Thank You FFC, Fulhamusa, and all you fans

As a freshly minted fan of the beautiful game, I have mostly refrain from posting, preferring to gather information than to spout ignorantly. But after my first season of watching football, and rooting for Fulham since the 3-3 draw v Spurs early on, I wanted to thank everyone involved with this site for helping in my immense enjoyment of this wonderful sport and club.
I watched the late stages of the '06 world cup and the '07 Champions league with more curiosity than true interest. This year in August I started working at night. An admitted sports junkie, I lamented at the live sports I was missing at work. I had never watched much daytime TV, and the early stages of the cup competitions and the begining of the prem season made it seem as if live soccer was on tv every day when I woke up. So I watched. Soon I realized I had been missing out on a wonderful game, and was enthralled. Still, the rthym of the game enthralls me. No stoppage of play, midfield work like so much foreplay, and the sweet ecstasy of finally penetrating the goal; it truly is the beautiful game.
I watched Tottenham play an 8 goal cracker early on and decided to watch them at next chance. Keller was in goal for Fulham and his was the first American name I'd recognized in any game so I was interested in Fulham. The announcer mentioned the other American players and I recognized Clint Dempsey as well. I knew nothing of Bocanegra, and McBride was still hurt. It was a great game and I thought I'd found my club. The next game I saw was another 3-3 draw, with Citeh, they talked then about the cottage. I researched the club's history, and I've rooted for them since.
What an incredible season, every emotion imaginable. This relegation thing in a two-edged sword. What dreadful consequences, but as a Tampa Devil Rays fan I can tell you that playing out the string at the bottom of the table for weeks(months) at a time is no fun for anyone.
Again, Thank You to everyone, every post, every article, without them my learning curve would have been much longer, and my enjoyment therefore less complete.

 

Hello gumbeeone. It is always great to have a new football fan aboard. I think this site is a fantastic place for new and old fans alike.

 

-mate you really do need to carm down i nearly had a heart attack reading that :shock: :wink: lol
Welcome to the family fella,you picked a hell of a season to join!!

 

RE: Re: Thank You FFC, Fulhamusa, and all you fans

Welcome to the best Fulham website in the Universe!

 

No problem, this is a friendly site (and club), hope to hear from you more. You're certainly not the first one to equate soccer and sex!

A Devil Ray fan? So you're the one?

 

Feel free to spout ignorantly gumbeeone, I do it all the time 8)

 

welcome to the madhouse :coffee: gumbeegee.
from the 'eye in sky' pettyfog to 'nomadic wanderings' of hatterdon, your find some great fulham fans here.

you have to be slighty 'left field' to support Fulham so enjoy the ride.

tell me, i saw you put DevilRays as your team (im a limey redsox)
what do you think of the name change Devil Rays to Rays.
is it political correctness gone mad or have the endtimers finally taken over?

 

Similarly, I only started watching European football after the 2006 World Cup. I then became aware of (seemingly) more Premiership games on FSC on Saturday mornings and got hooked. I love watching uninterrupted sports (I almost can't watch the NFL anymore, squeezing in commercials before and after kickoffs), the commentary is the best in the world (whereas in the US, announcers try and put their "stamp" on every game), and the delayed gratification (see sexual references above) of quality play leading to a goal is just thrilling to me.

I followed the USMNT players and noticed how many were on Fulham, and rewarded FFC's faith in US Soccer with my allegiance. I did not discover this FulhamUSA site until just weeks ago (I will mention that I joined FUSA after the loss to Sunderland, and was perplexed by the headlines indicating that it was "over" only for the club to win 4 or 5... I am taking only minimal credit for the club staying up)

I recently tried to argue with a friend of mine (who loves the NBA) why soccer is such a great sport. I argued that the NBA is like junk food TV, you don't have to get invested or concentrate, you can turn to your friend and have a conversation and minutes later check on the game and be rewarded with a dunk... whereas in soccer (or hockey), you literally can't blink or you'll miss something. I also tried to get my friend (who only follows the World Cup) to comprehend how huge soccer is in Europe, or even England. For example, the NCAA Basketball tournament (the biggest team tournament in the US) has 65 teams, while the FA Cup has 731. The concept of promotion/relegation would work very well in certain US sports as well. Lovin' every minute of being a FFC fan.

COYW!

 

I've never heard it put that way, but is a perfect explanation. Great stuff Bradical.

As for gumbee, welcome to Fulham and welcome to the craziest rollercoaster you've ever been on.

 

Cheers gummbeeone, you'll love it here.

So Bradical, you are the Good Luck Charm. I thought it was my lucky underwear I can now wash after a month... :wow:
MK

 

Humbly speaking for those of us who saw the light, and have made the trip to the Cottage & Golden Lion et al, it only gets better from here. You have so much more to look forward to! Cheers

 

Thanks again to everyone, what a kind generous, and friendly bunch you are!

Yeah I'm the one...The county (Pinellas) where the D-Rays play is called Florida's Suncoast, so the name change and sunburst on the uniform are to market our sunshine,I guess. But after 12 years in the florida sun, ain't no way in hell I'm rooting for a ray of sunshine, I spend my summers rooting for clouds and wind, if anything. So as long as my(inaugaral season) jersey says "Devil Rays" that's what I'll call them. Incidently, they took "Tampa Bay" off the road jerseys too, be the "Las Vegas Rays" in a few years, I reckon, anyhow...
I find myself moving away from the big three american sports now, for all the reasons cited above. I wondered, do Fulham fans have traditional ties to any cricket or rugby clubs, I've enjoyed following football so much I may try following other "foriegn" sports.

 

Try watching Australian Rules Football, I love it. Its really hard to describe especially after your description of the beautiful game....... Welcome to the site!

 

Loads of rugby teams in London to pick from all with a histroical past-You've got London Wasps,London Irish(my team!) Harliquins,Saracens and they are just the big clubs!!!