AM I a "true" football fan?

[hackerjack]

Some people just have no interest outside their club, I got no problem with that. One of the problems with football is that it produces so little in actual enjoyable or exciting moments if you are not emotionally tied in with one team or another

I'd disagree with that. There is enjoyment to be found outside of your own club it's just not the SAME.

Pretty much like every sport in fact.

Of course there is some to be found, I never said there was none, but generally all the enjoyable bits of most football matches can be compressed into 5 minutes for highlights. Few would justify more than that for a genuine neutral unless you are really interested in the tactical elements of the game (which TV doesnt ever show properly anyway).

[Scott McFly]

I'm not sure how many people are in the same position, but I don't actually really support any team. Sure, I like to see Hearts do well since they're my closest team from where I was born and have grown up, but I've never been to a game of theirs and I wouldn't say I'm a fan by any stretch, and obviously internationally there's Scotland to follow. But I like to try to follow football as a whole as best I can and I am more than happy to sit down and watch a game regardless of who it is, providing it's not anything below about League 1 or Scottish Division 1 or so, because that's just not pretty to watch at all and I would have no clue who anyone is. I've never found the urge to really get behind one team and support them "'til I die!" or anything, because I find it seems to cause far more problems than it's worth. People take their love of their club too far and turn it into an obsession whereby their team is god-like and anyone else is either irrelevant or scum if it's a local rival. It's like some sort of religious cult or something and I don't see how supporting one team can turn into a genuine hatred for another. Obviously not everybody's like that though.

Going back to the original post, I don't tune in thinking I'm gonna see Drogba, Torres, Rooney etc., I tune in to see Chelsea, Liverpool or Man United, regardless of who's playing for them, it's a team game after all. Football to me is about watching the game for the love of it, following with interest the fortunes of the different clubs, managers and players. It's escapism that lets me forget my troubles and problems and get swept up in the game, with a different story being told every time, not to mention the goings-on off the pitch. I was dragged out to the casino for a quick hour for my brother's birthday the other day and really wasn't up for it considering I was still hungover and exhausted from the night before, but I quite happily sat there and watched the second half of Roma vs Juventus, just enjoying the game even though I didn't know too many of the players. I'd quite happily sit there and watch Match Of The Day, the unfolding on Soccer Saturday, or the build up to a big game (providing the pundits aren't so annoying you want to punch them through the TV). But still, I don't avidly support a team and am quite happy to keep it that way. Obviously there's gambling on the games too, but that's more a "hey, I like to think I know a decent amount about football and I've got an interest in it, so why not have a gamble on it too?". Obviously that helps with wanting a particular team to win, but it's definitely not vital for my enjoyment.

Anyway, I've ranted a bit there... >_>