Why I'm Forever Blowing Bubbles

No offense to the MLS, but the  English Premier League (which now has another official name that I refuse to use because we all have enough corporate sponsorship in our lives) is the biggest soccer league in the United States. It's got the quality and star power the MLS can only dream about and a television package that La Liga and Serie A would kill to have. It's the only league to have coverage on a major network -- the occasional game on NBC, weekly coverage on NBC Sports Network, which may seem like a niche channel but is fucking omnipresent compared to beIn Sport. It's the league that's on at pubs and restaurants every Saturday morning. The fact that pubs and restaurants will open on Saturday morning strictly to show these games speaks to how entrenched it is in American soccer culture.

It's sad, though, because of all the people I know that watch the Premiership I would approximate that 90% of them follow one of the following teams: Manchester United, Chelsea, Arsenal, Liverpool. You knew which ones were coming before I even typed them. If we add Spurs into that equation the percentage jumps to about 98%. Which is fine, I suppose, because those are all excellent teams and they have exciting players and when you play with them in FIFA you probably won't lose. But they're not for me. I've sworn myself to West Ham United.

Just about every time this fact comes up, I get the same question. "Why do you want to root for West Ham?" To which I always want to counter "Why do you want to root for the Big 4?"

Photo by: "philosophy football." Licensed under CC BY 2.0/Flickr

 Sure, you get to win trophies and see the best players and you definitely won't get relegated. But where's the fun in cherry-picking the best team to root for when you start following a league? Nobody here in the US grew up with a soccer team the way we all did with a football team and a baseball team. We all chose these clubs at some point. And you picked one just because it was the best? Because you knew it was guaranteed to win on regular basis?

We hate teams like that in America! That's why everybody except New York assholes and frontrunners hate the Yankees. That's why the Dallas Cowboys still inspire such loathing, even though they've been mediocre for years. That's why everybody turned on the Miami Heat, when they brought in the biggest stars and turned them loose on the rest of the league. But when it comes to soccer, we all turned into bandwagon fans. I don't get it.

So why do I support West Ham, you ask. I began to follow soccer in 2005, the year after I started to play the sport. I knew for damn sure I didn't want a seat on the bandwagon of a Man. U or an Arsenal. That's not who I am. I never support the big dogs unless I have good reason to, and I had no good reason to root for the top sides. I wanted a team of mortals, not giants.

I won't lie to you, even through the anonymity of the internet: I had no good reason for settling on West Ham. I just liked the crest and the kits and saw they were in the middle of the table. But I was on board. I started to learn the squad, learn about the club, learn the history of the Irons --the good history, and the bad. And it was then I knew this was the only team for me.

Photo by: Ben Sutherland. Licensed under CC BY 2.0/Flickr.

We're not one of the glamor clubs. The club's most famous icon (Bobby Moore, in case I needed to spell it out) is a center back. A great center back, but never a flashy one. The perfect representation of a club from the East End. He wasn't the fastest or the strongest nor could he jump the highest. But he knew how to play the game the best. He out-thought opponents because he couldn't outrun them. And when it came down to it in the World Cup Final, England's most important match, he was the skipper and the one to get it done. Sadly, it's all been downhill from there.

Since I've been watching the team, we've never won a trophy, lost one of the most heartbreaking FA Cup finals in history, and spent a season in the purgatory of the Championship. I couldn't have picked a better team. Sure, I haven't seen any claret and blue confetti rain from the sky at Wembley, but I've had the joy of watching an ugly little Argentinian pull us back from the brink of relegation virtually singlehandedly. I got to witness Rob Green put on the greatest display of goalkeeping I've ever seen in the Emirates Stadium, and then saw Bobby Zamora make the 60,000 people inside it go so quiet you could hear his teammates congratulating him on TV. None of our managers have been knighted, but they've inspired some pretty good gallows humor from the crowd.

My favorite player -- Mark Noble -- isn't a foreigner that we paid $20 million to import, but a home-grown guy who loves the club and plays like his life depended on it. Through all the losses and goals conceded and that relegation I've grown to love this team and the game more. The whole of the team and the whole of the game. Not just the trophies and 4-0 cakewalk victories and Tuesday night Champions League matches. We don't always play beautiful soccer, but when we do you can be damn sure it's appreciated.

That's why I support West Ham. Because when I'm on the edge of my barstool, watching our defenders throw themselves in front of shots to preserve our clean sheet at Stamford Bridge, I know I've gotten the full experience of a supporter. Some of the moments I cherish most are the ones my friends who support the top clubs would never have gotten the chance to have enjoy. If we never got relegated, I wouldn't have had the happiness of watching Ricardo Vaz Te score in the Playoff Final to send us back up. And if (when) we get stomped by City and their billions of petro-dollars, that just makes it all the sweeter when we hang on for a point or even three in the return fixture.

So you all go ahead and cheer for the Goliaths of sport. West Ham and I will be waiting down here in mid-table with our sling, just waiting for our chance. And if the stars ever align and we do make it to a Cup Final or Europe, it will be even better than it is for you lot. Because we'll have earned it. The hard way.