The Indecision 2011 - Part I

When we came to London back in October, one of the many goals I set for myself was to finally pick an English football team to support.  Picking a team is not as easy as it sounds, especially for someone who is as obsessive about sports as I am.  My favorite teams right now are the New York Knicks (basketball), the New York Giants (American football*) and the New York Mets (baseball).  I started liking these teams when I was young, around the age of 8 or 9 and have been following them my whole life.  When you're a kid, you don't put as much thought into things such as picking a sports team, but the love and support that you put into those teams will last your whole life.  Last year, I asked my godson what basketball team he liked.  His answer:

"I like the Lakers, Heat, Cavaliers (when they still had Lebron), Bulls, Magic, and Nuggets."

I tried to explain to him that it's better to like one team and to put your support behind that team.  You can like all types of candy but you can only like one team.  He wasn't having it.  He could be the first 10 year old to become my mortal enemy.  (I turn 34 this year by the way)  Hopefully he'll settle on one team (Knicks) as his father and I have been trying to brainwash him since that conversation. 

I always say that teams are picked when you're young so taking on the task of finding an English football team here in London would take
a) a lot of free time
b) a commitment to watch a lot of games
c) the willingness to annoy all of my friends on a daily basis about what team I should pick. 

To help make this decision, I've established my personal guidelines for picking the team.   Some are more important than others and as I get closer to making my decision, it will help me pick the right team.
(You're thinking, "What?  You still haven't made up your mind yet?  Why the hell am I reading this?) 

London Team: Since I've been living in London, the team should be a London team.  The good news - there are a ton of London teams.  The bad news - there are a ton of London teams.  Just think, if my wife's job had assigned us to Barcelona instead of London, that would have been an easy decision (FC Barcelona) or Wolverhampton (Wolves).  Actually....if my wife's job had assigned us to Wolverhampton we would've stayed in New York......

Good Footy: Ideally, the team I pick should be good in football because I would like to watch the team and be happy about it and not say to myself  "why the hell did I pick this team?"  Basically the exact opposite of what I have now in baseball when I say to myself "why the hell did I pick this team?"

Good TEAM:  It's really hard to pick a team based on the club and not the players.  Just like my 10 year old mortal enemy, I'm drawn to certain players on certain teams.  However, this is a trap.  I don't really like those teams, I just like those players.  There's a big difference.  My 10 year old godson doesn't really like the Lakers.  He loves Kobe Bryant.  He doesn't really know that liking the Lakers is evil unless I tell him.....and I will.   Players come and go whether they retire, move on to another team, or marry a Spice Girl.  The important thing here is that I pick the team based on the overall group, and not one player.

Watch them lose, not win:  It's easy to jump on a team's bandwagon when they're winning.  However, you can't really tell if you like a team when they win.  You can tell you like a team when they lose.  Major difference.  My wife's family loves Ohio State football.  I'll go along with it when we watch a game, I'll wear red and root for the team to do well but honestly?  I really don't care when they lose.  It doesn't really affect me.  That's how I know I'm not an Ohio State football fan....or a fan of college football for that matter.

Now that the guidelines have been established, here are the candidates:

Arsenal
Chelsea
Fulham
Manchester United (The only non-London team here.  They get a spot on the candidate list because they're the most popular football team in the world)
Queens Park Rangers
Tottenham
West Ham

Click here for Part II

*I've never liked the fact that we call football "soccer" in the U.S.  It just makes more sense to call it football.  We should call football "American rugby" or "throwball" (my friend Nelson's suggestion) or "that game that makes Daddy crazy."  (when my friend's daughter Lia learns to talk)