Today’s Poll Question – What Would Cause You to Drop Arsenal as Your Favorite Team?

as much as i bitch and moan about how much i hate the direction the club is entering.I will be a Gunner for life. cannot see myself supporting much less being a fan of  any other English team unless they are playing against. Man Chetas, Man Ugly, kelsea, rottenham or Liverfool.and even then its just for that game. personally i wouldnt mind seeing us be flexible enough to play stoke type football at the same time as being able to the arsenal way.

Homey you're like Arsene Wenger but with opposing ideas "I tend to be a lot more stubborn"

Anyone who voted anything aside from the first option shouldn't even be following Arsenal. 

Had a friend who supported Arsenal back in '00 in grade school. He was from Holland and a huge Henry/Bergkamp friend.  Haven't ever doubted my Arsenal love since then. Love Arsenal..because they're Arsenal. Nothing would make me stop loving them.

Almunia on loan at West Ham.  Woohoo.  Hope that deal is extended.

Now when we play West Ham he will all of a sudden play his best game. Arsenal are some type of Goalie goodluck charm

Loanees cannot play against their former Club but even if they could,RVP and company would have a field day against the Spanish waiter.

best news i've heard for a while!

Shame its only a month, can't we just give him to them as a sort of early Christmas present? 

According to "the media", since its an emergency loan, it can only last 93 days (or something like that). I'm hoping that he does well enough to put himself in the shop window for January though. With our wage bill as high as it is (4th in PL), we can't afford to keep players like him around. Meaning a player that's not good enough for Arsenal et al Diaby, Alumunia, Squizz, etc.

Great post Homey! In light of our troubles, the timing is perfect. Its a laugh for anyone to claim they are a fan but to ever say that there is a condition to their being an Arsenal fan.This is especially true if the condition is a change in: 1) playing style - which often changes with managers, and we've been in the uncommon position of having one manager for a very long time; and, 2) financial situation - yes, not supporting a club because they have suddenly become super rich makes you just as fake as someone who changes allegiance because their team suddenly became poor; you've just added an element of idiocy to your "fakeness".

The reason why people responded to you like that Homey is lack of tradition and proper mentoring from older fans in their family (or simply a lack thereof) - sounds corny now, but I grew up when people used to fight it out on the street if the result wasn't right on the pitch; i.e. to a fan, other fans are extended family - so to say you'd ever leave for any reason betrays who you really are. I know that if I ever said that I wouldn't support my team for any reason, my grandfather would be more than disappointed in me, and I damn sure wouldn't hear the end of it from my friends.

The term "fan" is fickle nowadays, people think that just because they go to the bar for a year or two, buy the FoxSoccer channels, do a little research, and develop an opinion, that they're fans. However, its little rationalizations like that which Homey mentions that betray them: "I love beautiful football and if Arsenal ever stopped playing it, I might find someone other team to watch" - why wait, go fuckoff now. If you have ever said something like that seriously, then you are not a fan; you're just someone who currently likes what the club is doing. 

(Obviously, criticism is different, and is welcome from fans of the club who don't like where its going!)

Lets hear it for The Arsenal! Goons fo lyf

I've always been rooting for Arsenal, for the style of football they play and for keeping United and Chelsea at bay for a while (Invincibles), plus having some of my favorite players helped (the French trio). So while I was not a proper Arsenal supporter, I did feel good when Arsenal did good. But around some time last season I finally snapped and starting rooting for Arsenal to do badly, comically badly even. I just can't handle the self-sabotage that is going on in the club with the resources (2nd most valuable team in England, after all). Maybe I was being overly rash at the time, maybe it was indeed injuries and bad luck for the umpteenth time in a row, not Wenger (who, a face for the board or not, is still the biggest factor for the underperforming in this team).

But as this season started, I realized that I was right. Now (EDIT: as in, now I am starting to talk about a whole lot of new stuff, not that I am now a Bayern fan and wasn't before), my beloved club is Bayern München. And we had a coach with a "philosophy", someone who was very keen on playing young players, someone who was very keen on keeping possession and forsaking defensive play for the sake of attacking play. Van Gaal, in his two seasons with Bayern, very well demonstrated the weaknesses of the rigid, single-minded approach like this. Looking back, it's increasingly obvious that the 2009-2010 success of Bayern was largely thanks to two players (Robben and Olic) and a healthy dose of luck (offside goal v Fiorentina in the CL). It was never due to van Gaal, it was a combination of individual brilliance and luck. It was increasingly obvious seeing as it was his first season and he never actually got to use his tactical philosophy. When he did settle in by the next season and had complete control, it was a disaster, an absolute disaster.

What we have now is Heynckes, a very, very experienced coach with no noticeable weaknesses whatsoever (he's tactically sound, manages the squad well, etc). Now Bayern is playing a balanced game which combines a strong offense with a disciplined, teamwork based defense. The entire team defends as an unit and tracks back when necessary, including Ribery! The result - 10 consecutive clean sheets, including ones against teams fielding attacking players like Rossi, Kiessling, Raul, Agüero, Dzeko. Completely the doing of a wily old manager with tons upon tons of experience, merged together with a very sensible transfer policy, and also the ability to take on new challenges (despite Heynckes leading Real Madrid to win the Champions League in the 90s, Tuesday against Manchester City was the first time he had ever managed against an English team, and did so with aplomb).

Now, why I'm bringing this up is that Bayern did not have reservations about firing van Gaal when things started going seriously sour and showed no signs of improvement. This is a very important point that I think is the center of Arsenal's decline lately: you cannot use past glories as an excuse for current failings. Wenger may have led the Invincibles to great success, but that was years ago. When you spend 6 years without winning a single trophy in charge of a club that easily has the potential to do so, then, at the present, you are a poor manager, past achievements be damned. Leading a football club is not such charity. Sure, you can keep a great past player around on the bench as a talisman and a mentor, or give him a job in the club which fits his skills, but the job of a manager is not like that. Especially in a game as fluid as football, a game in which the tactical aspects of the game radically change every 7 or so years (slow abolition of roles such as the sweeper and Trequartista, for example).

I do not know who exactly to blame for the state Arsenal is in right now. Is it Wenger for insisting on his approach to things despite it clearly not working? Or the board for not just letting Wenger go and overhaul the team from top to bottom? I must say that at the present, I see no reason why Arsenal should be overly optimistic about their future - Arteta, Santos and Mertesacker are in no way team-turning signings on their own. In fact I'm starting to wonder if any signing would work when Wenger is still in charge. Again a Bayern analogy is in good order - against City, our tall and slow centerback van Buyten performed extremely well, because he was used in the sides by a coach who knew his strengths and weaknesses and adjusted the tactical system accordingly, by playing with a fairly deep defensive line and using his the holding midfielders to deny space for faster players to pick up their pace and run past him. I have yet to see this done by Wenger - it seems like he is just going to throw the players into the mix and see what happens.

That is a big difference between Bayern and Arsenal. Uli Hoeness does not tolerate failure, let alone repeated failure. A decisive chairman ready to take action if anything is going below potential. This can be seen as a pretty arrogant attitude with an inflated sense of self-importance just as well as it could be called ambitious. But the point here is potential (a word your average Gunner really oughta hate by now). Just consider the financial resources involved. Arsenal had no fiscal problems making a proper marquee signing. In fact, if I remember correctly, Arsenal made a profit during the summer transfer window! Was it really that difficult to whip out 30-million pounds, find a big name and purchase him, as a clear sign of intent to both the players and the fans? Instead Mertesacker gets bought (I was really annoyed at the talk of him being a German international. He is a German ex-international, because he simply isn't good enough anymore and made his appearances during a time in which Germany saw a major dearth in quality defenders).

So, to summarize my longer-than-intended rant, I no longer actively root for Arsenal because they aren't doing what they're supposed to be doing. If Wenger is replaced by an equally inept manager, I would not root for Arsenal. If Arsenal keep their great style of play just for the sake of aesthetic quality, I will not root for Arsenal. If the trophy drought continues WITHOUT (and this is a very important point) a clear and reasonable attempt to overturn it (it doesn't even have to be overturn, but selling Fabregas and Nasri in one window is not a trophy-win seeking team does), I will not support Arsenal. Basically, if the complete and utter lack of ambition continues, I am not going to root for Arsenal. Even the teams in the Championship and lower have goals they want to attain that are reasonably based off the resources they have to attain it. A team that is worth less than everyone else tries to stave off relegation. The team with the biggest financial resources is aiming for the title. And Arsenal, an extremely rich club, is content with what, another season of barely nicking the Champions League spot?

So to put my feelings about Arsenal in an analogy, I felt like a battered wife returning to an abusive husband (no offense intended to victims of domestic abuse if it sounds like belittling their tragedy). I know that he isn't going to change, and that every time he says so, he doesn't really mean it or is too much of a dick to actually do it. At best he'll switch from hard liquor to beer, well hoo-fucking-rah. I just can't take the emotional abuse of being an Arsenal supporter. I can cope with some of the less-rich teams I like not winning titles, because they don't have the resources for it. Their victories lay elsewhere. But it is painful to watch a team like this underperforming again and again. Arsenal should not suck this badly, because they have the resources to do great things. And either Wenger or the board is at fault for this, and I cannot see the situation resolved with Arsene Wenger as Arsenal manager.

Basically consider this and outsider-looking-in post from someone who dropped Arsenal as a favoured (not favourite) team, and feel free to fire away the "you're not a true supporter" shouts. I have no particular loyalties to Wenger, so I do not have a rose-tinted view of him.

To me, loyalty is admirable as a virtue, and it goes both ways. Wenger has done alot for the club, and has stayed loyal to it despite the repeated job offers hes had from bigger and richer clubs (Madrid and PSG springs to mind). Now it is our turn to be loyal to him.

It seems for you, success is what is most important.

Besides, he has not become a bad manager over night. A few bad matches does not mean anything in the long run.

I will also forgive you for your lack of knowledge in business and finance. The reason why we are the second most valuable club is because of Wenger's financial prudence. If he was to spend cash like City or Madrid, we would definitely not be the second most valuable club.

Wait, so what is the point of being a valuable club if you're not going to use the money you've gathered? I mean, it's like the "pirate buries his treasure story" - being rich for the sake of being rich. Arsenal has tons of money, but the problem is the fear of going in the red for a single season. Or I don't know why. In any case stubborn clinging to balancing the budget and simultaneous bitching about how everyone else is spending the money is really annoying. Arsenal had a far bigger revenue than AC Milan, Liverpool, or Juventus in 2010.

Seeing as you obviously have more "knowledge in business and finance", you certainly know that football clubs as well as regular businesses borrow money to finance future success. I mean it's basic knowledge, so you should, right? It's the whole cornerstone of the banking system after all. Now, I'm in no way advocating "bad debt" like Real or Barcelona, but a club that is constantly making a profit in the transfer season HAS the funds to make more purchases, where else does the transfer revenue go?

Again, this can be compared to Bayern in recent years. The Allianz Arena is also a shiny new stadium, and it was not built to increase matchday income (the old Olympic Stadium housed just as many people and the ticket prices are regulated to be the same). Of course on the other end of the spectrum, Bayern could finance that deal with selling shares of the club to companies like Adidas and Audi, something that Arsenal can't do. I cannot defend the sensibility of the English football financial system, so you have me beat on that. So, uh, good job on being in a financially unstable league I guess?

Now, talking about loyalty, I think you, along with others, made the mistake of, well, I don't think I can call it anything else than not reading what I said. I am a well-wisher, a supporter, but not a fan. Arsenal is not my club, but I want it to do well because I sympathize with it. So I have no "loyalty" to Wenger. I judge the situation as a football fan that is intrigued yet frustrated how the fortunes of a sympathetic club are going.

Of course I can't quite understand what you people who denounce everyone who displays the slightest bit of ambition as "glory hunters" call fandom then anyway. What do you do as an Arsenal fan? Do you root for the team doing well? If so, you are in effect a glory hunter as well. Obviously, if one likes a club, one wants it to do well. That is a fan for whom "success is more important", like me, since apparently I'm a bad person for wishing that the team that I love does well and don't like if it is being dragged down due to easily remediable incompetence.

For a fan to whom loyalty is more important, it must be really easy to be a football fan, I mean, losses don't mean anything (though I can't imagine that wins do either, who cares, right?), at least the beloved coach has a warm place to sit and big ol' paycheck. But I don't think it's the right attitude for supporting a sports team, which by nature is competitive. Maybe you'd like music better. I mean, you can pick your favourite band and be "loyal" to them all the way, without worrying about pesky things like ambition and competition.

Just please, don't come at me with the old and tired "LOYALTY 4 EVA KILL ALL GLORY HUNTERS" teen tirades. It insults the intelligence of both of us.

As for "A few bad matches does not mean anything in the long run.", I can't do anything else than laugh.

I know you are not a fan. I was trying to explain to you what my beliefs are.

Congrats on not reading carefully.

' For me, loyalty is admirable as a virtue, and it goes both ways.
Wenger has done alot for the club, and has stayed loyal to it despite
the repeated job offers hes had from bigger and richer clubs (Madrid and
PSG springs to mind). Now it is our turn to be loyal to him.

It seems for you, success is what is most important.'

I, unlike you, do not believe that he has turned into a bad manager over night (or over 5 years). Sure he may have mistakes, but who hasn't?

Why not give him a chance to implement his long term vision and fix these mistakes?

Get out troll.

Don't be dense. If you do not understand the sly digs at me you made, then you must be schizophrenic. Dressing the up in a diplomatic tone doesn't change anything.

Now, correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't a manager who has been at a club for over a dozen years already in the process of, if not finished with, implementing his "long term vision"? I'm sorry, but the thought process of "well he's been here for a long time, so he must be God by now" doesn't make sense. He is making clear mistakes, that alone is a sign of the fact that he is no longer the man to maximize the potential output of the team.

Do you even know what bad debt is? It is debt that cannot be repaid.

My point is that the reason why we are the second most valuable brand in the business is because of Wenger's dealings. And valuation itself is an art not a science. Value does not equate to cash; we do not have the second most cash holdings in the world of football.

The problem with a major signing is that it would force up the wages, above a level that is sustainable. The only reason why we are so profitable in recent years is the sale of property located at Highbury. Without this stream of revenue, we would only barely be making a profit. If we were to make one or more 'major' signings, our costs would spiral up, as their wages and the wages of our existing players (which we would be forced to reward with higher wages to bring them in line with the new players) cut into our bottom line.

This is all very elementary. If you cannot even understand this, I highly question why you are even bothering to try and argue your case because obviously you are not very learned in this subject.

I already conceded that the financial system of English football is idiotic. You're not doing a further service to your point of defending Wenger this way. Though I do like "HAHA UR DUMB" comment in the end, class.

Fact is, we do not have the 'resources to do great things'. We used most of those 'resources' by building our new shiny world class stadium (to the tune of 300 million pounds+).

That is a lot of cash, even for a club with superior financing methods like Madrid.

I find your view on Bayern Munchen very interesting. How long will it take for you to 'look back' and be critical of Heynckes and come up with reasons why he was so bad in for the club like you did with Van Gaal?
Anyone can look back and blame this or that. What were you saying that first season with Van Gaal leading the club? I seem to remember everyone (well, most) praising Van Gaal for the play of Bayern, and now the story is it was simply 'Robben and Olic and luck'.
Arsenal and Wenger have many failings and struggles, and no one is more aware of them than Arsenal fans, and it's painful. Doesn't mean I am going to bail on them for it, because they are my club and I'll have to endure it.

Well it's pretty simple really. Bayern did not start the season with van Gaal like Heynckes did. In fact van Gaal was almost fired after around 10 games or so, and was kept only thanks to Nerlinger putting in a good word for him. in his almost-two-years at the helm of Bayern, he was constantly successful for only 1/4th of it (the 9 matchday winning sequence starting in the winter). Bayern's start to the season has been the best in ages, that alone is grounds to say that Heynckes is a better coach.

Also van Gaal was not universally admired. He received a lot of flak for selling Lucio and Toni. Selling Lucio would turn out a very big blow seeing as he was playing in the team that beat us in the CL final. During his regime Mats Hummels was also sold to Dortmund (who only became the best defender in the Bundesliga). He also managed to turn down near-complete deal for Khedira, van der Wiel and Coentrao, because he thought that the club already had the players for the positions.

But most importantly, seeing how well the squad is performing right now shows how much they were underperforming last year. Badstuber's, Ribery's, Schweinsteiger's lack of form last season was directly related to van Gaal's tactical rigidity. It was the season where van Gaal started to actually settle his tactical approach to the game (most notably, switching from the 4-4-2 to the 4-2-3-1).

Van Gaal's failings were very clear at the time, and I think you can't remember them because you don't follow the team. The whole 2010 summer was full of crying and shouting for reinforcements for the backline, yet it did not happen. It's obviously a lot easier to bring up the mistakes when there is no success to dim the issue, of course. In the overall euphoria of winning one tends to forgo the weaknesses of a team, but that doesn't mean they aren't there.

My point is that the year they made the Champions League Finals, everyone and their dog loved Van Gaal.
Sure 2010 proved a different story, and the narrative of the year before became it was all Robben and Olic. Which no one said in 2009.

Here we go, a Glory Hunting troll at our forum... 

Every team goes through bad times, your now 'beloved' Bayern included. At this rate, it seems you would shift your support from team to team based on a pre-supposed set of variables (success, style of play, 'doing what they are are supposed to be doing' etc.) I wouldn't go so far as to call you a mercenary, but you are a very strange kind of fan - you throw your support behind the team that follows your preconceived ideals at the moment as opposed to the team itself. Whatever works for you but I tell you, you are really missing out on being a fan of ONE Club - supporting the crest on the shirt (and the players bearing it regardless of current shambles) and sticking with it through all the great memories (Invincibles year, Kanu's hat trick vs Chelsea in the last 10min of a game in '99 I think that turned 2-0 into 3-2, THAT Bergkamp flick vs Leicester, coming back to beat Barca 2-1)  and the shitty times (8-2 at ManU this season was horrible but we did lose 6-1 to them in 2001 with Yorke getting a hat trick. We had Grimandi, Luzhny and Stephanovs in defence resulting in the purchase of Sol Campbell and later Toure and Lauren and we ended up winning 2 titles in 3yrs and were unbeaten in 03-04...) Of course the scenario is completely different now but just because things have been going down the toilet since 2006 doesn't mean that they won't get better. If fans nowadays are as fickle as the players of the teams they idolize then what hope is there for the Club as a whole?

What a great reply - cheers, that's what I'm talking about.

Agree with this. quaazi, you wouldn't last 2 hours as a Mets fan, it would drive you insane.

When I used the word "now", I meant that I was starting a rant, not that I suddenly switched my allegiance, I think that's what caused you to misunderstand me. I've been a Bayern faithful before I was old enough to go to school, so I witnessed both '99 and '01.

Quaazi, 
I'm not sure if you read my posts over the last few months, but I've said many of the same exact things.  And I was called all sorts of names.  
I don't really agree with bailing on a favorite team due to a bad manager or whatever, as stated.  But as far as you point about how we Arsenal fans should expect more than what we're getting from the current regime, I completely agree.

Well I tried to make it very clear that I was never actually an Arsenal fan, I just rooted for them. Didn't stop people from going GLORYMERCENARYHUNTERSTUPIDPOOP, though. Next time I'll be laconic and draw a big picture of a dick in the message box, I guess it is as thought-provoking to some of these people as a discussion.

No one insulted you here, certainly not in the way you describe.

Well if "STUPIDPOOP" is too subtle of a joke insult, then I don't know what the world has come to. "Glory hunter" and "mercenary" are direct quotes, however, despite saying for the umpteenth time that I was never an Arsenal fan.

excellent post. I agree completely; Arsenal are going nowhere with AW.

whatever the case, they will still be my EPL team; i just may find another team to watch as a sideline; maybe a division or 2 down, or another country; one with players and mangement that work at living up to their potential, more modest though it may be

I've been an Arsenal fan since I can remember; I think is more of a feel than just selecting a team to watch. When I was younger and Arsenal became my team, am 24 now, it was the time of Dennis Bergkamp. I thought he was the best player in the world along with Ian Wright. The flow of play we have always had is inspiring. No one else supported them in my family therefore I took up that fort. I don't think there is anything that would dislodge my loyalty unlike certain players (Na$ri). So am in it for the long run. Also Wenger sometimes reminds me of Mr Bean.
Seriously, what is with it with Man City and Arsenal players? If Mancini likes us that much just apply for the assistance job and be Pat Rice secretary! Cos with the squad he has got and believes he need more then he is certain not management material.

I'm on the Homey D&G wagon; but i will continue to support them, no matter what. I just may do it with varying degrees of enthusiasm

You seem to be a fan dude, but if you step back and look at the logic of your last sentence you'll see how how self serving it is. How valuable are you if you're only an enthusiastic fan when we're winning? How much does the team, or anyone, need support when when they're doing well? The times we're really valuable to the team is when the team is struggling. The good times, when the team is doing great, are your reward for being there and rooting even harder during the bad times.

Homey, you're stubborn?
When did that start?

nice blog.
came around to watch the comments on the previous onr and what a nice surprise i found.
also a surprise was that I was in the majority when voting!!
2 nice surprises!

I said a lot of times that I became a fan the same year AW became the manager, and a flurry of tophies followed, but today, even if we are in a dry spell, or players leaving, my heart is in too deep...I cant walk away, its bigger, like you say, its all about the cannon in the shield.

I cant walk away but like you I can yell and complain a lot hahahaha.

I'm just glad you didn't include "If they named John Terry as player-manager" as an option...

I thought my Shawcross/Mourinho duo was pretty close to that.  Maybe not quite.  But anyway, that wasn't a poll option.

Shawcross may break my leg, and Mourinho may poke me in the eye, but John Terry would do his best to sleep with my wife while beating me and likely her to a pulp while speaking like a Pikey from Snatch (but without the comic relief or the Brad-Pitt-being-awesome-ness).  Thank you, but I'll take our good friends from the north and Madrid any day.

If any of RVP, Vermalean, or Song don't sign a new contract or they aren't replaced by players of the same stature (i.e. world-class 35 million pound players)... 

We could do without Walcott lol

We could do without Walcott?  Them are fightin' words around here, buddy.

If RVP doesn't sign a new contract...

Ok, so clearly you're an RvP fan, rather than an Arsenal fan... have fun with that once her retires

I followed Arsenal since Arsene became the manager.

The inevitable Van Persie to Man City story is already on The Guardian website.  This is going to painful if Van Persie doesn't re-sign...

RvP is no fool. He knows he's 28 and next season he'll be a year older. Man Shitty have 3 world class strikers all younger and arguably better than him; sertainly Aguero is as good and his potential for City are close to limitless. Dzeko, on a little slump perhaps, but again - potential is there. RvP doesn't want to be a Tevez; the oldest guy trying to compete with the young bucks.

He'll stay. The reason for all of this is for him to get AW to do his homework from now until January, and bring in at least one world class signing, preferably 2 in midfield and defense.

let me qualify "better" - better in terms of potential, whereas RvP is only going to decline from now on, and of course everyone knows about his 6month injuries

Yeah. Telegraph is running it, too. The story at this point is just that there have been "discussions" about Man City about van Persie. Doesn't mean they will bid, and certainly doesn't mean that van Persie is interested, or that Wenger would be willing to sell. I would be stunned if van Persie does not finish out the season at Arsenal.

The danger, I think, at this point, is (a) a possible Nasri situation -- van Persie realizes "hey, I can make twice as much money and have a better chance of winning trophies. I won't agitate for a transfer, but I damn sure am not re-signing a contract here." and it torpedoes contract negotiations; or (b) at the very least, this "will van Persie leave for City?" thing becomes a big distraction all season long and takes focus away from the pitch.

Regardless, it's a pain in the ass, whether it's credible or not.

Who cares. The AOC has come to save us all. /snark

I think we should not discuss the possibility at all - just ignore it.  If no arsenal supporters talk about it on any sites anywhere maybe the press will have to give it up.  They only get away with these story lines because it whips us all up.

I think I should be able to discuss it, since I doubt the journalists read our humble little website.  

its painful to read it, but hey, we got AWs experience on Cesc, although humans are the only living entity known to step twice where pain was caused, I think he will do better cause we have some and cause if not we d lose some...hope

I think we should ignore it as much as possible, but it's just not practical to think that enough people are not going to be interested in it and it will just go away. See, e.g., the Fabregas saga.

I think we can acknowledge that it's there without going all Chicken Little over it. RvP will be an Arsenal player for at least this season, and our focus should be on the team. But on Twitter when I just posted a link to the story, and even explained that I didn't think there was anything to it, I got a lot of tweets along the lines of "ZOMG! Dat story iznt evven tru -- why don't u talk bout da Champs Lge win?!" But it just seems like human nature to identify and acknowlege a potential problem -- if I see a gun-wielding maniac running down the street towards me, I'm not going to close my eyes and think about how awesome ice cream is.

Anyway, I think there's a balance between responsibly acknowledging that this story is being reported by credible papers, but that there is very little, if anything, to it at this stage, and we should focus on the next match instead, and just pretending like it doesn't exist. Just my $.02, obviously reasonable people may differ on this.

Obviously the Twitter folk are not the best when it comes to coherence, meaning, and syntax, but really, "evven"? What a weird spelling mistake to make. A true Twit would go for "evan" or perhaps "evyn"!

Well, in fairness, no one actually said that, I just made it up as a not-so-subtle way of implying that anyone who dares to disagree with me is an idiot, which is obviously not true. But it is fun to do, so I will continue to do so.

evn, actually. 

TThe poll results make me so much happier to be a Gooner. I've always cheered for the under dogs and it juat makes it that much sweeter when we win it all. Ie, red sox 2004, Boston celtics 2008, etc.

HAHAHAHA the Red Stockings! They're in golf mode already ;) hopefully the golf carts have tv screens, so they can watch some post season with the YANKS, lmao. Couldn't resist.

2008 Celtics were the underdogs?
Paul Pierce, Ray Allen, Kevin Garnett, James Posey, Sam Cassell, PJ Brown and Eddie House, with Rondo, Perkins just started their rise to becoming stars.
Posted a record of 66-16, the best in the NBA that year, Garnett was Defensive player of the year and Danny Ainge was Excutive of the year.
Best underdogs I've ever heard of.

I'm happier as well, knowing I'm in the large majority on this one.  After reading some of those comments in previous blogs, I started wondering if I was in the minority with the way I feel.

Were the 2008 Celtics underdogs? Really?

The 2004 Red Sox, at the time, had the highest payroll of any team to win the World Series.  You should have been rooting the Cardinals guy.

Wasn't aware of that stat, but given the history between the Yankees and Sox, I could at least sort of see that at the time (I lived in New England at the time, and most Sox fans I knew felt doomed). They've long since shed the underdog label, obviously, and this "evil empire" crap is just b.s. I hate the Yankees about as much as anyone, but the Red Sox are basically just 90% of the Yankees at this point.

But as Darren points out, the Celtics were pretty much an assembled superteam of established stars to win the title, and dominated during the regular season -- not sure how anyone could have considered them underdogs that year.

LMAO its funny how its only Met fans who can't like the other NY team. I'm a die hard Yankee fan, but I went to City Field before I went to the new Yankee stadium and I would never root against a NY team in any sport no matter who they are. Come to think of it, I like the Mets... I just dislike their fans.

No, but it had been a while since they won, so maybe more the feel-good story, having sunk so low after such success. Also, I really don't follow basketball, but I watched a few games that year. 

not at all.

I am an arsenal supporter because my dad is and my grandfather was too.  I would like to say that I would always be an arsenal supporter no matter what and I probably would but the only thing that would make me less so and perhaps choose another team, say QPR, to support would be if Martin O'Neill became manger.  I think that would do it for me.

weird.

weird.