To Dare Is To Do: A Message To The Lurkers

been here for about two months, and never lookin back.
came from hockey (canes country) and was converted WC 2010, and then the following tottenham CL run. loving soccer. (where have i been?)
cant get enough.
cheeers and COYS

but mostly due to my time-shifted watching habits. I do read the full commentariat post game regardless. Oh, and I never can remember my login.
I quit a lifetime of watching MLB three years ago and the NFL long ago and needed something to fill in the winters when not watching the Celtics. Picked Spurs mostly out of a hat, but the fact that they had a rooster mascot and Crouch (who cracked me up) sealed the deal. Lived through the Champions League season and the ascendancy of Bale and now I’m hooked. Love the site, and all hail the commentariat.

We only need a few more…

Hi guys, my name is Pat and Im a recovering lurker. I became spurs fan because I loved playing as them in FIFA 10. Been following the site for awhile and made my first post yesterday in the wheeler dealer thread. It was cool to have my question answered in the podcast… Great site, COYS

I’m not watching Spurs on my own anymore. Im yet another American who came to Spurs on my own (even started writing about them on my own on the internet…who knew there were lots of people out there like me). So, I’m officially delurking,

Thanks a lot. Its nice to find other people as weirdly obsessed as I am. The blog started because the wonderful lady I lived with told me she’d go mad if I kept rambling on to her about all things Spurs related.

And I really enjoyed the basketball comparisons you linked me to.

As I’ve posted before, but not often. I’m Fnarf, or Steve if you prefer. I live in sunny Seattle, Washington. I can occasionally be found down at the George and Dragon if Spurs are on and Mrs. Fnarf is feeling amenable.

I’ve been following, er, “following” Spurs since 1984, when my English roommate taught me everything there is to know about the game, and that year’s Hoddle and Waddle team, and also in an annual trip to the one game that would be broadcast, via a giant truck-mounted satellite dish hauled to a local (California) bar: the FA Cup. This was my first experience with many English traditions: baked beans for breakfast, Guinness at 6 AM, singing, chanting, scarves, and even a “bit of argy-bargy” the following year when I heard the Everton fans in the room sing “Who’s That Lying On The Runway” at the Man Utd fans.

I use quotation marks because I didn’t actually get to SEE Spurs, not even on TV, for many years, back in those pre-internet, pre-Sky days when even finding scores was usually impossible. Remember, back then, you couldn’t even watch most English matches on TV even if you lived there. Andrew (the roomie) used to get thick packets of clippings from his mum back in Southend, which I would pore over like I was deciphering a secret code. “Hey, Andrew, is this Ozzie Ardiles any good?”

Despite watching a steadily increasing number of World Cup games in ‘86, ’90, and ’94, and the advent of taped games (I still fondly recall the Irish bar in NYC where the fellow would come through the door with a paper bag full of VHS cassettes on Sunday evening), I didn’t really get to see many actual facts about Spurs until sometime in the late 90s when I found them on the internet. Still no video, but results, team sheets, tables and news. We (my wife is a Liverpool fan who actually attended matches at Anfield in the early 80s) finally broke down and signed on for cable TV in 2004, I think, and that’s when the real action began. I could watch games live, from White Hart Lane!

And here we are today. This is my new Spurs home. I got kicked off of the COYS blog for saying rude things about the New York Yankees, believe it or not, but I can be a gentleman when I want. You folks are funnier than they are.

Now let’s go out and win the goddamn title! COME ON YOU SPURS!

After the World Cup, I wanted to get into soccer more and decided I should follow an EPL team. I decided on Tottenham because of their affiliation with the San Jose Earthquakes, and also because I had enjoyed playing as them in FIFA (hey, you gotta start somewhere!). I began reading this blog everyday during the transfer window, and while I still consider myself a soccer neophyte, I feel like I’ve learned a lot more about the subtle elements of the beautiful game as well as more about Spurs. Oh and P.S.: am I the only one with an irrational love affair for Peter Crouch?

I will never be able to compete with this awesomeness.

Hi i am a lifetime spurs fan, born a few miles down the road but now live and work in Bangkok, been following Spurs since i was 5 years old thats 33 years, and this has been the best year to date. Love seeing you US fans getting into football, and even more that you had the good taste to be become Spurs supporters been coming more and more to your site, keep up the good work. COYS

Never really followed the game until just before moving to NYC three years ago. My roommate-to-be was a Yiddo, and on our last day of apartment hunting, he dragged me (“It’s noon, I need to go to this bar right now.” / “Ok!”) out to a little bar in Brooklyn Heights…and there was singing, and… what the hell, I’d forgotten how much I like watching this game, and, hey, beer!

Ten months later, I was sitting shelf side when Rafa buried two on the man who is now quite possibly my all-time favorite bald guy. And that’s saying something — one of my best friends is bald.

In July, Spurs came to NY, which was bonkers, and in February a small pile of NY Spurs made the flight to Milan to see us eke one out at the San Siro. I think it was sitting there, in the rain, in Italy, that I realized: I’ve lost my mind.

Well, no turning back now — COYS.

“Ah well, ma’am, you see we all know each other!” (Danny Blanchflower to Dutchess of Kent at the 1961 Cup Final. The Dutchess asked why the Leicester City players had names on their tracksuits and the Spurs team didn’t.)

Knowing that I just discovered this site two days ago. I know, it’s a crime, so I ask to not be banned straight away!

Anyway, instead of being a typical American kid and playing football, I decided to live ironically and play football (soccer for more ignorant Americans (jk :-P)). Loved it so much I just had to grab on to a team and support them. My first professional football team was (and still is for MLS) the Houston Dynamo as I’m an avid Houston sports nut. I didn’t get into European football until, sadly, 2010 and climbed onto the Spurs bandwagon. Yes, I developed an unnatural man crush (is it REALLY that unnatural?) with Gareth Bale after his stunning performance against Inter.

After really sitting down and watching Spurs play, I knew that I had found my EPL team. I love the attacking-centric approach that they take; as a defender/midfielder in my “playing days” I appreciate a more aggressive approach. If there was one team that I could have dreamed (if I knew they existed at the time) of playing for, it definitely would be Spurs. The chemistry is magnifying to watch on the field, and I’m excited to see them in competition for the top spot this season!

Was just getting into the EPL and deciding on a team when a friend of mine who had played GK for Spurs youth teams decades ago still had some business contacts with Spurs invited me to a match at the Lane. I happened to be working in the UK after heading across the pond for the ‘06 World Cup. Well, he couldn’t get the promised tickets so he called in a favor with Tony Berry, former Deputy Chariman of the club. After quick trip down to Oxford Street to buy a new suit, I was invited into the owner’s box for the early season Everton match in 2006. The game itself was actually rubbish. Everton went down to 10 men but still came away with all 3 points because Spurs couldn’t even register their first shot on goal until extra time. I remember Andy Johnson was a beast in that game holding the ball up on the counter all by himself. And though I was a SPurs fan from that day forward, eating a pre-match sea bass at a table across from the board of directors and a cup of tea at halftime with two England internationals from the ’66 team will do that for you, I was hoping not to see much of Edgar Davids ever again.

Off topic: if you check my avatar pic on the right, that’s me with the game ball form the USA/Algeria match that Landon Donovan kicked into the stands. I was the lucky schmuck who ended up with it on that amazing night.

My friends are hardcore soccer fans and I never really got into it. I told them I’d pick a team to follow starting this year, and chose Spurs for some reason. Glad I did! Having a lot of fun watching them play. I’ll try to comment more for sure.

Oh, hello there.

I’ve been playing soccer since I was a young boy, but never had anything on TV except World Cup matches and the occasional lousy MLS game. A couple of years ago, I was finally able to fork over the cash for FSC, and found myself in need of a side to root for. My Cleveland sensibilities wouldn’t let me choose a team dripping with oil money, but I wanted one with history and a remote hope of a top 4 finish someday. Spurs seemed like a good choice. I’ll admit it became easier when Peter Crouch left, because I could not stand him.

I still play adult city league soccer, but my local field is sponsored by Chelsea. It’s awful.

. . . but in 1974 I was in my early twenties living in Dublin and was exposed to soccer and the World Cup in a way that, at the time, was unavailable in the US. Especially, I (and many others) was taken with Cruyff and the Dutch national team.

When I came back to LA I, went to a few Aztecs games read what I could about soccer. Danny Blanchflower’s quote about glory stuck with me and I began trying to follow Spurs. It’s a good name, Tottenham Hotspur.

I love this site and I’ll try to comment now and then, but lurking suits me.

I’ve been lurking this blog since VDV joined Spurs (essentially the baby stage of this blog), and I thought I would have gotten away with it too, if it weren’t for you meddling kids! I’ve had my ups and downs following the blog, but you could say now I’m a daily follower of CFC. I even listen to the insightful podcasts as well on occasion.
I’m a sportswriter for my school newspaper, but I never like to write on internet sports blogs. Mostly because I felt incredibly awkward talking to anonymous strangers. And coming from the West Coast (as my name indicates) in which many Spurs matches tend to start at like 6:30 am on Saturday mornings, when I pay most of my sleep debt, I never commented on your hilarious gamethreads. But I guess then is then, and now is now. A new year, and a new commitment, I suppose.

Been following Spurs for 3 seasons now. At the beginning, after much google and wikipedia about the history of the premier league clubs, I jumped in with Spurs. I can’t imagine supporting any other team.

Living in the US means I don’t get to chat as much about football(soccer) as I do about football(handegg). But I do lurk the CFC gamethreads pretty often, mostly during the weekly games when I’m still at work. Love this blog, read the Hoddle every morning.

How quickly is football growing in the US ? it seems from the outside at lest it is growing very fast, and what about Spurs are we gaining fans more or less than other teams?

Great to be here. I’m a Londoner who became a glory-hunting Spurs fan after we won the Cup twice in 81/82. Obviously I envisaged decades of unbroken dominance for us (hey ho)… but the ride has been a thrill anyway :-) And I’m VERY excited about this team/season Look forward to getting involved (though I can confirm that the match threads are so good they’ve thoroughly distracted me from the match in the past).

Right, I’m off to find me an avatar…

Mad props to john for getting all these lurkers out in the open. Welcome everybody! I hope you all stick around. CFC is a great community and absolutely makes following this team more fun.

I played soccer my whole life but never really followed the game besides the occasional World Cup match. But when Germany ‘06 happened, I watched every single game and was hooked forever. I started watching every EPL game every weekend trying to absorb as much as I could and pick out a team to follow. It didn’t take long for that beautiful Bulgarian bastard and Spurs’ crazy you-can-score-three-cuz-we’ll-score-four style of play to steal my heart. COYS!

Seriously though, prob not posting too often, but loving the content.

I better not get stupid emails.

Seems a little strange doing one of these since I’m probably considered one of the main “regulars” here. But I dont’ think I ever did one, so I’ll tell my story.

Growing up I played YMCA youth league soccer and one year of JV ball in high school, but in all honesty? I suck. But I’ve always been a big international soccer fan and started following club-level soccer after spending a term in Costa Rica in college (¡Vamos Saprissa!). But I never really got into the EPL until a few years ago when I ran into one of my new neighbors sporting a United jersey. I commented on it and he in turn invited me to a weekly gathering of neighborhood dudes who get together weekly to watch DVRed EPL matches in my neighbor’s garage attic “man cave.”

We were all encouraged to pick an EPL team. How did I pick Spurs? I threw a dart at a map of London. (Just kidding)

Seriously, I did a lot of research before settling on Spurs. I chose Spurs because at the time they seemed a lot like my precious Pittsburgh Steelers — LOTS of history, titles in their past but not for a long time (admittedly this was just after the Stuhllrs won their first modern Superbowl so the analogy wasn’t perfect), a VERY passionate fanbase, and sweet-looking simple kits. I started watching just before Martin Jol got fired, and my early fandom was tested during the “2 points from 8 games phase.” In truth, it nearly drove me to Everton (who had Tim Howard). But I stuck it out, and am glad I did. Because I joined up when I did, I think I’m pretty safe from the “glory hunter” label. Nobody wanted to be a Spur supporter during that time.

I discovered this site about 18 months ago after hearing Kevin do an interview with Richard Farley on the EPL Talk podcast. The rest, as they say, is history. I’m a Spur for life.

I post here regularly and also participate in the Spurs Chicago Facebook group (O HAI GUISE). I also like Indiana Hoosiers basketball, the Steelers, and long walks in the rain.

But been a Spurs fan since 04. Played CB my whole life and in college so watching Deadly Ledley made me go from 6 to midnight. From there it all fell into place. A few years ago I got into zonalmarking.net (if you don’t read it, start) and really delving into tactics, formations, etc. The way our boys have come together has been amazing and this season has been my favorite sports season of all time (saying something being a lifelong TB Rays fan). I currently work for the Columbus Crew so footy is my life. I’ve been reading CFC for about a year and thrown a comment or two in here over the last few months. Can’t wait to be here for the rest of this unbelievable ride. COYS!

I’ve been a member for a few months, I believe, but I’ve never had the chance to watch a game live and GDT with y’all. I do sometimes go back and read through it as I watch a rebroadcast hah. Hopefully I’ll be able to join for a match here soon!

I first really started watching soccer during the ‘02 WC, when the US made their run to the quarters. Interest fell off quite a bit afterwards, but would consistently watch US friendlies and qualifiers whenever I knew they were on (US/Mexico is a stop-down event). the ’06 WC was very, very disappointing, but I started understanding what made it so beautiful. The flow, build-up, passion, flair, skill, lack of commercials. Around the middle of ’07, I got an apartment with some buddies, and we all pitched in to get cable with all the sports channels. My roommate was a big ManU fan, and so as we watched games on FSW and played FIFA, I started kinda rooting for ManU (I know, terrible, but it was my first big step into the EPL.. I was stupid hah). In the beginning of ’08, we watched a Spurs/ManU game that was being aired on ESPN at WHL. While I was “rooting” for ManU, I absolutely fell in love with Spurs. I loved the way they played, loved their unis, loved WHL and how absolutely crazy the place went when Berbatov scored the first goal. It was absolutely addicting. I’ve been a full Spurs supporter ever since. I’m from Dallas, but now live in San Diego due to my service in the Military.. so my ability to see games are pretty limited to when they’re shown on FSC. If I’m working, I have to watch them delayed or from my DVR, but I try my best to see as many games as I can.

I have been following this blog for the last couple of month’s and find it really quite good. But i am English… from London… I am allowed here??? thats that English sarcasm, i tend to do that I am afraid i really don’t get why Gio is rated so much. Or quite how theroosevelts does what he does. But i am sure i will!

Due to my west coast bias (Why do games have to start so early!?) and my blogging duties at Californiagoldenblogs (woooooo SBN cross promotion), I rarely have the time to participate at CFC as much as I’d like. But I love all of the content and how the community has blossomed this year! COYS!

(Also, I’m seeing some familiar names – there might be a bigger Cal fan/Spurs fan crossover than I realized!)

Well I’m definitely not a lurker, I just started following Totteham this week (lol)

But I do plan or starting to listen to the podcasts and read all these front page stories, especially the Hoddle of Coffee, in order to learn what and who I’m watching when I watch it.

Hey guys, just wanted to introduce myself real quick. I’m Amaan, and ive become a relatively recent Spurs fan after following Inter for around three years. Live in the bay area and a huge SF team guy (NINERS BABY). I usually read up on the Sf Giants blog McCoveyChronicles often which is pretty simliar to CFC in its witty banter. Also go to school at UC Davis up near Sacramento at the moment. Regardless this blog seems super chill and laid back, exactly what i look for. Hopefully i’ll be able to contribute some!

but I don’t get to comment nearly as often as I like thanks to my wonderful food service job (yey college!).

Moved to Denver 7 years ago, been an avid Rockies, Broncos, Clippers (don’t ask) and Avs fan since before that. Also A CU Buffs fan, which may or may not be because I currently attend class at that particular school. Possibly.

I tried out certain teams for a while when I was first getting into this great sport (Bill Simmons style); at first, I liked Newcastle, because they were funny and reminded me of the 2000s Broncos: lots of talent, but zero confidence. I stopped following them after a few months when they got relegated, then I tried out Liverpool for a couple months before Tottenham utterly stole my heart away. They had something that neither Newcastle nor Liverpool have had for a while: hope, which is an essential part of the heartbreak I was so accustomed to with my other teams. I had found my team.

Needless to say, I was shocked (and, in a way, disappointed) when the Lilywhites proceeded to get 4th place, and continue to be surprised as this team that I fell for fully expecting them to let me down has continued to exceed my wildest expectations.

That said, I will be sticking around even if we go back to being a mid-table side. I just couldn’t feel right cheering for anyone else; Spurs are the team for me, and this blog is awesome. If I ever get gamedays off, I shall try to comment here more often. Cheers, and COYS

As for podcasts our WDR (obviously). But the class general pods are The Football Ramble and Football Weekly.

Haven’t had much access to the blog this week due to travel, but still wanna join the mass de-lurking.

Where to begin? I first became interested in Spurs during the late 80s, the Gazza and Lineker teams. Back then it wasn’t so easy to follow English football outside of Europe so I would only read the scant coverage in the newspapers. As satellite TV and the internets became more widespread, I was able to start watching some games during the 90s. Suffered through the Ossie months and was disappointed when the Sheringham, Anderton, Klinsmann axis didn’t quite work out. My interest slacked a bit afterwards until Robbie Keane inaugurated the Elland Rd-White Hart Lane express. Been pretty addicted since then, and lurking CFC since near the launch.

Otherwise, I’m your average Georgetown Hoyas/Washington Nationals/DC United/Washington Capitals fan. Funnily enough, the only time I’ve ever been able to watch a Spurs game live is when they visited RFK to play my beloved DC United (only team with the United moniker I could ever support).

If I recall correctly, Jamie Redknapp played for Spurs that day, as well as Kasey Keller, Ziege, Shearingham and Robbie Keane. DC had a pretty solid team with El Diablo Etcheverry, John Harkes, Ben Olsen, Stoitchkov, Bobby Convey and Earnie Stewart. And of course, who can ever forget Ray Hudson!

COYS! The title is up for grabs!!!

some would call them. They should move back to Bawlmer if u ask me (tho it’s DC United who might end up there).

Btw, I just found a great article on SI.com about that DC United-Spurs game back in ’03. I actually did not remember that a much younger, cartilage-laden Ledley King started for Spurs that day.

I grew up in Chicago as a die hard sports fan, but aside from the World Cup I always dismissed soccer. I mocked it and I ignored it and I found myself completely baffled by its appeal despite the fact that deep down I was fascinated by its global, intertwined structure and knew eventually I was going to have to force myself to give it a shot. That day came when I moved into my fraternity house as a college freshman last year and found that there were a ton of soccer fans in my house. The Fox Soccer-watching and the FIFA 11-playing got me hooked. After educating myself on the game and playing FIFA with random teams I played one with Spurs and won something like 7-1. I decided that that was my new FIFA team. Two weeks later I got home from class and found my roommates watching the 3-3 arsenal draw on ESPN2. I found myself rooting pretty passionately for my real life favorite FIFA team, and the rest is history.

Rooting from Columbia, Missouri, COYS

…delurked me!!!!