Go West? - the background pt. II

When I first moved to the UK in '97, Sky TV not only showed 3-4 live Premiership football games per week, but for the first time, I also could watch one live NFL game each Sunday - pure, unadulterated joy!

1 game per week first turned into the occasional doubleheader, combined with the Channel Five MNF game, albeit one day tape delayed, meant every weekend was a complete NFL feast.

Still, in accordance to my nature, whilst I needed another sport to follow like I needed another hole in my head, when my friend Andy one day called me and said - "I'm going to start playing baseball with an amateur side" - my immediate response was "Sound's like fun, I'll come too".

Although I'd only played catch a few times with friends in the US, baseball suited me like a...ehh...glove? I'm never going to be a major leaguer, heck, I probably wouldn't get a spot on the worst college team in the US, but still, I was decent. Initially I much preferred playing baseball over watching, (and to be honest, I still do), but with time the curiosity increased.

After the launch of NASN in the UK - (all together now *Hail, Hail to NASN*), I started watching the odd game, first to gain insight in how to improve my own game, but I soon got to the point where I had to select a team to follow properly.

As I have no geographical affiliation to any region in the US (my distant relatives are spread over half of the US), I had the luxury of being able to pick any team I wanted to support. The Yankees were quickly discarded, as they have a business agreement with ManUtd, and other teams were tested and fell by the wayside...

Finally, it was pretty obvious, which team I should support. Although I'd been to both Tiger Stadium and Wrigley Field in my "pre-baseball fan" days, during on of several trips to New England, I was out walking with my then girlfriend in the Fens, and there it stood - Fenway Park.

The more I read about the Red Sox, the deeper I connected to the history and the tradition of Boston baseball.

I spoke to everyone I met in Boston, while trying to hide my complete ignorance beyond the most superficial of baseball topics, and realised there was a passion I hadn't seen before in professional sports in the US. I'd been to college and pro football games (the American kind) previously, but only at a college level had I experienced anything like a trip to Anfield.

For those that haven't been to a European soccer game, preferably an English Premiership game, the atmosphere is unbeatable. I must admit I have yet to go to a real college football rivalry game, such as Michigan-Ohio State, but Opening Day 2004 at Fenway Park is the closest I've gotten to Premiership atmosphere in the US. Like Iain, once I experienced that, I was hooked.