Blue Moon, You Saw Standing Me Alone, Without A Dream In My Heart, Without A Love Of My Own

--"Blue Moon", Ricky Hatton

I've liked the Red Sox since around 1987, ever since I started collecting and trading baseball cards. I don't know if it was the fact that they were perennial underdogs--what with the 87-year curse and all--or because of my supposed past life connection to Boston, but ever since I liked baseball as a sport, I've liked the Boston Red Sox.

Yes, I've liked other sports and other teams at different times in my life. I mean--I still follow the USC Trojans because they're my alma mater. And I still tend to root for the Minnesota Wild simply because they have to got to have the coolest NHL logo I've ever seen. And, yes, in recent years since I started playing fantasy basketball and football I've started to grow attached to the two particular teams from New Orleans, the Hornets and the Saints. But no other team in any other sport has captivated me with their personal history of loving the art of losing so grandly than the Red Sox. No other team has piqued my interest for relishing their proclivity for screwing the pooch than the Sawx.

Until now.


now I'm no longer alone

Ziggy and Zags recently came back from a whirlwind trip through England and they brought with them various tales of hanging out with the locals at a few football matches. They were so taken with the culture and the climate of these sporting events that they started following along with the Premier League in earnest ever since they've been back. In the process co-opted me into following the league myself.

Event though it's been rather difficult to follow on with piddly little coverage of the sport over here in the states, I've found myself motivated to keep up with the results on ESPN and various other sources. At first, I was just watching to make fun of the gals, but somewhere along the way I've started to notice more and more of its charms. And along the way I started to realize I could never call myself a real fan until I had a team to root far. After all, anyone could say they enjoy soccer, but it isn't until you take the last step and actually declare your allegiance that you truly become a fan. In the spirt I've found myself being more and more drawn to one team in particular.

Manchester City Football Club.

As Wikipedia puts it:

City supporters tend to believe that unpredictability is an inherent trait of their team, and label unexpected results "typical City". Events that fans regard as "typical City" include City's being the only reigning English champions ever to be relegated (in 1938), the only team to score and concede over 100 goals in the same season (1957–58), or the more recent example that City were the only team to beat Chelsea in the 2004–05 Premier League, yet in the same season City were knocked out of the FA Cup by Oldham Athletic, a team two divisions lower.

That aesthetic just reminds me of the Red Sox before 2004 when it was almost a religion to note each and every failure at clinching a World Series to whomever would listen. I don't know--something about rooting for a team whose fans love them not only despite their misgivings but also because of them speaks to the romantic in me. I've never been one to root for the established and dominant power in a sport; for me it's much more satisfying to love a team who just can never go all the way than root for a team for whom a championship is all but a foregone conclusion. Not only that, it's much more relaxing to follow a team whose chances of dominance are negligible... and then have them win anyway then to follow a team whose chances are good, only to have them rot it away.

The other thing that drew the romantic eye in me for City is the fact the "official" unofficial chant for the Blues is "Blue Moon." That's a song I've always loved as a representative of the whole doowop genre. It's always been the best example of the "wistful and forlorn" aesthetic I've admired for awhile. However, in the hands of City fans, who bust the song out with gusto, it becomes nothing short of a heroic anthem.

So, who knows, this may be my only season liking the team or I may just continue to follow them for seasons to come. All I know is through it all it gives a warm feeling to me to be part of that following for a team that is as unorthodox as I am. Or as the local fans like to say, "Typical City." LOL

Yours Swimmingly,
mojo shivers