First Day On The Pitch

As  frequent Redditor, it shocks me that I somehow missed a great April Fool's joke. The mods of /r/soccer and /r/NFL, from what I gathered, essentially switched the two subreddits; the result was mass confusion, enough jokes to still be sorting through the next day, and some who decided to stay and dibble dabble in the other sport thanks to a new peak of interest. Enter me, hankypanky44.

For most of my life, and all of my time on Reddit, the only two sports I have shown an interest in are football and baseball. The only time my life and soccer have crossed paths was a buddy's rec team I agreed to join the summer before I left for university. Having played lacrosse the last 9 years, the season became a yellow-card-ridden trial and error process of figuring out how much contact was allowed, and getting rid of the ball before something bad could happen that would end up resting on my shoulders. The Reddit crossover got me thinking that it wouldn't be hard to be a fan, so after the subreddits switched back I stayed on the eastern side of the pond to begin a journey.

There were already numerous threads started by others in the same position as me, so I figured this an excellent place to start. After hours upon hours of reading, it seemed my course of action was already laid: I would watch tons of games and let the team choose me, much in a Harry Potter's wand sort of way. This seems to induce some kind of extra close bond, which in the case of world class athletes I will say "no homo" but not object. I looked up the next good match to watch, and lucky for me it was tomorrow! Which is now today!!!

The match has just ended, for those of you who don't know it was FC Barcelona vs AC Milan, and ended 3-1 in Barca's (already working on my slang) favor. Going into this game, from my reading, I knew Barcelona was always a top contender in its league, and arguably the best in Spain and the world. I also knew Milan was the best in Italy and its league as well. But it seemed Barcelona always had bandwagon fans due to its success and was a flashy team. This greatly reminded me of our New England Patriots, a team I detest in the states, so I decided Barcelona was not a team I could get behind before the game even started.

During the game, I enjoyed watching it. It was obvious Milan didn't have much of a chance. Although Barcelona was clearly better, they were not extraordinarily interesting by any means. Messi, who I had read before was a great player, obviously fit his hype and it was easy to tell I was watching one of the great athletes of the sport. The few times Milan had the ball for an extended amount of time, they didn't exactly lose my interest. I would love to see this team against someone closer to their own caliber.

All in all, today was a great introduction to the sport. After being bombarded by the cornucopia of leagues and teams Europe has to offer, even crossing just one of my list of potential favorites feels like a good start. I look forward to my journey further into the sport, and will keep this updated as much as I can. I would love feedback, conversation, and discussion. Thanks!