Our Man Over There

As much as I’d like to bounce across the puddle and watch Spurs in stateside-o-vision, I’m not sure my penchant for rocking up at international airports sporting a ‘The End is Nigh’ sandwich-board and thumbing imaginary firearms at security are good ways of getting an invite. No, sir.

Lucky, then, for our resident Seattleite, SSG. Here’s an excerpt from his excellent post earlier today- all the way ringside from California…

“So, there I was in San Jose, Cally-forn-i-a, to watch the mighty men of Tottenham take on the Earthquakes of MLS. There is apparently some sort of club partnership deal in place where Spurs bring over a depleted team of disinterested players, and the Quakes provide a cut up patch of desert scrub and an egg-fryingly hot day for them all to mingle about on while kicking each other with gusto.

I won’t talk about the game too much. If you saw it on ESPN or watched the highlights, eye gaugingly dull sums it up, I think. This was to be your classic 2nd friendly of the year, where our boys were just looking for a run out and stretch of the legs, no damage done, and entertain the locals with a bit of Tottenham flair, but there was another factor that turned this into a sluggish bore-fest.

THE BLOODY HEAT!

It. Was. Hot. Mid-90’s (F) in the stands with temps on the pitch creeping up over 100. Energy sapping stuff. You could tell during the warm-ups the lads were not used to this kind of hot, and did not fancy it much. Several times you could see a move start brightly, only to peter out when their brains started to stir fry from the effort. Not creatures of Summer are our boys. It’s funny a bit; we are no longer an easy touch on a wet, cold night in Bolton, but the searing heat of San Jose is a whole other level of challenge.

Oh, there were some good moments. Townsend has a future if he can find a final ball. Some good balls to Keane and Pav. By far our biggest threat on the day. Bale always looked lively and got up after a really shitty challenge (heart-in-mouth stuff there).

BTW, I believe Bale was wearing a Bra, or some kind of male lingerie thing. I found it vaguely disturbing.

And Luka had some good interplay with Niko and Pav. But the bad moments were more evident. Obika is just not very good; Hutton needs a fast trip to Caledonia; Jenas was mid-season form (back-back-side-side-back) and PSB added a crew-cut and advanced aging to his weaponry of gestures and loud talking. Other than that, nothing too memorable on field.

But I didn’t care. I got to see Spurs in person for the first time. There was goodly number of Yids from the San Francisco Spurs Supporter’s Club. Good ex-pat folks in many cases. I was able to meet a few of them and join in on some singing, but there weren’t enough of us to make an impressive bit of noise. The Quakes fans kept looking at us, as if perplexed by the songs. There some good banter though with some douchebags in Arse kit. Many of them were surprised to hear that a bit of a rivalry exists between our two clubs.

These are my people: Americans.

But hey, good times and an afternoon well spent. Consider it a warm up for getting myself to the Lane!”

**This post first appeared on Harry Hotspur. Original and best.**