After last week’s UEFA finals, Tom Hicks made the mistake of talking to a reporter. Here’s what he said:
“There’s no way either of my two teams’ fans have the level of intense passion that Liverpool has. I want them to. Hopefully, someday they will.”
Not surprisingly, some Stars and Rangers fans were a tad peeved. They still are, if Bob and Dan’s listeners are any indication. But here’s the thing: Hicks is right. But that’s because no sports fan this side of the Atlantic can compare to a soccer fan. Sure, Eagles fans throw batteries, but they don’t urinate on corpses of rivals’ supporters that they just beat to death with pick axe handles. You can be a Cowboy/Rangers/Stars fan–a season-ticket-havin’, stat-memorizin’, face-paintin’ fan–but, I’m sorry, the sport will never be as much a part of your personality and sense of history as it is for a football club. That’s a good thing.