First off, I want to apologize for missing the one-year anniversary of the site.  I’ve been working on other projects for most of the year, but I feel like it’s worth mentioning.  Feel free to take a look at the first post.

I’ve had this United article in my head for months, but never had time to put pen to paper (er, yeah).

I’m not going to spend a lot of time on it.  I may flesh it out in a later post, but I think it can be traced back to three things:

1) The 2008 Champions League final and Liverpool/Chelsea semi-final.  I learned a lot about Chelsea from my friends during the Liverpool/Chelsea final.  It made me hate Chelsea.  When United played them in the final I had a clear favorite.

2) Tim Howard playing for United. I didn’t have Fox Soccer Channel until mid-2008 when I moved to Madison, so I missed Howard’s career at United, but I knew it was a big deal for an American to play there.  I’m a goalkeeper, so it had particular significance to me.

3) Indoor shoes had United victory on it.  I don’t remember when I got my first pair of indoor shoes, but they were Umbro (I still wear them for futsal).  It was probably in 2001/2002 as that winter was the first time I played indoor.  There was a news clip on them about United being European champions and that piqued my curiosity.

Here are four more I’ve learned that I love…with virtually no explanation due to time constraints:

1) Loyalty to players and Ferguson.  Yes, this loyalty is based on results, but it’s a two-way street with Scholes and Giggs staying put for so long.

2) Never say die attitude

3) Wayne Rooney.  I don’t like him as much as I used to due to probably obvious reasons, but I like his tenacity.  Dennis Rodman is my favorite basketball player, so you can see I like scrappers and not pretty boys.

4) I live very close to Manchester Rd and Manchester Park.  There’s a Chelsea Rd and a Tottenham very close as well, but Manchester is on my side of the tracks, as it were.

It wasn’t until I was getting paid (as a contractor, not full time) to coach at TFC that I paid any attention to European football.  I remember people discussing the Liverpool/Milan European final and people still saying that Arsenal was the best team in the world.  The funny thing is they didn’t win the EPL that year…by a large margin.

I think what was so interesting about their discussion in that conference room was that I had no idea you could even watch European matches in the states.

I’ve got a big futsal tournament coming up in late March, so don’t expect to hear back from me until then…unless practices spark some deep thoughts.