I suddenly really like football (no, not our kind)

Any doubts I had about English sporting after that rather weak hockey game have just been bombed to bits.

Watching Manchester United pummel West Ham United at Old Trafford tonight was one of the greatest experiences I've ever had at any sporting event (see pictures below). The Brits really know how to support their team.

Throughout the entire 93 minutes of action, there were constant cheers, mainly in the form of songs that I have yet to learn. And they put us college cheering sections to shame; while we may get 2,000 people or so in relative unison, these football fans are singing all together, and there's 73,000 of them. Combine that with the acoustics of the stadium and the result was a thunderous uproar of which only a club like Manchester United would be worthy.

The nearly violent passion these fans have for the sport in general is just staggering. Their knowledge of their respective club extends far beyond the current roster and it's stats; many of these people know the full history of their team and every great player it had dating to the mid-1800's. This was brought to light by the current "scandal" going on with the team right now that has all of Manchester in an uproar.

A few years back, Manchester United was bought out by an American businessman named Malcolm Glazer. Along with his purchase, he saddled the team with a massive debt that has put the world's most valuable sports franchise (worth over $1.5 billion) into a spot it doesn't want to be in; ticket prices have nearly doubled over the past few years and the team is in danger of losing its talent to other clubs if it can't pay the massive salaries its players demand.

To protest this, many fans have been wearing green and yellow rather than the standard red and black livery the team is known for. Back when Manchester United was first founded as Newton Heath, they played under the green and yellow colors. The flying of these colors again acts as a symbol against this new form of team government and expresses the fans' desire to place the team back in the hands of the fans rather than businessmen.

Although I'm rather new to this sport at this level of play, I must say I have already grown quite fond of it and really do hope that Man U can find a way out of this mess. I just hope Malcolm Glazer doesn't do to this team what he did to the other professional team he owns:

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

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