Soccer was always sort of a "are you kidding me, bro?" sport for me. I used to play as a kid, was great at goalie, until i grew tired of the grind (i was like, 10) and quit. I tried baseball after that, and then realized I was much, much better at being a fan of and knowing about sports than I would ever be at playing them. I just was not athletically gifted. So, I continued on my path of the "American sports" of baseball, football, and basketball. I found my teams, learned everything I could, and I was happy. My sister played soccer until she left high school, so it was always there, I just could never get into it.

Sure, I would watch the World Cup when it came around, because of the patriotism of it all. I knew enough about the game to be able to follow it, but not enough to really consider myself a fan. I knew a few of the names, the general feeling surrounding those players, etc. Once the Cup was won and it was all over, though, I was also done. Back to the sports I cared about.

Fast forward to 2012. My twitter account is filled with mostly people met through the blog Every Day Should Be Saturday, some of which I come to find out, enjoy the game of soccer. Whether I like it or not, I am surrounded by information. Then comes the Euro 2012 tournament. Aside from Braves baseball, there is literally nothing that can whet my appetite for sports, so it is soccer that I decide to try. I watch a few matches, follow along on my iPad, and....I'm hooked. The Perfect Game has sucked me in, and I must have more. I figure out that I can stream the matches while at work. I watch every single match I can, even taking a day away from a family vacation to sit at the only Irish pub in Seaside, FL to watch Germany lose to Italy.

I made the choice that this was now going to be something I followed. The only problem was I had no idea where to start. So, thinking logically, I took to my twitter feed, asking the bros there who I should choose as my squad. RunTheDive was first to take up my cause, presenting me with a series of questions to narrow the field. His first question, and I apologize for the language in advance, was "Are you a cunt?"

No, was my answer, so he told me that eliminated Arsenal. His next query was whether or not i had a problem with teams outspending their opposition by silly amounts. This is a thing in most sports, so of course, no, I didn't. This question along with another posed by a separate follower of "Can you live with no hope of postseason success" helped narrow the pool to Tottenham, Everton, Newcastle, and Sunderland. Fulham was an outsider, and also first out due to likely losing Dempsey, and therefore my interest. I then decided to wait until actual matches took place to decide between the finalists, since otherwise my choice would be based on mob mentality and not much information.

I grew weary of this, and again went to RunTheDive to help a decision happen. I charged him with giving me three good reasons why I should choose the Spurs as my team (i was always a Spurs lean, due to the constant familiarity in my timeline). His reasons were that they contained good young talent, will never get relegated (i admit i still don't know what this means), and that it would not be a cop out like rooting for Utd, Chelsea, City, etc would be. This was enough for me, and my choice was made. I went to Wikipedia and read up on the FC and its history.

Playing directly behind a pub? As an Irishman I can get behind this. The kits aren't flashy, but still awesome. I recognize some of the names of previous players, and the foundation was laid. Since then, I have been absorbing as much knowledge as I could, and anxiously await the start of actual play so that I can learn by watching.