No Pain No Gain




A primary school playground circa 1986

When I was growing up, the school playground was full of Liverpool fans. I was brought up 250 miles away from Merseyside, but Liverpool were the best football team in England at the time. So naturally enough they were the team of choice for many easily influenced children.  I don't actually mind kids finding their teams in this way, after all it's a bit harsh to criticise a 5 year old for their decisions in such matters. If they stick with the decision for the rest of their life then fair enough, but equally they may change when they get a bit older and stumble upon a more suitable reason for supporting a team.

However, when an adult makes such a decision it rightly gets frowned upon.  Why should they miss out on all the misery and pain of losing, relegation and just general ineptitude?  That's part of the fun of your team winning.  The knowledge that you've gone through the bad times and therefore deserve the triumph.

There's also a stigma attached to supporting the best team. When I see somebody in a Man Utd, Liverpool or even Chelsea shirt I raise an eyebrow and presumptuously assume they are a glory-hunter.  It's completely wrong of me of course.  There's a good chance they have a perfectly good reason for supporting their team, but nonetheless there is a definitely downside to supporting the best team out there.  Imagine the following scenario:

It's Sunday 28th October 2012. I'm at the rather splendid Green Man pub near Wembley stadium, having a few pre match ales with my mate before the St Louis v New England match.  I'm wearing my New York Giants shirt.  Two other fans come and sit next to us and strike up a conversation.  After a few pleasantries one of them turns his attention to my shirt...

"Big Giants fan then?"

"Yeah"

"Bet you were buzzing after the Superbowl?"

"Ermm...not really"

"Huh...How come?"

"Well, I didn't actually support them at the time"

Bang, there goes my credibility as a fan. I could try and explain the elaborate process I went through to end up with the Giants, but it'd smack of a lie.  To all intents and purposes I'd be a bandwagon jumping, glory hunter in a suspiciously shiny new shirt.  I don't want that stigma.  Besides, for a team that's just won the biggest prize in their sport, the only way is down. Or at best sideways!  Anything less will make the 2012 season a disappointment. So, for those reasons I'm eliminating the New York Giants from my search. 

By eliminating the Giants I'm getting rid of yet another strong side, but I'm perfectly happy with the decision.  I really don't want to start by supporting the champions, it would just detract a bit form my supporting journey.  And what if they never won it again in my lifetime?! I spend 50 years watching the Giants lurch form one miserable season to another knowing full well that they'd found glory approximately a month before I started following them! That'd be a bit hard to take.  The more I think about the more I think I'm right in ditching the Superbowl winners from my search

There's now 16 teams left. So  I'm over halfway words finding my team. I've already got a few ideas for continuing the blog after I've selected my team. I don't want to make it a blog exclusively about my team, as that would make it largely irrelevant for the vast majority of fans. It's going to more about the culture of supporting, the various ways we can support a team and a look at the different types of fans out there.

All I need to do first, is get rid of another 15 teams.