It is getting to be mid June and this weekend I have a ticket to go to San Jose to watch the LA Galaxy take on the San Jose Earthquakes. I’m a Galaxy season ticket holder and myself along with 200 other Galaxy fans are making the trip to San Jose for the match. I belong to my local supporters group the Angel City Brigade. We stand and cheer together every other weekend. We’ve become friends and the best kind, soccer fans whom have become friends.

    My year revolves around the sport I love. My year begins in August/September when Italy, Spain, England and Germany kick off. My year ends at the end of July during the middle of the MLS season here in America. No matter the time of year living here in Los Angeles, I am able to watch a match be it MLS, Serie A, La Liga, Argentine Primera División or the Primera División de México. The list can go on to the games I can watch from my couch.

     Many people try to compare MLS to other league but you cannot. Every league be it the English Premier League, the German Bundesliga or the Korean K-League all have something different to offer its fans. The skill level may be different but there is a constant, the supporters. People who get up early on the West Coast of America to watch a 4:30 A.M. kick off of Liverpool – Manchester United or the Family in Australia who stay awake to watch Chelsea – Arsenal. We all have one thing in common and that is soccer. There are leagues everywhere with supporters of all kinds wearing different colors and silly hats. But we call come together over one game, one sport and that is soccer.

    Getting to watch every game of Euro 2008 and Champions League action is a perk and I am glad to have the opportunity. Looking at the fans in the stands wearing their countries colors watching history in the making that is the pure joy of this sport and why it is loved all over the world. Every time a big tournament such as the Euros, Copa America, World Cup or Asian Cup come along it reminds me how the same everyone is when they are watching a game they love and are constantly awed by.

    As for this weekend, I’m going to miss a few games but that is why the soccer g-d’s created TIVO. And while I am sitting on the bus up to San Jose I won’t be far from the action since my iPhone can supply me with all the scores. Wow, I really do live in a world where it would be hard not to get the scores, results and news. And for that I think we have come a really long way. Fifth teen years ago when I used to open the Sunday Times and hope the sports section had their little blurb on world soccer and the scores from the week before game I never would have imagined I would be able to get a soccer package from my cable or satellite supplier. I’m just happy we have all of this and I think some of us need to be reminded about that every once and a while to take a look and see what we have in our own back yard and where we are now and how far we have come.

-Hannah 

Hey guys, both podcasts on rounds 10 and 11 are ready for your listening pleasure. Listen on our myspace page, or go to serieatalk.com  and laligatalk.com.

We have an interview with John Foot, author of Calcio: A History of Italian Football, published in the United States as Winning at All Costs, it is a comprehensive history of Italian football from its origins as an English import, the re-branding of it to create an imagined connection with Calcio Fiorentino (an ancient Italian foot game), and up to the minute that Calciopoli hit. Enjoy, 'cause this one's a long one.

Get the interview at serieatalk.libsyn.com