The debut of my radio show next week is fast approaching, and while I do my best to put some of the final touches on the production and publicity of the show in these dwindling days, I can't help but to look back on how I've reached the point of being such an ardent fan of the world's game and, in turn, how I've somehow, for better or worse, even turned into yet another in a long line of pundits who have been so taken by this sport as to want to wax poetic about it in order to earn a daily wage.
As an American who grew up in the 80s and 90s in the heart of American college football and of course in the void left by the demise of the NASL, it goes without saying that soccer wasn't something that was exactly intrinsic to my upbringing at all. In fact, as hilarious as it is to recall this now considering how rabidly I follow this game, I actually quite disliked the game after attempting to play (poorly) on an under-6 team one year. This apathy, at best, for the sport continued on until 1994, when the U.S. played host to the grand spectacle that is the World Cup.
It was a typical summer for me as a young teenager that year. School was out, it was boiling hot everyday (as tends to be the case in the southeastern U.S. at that time of year), and I was largely bored with nothing better to do, day in and day out. This lack of entertainment and stimulation can probably be held responsible for me tuning in to the games in the first place, even if I wasn't initially sure of just what I was watching.
Now if the U.S. had flamed out and been mere whipping boys in their group, as had been the case only four years prior, perhaps my interest in and appetite for soccer would have never taken shape in the first place. Thankfully, as I can say 18 years after the fact, the Americans gutted out a draw against Switzerland on the back of a wonderful free kick from Eric Wynalda and then won THAT game against pre-tournament favorites Colombia to progress onto the round of sixteen against eventual champs Brazil. I remember how distraught I was to watch my country be knocked out of the World Cup by the narrowest of margins, but if anything, that moment of pain, which pretty much all fans can relate to, was representative of something far bigger: I had been hooked by the soccer bug, and there was no turning back.
In the years following 1994, I continued to ardently follow the U.S. national team on the international scene, but for some reason I just never could get into the game at the club level. This was probably mostly attributable to the fact that my first soccer love wasn't a club team at all, but following Brad Friedel's move to Blackburn, this was to change as well.
My first response to Friedel's signing was one of "Who the hell are they?", as I was really only familiar with MLS and the biggest clubs around the world at that time. But, as curiosity usually leads me to do, I did my homework on Blackburn, and my research quick led me to realize that this club, the one that hails from a small town from the Northwest of England, the one that looked to fit the role of a plucky underdog, and the one that can hardly be said to be a fashionable choice to most, was a perfect fit for me. Accordingly, my weekend sleeping habits would never be the same from that point, as following Rovers, whether on TV or online, would mean plenty of early mornings were to be in store.
All of these years later, it's clear to me that this sport is so much more than just a sport; it's also a language. It's a language that I have spoken outside of Ewood Park with Englishmen bemused by my foreign accent following Blackburn's upset of Manchester United in 2004, it's a language that I've spoken with my countrymen as we watched our fellow Americans beat Mexico 2-0 in Columbus, and it's a language that I've recently used with a native Wolves fan at a pub in Atlanta as we discussed the relegation plight involving our favorite teams. In all of my years, I don't think I've seen many things at all that could be so universal.
And so it is this language that I wish to speak with all of you in the coming years. Granted, there are many of us around the world who are fluent in it as well, so I know I'm not special in that regard. With that said, I can only hope that my voice, one of so very many, will be one that you'll all want to keep hearing!
In the coming days and weeks I'll be adding more functionality and features to the blog, so keep checking back in here, and of course listen in on-air or online as well! I can't wait to get this ball rolling.
p.s. If you haven't already, follow me on Twitter: @RyanMartinShow
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