I’m what you would call a casual Chicago sports fan. I follow the Bears closely, know two of the players on the Bulls (Coby White and Zach LaVine), was aware of Joe Maddon’s firing, acutely remember a Blackhawks dynasty, and sometimes recall that the White Sox are a baseball team. I’m a born-and-raised Illinoisan, and will defend my teams with passion, even when the general manager has made a few too many flubs in the last couple of years (cough, cough, *Ryan Pace*).
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It’s kind of ironic, I guess, that the one sport I don’t support a Chicago-based team in happens to be my favorite.
If you know me well, you know that I’ve played soccer for over half my life, starting in the Park District in kindergarten and transitioning to club and high school later on. With practices three times a week and games on the weekend, I was on the path to soccer superstardom.
There was only one problem hindering my burgeoning career: I’m terrible at the game.
Okay. I’m not terrible terrible, but certainly not good enough to even start on a high school JV team, much less warm the bench on varsity.
That’s why, instead of spending my time playing the game, I prefer to watch on my couch, legs resting on the coffee table, feeling sorry for the players who have to run ten kilometers per game.
Now, most American soccer fans will agree with me when I say that Major League Soccer, the highest level of professional play in the United States, isn’t where you would find the best players in the world. Although the level of play has improved, the traditional dogma remains that if you want to watch some good soccer, you have to turn your eyes on Europe.
And that’s exactly what I do. Instead of flipping the channel to the Chicago Fire, I watch soccer on weekend mornings, my TV feed locked into a stadium in London. I’m not alone. In fact, of the growing number of Americans who say they’re soccer fans, the English Premier League is the league that draws the most supporters.
And those fans love to bandwagon. From Liverpool to Chelsea to Manchester United, the top teams in England enjoy robust support across the globe. In fact, of soccer fans in the U.S., 68% say that one of the established six top clubs in the Premier League (the aforementioned three along with Arsenal, Tottenham Hotspur, and Manchester City) are their top team in the English Premier League. I see knockoff Chelsea jerseys and legitimate Manchester United gear in school nearly every day. If you go to Quigley’s Pub downtown during a Liverpool game, you’ll find a sizable contingent donned in red.
For me, though, supporting my favorite team is more of a solitary journey. You see, I’m an avid fan of Crystal Palace, a team that consistently finishes between 10th and 16th in the league, far from the riches and glory that a top spot provides.
It’s not easy. Aside from the fact that Palace don’t win too many games in general (Palace won 14 out of 38 league games last year and 11 out of 38 the previous campaign), I don’t personally know any other Palace fan around, and I routinely endure good-natured joking about Palace’s woes in the league from supporters of the so-called “bigger clubs.”
“Why do you support Palace?” has become a question so routine for me that I even have a rehearsed answer.
“I’m actually not too sure. I think I saw their logo on FIFA when I was in sixth or seventh grade and thought they had a really cool name.”
That’s the truth, by the way.
I caught a glimpse of a blue eagle on a logo and unique name during a video game, and decided on a whim that Crystal Palace was going to be my team.
And I’m not a fair weather fan, either. You can count on me watching every single one of Palace’s games, unless, of course, they’re during school hours or I’m at a speech tournament (but that doesn’t stop me from trying). I own two Palace jerseys, bought straight from the official online shop (British shipping fees are no joke). I refresh Twitter constantly during the transfer window.
I know what you’re thinking. Palace aren’t even a local team, Brian! What’s the point of supporting them if they never win in the first place?
Well, as a fan of Chicago football, I’m pretty used to not winning in general. But more specifically, there’s something about rooting for the underdog that makes everything special. If you come into a game expecting nothing, the losses don’t sting as hard, the ties are pleasant surprises, and the wins are absolutely exhilarating.
When Palace beat Manchester United for the first time in the Premier League era, I was buzzing the entire weekend. I literally got nothing done. Between checking social media and gloating to my friends, I was preoccupied with one of the greatest moments in my sporting memory—and I had nothing to do with it. To be clear, it was just a regular season game; there was no special circumstance or asterisk, save for the fact that Palace—the mighty, mighty Palace—had triumphed.
(Check out the game highlights from that thrilling morning! Credit: NBC Sports)
I know that I’ll never be a born-and-raised Palace fan, one that lives in South London and goes to Selhurst Park every other weekend. But I don’t think I have to be. I’ve got enough hometown teams to support. Palace’s successes, trials, and tribulations, at least while I’m in America, is my own business. I’ll never read about their latest game in the Tribune, or be able to complain about Roy Hodgson’s gameplan to my classmates, but I’m fine with that. It’s my own brand of fandom.
And when Palace do finally win their first major trophy, I’ll be cheering by myself, in harmony with a chorus of thousands, jumping up and down in the stands of a stadium somewhere across the Atlantic.
Works cited:
Easley, Cameron. “’Global Is Cool’: The Growing Appeal of Premier League Soccer in America.” Morning Consult, Morning Consult, 28 Aug. 2019, www.morningconsult.com/2019/08/28/global-is-cool-the-growing-appeal-of-premier-league-soccer-in-america.
Jackson, Jamie. “Crystal Palace Stun Manchester United after Rashford Penalty Miss.” The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 24 Aug. 2019, www.theguardian.com/football/2019/aug/24/manchester-united-crystal-palace-premier-league-match-report.