The Other Type Of Football

In the early days of the YES Network, as the network searched for programming to fill airtime, YES reached an agreement with English soccer club Manchester United, where YES would re-air recent Man U games on "Manchester Mondays", much as they currently do with Notre Dame football. Thanks to their free spending ways and successful history, Manchester United and the Yankees are often compared to each other. When Bill Simmons undertook a search for an English Premier League team to support three years ago, he immediately ruled out Manchester United based on the parallels to the Yankees.

I never played soccer, but I've had a passing interesting in the sport since the United States' strong showing in the 1994 World Cup. While I'll watch international competitions, I never really took an interest in club play.

Lately however, I've started paying some attention to the English Premier League and UEFA Champions League. Having the Fox Soccer Channel has helped, as have the early morning Saturday games airing on ESPN prior to College Gameday.

In attempt to nurture to my interest, I've been trying to do a little reading on the sport. This morning, I came across an interesting piece on Manchester United midfielder Ryan Giggs. At 35 years old the career-long Red Devil is climbing or atop all sorts of Man U all-time leader boards. After it was assumed he was on the downslope of his career, he's enjoying a late career renaissance, highlighted by being named Player of the Year for the first time following last season. In reading the article, I couldn't help but notice several parallels to a resurgent 35 year-old career-long Yankee.

It's yet another Thursday off day. It's slow around here. Give it a read and I promise not to mention soccer again any time soon.