Saturday, June 23, 2007

Moving to Barcelona





















I just realized one good possibility about this sad news--the girlfriend & I are planning a trip to Spain next spring and if somehow I could finagle tickets to a Barça game I could still maybe see him play live.

Now, of course, if they didn't before, Barcelona have the most frightening offense in soccer. What are they going to do, just have Eto'o of all people sit bench? They would almost have to sell him, but if not to Arsenal as part of a TH trade, then what?

3 comments:

Ryland Walker Knight said...

This is pretty wild. I would love to see that team in person... but I would also love to have the money necessary to see that team in person. These football clubs really know how to spend money.

Makes you wonder what somebody like Carl Pohlad is doing, busy not trying to win but rather is busy trying to profit. I love baseball but MLB is completely fucked. Not to say world football is better by any stretch of the imagination but at least there's a wild drive to win, no matter the cost. It's kind of like, what if more baseball owners were like Steinbrenner? I don't know if there would be as much parity but there would be more rooting interest, I think.

I mean, fandom is silly no matter how you slice it -- we should really be rooting for the best games possible, not the best teams -- but if one elects to be a fan of one team (for fun? for life?) does it necessarily have to be a geographical thing? I really loathe the Red Sox but worse I loathe Red Sox fans from places-not-Boston around the country. What is that? I still love Miguel Tejada, even though he's become slightly embittered and now he's on the DL for the first time ever and even though he's not on the A's. What is that?

I don't really know where I'm going with this since I've strayed from world football but there's some interesting ideas here, I think. I think sports fandom is great -- and so are specific sports, like world football and baseball -- but wholly fucked and complicated when you really think about it. All that really means this, I think: for a little while longer TH will be bomb to watch no matter where he plays but to imagine the new Barça team with him is pretty wild. Redundant, yes, but, shit: that's some news...

ZC said...

Ryland, all the Arsenal blogosphere seems a bit panicked. I don't know, though. It's said that Henry hasn't liked being a captain for such a young, inexperienced team these last couple years--it was a strain. But Arsenal's youngsters performed pretty fucking well (if inconsistently) especially given that Henry and Robin van Persie were injured for so much of the year. As long as Wenger brings in about three really good additions the team should be more than steady enough. They're already only more experienced, more hardened than ever before.

The only good side effect (for me) if Arsenal do go through a slump is that I'll be able to earn my 'supporter' status. I'm still a pretty new fan and so really I just feel a bit pretentious even saying I'm a fan, since I've got no connection to the team. (I just love their style of play, and Wenger's reliance on a youth system--that's what sold me once I started following English football for real.) When the current glory-and-near-glory era really passes, if it hasn't already, I'll still be there.

I believe sports/club fandom kind of satisfies or aggravates the same as regionalism or nationalism, but I think since it's more containable it's a little healthier. The most patriotic I get is when USA's playing in the World Cup.

Anyway, I'm rambling, myself. I hope I don't make you hate me when I say I'm a Red Sox 'well wisher.' Not a fan; I don't actually like baseball much. But it's the influence of Boston fans, a handful of dear college friends with whom I watched the '03 and '04 playoffs, and learned the back stories (from a Boston perspective). C'est la vie.

Ryland Walker Knight said...

"I believe sports/club fandom kind of satisfies or aggravates the same as regionalism or nationalism, but I think since it's more containable it's a little healthier. The most patriotic I get is when USA's playing in the World Cup."

How could I hate on that? Hate is too strong anyways. I guess it's the blind fans that piss me off. Or, worst of all, people from The Bay who root for Da Sox. Whenever Boston comes to town the Coliseum is sold out, which is good, but it's got more gd Sox fans than A's fans, which is deplorable. I guess we A's fans should accept some of the blame (the East Bay is kind of a fair weather fanbase) but it will never cease to amaze, and annoy, me.

As for patriotic World Cup watching, I'm totally with you. Except, to be bashfully honest, since seeing The New World while living in NYC (I was there for about a year), I've taken on this almost obscene brand of nostalgic patriotism for the myth of America. It's hardly practical but it feels right.