Off-season Reflection

It's hard to believe that I've been writing this blog for over two months.  To those of you who have been reading Dragon and Bluebird and providing encouragement, or at least bemused indulgence, thank you so much!  This week marks the end of the Premier League off-season and it is time for the first of three gut checks for me.  

<Looks down at stomach>  Yep, I still have a gut.  Check.  Wokka wokka wokka.

I started this blog with the fundamental question of, "Can an average American learn to like professional soccer if they commit to following one club for an entire season?"  The Bluebirds' first league match is this coming Saturday, so I'll hold my comments on how much I like or dislike actually watching the sport for the moment.  I will however share with you the opinions I've formed on the Premier League itself.  

First the bad news

I think it's lame that the Premier League has no playoffs.  Yes, I understand that having a double round robin season gives you a pretty darn good idea how strong each club is relative to the others.  But there's something (just had to delete "un-American", trying not to be a lout about this) missing without playoffs and a final championship.  

There are 38 matches in the Premier League season, and I don't question that the players get fired up for each one.  But meeting a team in the regular season just   seems like "all in a day's work".  The addition of a "do or die" single elimination tournament post-season makes a good sport a great sport.  Case closed.

Another thing that I don't like is the unlimited club spending on players.  There isn't even a token attempt at achieving league parity through drafts, salary caps, or luxury taxes.  The result of this is that a "good season" for most Premier League clubs is a top 50% finish.  And for the bottom six or seven clubs, success is defined as not being the worst  club (i.e. 18th place or lower).  I prefer leagues where every team at least conceptually could come in first place.

The last item I want to rant about at this time is the animosity expressed by the fans.  I'm told that in terms of physical violence, English football today is infinitely more tame than in the 80s.  Be that as it may, apparently all that aggression gets channeled now into internet comments.  I'm not being a wuss, I just think that the level of uncivil discourse that goes on between Premier League fans is best suited for prison showers.  But if your cup of tea is dropping the "c word" at least five times per comment thread, then cheers mate!

Now the good news

There are without question things that I've found to like in the Premier League.  I think the promotion and relegation concept is novel and exciting.  It improves the overall quality of matches within the league, gives lower tier clubs a goal for which to strive, and creates interesting storylines in the last few weeks of the regular season.  I think introducing promotion and relegation into MLB would inject some much needed energy into "America's Pastime".

Another thing that I really like is the international feel of Premier League.  Yes, all American major league sports have players from across the globe.  But there's something interesting about these players coming from legitimate, comparable leagues in their home countries.  I like the feeling that I'm seeing the best players in the world in a sport that the rest of the world actually plays.  And there have been a few instances already where I've learned something about countries other than Wales while doing research for this blog. 

The last item I want to mention that I genuinely like is the passion of the fans.  Earlier, I dinged Premier League fans for being internet trolls; that's unfair and too broad of a brushstroke.  I'm severely impressed by the level of passion that these fans have for their clubs.  These people don't just wear the club jersey on gameday, they live for their clubs.  It shows when they hang on every ounce of transfer rumor and when they go to the mats at the slightest hint of affront to their club's quality.  And clearly NBC recognizes this as the sport's greatest selling point; it's the focus of all their commercials for the upcoming season.  

I should also mention that I think the fans can be hilarious.  This week Cardiff City signed Gary Medel, a midfielder from La Liga (Spain's equivalent to Premier League).  Depending on who you ask, Medel is either a "robust mid-field general" or an "artless thug".  Immediately upon signing, Twitter lit up with #garymedelfacts...a Chuck Norris-inspired set of hyperbolic claims about Gary Medel.  Some notable examples:

• He can eat soup with a fork
• He once punched a horse in the jaw, this is how giraffes were created
• He once strangled a man...with a cordless phone
• He fell off a plastic chair and got so angry he destroyed it with just his foot...he now has a vendetta against all chairs

Bottom line, do I like professional soccer yet?  Ehhhhhh.  Let's say that I like it enough to be excited to watch the season opener.  That in of itself is an enormous step forward.  There is no question, I am definitely invested in Cardiff City as a club and would be bummed if they got relegated at the end of the season.  But I won't lie to you and say I "like" soccer just yet, so stay tuned for my mid-season and end of season gut checks to see if I become a convert.  

As part of that journey, my good friend Tony suggested to me that if I really want to get into Premier League, I should join their official fantasy game.  I took him up on his advice and it's actually pretty cool.  So one of my regular features going forward will be updates on my squad, the "Cardiff'rent Strokes".

That concludes my off-season posts.  Cardiff City's first match is against West Ham United on Saturday, August 17th.  My regular season posts will keep you up to date on the club's results, league standings, my fantasy club progress, and interesting bits of soccer and British culture.

Thanks for reading and see you next week!