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Great idea Producer Jordan, I guess I'll be the first one to take the plunge and say I'm probably something of a weirdo among GFOPs as I am Canadian (eh?) and don't understand 40-70% of the NFL, NBA or College Sport references Rog and Dave-o make on the show but it's all good as I think my time living in the U.K. in the late 90s compensates me with insight into their obscure BBC-related references and intimately familiarized me with just how much closer the sky can get to the ground.In my day-to-day life I'm an Adult Learning and Training specialist with one of the major Canadian banks (hint: it's the red one) and have a wife of 9 years and 2 incredible daughters whom we took to Disneyland back in the Halcyon days on February before things truly hit the fan.
On the side I've been known to review the odd podcast, including MiB, for my friend's website. My work is decidedly sub-optimal, so no doubt it will fit right in here.
Courage, all! I look forward to getting to know my literarily-minded GFOPs better here in the long days and weeks to come.
Not too weird, Robert. Here's my story. I grew up on a dairy farm in Pennsyltucky where I had only a vague idea of what soccer was. I was in for a pleasant surprise when I got to college in Lancaster county (Elizabethtown College, Go Jays!) where there was no (American) football and soccer was king. I've been a zealous fan ever since.My three sons all played through high school. (One was even crazy enough to be a keeper. The other two were in more possession of their faculties and were midfielders.) 1998 was a turbulent year for our family but in 2002, we'd set the alarm to wake us up at all hours and watch the World Cup in Japan.
Fast forward to 2014 when one son was off on his own but the other two and I were watching the action in Brazil and were puzzled by these two bald guys on TV. Were they trying to be funny? We soon caught on to just how sub-optimal they were and we've been unable to avert our eyes ever since.
Me? I'm an archivist and historian in private practice--the first one in the USA. As a former history major, I am definitely literarily-minded.
Thanks for bringing GFOPs together in such a highbrow manner. We'll try not to disappoint.
Nice to meet you, Valerie, and you may be surprised to learn that I am also a History Major! though I attended Queen’s University in Kingston (unfortunately not Jamaica). They were gifted an entire late medieval castle in Sussex by an extraordinary benefactor named Alfred Bader and it was there that I began my studies and coincidentally fell in love with the relatively new phenomenon known as the “Premier League”.
Cool!I might add that one of my clients is a collector of the sport of cricket. I am now the rare specimen of an American who knows what leg by wicket means and that innings is singular. (Don't tell my client that, while listening to an NPR report that mentioned sports and cricket one day years ago, one of my twin sons asked, "That's a sport?"
Valerie wrote: "Cool!I might add that one of my clients is a collector of the sport of cricket... "
Funnily enough even though I lived in "The Beautiful South" I was there for the academic year Fall through Spring and thus was not exposed to cricket, the archetypal English "Summer Sport". I do like my baseball, though!
I might as well introduce myself as a fellow Pennsyltuckian (Pittsburgh area native) who fell for the beautiful game! I played competitive/rec soccer until high school when my love of the game left me. It wasn't until my first year of college that it really came back, and I attribute some of the love coming back to the pod, but also to Claudio and the Foxes winning the title!Currently, I'm a college student pursuing a M.S. in Nuclear Engineering at Penn State. I just graduated from Penn State in December with Mechanical & Nuclear Engineering degrees and decided that with what I want to do, grad school was required. If anything, it gives me more time to take in PSU Men and Women's soccer games (and play more pick up games with friends)! To say that the pod has helped me through school and life in general would be an understatement.
As for a cool soccer memory, I'll talk about a trip that I will remember for the rest of my life. My first semester of college was at the University of Alabama and my brother's high school soccer team had made the district championship. This was only the second or third time this had been done in school history (with one win my junior year I believe) and my brother was a starter on varsity in midfield/forward. I decided to fly up for the game (and not attend the Alabama-LSU game); this game was important and my birthday was on that Saturday. After flight delays going into Pittsburgh (which is always happens for some reason), I arrived early Friday morning at home and rested up for the game later that night. The game was being played at Highmark Stadium (home of the Pittsburgh Riverhounds and one of the best venues in the city with respect to views of the skyline) and when I arrived there, the tailgate was in full force. Parents, family members, kids, students, and even my dad's work colleagues were there to watch and support my brother and his teammates.
The team they played against had a distinct height advantage and were very physical (as is often the case in the WPIAL) and snatched an early headed goal. The first half ended and things were not looking good as my brother's team couldn't get much going on offense. We as fans kept on chanting and supporting them all throughout, but we could tell they were stuck. As the second half progressed, things really started to look dire until my brother got the ball. With about 4 minutes left in regulation, he played a ball into the box right in front of where the fans of our team were sitting. Our forward got on the ball but was brought down in the box. A howl went up, and a penalty was awarded. Everyone went quiet in the lead up, tension filling the air....then delirium as it was converted! Everything had changed as the game entered golden goal OT. Nerves on edge, excitement in the air, and a championship loomed large on everyone. As play began, the tension increased. My brothers team was getting more chances. My brother got a shot off and.....it was saved. However, after about 5-6 minutes the ball fell to one of his teams who coolly slotted it home to call game! Delirium on the pitch, delirium in the stands, everyone was losing their mind! And even though my birthday was the next day, I couldn't have asked for a better birthday gift than seeing my brother lift that trophy and get his championship medal.
Stay strong everyone!
Hello from Arizona, home of Didier Drogba's favorite club, Phoenix Rising FC.I'm a former literature professor now managing a cat only veterinary clinic. I've been a soccer player my whole life, although the last real coach I had was back when I was 12. It's been all rec-league and pick-up games since then, but still playing at age 50.
I vaguely remember the Off the Ball era of Men in Blazers, but really fell in love with a podcast that was literary enough to merge Primo Levi with the Premier League. It was like finding the podcast version of Galeano's Soccer in Sun and Shadow.
Hello Everyone,I first became interested in soccer in 2005 when I read Nick Hornby's fever pitch on the recommendation of a friend. It made me an Arsenal fan for life. I first started watching the Premier league on TV in 2010, ever since then I've regarded it as my duty as a fan of the game to catch up on all the history that I missed. So I primarily read biographies of great players or histories of Great teams. I just finished 89 by Amy Lawrence which was fantastic! My preferred method of reading is audiobooks so I'm always pleased to see football titles released in that medium but I read a large amount on Kindle also. Please feel free to add me as a friend. Courage to all and enjoy your reading .
Mahlon wrote: "Hello Everyone,I first became interested in soccer in 2005 when I read Nick Hornby's fever pitch on the recommendation of a friend. It made me an Arsenal fan for life. "
Arsenal should have Hornby on a lifelong pension for his titanic influence on their expanded fanbase. If I hadn't been seduced by the Treble Winning side of '98-'99 I might well have become one of them!
Robert wrote: "Mahlon wrote: "Hello Everyone,I first became interested in soccer in 2005 when I read Nick Hornby's fever pitch on the recommendation of a friend. It made me an Arsenal fan for life. "
Arsenal s..."
Robert wrote: "Mahlon wrote: "Hello Everyone,
I first became interested in soccer in 2005 when I read Nick Hornby's fever pitch on the recommendation of a friend. It made me an Arsenal fan for life. "
Arsenal s..."
Robert wrote: "Hi Jonathan, Scott and Mahlon!
"
Can’t blame you for being seduced by the trouble winning side… I gather there was a lot to enjoy. I think I would have been a Liverpool fan if I had not found out about Arsenal first Given my love for great managerial Characters as well as the history of the game.
Hello hello! I'm a NE Ohio native, living in the Akron area. Soccer/football wasn't really part of my life growing up - more of a basketball family - but then suddenly all 4 of my brothers played. I couldn't follow anything that happened on the field, and found the offsides rule confusing (still do, no matter how many times my brother explains it to me I still think it's nonsense.) One brother went on to play goalie in college (mostly on the bench) and then coached at our alma mater where he went back to teach so I'd go to games periodically.The same brother introduced me to the podcast 2012ish, and I loved everything about it, despite not knowing any of the teams, managers, players, etc. I'm an Anglophile and love British humour, and thought the entire show was hysterical. It helped that Rog is a reader so I'd get book suggestions periodically. Eventually I started turning on football Saturday and Sunday mornings, and developed a better understanding of the game, which helped me follow the ins-and-outs of the podcast a bit better.
I started working in the UK in 2015, going back and forth for 2-3 weeks at a time. I was working in Wigan (Go Warriors) but would stay in Liverpool and fell in love. I still love the city and and try to visit every chance I get. Was out on the town with a coworker one night, chatted up some blokes who were all Everton fans, and the rest is history. After falling in love with the city I knew I was going to pick Liverpool or Everton, and we were all going to go to a match so I didn't want to be the lone red in a sea of blue. Plus I look better in blue.
I can't say that I'm a serious follower of the game. I only pay attention to the EPL and sometimes wonder if I'm dedicating too much of my life to it. But it's the only sport I watch consistently and my phone regularly has a tab open in Safari looking at this week's EPL matches. I now consistently use the words football and pitch, although haven't quite incorporated 'kit' into my vocabulary. Typing this out Saturday morning without Rebecca and the Robbies on the TV is gutting right now, and (to loosely quote Rog) I will thank the gods old and new when football is back in my life.
Thanks JW for organizing this group. I like the book suggestions on the pod, and it's nice to have recommendations from other GFOPs.
Beth wrote: "After falling in love with the city I knew I was going to pick Liverpool or Everton, and we were all going to go to a match so I didn't want to be the lone red in a sea of blue. Plus I look better in blue."Hello Beth, sorry it took so long to post here but it's nice to meet you and so sorry for choosing Everton but at least you are graced with a prophet and ambassador in Rog.
Courage,
Producer Jordan