also i still dont "get" people who say "oh i dont follow a team i just like watching the game" i just could never do that even if i was sitting there watching egg chasing id still pick a team
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Firstly, I don't see the point of asking the original question if the first response to someone choosing Spurs is that they are wrong as Spurs wouldn't exist without football. They are two different things anyway, football is a sport and Spurs is an entity representing that sport so they are not really two comparable things.
For me anyway it has to be Spurs, like someone said before, I love football, but I LOVE Spurs. If you love football more than you love Spurs you would have spent the last week getting excited about seeing the Pool v City game yesterday, a game involving the two most exciting teams in the premier league who both have the potential to play blistering attacking football and may decide the league. To anyone who loves Spurs more, last week would have been filled with anxiousness over how we might end up embarrassing ourselves against West Brom and then watched some dodgy stream online fully expecting to see 90 minutes of terrible football.
I think it comes down to the fact that with Spurs, I have an emotional attachment which you simply cannot have with the sport in general. Logic would dictate that, if you love football more than you love Spurs (or any team for that matter), then you cannot be a supporter of said team as your love for the game (and thus all others teams, leagues, methods of playing etc) is stronger than you love for Spurs. I enjoy watching football, I love individual acts of brilliance but if I had the choice of watching Stoke v Spurs or a World XI v World XI involving the best 22 players in the world, it would be Spurs everytime. If you love football more then it would be the World XI match. the feeling I get when I watch that Bale goal against West Ham last season gives me goosebumps and gets my heart racing. If that had been scored by Pienaar for Everton, I would have just though "Wow, that's a quality goal" and nothing else.
I'm not saying you can't love football the sport more than Spurs, what I'm saying is, it is perfectly reasonable to love Spurs more than football in general, and, if you love the sport more, then you can't really be that much of a fan of the Spurs.
For me anyway it has to be Spurs, like someone said before, I love football, but I LOVE Spurs. If you love football more than you love Spurs you would have spent the last week getting excited about seeing the Pool v City game yesterday, a game involving the two most exciting teams in the premier league who both have the potential to play blistering attacking football and may decide the league. To anyone who loves Spurs more, last week would have been filled with anxiousness over how we might end up embarrassing ourselves against West Brom and then watched some dodgy stream online fully expecting to see 90 minutes of terrible football.
I think it comes down to the fact that with Spurs, I have an emotional attachment which you simply cannot have with the sport in general. Logic would dictate that, if you love football more than you love Spurs (or any team for that matter), then you cannot be a supporter of said team as your love for the game (and thus all others teams, leagues, methods of playing etc) is stronger than you love for Spurs. I enjoy watching football, I love individual acts of brilliance but if I had the choice of watching Stoke v Spurs or a World XI v World XI involving the best 22 players in the world, it would be Spurs everytime. If you love football more then it would be the World XI match. the feeling I get when I watch that Bale goal against West Ham last season gives me goosebumps and gets my heart racing. If that had been scored by Pienaar for Everton, I would have just though "Wow, that's a quality goal" and nothing else.
I'm not saying you can't love football the sport more than Spurs, what I'm saying is, it is perfectly reasonable to love Spurs more than football in general, and, if you love the sport more, then you can't really be that much of a fan of the Spurs.
Problem here is that I had trouble breathing when Brazil went to PKs in the 98 WC semis, was irritable and miserable after they blew it in the final, woke up at ludicrous hours four years later (4am starts in Chicago, iirc), cursed down an entire hotel bar in 06, and almost got into fights with pro-Holland Lithuanians after 2010.
I've never celebrated a Spurs win as much as I celebrated Brazil's win in 94.
Yet I don't sit on Brazil fora and talk the
Seleção to death. I don't make any effort to watch friendlies. I barely pay attention to the copa América. And this WC has been such a clusterfuck for Brazil (the country) that I have a tough time getting excited about it… for now… But I can't change the fact that I'll still be cheering for them in some capacity in a few weeks, so it's tough to say it's only ever Spurs.
I've never celebrated a Spurs win as much as I celebrated Brazil's win in 94.
Yet I don't sit on Brazil fora and talk the
Seleção to death. I don't make any effort to watch friendlies. I barely pay attention to the copa América. And this WC has been such a clusterfuck for Brazil (the country) that I have a tough time getting excited about it… for now… But I can't change the fact that I'll still be cheering for them in some capacity in a few weeks, so it's tough to say it's only ever Spurs.
Why Brazil, out of interest? ( thought you were Lithuanian)
Off topic question, thought I'd stick it here. Who likes to and does go to matches on their own? I don't really mean ST holders who get to know the faces around, just the odd match
I don't at the moment, I go with my dad and brother but that's because he lives near the Lane so I see Spurs when I visit him. I am certain though I will start going to games alone when I go to uni providing it's anywhere near London and I get a job decent enough to afford it.
My dad is from Brazil.
Ten years ago I would have been Tottenham hands down but whether it is age, priorities changing or the sport itself gradually getting more and more ridiculous and expensive, I would still say Spurs but it is tainted with an overall feeling of distance from the whole sport.
I have a ST but I don't enjoy the experience almost as much as I did 5 or 6 years back.
I have a ST but I don't enjoy the experience almost as much as I did 5 or 6 years back.
Interesting to note that the majority of Yanks who voted, voted for football. Goes further towards proving how little you understand what it truly means to be Spurs.
I love football, play three times a week, I have watched three games tonight alone, only one of which related to Spurs, I live and breath football but Spurs is my life, I have grown up with Spurs as the one and only constant. It will outlast any friend, girlfriend, relative. Spurs are my eternal love.
Saying Spurs wouldn't exist without football is totally irrelevant, makes the question null and void if that argument is being put across. It's like asking "What do you love more your favourite TV show or the network that broadcasts it?" or "What do you love more your favourite band or their record label?"
I love football, play three times a week, I have watched three games tonight alone, only one of which related to Spurs, I live and breath football but Spurs is my life, I have grown up with Spurs as the one and only constant. It will outlast any friend, girlfriend, relative. Spurs are my eternal love.
Saying Spurs wouldn't exist without football is totally irrelevant, makes the question null and void if that argument is being put across. It's like asking "What do you love more your favourite TV show or the network that broadcasts it?" or "What do you love more your favourite band or their record label?"
I'm sorry but that last bit is nonsense, the football vs Spurs thing is more like saying are you happy to just listen to one band for the rest of your life at the expense of all other music. When people say they put football first, they are not talking about the sport as just a concept or the industry or business of it, they are talking about all the other great football that is to be watched and enjoyed in the whole world.
There is nothing wrong in not being overly fanatical in your outlook and being able to have some sense of a neutral perspective in your enjoyment of football. It doesn't make you a lesser fan, it's just another perfectly valid way of experiencing football. And as with anything else it comes down to each person's unique life experiences that forms their mindset.
People are interested in sports that they have played and enjoyed - because its fantastic to watch the top pros and see how they make it all so effortless, and you know how difficult or impossible it is for you to do it.
You may watch sports that you have never played, but I'll bet that most people who do, will rarely take any great interest in them, as there is no link.
The whole irrational idea that you must love the sport more than a team that plays it is nonsense, as quite clearly there will be no team to be passionate about. I love watching football, but the only time I get really passionate or care about the result is watching Spurs or England. The only possible exception is watching the Arse***, I get passionate about whoever they are playing.
When did I ever say that you must love the sport more than a team? I certainly do feel that way and I'm saying it's valid and no one has any right to shame anyone else for not being ''a real fan'' or whatever; there is absolutely nothing irrational about what I'm saying, not in the slightest. You are welcome to have whatever stance you want, I'm not gonna tell you how you should feel.
Also if I'm reading your first point correctly, you are suggesting that most people can only enjoy watching a sport if they've played it themselves? Well I would strongly disagree with that, since I'm pretty sure that only a small percentage of the 3 billion people who watch football world wide have actually played any level of the sport. And who are you to tell them that they are not really interested or have no link to it?
As Mick says, the passion is in following a specific team for me. If you are neutral and just enjoy the beauty and skill of any random game (which is fine if thats your thing), but there are no tears of joy or pain....I cant imagine football without that hope/devastation.
I still don't get how anyone can watch a game of football and stay impartial
If its a game between two teams that I have no allegiance or interest in, I can remain impartial - if I think one team is full of dirty players or cheats - then I would side with the other team, but I certainly wouldn't care overmuch who won, why would I?
Might just be me but ill always side with one team regardless of sport makes it more interesting for me
I wasn't accusing you personally of anything, so you can rest easy on that point.
As for the highlighted bit, I'd say that by far the biggest percentage would be people who have participated in a game of football, of some description or another - given the sports popularity, even in disinterested places like the US, kids play the game early in their lives.
I have no proof, its just an opinion based on talking to a lot of people about the sport, in many countries over most of my life. When I have discussed this with people who are totally disinterested in the sport - its usually because they never played the game or cared about it.
I don't get the shaming aspect of your first point - that must be something that came out earlier in the thread.
There could be some small reason to want a team to win (or lose) when watching a neutral game...for example if one team is full of diving cheats, or one has a goal dissallowed wrongly....but there are many games I couldnt care less who wins to be honest..