FROM THE END OF THE WORLD TO YOUR TOON

Thanks to global TV, an improving national team, and a growing recessional need to consume alcohol right away in the morning, Americans are discovering what the rest of the world calls football. Since the close of the World Cup, many of us have turned to European club football to keep the fix going, and for most, that means watching English Premier League telecasts: it's exciting, we can understand the announcers (more or less), and in our time zones it leaves a large portion of Saturday or Sunday still usable.

Of course, few of us have natural allegiances to Premier League teams. So we're forming artificial ones. We like to win while we drink, so you'll see mostly Manchester United and Arsenal jerseys in American soccer pubs. Chelsea, not so much, for some reason. Liverpool is popular with Red Sox fans (if not the other way around). 

Well, winning may get you high. But what happens when you do nothing but get high all the time? Pretty soon high is just normal. And everything else is depression.

Some of us want to follow a club that's more than a mechanism for gloating. 

Some of us want to follow a club for which the rewards aren't tied only to victory.

Some of us want to follow a club for better or for worse, to Europe or to relegation, 'til death or beyond.

For this writer - and for the rest of the small but spirited bands of zebra-striped Geordies and Geordie-wannabes tucked in remote corners of American soccer pubs on weekend mornings - that club is Newcastle United.

If you're a real Toon Army Geordie reading this in Newcastle, I'm here to tell you: your passion for your club shines all the way to America. The roar in St. James' Park, even on TV, has its own special timbre. The transplanted Geordies among us carry themselves with a distinctive loyalty, a tested toughness that's hard not to admire. When it goes badly on the pitch, there's sadness and anger, but rarely despair or ridicule, as you see when the tide turns on the front-runners. Some of us have read about the 'Geordie blubber,' the emotion, the tears. But a Geordie can take a punch. That's the fighter I want next to me.

And when it goes well, there's nothing like being on the Toon side. As was the case in my local soccer pub last Saturday morning, when, surrounded by Arsenal fans, I and six fellow Magpie sympathizers watched Arsenal fall victim to the lack of quit in Newcastle's supporters and their heroes. After the greatest comeback in Premier League history - causing the Toon table to mob each other in the center of the room after the equalizer as if one of us had scored it - I saw worse than rage on the Gooners' faces. I saw envy.

The Toon Army's online presence can be a bit intimidating for neophytes, and some English fans are understandably wary of growing U.S. involvement in their national pastime. So this blog has been conceived as a place for Newcastle United supporters in America to form a bond worthy of the club we've chosen - and also, hopefully, as a place for authentic and willing Geordies to drop in and contribute and maybe even benefit occasionally from our distant but broader perspective. In wildest dreams there are shirts and badges and trips across the sea, a section at St. James' on a chilly Tyneside day... but for now, perhaps it would be enough to start by simply asking the reader, via the comment button below, to say who you are and how you got to this site and this club.

Howay the lads.

Comments

[Anthony Hughes]

Ok Bob?I'm Tony Hughes and live in Newcastle,I've going to St James' since I was 7 years old.So I followed the lads through thin and thin but as my pal said,''We're supporters not fans'',they're our team and always will be.I found out about this site from an email from Toon NYC,I've got a few friends on their facebook site.Keep up the good work bud.

[TomatoQueen]

Wahey Bob, I'm TQ here in the DC area, am delighted to find this blog, am Anglophilic past all rationality and thanks to some friends in the far north of England and elsewhere, support the only possible side. TOON is everywhere. Howayyyyyy the Lads!

[Dave]

Hello guys. I'm one of the mods on the nufc-forum.com site & came across your blog in your signature. I have to say, I am really enjoying reading this.
It's now down in my favourites list. Hope to see more of you on the forum.
Regards. Bob the skutter.

[Toon Fan in MN]

This site is exactly what I was looking for. Thank you guys.

[Bob]

Glad you like it. Any pubs or clubs up in Minnesota where Newcastle fans gather that we can add to our list?

[UTD111]

Hi Lads!
Found you through the "Newsnow" thingy! I'm blog Editor for the "Newcastle United Toon Zone" www.n-u-t-z.net. We also have a very active forum and, yes, we have some american members - so you might like to pop in, say hello, and tell us about your blog.
The forum is at www.n-u-t-z.net/forum
Cheers
Mick
(Forum Name UTD111)
:o))

[Toon Fan in MN]

Hi Bob, the only ones I know of for sure are Brit's Pub and Merlin's Rest in Minneapolis. Both are excellent pubs. Merlin's Rest is known in particular for its Scotch and Whiskey catalogs. Yes, catalogs.