More often than not sport is a communal activity. If you are playing a sport you have teammates and even in an individual sport like tennis or golf you have an opponent. As a fan you are typically among others at the ground or at the pub. Even if you watch the match at home alone fans will discuss the match after the fact. There are also radio phone-ins, newspaper coverage, TV highlights, and other things associated with the game that makes the experience larger than ones self.
As an Aston Villa fan in the United States, being a fan can be a solitary activity. The east coast of the US is typically five hours behind England. For me most of the matches start at 10:00 AM. As a night owl who can barely muster a sentence other than my Dunkin Donuts order before noon, I usually set my alarm and roll out of bed just in time for kickoff. Instead of having a beer as I watch the match, I’ll throw a bagel in the toaster and if I am smart I will program my coffee maker the night before. Waking up to the aroma of a fresh pot of coffee does make it easier to get out of bed, especially for the lunchtime kickoffs that typically start at 8:00 AM US eastern time. Monday and midweek matches are awesome. I can listen to audio commentary of the match at my desk and it is a welcome reprieve from Boston sports radio.
The biggest impediment to my football fandom is the fact that I work weekends at one of America’s largest retailers in the electronics department. Usually I work an opening shift on Saturday and a mid-shift on Sunday. Yesterday I worked 8:00 AM-4:30 PM. If the Aston Villa match is on TV in the States I will record the match and watch it later when I have the chance. I watched the Newcastle match at midnight on Sunday night and managed to stay awake up to the 70th minute. If I am at work I have an application on my iPhone that will send me push alerts for the match with any goals, cards, or substitutions. Working in a retail setting I am not allowed to use my phone while working. Luckily the electronics department has its own stockroom where I can discreetly check my twitter for news of the match and the lineups before kickoff. I also try to time one of my breaks so I can listen to audio commentary of the match via the Aston Villa app on my iPhone.
Yesterday I decided not to frantically check my phone while at work. With my work schedule and the international break it had been a while since I had seen a match live. I recorded the match and decided to avoid any news so I could go in fresh. That also meant I had to go six hours avoiding Twitter as I follow so may Villa fans on there and the score of the game would be impossible to miss. The only time I go that long without checking my timeline is when I am asleep so this was doubly difficult. I did check one last time before the match and to see what the lineups were. It was a good thing that I was locked in a stockroom when I saw that Emile Heskey was starting in favor of Barry Bannan or Charles N’Zogbia as I probably uttered an expletive.
On my break I figured I could go on Facebook as only a handful of my Facebook friends are Villa fans. I had forgotten that I like the club on Facebook and right there I saw Manchester City 1:0 Aston Villa HT. I was initially disappointed that I would not be going in 100% fresh, but then I was glad that the score showed Villa was still in the match and that the outcome was still in doubt. During my next two breaks I made sure to avoid all social media and I just read the news.
When I made it home I immediately put on the match. Watching the first half which I knew the outcome of I was pleased with the performance. Villa were able to maintain possession on the road against a title contender, whereas I was expecting them to park the bus. Going into the second half I was cautiously optimistic that Villa could get a result. The early goal was gutting, especially as I thought Steven Warnock was having one of his better performances since Martin O’Neil quit. Conceding the third goal, and the second on a set piece was just annoying. The club wasn’t playing poorly, but were down 3-0 and defended terribly on all three goals. The club didn’t stop fighting until James Milner’s belter made it 4-1. On the whole I thought the club did most of what Matt was asking for in his piece. I didn’t feel nearly as bad about this result as I did after the Wolves game. I fast forwarded through the last five minutes and enjoyed the rest of my Saturday night out with friends.
Additional quick hit thoughts:
- Three of the four goals were defended horribly. At least these issues should be easily correctable.
- I don’t hate Emile Heskey, he just should not be starting when Gabby, Bent, Bannan, and N’Zogbia are all fit and available.
- Hutton and Warnock both did well getting forward and supporting the attack, especially in the 1st half. Neither was able to deliver a quality ball in the final third, especially Hutton. I found myself expecting Hutton to deliver a quality cross almost by accident, like he was overdue to actually connect on one. I think it’s time to put him on the bench and give Chris Herd a runout.
- Stiliyan Petrov was invisible.
- Watching Fabian Delph on the ball or passing makes me miss Nigel Reo-Coker.
- Steven Ireland shows some nice touches but if he doesn’t take the next step soon his spot is there for the taking. If Jermaine Jenas can ever get fit he will be given a chance.
- Manchester City is scary good.
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