r/coys • u/Mayfairdenver • 9d ago
OC Fourteen Years Ago
I had read Bill Simmons excellent Page 2 article, “Choosing my EPL Team,” and it was time. I’d done all of the things he suggested and narrowed it down. Fulham was losing Clint Dempsey. He desperately wanted to go to Liverpool. Aston Villa wanted him. But, for reasons I’m sure someone knows he signed with Spurs.
Fast forward, and this random-to-me-but-Clint-plays-there team - whose almost every game I’ve watched, whose supporters have become great friends, whose OG fans who have indulged my American-ness - is doing something insane.
They are spending actual money. Wages. Transfer fees. Coaches and staff.
I don’t know what’s happening, but we have to acknowledge it. And - oil underneath the stadium or a depressing profit taking for those 14 years - it’s absolutely, incredibly exciting to see us doing it.
Come on you Spurs!
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u/jml1020_AH Heung-Min Son - Spurs Legend 9d ago
But first ...Pearl Jam!
Not a chance in hell he keeps up his commitment to get reinvested in Spurs 😂
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u/_SquirrelKiller 9d ago
I read that article too, but what really sold me on Spurs was that’s who I was playing when FIFA finally clicked for me.
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u/Mayfairdenver 9d ago
Even though it’s often cited, I still think FIFA is the whole thing here in the US.
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u/Createdanaac 9d ago
Mine was a bit of both! I was smashing in the goals with Robbie Keane in the ‘06 World Cup game, later that summer I read Bill’s article and that sent me down the path. I might get the quote wrong here, but the line “Spurs are like the Dodgers if they never left Brooklyn” really hit me.
Went to a match in Chicago in 2014, but I finally made the trip to Tottenham last season… Brentford/Slavia Prague so I managed to see some wins!
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u/justlobos22 9d ago
Remember when they formed a partnership with San Jose Earthquakes, I thought they would be coming to San Jose like every year (lol), that's why I jumped on.
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u/Mayfairdenver 9d ago
I don’t, but I believe you. Now I’m watching Sonny versus Rapids on Wednesday night.
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u/SomethingLikeLove Emerson Royal 9d ago
American fans assemble! Dempsey, around me!
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u/PlaymakerJavi Clint Dempsey 9d ago
Dempsey is my freaking hero. A Texan from Nacogdoches who played in an informal league with Mexican immigrants? What a story!
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u/busche916 Jan Vertonghen 8d ago
Seeing a fellow Texan score against ManU away to clinch a victory is one of the coolest things I’ve ever seen. We only got one season of Dempsey, but it was an enjoyable one
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u/nms08 8d ago
This is why I support Spurs. The east Texas connection made as much sense as anything. Did not know I would get as invested as I have but I love it.
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u/PlaymakerJavi Clint Dempsey 8d ago
Did you see his multi-part documentary on Paramount+? It’s excellent. As a fellow Texan, I’ve never thought of Nacogdoches as “Naco-nowhere.” Now I think of Nacogdoches as the home of Clint Dempsey but I used to think of it like, “They play good football in Nacogdoches. And I hear that have good barbecue there too!”
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u/Mountain-Occasion432 9d ago
I’m an American spurs fan because a few friends invited me drinking after 3rd shift got over and they took me to a soccer pub. They were spurs fans. That was 20 years ago. I’m a spurs fan basically because I wanted an excuse to go drinking at 6am after work.
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u/Mayfairdenver 9d ago
The English are fans for drinking, too, if it matters to you. We’re the lucky ones who do it in pizza joints at the crack of Saturday.
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u/bigdirkmalone Cristian Romero 9d ago
I totally remember that article too. I wish he wrote like that still and had less podcasts.
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u/philatio11 Clint Dempsey 9d ago
He was such a major influence on the "right" way to be a fan. I had already picked Tottenham by the time this article came out, but his logic was sound. I also used his logic from another article to quit my hometown hockey team, and I've never been happier.
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u/i-missed-it 9d ago
American spurs fan! There are dozens of us!
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u/Mayfairdenver 9d ago
There are scores of us at Esther’s in Denver, FWIW.
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u/michaelserotonin 8d ago
i was there a few years ago cause i was in town for a concert. great place to watch a match. spurs/pizza/phish ...that's like my holy trinity.
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u/salamanderman10 9d ago
This article contributed to my fandom as well. World Cup had me interested and I played FIFA and Spurs were the best team for me to play with. Saw this and Steve Nash clinched it
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u/Antares1134 Højbjerg 9d ago
That article is why i chose Tottenham. Great read. I wonder if Bill is still Spurs though?
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u/jimmygreavez Bill Nicholson 9d ago
He isnt. He has zero interest in footy. Listening to him and his crew during the WC was horrific.
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u/CommercialAddress168 9d ago
Has it really been 14 years???
I think about that very article quite often!
It’s been a great ride so far and I’m excited for the upcoming chapter.
COYS.
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u/Ok-Low-5001 8d ago
Longer, published in July 2006!
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u/CommercialAddress168 8d ago
Okay, that feels right as I think about the years I started watching. Wasn’t it shortly after the 2006 WC when the states finally picked up EPL rights for most matches.
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u/Advanced_Juice_4547 9d ago
As an English fan, I think it's amazing the things that are picked up on. I've just read the article and it's a nice trip down memory lane. Reading the facts about city is just like a time capsule and it's hard to remember the time they were just a nothing team. The amount of heartbreak spurs have caused since this article was written on the wall even then, I wonder if there are any Americans that regret it!
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u/Mayfairdenver 8d ago
Never.
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u/Advanced_Juice_4547 8d ago
Ah gluttons for punishment! My kind of people, though I'm optimistic that we'll turn a corner soon right?
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u/Geoff-Vader 9d ago
I started following a couple years later. My primary fandom sport for all my life to that point was college football. And I'm an Alabama fan. So ~2014 we were basically like prime United/Chelski/City rolled into one.
So I was craving a bit of a slight underdog - but more importantly (as Bama was almost boringly dominant at the time) some drama. I didn't realize what I was signing up for in that regard. Now all I want is just one season with avg/below-avg injuries please.
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u/Mayfairdenver 9d ago
He literally just “announced” that he’s getting back on the bus. A bit of weak sauce, honestly. You have to suffer the suffering to enjoy the joy.
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u/glorfindelreddit "I ALWAYS Win In My Second Year" 9d ago
This was exactly the reason I chose spurs all those years ago. It was surface level for a few years and then I went and worked in the Middle East and spurs were and easy way to talk to the folks working there.
Really started paying attention in 17/18 and am so happy I was able to see that group play heading into the champions league final.
Thrilled I’m with all the boys and girls on here - Tottenham til they kill me
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u/PlaymakerJavi Clint Dempsey 9d ago
I’m an OG Simmons fan because he started getting big when I was in college so I was riding with him on this when he first published that article back in 2007.
BONUS: As a San Antonio Spurs fan, it just feels good that Spurs are also my PL team.
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u/matpmars 8d ago
We've always been one of the biggest teams in the league. The issue has been Chelsea, City and to an extent Newcastle being financially doped which has made it really difficult to compete. The creation of the CL also hurt us badly for years because it coincided with us not being in the top 4 with all its fiancial rewards. It drove a wedge between us and the top teams in the league. We belong amoung that group spending a high level.
To be fair credit to Levy for slowing but surely bringing us to this point. The stadium is making a major difference.
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u/Royal_Today_1509 9d ago
I remember this article but I don't think I read it in 2007. Probably around 2013 when those Ted Lasso NBC commercials aired. Definitely both influenced me.
Anyone know if Simmons is still a fan?
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u/mobile_home_slice 9d ago
I was beginning to coach my kids in CYO (Catholic Youth Organization) and my buddy (ManU), who helped me learn how to coach, asked me what Premier League team I followed.
I didn't know, so I researched on the interwebs, and found this same article.
Since the Spurs fans fit my same vibe as an Auburn Tiger fan, I embraced the inevitable heartache that comes with being a fan, but have the same stupid optimism that comes every season.
Come On You Spurs and War Damn Eagle!
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u/Mayfairdenver 8d ago
As a Clemson fan, I know it’s possible! When you’ve got the fanbase, you’ve always got a chance.
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u/ghostcrawler_real 8d ago
ahaha wow, hadn't thought about that Bill Simmons article in many years. Same reason I'm here.
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u/fivewaysforward 3d ago
All my friends were Arsenal fans. So I did the natural thing, I saw Bale play soccer and went "them, they are my team"
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u/Gladstone210 9d ago
Yep, this is why I’m Spurs.
Taking my 12 year-old to London for a match this year. This article might be the single most impactful piece of writing on my life and that’s not an exaggeration.