Oh, god. It's like he set agonising embarrassment to music.

The other '78 anthem...

"We're on the march wi' Ally's Army,
We're going tae the Argentine,
And we'll really shake them up,
When we win the World Cup,
'Cos Scotland is the greatest football team,

We're representing Britain,
And we're gaunny do or die,
England cannae dae it,
'Cos they didnae qualify!"

...is national hubris made painfully manifest.

For me it was a gradual thing. I grew up in small town Wisconsin and played a bit in some local rec league type stuff, along with playing baseball, basketball and football. This was in the late 70s/early 80s. But for whatever reason, there were no leagues or teams or programs to play on after I was about 10 or 11. And that was around the time of the demise of the NASL as well, so there wasn't really much to hold my interest and I went on to other sports and other things.

Then in the early 90s I went to college on the East Coast. I played a bit again in some intramural leagues and had a couple friends on the school's team, so was aware of the game again, but not much beyond that. Then with the World Cup in 94 being in the US and being on tv, I really started to take an interest again. Although a week or two into the tournament, having recently graduated from college, I took a job teaching English in Korea. So I had to try and watch the games happening back home in the US at really odd times, including waking up at 4 AM on a Monday morning (Sunday afternoon US time) to watch the final before heading to work and being late because it went all the way to penalties.

Then I moved back to the states to St Paul in late 95, and started hearing about the soon to kickoff new MLS. And I also went to my first Thunder game some time in the summer of 96. I adopted DC as my MLS team in large part because Tony Sanneh went to play there part way through that first season. I also started watching the Premier League Review Show with Lionel Bienvenu on FSN (or MSC? I believe it was called at the time), which was tricky since they could never seem to have it on at the same time each week, and became an Arsenal fan as well.

Then I moved to Texas for a couple years and followed the Thunder from afar as well as keeping up with DC and Arsenal. And for the first time I actually kept up with the US in France 98 qualifying and given the results, was excited for the 98 World Cup to begin. Seems strange they decided not to hold the tournament that year, doesn't it? That's how I choose to remember it anyway.

Then in 99 I moved back to MN and in 2000 got Thunder season tickets for the first time. And around that time was when I went from being a casual fan to being much more devoted and involved. I met a number of fellow fans for the first time (in part through this board) and gathered with like minded folks to watch the Thunder and the US. In 2001 I attended my first US National Team game (a win over Costa Rica in KC), and then in 2002 decided to fly around the world to Korea and Japan for almost a month for the World Cup.

Since then I've traveled a good deal around the US and around the world, seen lots of games, made lots of friends, drank lots of beer, and just generally enjoyed myself. Most of the time anyway.

I started loving soccer when I started playing it... 3 years ago.

Do you want to get yourself an object lesson in humility and jumping in at the deep end? Take up a new competitive, contact sport that you've never even tried when you're just starting the full body decay that starts at 30.

I've always liked watching soccer, but I never really followed it or thought deeply about it until I started playing. It says a lot about how beautiful the game is that I can spend six months a year injuring myself and being humiliated by women 10 years younger than I am in co-ed rec leagues and still have the time of my life playing and following it.

Three years ago my job had me traveling a lot to China, and very often the only thing on TV that was in English was the EPL. So I decided to learn what the hell was going on so I'd have something to watch and have been hooked ever since.

Growing up in rural Wisconsin, if anyone had asked about soccer, he'd have had his manhood questioned and probably would have ended up hanging from the goalpost in his underpants.

Learning about the game late in life I feel like I've had something stolen from me, never getting to play or never watching matches. But hey, better late than never, and I never had to watch them run around in short-shorts in the 70's.

I grew up in small-town Minnesota, watching the Vikings, Twins and some racing with the family. I moved to Seattle after college, stated dating a guy who grew up watching soccer with his immigrant parents - in Spanish, from the Mexico tv stations. A month or so before France 98, he said, "There's the tournament called the World Cup. It's a month of soccer games. You can either watch with me, or I'll see you at the end of the month." I said, "Okay, if it's that big of deal, show me the sport." We watched a couple of games before the Cup started and I said, okay, I'll watch. By the end, I was hooked. I was the one waking him up to watch the 3rd round games that didn't mean anything because the teams had already qualified, or not, saying "We can't miss any!" After the Cup was over, I followed my favorite players to their clubs - It's the Norwegian Tore Andre Flo's fault I'm a Chelsea fan.

He is a great guy by all accounts. My uncle visits Stale Stensaas (former Rangers Defender)in Norway and fishes with a bunch of ex-Rangers Norwegians, Tore included.

Norway has produced a fine crop of footballers! SKOL Fjord FC!

Well, if you get the chance, thank him for me. ;->

It was play like this that caught my attention: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8NvyuvI3bJs&feature=related
Now he's doing stuff like this, although this is funny: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UMt7W3_g8pc