Somewhere between Vox & Hunter S. Thompson
Viewing entries in
The Beautiful Game
Naples takes its calcio (football a.k.a. soccer) seriously. Support for Napoli is almost a religious belief here, and the fact that images of Maradona (the most famous Napoli player ever) outnumber images of Jesus in the streets of Naples can serve as proof of that. But it’s not just Maradona; there are images of the Napoli logo and Napoli players everywhere around Naples.
And we’re back with more of the beautiful game! And my quest to get to as many stadiums in London as possible continues, this time with Craven Cottage, where Fulham will host the mighty Liverpool in the 2nd leg of the EFL Cup semi-final. In the 1st leg, Liverpool beat Fulham 2-1. This match would decide who moved on to the final. This will be the smallest Premier League stadium I’ve yet visited, so it should be a good time.
My quest to visit all of the football stadiums in London continues, this time with Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in North London. Today we’re going to be seeing the Spurs play against Bournemouth.
Tottenham Hotspur Stadium is incredible. It is absolutely the nicest stadium I have ever been in. The floors under the overhang are carpet! As soon as I walked in I was involuntarily smiling. And then, when I realized that we had unwittingly gotten AMAZING seats, I was really grinning. This was one of the coolest atmospheres I’ve ever experienced! Before the game even started, I already liked this stadium more than Stamford Bridge, and a LOT more than London Stadium.
For the unindoctrinated, Everton is a Liverpool-based team coming to play on West Ham’s home turf. This is an interesting season for Everton because they were docked 10-points in what the football world has unanimously agreed is an injustice of the highest order. After that, death (i.e. relegation) seemed inevitable, but they have harnessed their collective spite to mount a revenge-fueled run of wins that has put them comfortably in the center of the table, safe from the relegation zone. If it wasn’t for those 10 points, they would be a strong contender for European qualification right now. Unfortunately for West Ham, this would ultimately mean a home-defeat for them. So there were lots of angry fans in East London on this day, but that’s part of the magic of the game. ✨
Today we’re going to Stamford Bridge to see Chelsea v. Brighton in the EFL Cup a.k.a. the Carabao Cup!
This is not technically my first English Premier League (EPL) game because it’s a cup game (i.e. it’s not part of the regular season, it’s a separate competition) but it’s still a good time. So let’s get into what this experience was like… because, it was an experience.
The Welshman Gareth Bale has been one of the most notable players in the world since the late 2000s when he transferred from Southampton to Tottenham Hotspur. This was before my days of fandom, but I think he really became a star after his 2013 transfer to Real Madrid. His is a name that American kids grew up knowing, mostly likely, thanks to the FIFA video games. He’s a big deal. But he’s getting older now and hadn’t been playing much at Real Madrid anymore, so ahead of his appearance in the 2022 World Cup, he made a surprise transfer to LAFC. Honestly, the golden age of Gareth Bale was a bit before the start of my fandom, but this was a huge “get” for MLS! You can find his insane highlight reel here.
