Anthony: The Near Miss

Caught in the doldrums of being a baseball fan, I found a true love of the beautiful game during the 2010 South Africa World Cup. Using the cup as an excuse to drink  early in the morning with my wife, I fell in love with sheer energy of the game and the  orgasmic release of a excitement when a goal was scored. It took very little time for a casual fan’s interest to become and obsession.

In my path as a fan I took a detour following my home town Chicago Fire, even writing for a Fire blog, convinced that what I was watching was actually football. Once it became clear the MLS was a fun pastime but the game itself had so much more to offer, I began looking for a European club to follow. After a brief flirtation with Real Madrid, it became clear that the Premier League was the most competitive league in the world and his future as a fan would lead to England.

In the fall of 2011, I was rescued by Atlantic Bar and Grill bartender Jon Hewak from the depraved disparity of becoming an Arsenal fan. Having met my wife in a Gooner bar, I almost made the biggest mistake of my life. Jon set me straight. “Just come out to the Atlantic next week and watch Spurs before you make up your mind” he said. It only took one visit to the Atlantic to feel totally welcomed by all of the fans and to determine there was something special about Tottenham Hotspur FC.

Now I have become a fixture at the Atlantic Bar, rarely missing a match. Chicago Spurs has become my weekend family and my primary social outlet. I moonlight as a social worker to pay the bills. My true passion is Spurs and I'm currently serving my 3rd term as an at-large board member of Chicago Spurs. Having left my home state of New York 12 years ago, I see myselfas a true Chicagoan and can't imagine any scenario where I stop watching Spurs with my weekend family.