D. Blaine Vanderburg, genius-at-large, has been supporting Spurs, from the wastes of West Texas (Odessa, to be precise), since the 1999/2000 season home defeat to Villa 2-4. It was masochistic love at first sight. Since then, I've been following the matches on FSC (Fox Soccer Channel), illegal Iraqi feeds, and reading the 5 min. refresh teletype on various sites, or just catching the highlights on Sky. It's been a decade-long torrid love affair that I wouldn't change for the world.
That's not true...I'd have changed loads in the past decade.
I have decided it's time for there to be a voice crying out from across the pond. I spent many months learning the intricacies of English cultural and football vernacular (a special thanks goes out to Jim Duggan) to even understand the information I was being fed, as there wasn't (and still isn't) a decent American source of content and community for Tottenham supporters.
In this common culture divided by language, I wish to open the portal allowing English fans to see how the other half lives. The experience of football/soccer fans in both countries couldn't be more different. In England, football is the nation's birthright. In America, soccer is a punchline. Let's bridge the gap.
I work as a Special Education teacher, and I have a cute wife and three feisty blonde daughters. A special thanks goes to my wife who has patiently, and considerately endured countless hours of Tottenham music, matches on TV, rearranged schedules, and hours of listening to me rant and rave about a sport she doesn't give a fig for. I have her full support in this blog, as it may free her from a lifetime of the aforementioned tortures of a football widow.
