Arsenal America

As fans of Arsenal, we hold Highbury, the Home of Football, in very high regard, as well we should. During the last week of January I had the opportunity to visit another football shrine, the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium, home of Real Madrid.

The stadium is located in the heart of Madrid and as an American that sort of thing always surprises me. Normally, our American football stadia are located out in the suburbs, a good drive from the city. So as we cruised along one of the main thoroughfares the stadium caught me by surprise. The actual stadium, while nice, is nothing spectacular. I was there in the middle of a weekday afternoon so there was no crowd in the terraces, but I could still feel a little ripple of excitement looking down on the pitch.

It?s the Real Madrid museum that really fills one with a sense of awe. On some level we all recognize Real Madrid as a great club, but when you visit the museum it really hits you. You enter into a room that must have something like 50 trophies. As you walk into the next room you wonder what you might find. Another 20 or 30 trophies are what you find. Then you walk down a long, thin hallway that on one side has a picture of every player that ever put on the white jersey. Di Stefano, Kopa, Puskas, Figo, Zidane, Roberto Carlos. At this point your knees are a little weak. You have to remind yourself that this isn?t a football museum. It?s a museum for just one team.

Then comes the European Cups. All nine of them. Each accompanied by a video real with highlights. Finally you head for the exit which dumps you into their gift shop. I was ready to buy just about everything in the store. It?s truly an amazing experience.

Slightly less amazing, but perhaps a little more bizarre was something I received in the mail recently. It was a copy of the most recent magazine published by

the Norwegian Arsenal Supporters? Club. First let me say, what an amazing periodical for a fan-produced publication. Fantastic color photos and tons of

content. Since I?m not fluent in Norwegian, I?ll assume it was all fascinating stuff. Anyway, as I flip through the pages I do recognize a couple of words: ?Arsenal America? and ?Rick Liebling.? And then it dawns on me, I received an email a while back with a questionnaire from these guys. Son of a gun if they didn?t print it. Now I feel like I?ve really made it, I?m famous in Norway.

Finally, here in the States you never know where you might run into another soccer fan. My wife and I were picking out blinds for our windows (right after I had watched three Stallone movies, drank four pints and flipped through the last five issues of Maxim, so lay off the sissy comments) and I mentioned, jokingly, that I thought a certain style would look great with an Arsenal logo on it. Well the women helping us let out a groan when I mentioned Arsenal. Turns out she is a Spurs fan.

Funny thing, she seemed nice enough. Now I have this fear that one day I?m going to come home to find blue and white curtains all over the house.

For you fans there in the UK, seeing Arsenal in the paper is a daily occurrence, but over here it?s taken as a minor miracle. So imagine my surprise when for the second straight weekend, a picture of an Arsenal player was featured in the New York Times. First they had an article on our FA Cup match with Farnborough Town, and then it was an article on racism in European football that was accompanied by a photo of Ashley Cole. Not exactly the sort of story you want to read, but beggars can?t be choosers.

Next month Arsenal are bringing the FA Cup and Premiership trophies to Los Angeles. Should be a great treat for all the Southern California Gooners. I?ll have a report for you next time. Until then, go Gunners!