The Beautiful Game & The EPL

Well the "beautiful game" is back once again with Saturday's start of the English (or Barclay's) Premier League  (EPL) action. Just what exactly is the EPL you ask?  It's funny I've had several people ask me what I'm all on about lately with this whole EPL thing, etc.  I've been a pretty big soccer (grr football) fan since the World Cup back in 2004 and of course followed this World Cup very closely. In both World Cups I supported the USA until they were done and then my support goes to England.  I'm not sure when but at some point I learned that when the World Cup is over the good players go back to England and play in the EPL.  About a year ago I got FiOS and was able to get access to the Fox Soccer Channel (FSC) which carries the EPL games here in the US.

Back to the EPL though what is it? Well it's a football league in England that is comprised of the best of the best football clubs in the country. Even if you're not a huge football die-hard you've probably at least heard in passing of Manchester United, Chelsea, Liverpool, Arsenal well the EPL is where they play. In trying to explanin it to my fellow Americans I've tried to get them to think of it as the NBA or MLB of football (okay I use soccer when talking to them) in that it is the place where the best football players in the world go to play...period. If you're the best basketball player in Croatia or baseball player in Japan you go to the NBA or MLB. If you're the best football player in the Ivory Coast, you go to the EPL. For some reason this analogy confuses them which confused me until I thought about it more today. It occurred to me that this analogy doesn't really work for Americans because the idea that America isn't the best at something in sports isn't something we're used to. 

Football vs. soccer? Let's get one thing straight in the EPL they play football. It's fast, it's hard, it's intense, and it's the most exciting and competitive that you'll ever see the sport played, for many matches that includes the World Cup.  The fans are as intense as any in the world and I love listening to a whole stadium full of football fans singing to rally their club.  Aside from the traditions though the sport is exciting, anyone who thinks otherwise hasn't seen a topflight match it's just that simple. I think the uninterrupted flow (stoppage time is something else my American sports fans struggle to understand) and scarcity of goals make them much more spectacular when they come. It's like diamonds they're devalued quickly without the scarcity. When you see a goal in a match with two topflight teams and the best players in the world you know you've seen something special.

Man United. Yeah I'm a bit of a Manchester United supporter which is actually pretty weird for me because normally I don't tend to root for the dominant team in a sport.  I don't root for the Yankees and I don't root for the Lakers.  I guess some of my ManU loyalty comes from being a Beckham fan back in World Cup 2004 the rest comes from growing up in America's Manchester and so having some kind of (okay probably manufactured) connection to Manchester, UK. Plus when ManU is at their best it's everything I love about the game, slick plays, great passes, impossible saves, and spectacular goals.  Of course like all sports when they're at their worst it's $$, $$, $$, to many foreign players?, to many foreign owners?, how much for a beer?! and the EGOS. Honestly though find me a sport that couldn't lay claim to those same gripes, but we show up to cheer on the home side and all those other things make for good water cooler chat when they aren't on the field.

The Americans. As a result of the World Cup this year I'm also following Everton and Fulham clubs closely. Tim Howard, goalie for the US Men's National Team plays for Everton and Clint Dempsey plays for Fulham. Of course I try to support the MLS as I can and I absolutely agree that in order for the US to compete internationally we need a domestic league that compete with the likes of the EPL or the German Bundesliga. I think we're a ways form that being a reality and the jury may still have a foot out the door on the matter of whether the MLS is going to be the domestic league to achieve that success. 

How. So how to watch? Well that's a good question ESPN is going to be carrying more games this season as a result of the World Cup success and hopefully that will raise awareness of things here in the US.  If you get Fox Soccer Channel they carry at least two or three games a weekend (most games are Saturday or Sunday morning EDT). If you're nuts like me for $14 a month you can get access to foxsoccer.tv and get near HD quality streams of basically every game played. 

The season started with Tottenham Hotspur (Spurs) vs. Manchester City and the expectations are crazy high for Man City this season (largely because the spent truckloads of $$$) and the match ended in a 0-0 draw but the Spurs had some amazing chances all game and Man City's keeper Joe Hart is to be commended to ensuring the Spurs didn't convert. As many said, one of the better 0-0 games you could have. I then watched Blackburn v. Everton and Tim Howard give up an early gift goal when he dropped a ball inside the 20' mark of the match which ended 1-0. About the 75' mark Fulham decided to put Dempsey on the pitch as a sub and I flipped over to that match to watch it end in a 0-0 draw as well.  Looking forward to two of the big boys with Liverpool facing Arsenal! Beyond that looking forward to a great season beyond and trying to watch as many matches live as I can!