British football fans in the U.S.

[mjrbaseball]

For Americans who root for a team in the Premiereship, how did you come upon making that team your favorite?

(And I suppose this could go in the inverse -- People who don't live in the U.S., why do you favor a certain MLB, NFL, NBA team or whatever?)

I am a backer of Tottenham Hotspur. The only reason is that a character in a book I read long ago was a fan of "The Spurs," and it just kind of stuck with me. ... (FWIW, the book was "84, Charing Cross Road.")

[TFoA]

When I first began to seriously follow the EPL (around 2008), at first I went for Aston Villa because someone on here suggested that their closest counterpart in the US was the Braves. So I went with that for about a year & a half...then I decided to adopt a second team so I could watch a bit more. That's when I decided on Manchester City. Then this happened:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GoLTRft53E8

Go to 1:44

Yeah, it was a huge dick move on Adebayor's part, but it was still awesome. Then this happened:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XlAQpFO6YvY

2nd leg of last year's Carling Cup semi-final. Although City would lose the Semi Finals in excruciating fashion, this is the exact moment when City went from #2 to #1 for me. I wanted them to win SO badly, and it sucked like hell to see them lose in that fashion. I figured if I felt THAT bad after a City loss, just imagine how good it'll feel to see them actually win something big. So that was when I decided, W-L-D, to be for City.

Plus, cool stuff like the uniforms being awesome ever since their switch to Umbro & the fact that Man City has a link to Atlanta (they played the old NASL Chiefs twice in 1968. The Chiefs won both times, which led to whoever City's manager was at the time to claim that Atlanta was "the best soccer city in the US" or something to that degree. Plus, I got to see them play a game in the Georgia Dome during their US Summer Tour.), City just grew onto me once I began to really follow the EPL. I tried to choose a team in the beginning, but the team ended up choosing me.

[Don]

I don't necessarily have a favorite Premiership team, but in the same vein I am a huge FC Barcelona fan. Watched them on tour here in the USA and I fell in love with their style of play, and of course, Leo Messi doesn't hurt either. They are such a fun team to watch.

[Viper]

Arsenal, on account of (1) having a Gooner as an in-law and (2) Arsenal moving into their new stadium right at the time I was looking for a team to adopt; I figured the club's new era was a perfect time to get on board.

[lightning25]

Kinda hard to explain why, but my favorite British team is Chelsea FC. Idk why, I just saw an ad for the Champions League a few years, ago, and I just liked them.

NOTE: The reason I put "British" in bold text is because my overall favorite team in soccer is FC Bayern Munich. I can give a reason for that: Miroslav Klose is awesome.

[Mac the Knife]

Stoke City fan here, and a relatively new devotee of the game and the team. And the honest reason I decided to pull for the Potters? Their logo crest. Nothing more than that.

[Still MIGHTY]

I became a Manchester United fan in kind of a stupid way

In one of favorite movies, Eurotrip in 2004, the two main guys get lost in London and end up at a bar, that they come to find out is a members only bar for the members of the Manchester United fan club. Then hilarity with the soccer hooligans ensues. And I had always thought that Man United was a fictional team they made for the movie.

Then as I started to pay some attention to soccer in 2005 for World Cup Qualifying for the 2006 WC, I found out that Manchester United was an actual team. I found this out through some friends I met in high school who were big soccer fans and EPL fans (Arsenal and Aston Villa fans). So I decided to say that I was a Man United fan and they always got so mad and I didn't know why and I thought it was funny to get them ticked off for something I didn't know about. I had known nothing of their success and their dubbing as the "Yankees of the EPL" and at the time I didn't really care because I thought it was so funny. Once I figured out they were a real team and I took more of an actual interest in soccer, I decided to follow them because I knew of them.

[MattF]

A Villan here. I found them circa 03 on random EPL highlight shows I would find on TV. I liked the name and they had this really good player named Juan Pablo Angel, who became my favorite player. 7 years later I'm obsessed.

[Gothamite]

Arsenal member here.

I fell in love with their game. My first match was Arsenal/Chelsea. I had intended to be a Chelsea fan, since my NYC nabe was named after the hospital, but within a few minutes I was Arsenal all the way. Plus my wife used to live in North London after uni, so I have the local connection.

Now my sons are Arsenal fans because I am. And when the time is right, my season tickets will be theirs.

[fumbler]

Aussie but i back Liverpool.

[Alphabet Man]

Manchester United - beacuse they are St Kilda colours (when they dont add in blue)

Seattle Sonics - when I was 5 I got a Sonics singlets.... now I go for no one in the NBA

Arizona Diamondbacks - because Eric (on these forums ages ago) sent me a cap

[wildwing64]

Interesting thread - even though I don't like Soccer/British football at all, despite the fact that I hail from Britain

But here's a funny story for you all anyway: when I was little, I claimed to support Tottenham Hotspur. That was in a class activity thing where we told everyone what our favourite team was - bear in mind that I had zero interest or knowledge of the sport back then, and I ended up saying Tottenham because someone else before me said it, and it was easy to remember.

Then a number of different factors came into me losing interest altogether, including both the fact that I never saw a single game on TV, as well as my own parents 'antagonising' me (for lack of better term) with sing-song chants of "West Haam, Uniiited!", and claims that everyone in the family including my newborn baby brother were West Ham supporters. And this was despite the fact that neither of my parents have ever cared about football except when England are playing. I think they were more concerned about my safety, but yeah, I flat out lost interest in football and never picked up on it again.

And then sometime in '97, a certain cartoon series about a team of hockey playing ducks from outer space appeared on TV. It was awesome. This led to me developing a lingering interest in ice hockey in the back of my mind for many years, again, despite having not seen the sport in person. Then eventually, I picked up NHL Hitz 20-02 for the GameCube, and through this along with the internet discovered that the team from that cartoon I watched as a kid, the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim, were a real team. And I've been a fan ever since.

[Billy B]

I picked Tottenham Hotspur originally just because I like their uniforms. Usually this doesn't work to find a true favourite team, since you don't really have any connection to the team when you start watching. But as I started watching (and playing FIFA always helps too), they stareted feeling like a real favourite team. I was happy when they won, disappointed when they lose, etc.

[officeglenn]

Another Arsenal fan here. When I started watching Premiership soccer on a regular basis in college, they were one of the few teams that were on TV on a regular basis, and I loved their style of play. I also knew a little about the Premier League, or at least enough to know that I didn't want to support Manchester United.

[TalktoChuck]

As far as the EPL goes, I am a fan of Tottenham Hotspur. Like 6 years ago, my friends and I took a quiz on the good old myspace called "Which EPL Team Should I Root For?" and I got the Spurs. So, I started following them and learning more about them. This lead to me becoming a huge fan of the team and the league as a whole.

[crashcarson15]

I'm an Aston Villa fan mainly because of their uniforms and colours.

Also, I love the appeal of the good but not arrogantly great year-in-year-out team that AVFC is. I'm starting to fall in love with the (original) Claret and Blue.

[rmered]

Grew up in Aus getting to stay up late to watch the FA Cup with my dad.

In 1979 Arsenal played Man U and Man U were favorites to win.

So I decided to cheer for Arsenal.

They went 2-0 up, only to see Man U score twice in the last two minutes to equalise.

Then, in injury time Alan Sunderland scored the winner, and I've been an Arsenal fan ever since.

In NFL, the Patriots were the underdogs going in to the last game of 1985.

They beat Cincinnati, the AFC Central winners in the last game to make the playoffs.

Then, as underdogs, they beat the Jets, Raiders and Dolphins to make the Super Bowl.

Been a fan ever since.

Red Sox, because they were based in Boston, and I was by then a Patriots fan.

My cousin is a Celtics fan, and one summer we decided that if he would follow the Pats, I would follow the Celtics.

[BrianVlietDesign]

I became a Man U fan more particularly based upon the team's precensce. I'm also very intrigued by their history and love the shield.