As we're unlikely to see terraces again at football, this is the virtual equivalent where you can chat to your hearts content about all football matters and, obviously, Arsenal in particular. This forum encourages all Gooners to visit and contribute so please keep it respectful, clean and topical.
i know exactly how hard it is to support the arsenal from distance, and i also know how it does not make your love for the club any bit smaller. you made a very wise choice, sir
i recommend that you download the "season reviews", it's a way for you to watch all our goals in every season (i managed to download the 97/98 one when we won the double and from 00/01 until now) and to feel closer to what happened to the club in the last few years. you'll be able to watch the invincibles, the 01/02 and 97/98 beautiful doubles and some other magical stuff we've achieved the last decade or so.
the official arsenal history dvd is also very nice, i watch it every month or so .
ArsenalSooner wrote:Just wanted to say hi and that I look forward to being a part of this community. I'll briefly share my story and then I promise I'll stop wasting forum space with useless threads like this one.
I started following Arsenal in the '06/'07 season. However, before 2006 I had never even heard of Arsenal or many other European club teams for that matter (shame on me). Obviously it's well known that football is not big in the states. During the summer of 2006 I sat down on my couch on the opening day of the World Cup and said "okay, I'll give this a shot". When I finally opened up my eyes to the game I couldn't believe the passion and atmosphere I saw during every match. I quickly became enthrawled by it. After the Americans crashed out I kept with it mainly following France and in particuliar a player named (and maybe you've heard of him) Thierry Henry.
I was sad to see Henry and France lose in the final as I had enjoyed their run, but didn't think too much of it. As the months went by I found myself to actually be missing the game. I thought I'd just wait another four years for the World Cup at first, but I just had to have more footy. By the time I finally got my **** together I scoured through many different internet sites, researching the players I remembered watching and reading about their club teams. Of course Henry played for Arsenal still so I thought I'd try to catch some of their matches. I found where I could get games online and to my surprise even found that I could get some of the matches on TV over here. I watched quite a few epl matches during that season and narrowed it down to Arsenal and Fulham (Fulham had McBride and Dempsey at the time so I liked watching the yanks), but I knew Fulham wouldn't always have Americans playing for them so I decided I didn't want to choose a team based on that. By this time many of the other Arsenal players had grown on me like Hleb, Toure, Rosicky, RVP, Clichy, and mostly Fabregas (the first Arsenal shirt I ever bought had Fabregas on the back).
I really liked Arsenal, but my true journey as a Gooner really started on one single day at one single moment. Arsenal were hosting man utd in a league game. I remember Arsenal were already considered to be out of the title race, but I was pretty revved up about it. Rooney scored first, but RVP later equalised in the 81st min or so. The game was coming to an end when Eboue and Rosickly did a quick give and go on the wing and Eboue then crossed. When the ball went into the net off of Henry's header I went about as nuts as I can remember myself ever being. I was running around the house. I didn't know what to do to contain my excitement. I had cheered on teams in the past of course, but for some reason this was very special to me. I felt so much passion and such a sense of pride. Of course Arsenal did not win anything that year and Henry left us shorty after, but the damage had been done. This American had become a Gooner.
I don't think I can be called a glory hunter because Arsenal haven't ever won anything since I've supported them and my love for the club only gets stronger with each passing day so I hope I am welcomed here.
olgitgooner wrote:Which part of the States you in?
I'm from Oklahoma (just north of texas) hence the "Sooner" part of my user name.
Thanks for the warm welcome everyone. I've been looking for a good Arsenal forum for some time now so it's nice to apparently have found one.
I'm maybe a bit more knowledgable about Arsenal than some might expect. I have been following for a few years now and have had time to pick up on quite a bit of the history. I will try to get my hands on some of those DVD's though for sure. I've seen the invincable season in review video numerous times and watched the coverage from Anfield '89 about a hundred billion times as it's my favorite moment in Arsenal's history (as I'm sure it is for many).
I plan on trying to get to the Emirates through Arsenal America next season. I've already begun to save up for my trip. I just can't imagine finally being there!
