Hey everyone, nyc tomek reporting for duty, just found out about this upstart community last night. Just wanted to say a few words about myself.
A couple of you may recognize my handle from the twitterverse, I certainly am glad to see some familiar names as well.
I'm of Polish descent, Tomek being the diminutive form of my name, you can all just call me Thomas for simplicity's sake. I'm approaching my mid-twenties, and though hockey was my first love (I could name every Ranger by kindergarten and used to spend hours looking at the backs of old cards), I've also been following soccer/football from a very young age. My first memory of the game is Baggio's infamous penalty miss at the 1994 World Cup, but probably the most vivid memory I have, which made me fall in love with the game, is Michael Owen's wondergoal against Argentina in the '98 World Cup. As luck would have it, we then took a family trip to France that summer, and the football-mad atmosphere I experienced there was like nothing else I've seen before or since. That only served to further indoctrinate me. The Michael Owen jersey my parents finally bought me after hours of begging didn't hurt, either.
These days, I think it's safe to say that the sport has now comfortably supplanted hockey on the tier list of my favorite sports. The countless hours I spent playing Football Manager in my teen years only cemented - and attest to - that. It's honestly hard NOT to fall in love with the game (of football) once you're exposed to the vast, intricate and interconnected nature of it's landscape, I find. More and more of our compatriots are starting to see the light too, which is great news.
As far as NYCFC itself is concerned, my story isn't really different to any of yours. I just never could feel that connection with NJRB. I'd go to their games because I love football and because the stadium is admittedly nice. But I never felt that intrinsic link. Supporting them just felt unnatural, my heart was never in it. They say you don't choose your club, your club chooses you. Well, that never happened. Until there was talk of bringing a team to the city. Until there was NYCFC.
To be fair, I have every reason not to support NYCFC. I don't like Manchester City, their majority owners and, in the eyes of the fans, their big brothers. I don't like the Yankees. The disappointment of the eventuality of a home in the Bronx (and not in my home borough, Queens) was also difficult to take, although it is starting to dissipate over time.
Despite everything that would lead me to feel the contrary, I love this club. Although a ball hasn't been kicked yet, this club now means everything to me. Slowly but surely over the last couple of years, I have gone from being a full-blown, unabashed Euro-snob, to staunch lover and defender of all things MLS.
The way I see it, the opportunity to be a part of something from its very inception, to able to together forge a culture and history, is far more important than any tenuous links to clubs which could be severed over time. The Yankees and Man City will one day leave. They will be footnotes. NYCFC will remain, my friends.
NYCFC will remain.
A couple of you may recognize my handle from the twitterverse, I certainly am glad to see some familiar names as well.
I'm of Polish descent, Tomek being the diminutive form of my name, you can all just call me Thomas for simplicity's sake. I'm approaching my mid-twenties, and though hockey was my first love (I could name every Ranger by kindergarten and used to spend hours looking at the backs of old cards), I've also been following soccer/football from a very young age. My first memory of the game is Baggio's infamous penalty miss at the 1994 World Cup, but probably the most vivid memory I have, which made me fall in love with the game, is Michael Owen's wondergoal against Argentina in the '98 World Cup. As luck would have it, we then took a family trip to France that summer, and the football-mad atmosphere I experienced there was like nothing else I've seen before or since. That only served to further indoctrinate me. The Michael Owen jersey my parents finally bought me after hours of begging didn't hurt, either.
These days, I think it's safe to say that the sport has now comfortably supplanted hockey on the tier list of my favorite sports. The countless hours I spent playing Football Manager in my teen years only cemented - and attest to - that. It's honestly hard NOT to fall in love with the game (of football) once you're exposed to the vast, intricate and interconnected nature of it's landscape, I find. More and more of our compatriots are starting to see the light too, which is great news.
As far as NYCFC itself is concerned, my story isn't really different to any of yours. I just never could feel that connection with NJRB. I'd go to their games because I love football and because the stadium is admittedly nice. But I never felt that intrinsic link. Supporting them just felt unnatural, my heart was never in it. They say you don't choose your club, your club chooses you. Well, that never happened. Until there was talk of bringing a team to the city. Until there was NYCFC.
To be fair, I have every reason not to support NYCFC. I don't like Manchester City, their majority owners and, in the eyes of the fans, their big brothers. I don't like the Yankees. The disappointment of the eventuality of a home in the Bronx (and not in my home borough, Queens) was also difficult to take, although it is starting to dissipate over time.
Despite everything that would lead me to feel the contrary, I love this club. Although a ball hasn't been kicked yet, this club now means everything to me. Slowly but surely over the last couple of years, I have gone from being a full-blown, unabashed Euro-snob, to staunch lover and defender of all things MLS.
The way I see it, the opportunity to be a part of something from its very inception, to able to together forge a culture and history, is far more important than any tenuous links to clubs which could be severed over time. The Yankees and Man City will one day leave. They will be footnotes. NYCFC will remain, my friends.
NYCFC will remain.
