport teams and now writes for ESPN on a natinal level - I find his commentary fun to read.

He became a Yiddo after wacthing the last world cup and falling in love with 'soccer'.

He chose Tottenham after an extensive err analysis

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=simmons/060719

He's not a huge fan but his story of a city fans misery is good reading.

Also funny that Steve Nash - world class Canadian Basketball player - is a massive Spurs fan and couldnt watch in front of his playoff game against.... Spurs.

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=simmons/100507&sportCat=nba

Yes I'm an American but live in HK.

 

[leffe186]

Nice find, thanks. I'm an Englishman now living in the US and will be using his breakdown to try to convert the locals to Spurs.

 

[kcmei]

abit old article, things are abit different now

 

[animalmom]

actually the first article is old which I provided as a reference. The second link is new with commentary on the Citeh Match with his Citeh friend.

 

[Shanks]

Watford -- They used to be owned by Elton John. Not that there's anything wrong with that.

Fulham -- On the bright side, they feature American star Brian McBride. On the flip side, one of their celebrity fans is Hugh Grant. And they're owned by Mohamed Al Fayed, the Harrods owner whose son was in the limo with Princess Di. Too many bad vibes.


That Bill Simmons article about picking a team is brilliant.

 

[michaelden]

I loved that first article

 

[animalmom]

I went through a similar search when I moved to London in 2005. Having played the sport all my life in the US on and off I was really looking forward to going to matches and getting into the British game. I moved to SW7 in September and prior to leaving New York sat down with the resident Brit to discuss clubs.

i got an online map showng all the London clubs and asked his advice:

"How about this one - Chelsea - it's right next to my flat'

"$&%^$&^R no they are a bunch of twats bleeding money they are like the *%^% yankees, all the American expats follow them and they are all %%&*% (except for you, provisionally)"

He poo poohed my feeble arguments about "walking to the stadium, easy to get to games" by claiming (with a straight face) "It's &%#$@$# easy to get around london, you can take the Tube or the Bus, it's easy)

"Ok, I said how about this one Fool-Ham."

"Well, he admitted, that wouldn't be so bad because they have a bunch of Americans but you should really consider this club (pointing at the map")

"Arsenal? I've heard of them"

"%$%^#% NO not ^%&^%^&ing Arsenal, this one TOTTEHNHAM"

"Never heard of them, are they any good?, that seems like a fucking long way to go when I can just go down to Fool-Ham"

Long story short he convinced me that, no, they weren't that good but getting better, no one will think you are a bandwagon twat, and I'll take you to your first match in October vs. Arsenal and you will see.."

2-2 draw, walked on the pitch prior, met Gary Mabbut, hooked.

 

[C-oops]

• Nickname: The Spurs. This is important: You either call then "Tottenham Hotspur" or you call them "the Spurs," but no other option is acceptable.

 

[Son_Of]

the tottingham hotspurs

 

[Sputic]

More Simmons (excellent writer).This time on the different levels of pain felt by losing. I remember reading this and trying to work out where lasagne gate ranked.

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=simmons/020528

Not that we need to worry about this sort of thing this season :beer::beer: