<\/p>\n
This weekend marks the start of the best soccer in the world- the English Premier League- and a great many of you are already on board. \u00a0But for the rest of you, I have some helpful advice as to who you should support. Usually you have no more a choice of who your team is as you do who your family is.\u00a0 <\/span>It\u2019s just something that you\u2019re born into\u2026and God help you if you\u2019re stuck with the Clippers.\u00a0 <\/span>But the wonderful thing about beginning to follow a foreign league is the freedom- you actually get to choose<\/em><\/span> who to cheer for. When you begin your search for a team there are a few things you want to look for.\u00a0 <\/span>First, you want a team that you can be proud of (i.e. no shady owner.)\u00a0 <\/span>Also, you want a team that\u2019s good (because cheering for a team that gets relegated is no fun at all.)\u00a0 <\/span>And lastly you want a team that is fun to watch (which means avoiding Sam Allardyce.\u00a0 <\/span>Think of the way the Knicks played in the 90s and you\u2019ll know what I\u2019m trying to save you from.)\u00a0 <\/span> There’s one team above all others that meets that description:\u00a0 <\/span>Arsenal FC.\u00a0 <\/span>So with impartially thrown out the window, I\u2019ll tell you why I support them, and why you should too.<\/span><\/p>\n Come as you are, as you were, as I want you to be\u2026<\/span> \u201cThe Gunners\u201d are practically the Green Bay Packers of North London.\u00a0 <\/span>Like the Packers, Arsenal doesn\u2019t have an owner in the traditional sense but instead is owned by \u201cshareholders.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>Sports might be the only place left in the world where a board of shareholders is actually an improvement. Recently Premier League teams have become playthings for oil men from Dubai, questionable men from the former USSR, and even a handful of American billionaires.\u00a0 <\/span>And Arsenal has fought them all off\u2026except when they haven\u2019t: the team is currently in a tug-of-war between an American whose worst offense is being part owner of the St Louis Rams, and a Russian whose worst offense is much worse than that.\u00a0 <\/span>The boardroom currently has more drama than The Hills<\/em><\/span> but at least Arsenal isn\u2019t scripted.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n And I swear that I don\u2019t have a gun\u2026<\/span><\/strong><\/span> But if you\u2019re going to cheer for Arsenal you need a real Cliff\u2019s Notes history of them: it\u2019s not just the ownership that is similar to the Packers- their founding and even their names share parallel origins.\u00a0 <\/span>Arsenal in 1886 was simply the company team for the workers at Woolwich Royal Arsenal.\u00a0 <\/span>That\u2019s right- the \u201cArsenal\u201d name came from an actual arsenal.\u00a0 <\/span>Think about your company\u2019s softball team; now imagine 125 years from now that your company\u2019s softball team is one of the best teams in the world.\u00a0 <\/span>Weird.\u00a0 <\/span>I\u2019m going to go get my Economy Paint Supply jersey signed just so I\u2019m prepared.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n I\u2019m lucky to have met you<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span><\/span> I\u2019m sure you\u2019re tired of the Packer analogies but there\u2019s still a little more.\u00a0 <\/span>For instance, Arsenal\u2019s Vince Lombardi was Herbert Chapman- except that Chapman was coaching before Lombardi was born and was not just a genius on the field but off the field as well.\u00a0 <\/span>Chapman helped create a more attacking frame of mind and pushed for better fitness among his players.\u00a0 <\/span>It\u2019s ground-breaking when you think that on this side of the pond the best athlete of the day was a 500-pound Babe Ruth.\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span> But Chapman\u2019s real legacy might be in using outdoor lights so his players could train after dark-something Wrigley Field wouldn\u2019t figure out for another 60 years- and the then-revolutionary concept of having his players wear numbers on their jerseys.\u00a0 <\/span>He also won a little bit too (an FA Cup and 2 League Titles).\u00a0 <\/span>Chapman would have cured polio were he not distracted by soccer. Chapman of course is in the Hall of Fame, but the fact that it took 70 years to name a trophy after him is a crime.\u00a0 <\/span>He was like Mr. Miyagi and Gordon Bombay rolled into one.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n You know you\u2019re right<\/span> Obviously there\u2019s a lot of history that we\u2019re skipping, but I\u2019ll leave that to Fever Pitch<\/em><\/span>.\u00a0 <\/span>Nick Hornby\u2019s autobiography is a must-read for any true Gunners fan; it\u2019s not just the story of Arsenal, it is further proof that men can only relate to each other emotionally through sports.\u00a0 <\/span>It is a wonderful book and should in no way be tainted by Jimmy Fallon or the American bastardization.\u00a0 <\/span>Hornby talks about a lot of things, namely: Liam Brady, the thinking man\u2019s midfielder, and that the worst thing he ever did to his step brother was to make him love Arsenal.\u00a0 <\/span> So let\u2019s jump to 1996 and Arsene Wenger.\u00a0 <\/span>\u201cThe Professor\u201d has been Arsenal\u2019s manager for 13 years; he has a degree in Electrical Engineering and a master\u2019s in Economics.\u00a0 <\/span>He speaks six languages and he is so obsessed with that soccer that it would have put him in a mental institution if he weren\u2019t so successful at it.\u00a0 <\/span> If you watch a home game for Arsenal, behind one of the goals you will see a home-made banner that reads \u201cIn Arsene We Trust.\u201d\u00a0 <\/span>Which is to say: he\u2019s kind of like God but with a better midfield.\u00a0 <\/span>And with unparalleled success in his first 8 years, that was easy to believe.\u00a0 <\/span>But it\u2019s been 4 full years since Arsenal has won a trophy and frankly there are more and more Arsene-atheists.\u00a0 <\/span>The wolves are at the door for Arsene and yet he hasn\u2019t changed his style.\u00a0 <\/span>There\u2019s something admirable about being so sure of yourself but then again that attitude also leads some men to disaster\u2026*cough* George W. Bush *cough*.<\/em><\/span>\u00a0 <\/span> Arsene is from a time before billionaires came into the sport.\u00a0 <\/span>And obviously that time wasn\u2019t long ago.\u00a0 <\/span>He\u2019s from a time when things were done the right way and he knew what a player was worth; but now Arsene is essentially the old man trying to pay a quarter for a movie ticket because that\u2019s what it used to cost. Teams now lose millions each year while charging fans more than ever before.\u00a0 <\/span>And there is Arsene, trying to maintain a balanced book (damn you Economics degree!) while trying to field a strong team.\u00a0 <\/span>This has led to some great players leaving for more money elsewhere, and it\u2019s left a void while Arsene tries to develop young talent rather than overpay for superstars.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Smells like teen spirit<\/span> Cesc Fabergas, now the Captain and old man at 22 years old, made his debut at 16 years old.\u00a0 <\/span>Theo Walcott made his debut at 17.\u00a0 <\/span>This year big things are expected of Aaron Ramsey (18 years old) and Jack Wilshere (17.)\u00a0 <\/span>To become an Arsenal fan is a statement that you trust in Arsene, because he\u2019s clearly not going to change.\u00a0 <\/span>It sounds like a plot to a bad Keanu Reeves movie but to cheer for Arsenal now is to make a commitment to a set of kids. \u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Here we are now.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span><\/span>Entertain us.<\/span> The reason Arsene has focused on youth is because he wants to train them to play the right way.\u00a0 <\/span>It\u2019s like the anti-AAU league.\u00a0 <\/span>No show-boating, no selfishness.\u00a0 <\/span>Make the pass, then make another one.\u00a0 <\/span>Fluid football.\u00a0 <\/span>What\u2019s the point of playing, if you\u2019re not playing the right way?\u00a0 <\/span> And that is why you need to cheer for Arsenal- it\u2019s not just for clean hands in the boardroom, or for the humble origins, it\u2019s for Arsene.\u00a0 <\/span>It\u2019s for Liam Brady (now head of Youth Development.)\u00a0 <\/span>It\u2019s because they\u2019re standing on the cusp of something big\u2026or of falling into the money-stained game that everyone else plays.\u00a0 <\/span>It\u2019s Moneyball<\/em><\/span> but with integrity.\u00a0 <\/span>And when it\u2019s done right, it\u2019s the best in the world. Most American fans cheer for Manchester United or Chelsea.\u00a0 <\/span>Ask them why and you\u2019ll get the response \u201cbecause they\u2019re good.\u201d\u00a0 <\/span>And they are; they\u2019re the best teams money can buy.\u00a0 <\/span>But for those of us that want something more, for those of us that have a choice as to who we will love, there is Arsenal.\u00a0 <\/span>With their extra pass and their massively unfulfilled potential.\u00a0 <\/span> Now is the time to love them, when they can reestablish their glory.\u00a0 <\/span>Now is the time to support a team that you can watch grow for the next ten years.\u00a0 <\/span>Now is the time to follow the Gunners; and you will be richly rewarded.\u00a0 <\/span> Or maybe Nick Hornby was right, and making someone cheer for Arsenal is the meanest thing you\u2019ll ever do to them.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span> It\u2019s football season around the world, and Leaky Pipes wants to tell you about his favorite football team- Arsenal- while he compares them with another internationally renowned team, the Packers. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"newspack_sponsor_sponsorship_scope":"","newspack_sponsor_native_byline_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_native_category_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_style":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_placement":"inherit","inline_featured_image":false,"newspack_ads_suppress_ads":false,"newspack_popups_has_disabled_popups":"","_":"","_author_alias":"","cap-aim":"","cap-description":"","cap-display_name":"","cap-first_name":"","cap-jabber":"","cap-last_name":"","cap-linked_account":"","cap-newspack_employer":"","cap-newspack_job_title":"","cap-newspack_phone_number":"","cap-newspack_role":"","cap-user_email":"","cap-user_login":"","cap-website":"","cap-yahooim":"","newspack_article_summary":"","newspack_email_html":"","newspack_email_type":"","newspack_featured_image_position":"","newspack_hide_page_title":"","newspack_hide_updated_date":false,"newspack_post_subtitle":"","newspack_show_share_buttons":"","newspack_sponsor_byline_prefix":"","newspack_sponsor_disclaimer_override":"","newspack_sponsor_flag_override":"","newspack_sponsor_only_direct":"","newspack_sponsor_url":"","newspack_article_summary_title":"Overview:","newspack_show_updated_date":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"newspack_spnsrs_tax":[],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-3471","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sports","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3471","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/18"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3471"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3471\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3471"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3471"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3471"},{"taxonomy":"newspack_spnsrs_tax","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/newspack_spnsrs_tax?post=3471"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=3471"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}