Men's Soccer (Football) Thread Soccer • Page 433

Thought this was interesting. Zealand, the FM/football YouTuber, attended his first English football game at a PL ground (Everton), and compares it to his experience attending US sports.

 

Yeah it’s crazy how much European soccer is a mix of American college football, baseball and the brevity of something like hockey that you KNOW the game will end within 2.5 hours even if there is overtime. I’m very jealous of that connection and that the teams don’t pack up and move away because the citizens won’t publicly fund a new stadium.

 

Hmmmm this has given me the idea to sign Eric Garcia.

 

Watkins reads this thread.

 

I always say the closest thing to the fandom is that of college football. And structure wise I feel like American basketball system is closest in terms of identifying young talent and making things happen for them.

 

It’s the stuff I never thought about that got me.

Like how your poor public transport in many cities, lack of walkability, and largely out-of-town stadia locations mean that everyone literally parks at most stadiums, and so you have those tailgate parties. That’s so different from what I experience, and I never thought about it before tbh. Pretty cool how different the cultures are. I’d go to one of them to see what it’s like and how it differs from the pub beforehand, I imagine it’s like a big party vibe?

Will never understand the whole teams moving city to the other side of the country though. Happened once here and everyone basically hates them with a burning passion.

 

I think that’s what makes college football so special in a lot of ways vs the NFL. Most of the stadiums are plopped in the middle of campus with no real good places to park or your classic bars/restaurants.

My local university has the 7th largest stadium in the US/10th in the world and people are parking and walking up to 4 miles. So the tailgates literally take over the entire campus and downtown areas. I park at work and then meander along the river and through a bunch of the tailgate areas looking for people I know.

College football is also where you find the tradition that exists in footy culture. I truly think it’s one of the most fun spectacles and greatest things to be a part of. And I’ve felt that before like in the Camp Nou or a huge game in Udine. It’s that marriage of community and sport.

(I was born and raised in Tampa, so like that YouTuber I’m a lifelong Bucs fan. The stadium is just surrounded by miles of dirt parking lots and nothing else.)

 

See like for American football, it's perfect to me because it's all I've ever known. I have Giants season tickets. I get there with my dad and my buddies around 10am. We drink, eat, and relax in the parking lot until about 12:40pm and then head into the stadium to get ready for kickoff. It's what I grew up experiencing and kinda all I've ever known, but when I really separate what I am used to from it... it's kind of shitty. Getting to the stadium if you don't want to drive is a pain in the ass. It's in the middle of the swamps of New Jersey so if you live in New Jersey, you kinda have to drive. If you live in New York City, you can take the train but they run at awkward times so if you miss your train in a drunken stupor or just bad timing, you might be stranded for awhile. I live on Staten Island which is the only part of NYC that has absolutely garbage options for public transit so I'm forced to drive regardless unless I want to take the ferry into NYC then the train to New Jersey which adds an hour to my commute.

I kind of love the idea of how stadiums in the UK are in the neighborhoods and so easily accessible if you want to walk around or go bar to bar beforehand. Now I get that it's also because the clubs are so old and the cities in the UK are so old but like it's hilarious that the Jets were thinking about building their own stadium in Manhattan and no one was excited by it... because it would just make traffic and public transportation even worse. We were supposed to get a NASCAR track on Staten Island and there were like riots about it, haha. We just don't have the infrastructure to build stadiums into neighborhoods and it's kind of sad.

 

I went to a Vanderbilt/Missouri game a few years ago and it was an awesome experience. We walked around a bunch of tailgates and started talking to people and strangers were inviting us to come drink and eat with them. Being from New York helped because people like to bug us about the accents and the lifestyle so it's a good icebreaker. It's why I go to Tennessee every year. You can't beat it.

 

That's cool, and definitely much more than what I'm used to. I love the tradition of a match day. Getting to Holloway Road and going to the pub or bar that "your" guys go to. Couple of drinks there, and you begin the walk to the stadium, picking up people you vaguely know as a tribe, through the streets. Local houses that become stalls, decorated in red and white, the buildings with murals of the players, and then you round the corner and see this massive stadium amongst the winding streets and the massive "ARSENAL" letters and statues, and everyone milling about in the large space outside. It still gets me excited after all these years because I am deeply, deeply lame.

So I think I would definitely be more into the "vibe" of college football ha. Do you just support the college you went to, or do you go for the one that was nearest to you growing up? I sorta follow the NFL when I can, and have a team, but that's about as far into US sports as I go.

 

I think it still sounds fun ha! Plus, it's cool you go with your dad as well as your friends. I used to go to every Arsenal game with my dad, but he's unable to now so I tend to just go with two friends of mine. I don’t go as often atm, but still feel bad sometimes if I go to a big game or whatever and can't celebrate with him.

 

Vandy/Mizzou is such a random matchup to go to, I love it.

Next time you come down to KnoxVegas, let me know.

 

My mom was actually a Tennessee cheerleader in the 80s, so I was born into this fandom. we moved back here when I was 17. If you go by where I was actually born, I should’ve been a Florida/Florida State/Miami (USF in Tampa wasn’t really a thing until much later in my life) fan. But it’s that whole family thing that gets instilled.

I’ve seen a lot of kids choose flashy teams or rivals of their parents teams that don’t quite make sense to me because the Vols are like a huge family pillar.

I was thinking about this a lot at the first game this weekend. Which traditions I never want to miss. Etc.

 

Absolutely. I was in Nashville and that happened to be the game that was going on. It was a pretty awesome game. Mizzou was ranked 21 and were leading most of the game. Vandy came back in the fourth and won it.

 

Going with my dad is my favorite part. He’s been an emotional wreck since my mom died a few years ago. Going to the games with him and my buddies kind of takes him away from it. He has so much fun.

 

I was in Nashville in 2016 for Beyoncé. Vandy/Florida was that day (Florida won). Tennessee beat Georgia on that Hail Mary in Athens. Broadway was absolutely INSANE between the crowds.

 

I spent like 20 hours in Nashville and hated it. Can’t imagine a city that is less of my interests lol.

 

Bite your tongue!

 

I avoid Broadway like the plague, but that night was a blast. East Nashville is really cool and not overrun with bachelorette parties.

 

I stayed at a hotel that overlooked the predators arena and my wife and I got in at like 6 pm. We go to walk around downtown and I stepped in a puddle of vomit within like 20 mins and a bunch of bros were going crazy for kid rocks bar so we went back to our hotel bar and ate and went to bed. It’s country Vegas which I’m not too into

we had a great time in Memphis tho that’s more my speed.

 

I 100% believe that, haha. My friend and I saw Mumford & Sons there in 2019 and planned to go out on Broadway afterwards. (The Stage used to have amazing cover bands that were so much fun.) We walked out of Bridgestone and looked at Broadway and immediately walked back to our hotel instead.

 

Broadway is so my vibe to be fair. I get how it’s not everyone’s thing. I don’t drink anymore but some of my best memories were meeting the most random people from around the country drunk at the bars. You run into some interesting people.

 

This makes me want pro/rel in college football/basketball.

 

I think @CarpetElf did a spreadsheet for this once.