What a crazy year for my sports
fandom it has been. The NFL season saw my Cowboys give me hope, just to come
crashing down a few weeks later (as usual…). Then comes the hockey season,
where I got to endure the soap opera that is Sidney Crosby. When will he come
back? Will he be the same player? Finally, when the Penguins were whole again,
they were unstoppable, at least until the playoffs where they fell apart in the
third period of game 1. After that, it was all downhill for them (they tried to
comeback, but dug themselves too deep). Then there is the NBA. The Bulls
dominated the entire year, with or without their MVP Derrick Rose. Watching
game 1 of the playoffs, it was easy to see that they were going to dispose of
the 76ers quickly and the championship run was on! Well, until it happened.
D-Rose made one of his signature moves and he tore his ACL. Now, the Bulls are
against the ropes and likely to be knocked out by the lowly 76ers in the next
few days. As a Twins fan, I will ignore that there is currently baseball being
played.
This brings me to my newest team, Manchester City
When I first started working in
soccer three years ago, I decided I needed to get fully involved (copyright
Firehouse Subs… mmm, this makes me hungry) and pick a premiership team. This
led to a week of research into what team I would want to support. I knew I
didn’t want to support ManU, Chelsea, or Arsenal, since it seems that is who
everyone in the US
likes, and I tend to go against the grain. I also knew that I didn’t want to
pick a team that would perennially fight for relegation (Sorry Sunderland). I
wanted a team that was in the top half, but still had an underdog feel to them.
The final choice came down to Tottenham, Everton, and City. The tipping point
was that City had Robinho on their team, and I was a fan of his. Of course, his
time at City was uninspiring and short-lived, but my fandom stayed. In the next
couple of years leading up to this season, a lot of money was spent. I mean a
lot of money. Seriously, if you don’t know much about this, look it up. In a
way, I did not like that the team I chose turned out to be ridiculously rich
(they were purchased by an oil sheikh shortly before I started following them),
but then I decided it was nice to support the wealthy team for once.
Fast forward to this year. City was
unstoppable early on. They could not be stopped, or even slowed down. They
showed some flaws playing in Champions league. Then there was the loss to Chelsea . It was
frustrating to see them lose that game, but they were bound to lose one game,
right? But then they lost to Sunderland .
REALLY??? SUNDERLAND ??? They hit a low point
when they lost to Arsenal. Not saying that there is anything bad about losing
to the Gunners. They had gone from having a seemingly impossible to lose lead
in the league to being down 8 points with only six matches to go. They were
done. United would never mess that up. They were the model of consistency and
winning. But they did. Now, there is one match left for all teams and the Manchester clubs are tied
in points. City has a +8 goal differential over United, which is the first
tie-breaker. Hope is back!
All that is left for City to do is
win against a team fighting to be 17th, just outside of relegation.
Should be easy right? I am having a hard time getting excited for this game.
After all the heartbreak I have suffered via sports this year, I’m more nervous
than anything. I can see it now. We will tie QPR and United will win and get
the title, leaving me crushed.
Sports hurt…
P.S. – All games in the final week are played at the exact
same time. No team gets a time advantage over any other. I love this so much.
Genius, pure genius! Also, for the first time, all games will be airing on US stations.
Every. Last. Game. No words can describe how awesome this is.
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