From Philly Eagles to Newcastle United | OneFootball

While I have always been partial to the other Pennsylvania NFL team, the Pittsburgh Steelers, I had my green on this past  Sunday and, I must admit, it was deeply satisfying to be rooting for the spoilers.

In true Philly fashion, we won the rematch having lost to Kansas City two years ago.

Union supporters (Philly’s MLS team), and, more recently, Eagles fans, have adopted Millwall’s “No one likes us” chant.

It’s no historical ballad like, say, Blaydon Races, but I must say, it feels pretty good belting it out after a few pints.

I recently broke my cardinal rule of buying a player’s jersey before they’ve retired. However, it took so long to receive, I thought he might be retired by the time it arrived. After waiting 10 months last season for my BDB jersey from Castore, the order was cancelled without so much as an email. Fortunately, I like the Adidas kit much better and my 24/25 BDB jersey arrived before the season started. However, I panicked last week when I saw a headline that BDB was on record with a Super Bowl pick. As you may imagine, there are a lot of scenarios where it would have become difficult for me to wear his jersey. Fortunately, not only did he not say anything negative about Philly, but he said he was rooting for the Eagles, although he didn’t expect them to win. I knew I liked that guy.

I assume most Tyneside supporters fall generally into the same two buckets as Philly fans. Bucket 1: the true believer that the team will always win regardless of the opponent, or, Bucket 2: this is my team, I will always root for them, but I know we are overmatched, out spent, or just unlucky at times.

Last week my 25-year-old nephew told me his roommate was taking all his money out of the bank and betting it on the Eagles. Clearly, a Bucket 1 guy. BDB and I, on the other hand, are Bucket 2 guys. To be fair, there is a small portion of the population that can approach games based on reasoned analysis. We will call that group, Thimble 3 fans. But it’s when I occasionally dip into Thimble 3 and start to believe in my own assessment that I’m the most disappointed by the loss.

Assuming my team will find a way to lose the biggest games is better for my emotional stability, so this EPL season, I made a promise to be comfortable in Bucket 2, enjoy the wins as they come, and not let the losses ruin my weekends. Nine wins in a row across all competitions goes a long way to ensuring positive weekends, but it also caused me to unconsciously drift into Thimble 3 before the last Fulham match.

My wife and I drove two hours that Saturday morning for a 10am kick-off – weird but beats an 11:30pm Super Bowl and still leaves you the entire weekend – with one of my sons and his girlfriend. I did my best not to sulk the entire drive home. Unfortunately, my best was not good enough and I received a surprise performance evaluation from my wife about 10 minutes into the drive . These evaluations are on all facets of my life/performance and while they generally cover the few months since my last evaluation, seamless references to my areas of opportunity since high school are fair game as there is no concept of a statute of limitations during these reviews. Murderers have paid their debts to society in shorter time periods than I, who, for example, made the absolutely inexcusable decision to buy my beautiful wife a very nice vacuum cleaner (an actual Hoover) for a birthday 30 years ago. So, to minimise the complications of my life, it’s best for me to leisure from Bucket 2.

Regarding rooting complications and jerseys, I’m trying to decide if it’s appropriate to wear a NUFC jersey to a Philadelphia Union match when they play Atlanta or Toronto. I suspect most attending fans would not understand the reference, but I thought it would be a nice shout for Almiron and Matty Longstaff. I’m a Union season ticket holder, but I don’t sit in the official, Son’s of Ben (Franklin), body paint section. I technically would not be wearing the opposing team’s jersey, which would be out of the question, but I would be showing a little indirect support for an opposing player.

Think about it this way. I intensely dislike Man City, but I’ve always respected De Bruyne. Admittedly, our relationship became unrecoverably strained last January when he came in late, off an extended injury, and created two goals against the run of play for a 2-3 win at SJP. Fortunately, no vacuum cleaners were exchanged during or after the match.

Now imagine if I was looking to self sooth after that match and strolled over to The Strawberry wearing a Belgium national team T-shirt. Not a full on De Bruyne kit, but let’s say a 2018 Belgium World Cup T-shirt that Graeme Jones had signed. It’s January, so I’m wearing an unzipped NUFC jacket, but you can clearly see my Belgium T-shirt (Since it’s my dilemma, I get to make the hypothetical as complicated as I like).

Is this a respectful nod to an international player that was also the week’s opponent, or is it blasphemous? In my case, Almiron is genuinely a well-liked international that is hard to root against. Longstaff on the other hand, seems like a nice kid who would appreciate the nod.

If I said I would likely zip up my jacket at the Strawberry, but I would be less concerned about an NUFC jersey at a Union match, does that make me a poor home supporter or just crazy long distance NUFC fan? It’s the same game, but is it really?

I’ve rooted for Detroit FC when they were in the 3rd and 4th tier of US soccer and I’m certain no one would care if I wore a Detroit FC T-shirt to an MLS match in Philly.

Would anyone care if I wore a Millwall T-shirt to a Newcastle match? Since they are in the second tier is that a problem? How about Notts County? Is it the team, individual players, the fans, or the city itself that really drives the rivalry? If the answer is the city, what does that actually mean?

In Philly, there should be no New York support of any kind whatsoever. It’s not as sacrilegious as seeing Mackems on Tyneside, but I wish it was. 90 miles vs 10 miles, I guess.

If it’s the fans you can’t stand, then is it OK to support individual players? Nothing warms my heart like a tear-streaked Arsenal fan (or coach), but I enjoy watching Saka when he’s wearing white and blue for his country and I always click on a Bergkamp or Henry YouTube video when given the chance. Is that OK? Or do we need to be resolute with our villains? Dare I ask if Pickford gets any support on Tyneside when he’s between the sticks for England?

If you ask me, these are vexing but important questions. If, instead, you are asking if I have too much time on my hands, you would be incorrect. It’s just old-fashioned avoidance, as anything is better than addressing the lengthy areas of improvement from my last evaluation.