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Choosing a soccer team

A few weeks ago I wrote of my desire to pick a soccer team (or teams) from among the many world leagues to follow. I began thinking, what are some criteria that I would like to apply? Certainly I don't want to choose a team just because I've heard of it before. That's partly why teams such as the New York Yankees have so many fans worldwide. And we know how much the Yankees are loved by baseball fans here in the U.S. Unless you count yourself among their supporters, then you definitely loathe them. And who wants to cheer for a team like that?

But, I won't eliminate teams just because I've heard of them. Yet. It may used as a tiebreaker. Before I set about choosing which teams to follow, I must choose the leagues from which I will choose said teams. In the process of choosing teams and leagues, I actually learned a bit more about my heritage. For instance, my last name, Shubert, originated in Bohemia (which is in the current day Czech Republic), not Germany as I always believed. The name is German, but not the place of origin. On my mother's side, I knew I had ancestors from Ireland, and always thought that Gordon was an Irish surname. Turns out, Gordon is actually Scottish. So, the criteria for choosing some of my leagues was not as clear cut as I had thought. But, I have finally made some choices.

I have chosen six leagues to follow: La Liga (Spain), English Premiere League (EPL), Italian Serie A (despite the recent match fixing scandal), Bundesliga (Germany), Irish Premier League (IPL), and the K-League (Korea). I chose La Liga, EPL, and Serie A because of they are regarded as the best leagues in the world. The remaining three I chose for personal reasons Bundesliga and the IPL were chosen because they are in countries from which I believe I have ancestors (Irish on my Mom's side and German on my Dad's) and the Korean K-League was chosen because that is where my girlfriend, Judy, is from.

Now that the leagues have been chosen, some criteria must be applied. First, I'll apply some history by limiting my choice to only teams that were founding members of the league of interest and that have membership this season. Next, I'll try to find a team from a city or region with personal ties. Those ties could be where someone was born or a region from which I may have ancestors. Another criteria I'll apply is historical success. Does it have an interesting and compelling history? A team that has eeked out a living in the second division of a league for most of its existence and only recently had success doesn't offer a captivating history. But, having been relegated to a second division at some point doesn't automatically exclude them either. Other criteria, such as players, uniforms, logos, etc. will be applied as necessary.

If you interested, you can follow along the next few days as I reveal to the world my team choices. Once the teams are chosen, my goal is to write an update as to their progress this season as well as my opinions and conjecture as to how the season has unfolded. It should be fun!