Championships Are Forever -- With Much Love to Arsenal

“𝘞𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘵 𝘴𝘶𝘱𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢 𝘧𝘰𝘰𝘵𝘣𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘤𝘭𝘶𝘣, 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘥𝘰𝘯’𝘵 𝘴𝘶𝘱𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘵 𝘪𝘵 𝘣𝘦𝘤𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘳𝘰𝘱𝘩𝘪𝘦𝘴, 𝘰𝘳 𝘢 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘺𝘦𝘳, 𝘰𝘳 𝘩𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘺, 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘴𝘶𝘱𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘵 𝘪𝘵 𝘣𝘦𝘤𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘧𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦; 𝘧𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥 𝘢 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘣𝘦𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘨.” - 𝘋𝘦𝘯𝘯𝘪𝘴 𝘉𝘦𝘳𝘨𝘬𝘢𝘮𝘱.

The pinnacle for a sports fan is their favorite team winning a championship. In most sports for most teams they are extremely rare. I was in my fifties before I experienced the San Francisco Giants being World Series winners. I have never experienced the University of California football team winning a conference championship and they’ve never come close to a national title.

A few days ago Arsenal Football Club of the English Premier League won their first league championship in twenty-two years. It came after three successive years of finishing second. 

I fell in love with Arsenal on May 2, 1971. I was a damn good "soccer" player in those days. I’d been good at a lot of sports but in this one I excelled. It’s a heady feeling being superior to most everyone you face in sport (and yes, it very much went to my head, humility was a stranger to me). But I had no team and no hero. There was "soccer" in the U.S. but just as it still is today it was of inferior quality. It was hard to get excited about the Bay Area’s entry in what was then the North American Soccer League — the Oakland Clippers. They were made up primarily of players from Yugoslavia. No disrespect to that former nation, but it was hard to relate to them. If they had players from a variety of countries maybe with an emphasis on Brits, it would have been a different story. Also the stadium wasn’t exactly packed. In fact it was mostly empty and had all the atmosphere of a picnic. But on that fateful Saturday, Wide World of Sports was showing the FA Cup final from London. Arsenal was playing Liverpool. It was an extreme rarity to see soccer on TV, especially from Europe. It was decades before the World Cup was televised here.

Though I don’t recall for certain, I was likely rooting for Liverpool as I watched  because that was where The Beatles were from. However the game went to extra time and a chap named Charlie George scored a beautiful goal to put Arsenal ahead, 2-1. His celebration culminated with laying on the ground with his arms spread. Charlie had long flowing locks, eschewed shin guards and his socks were rolled down. He looked like a rock star. I had a hero and a team. The next match I played in I tossed my shin guard aside and rolled down my socks.

Two years later I was standing in the terraces of the North Bank section of Highbury cheering Charlie George and The Arsenal on as they thrashed Manchester United, 3-0. It was (and remains) one of the great days of my life. I’ve been a Gooner ever since. The atmosphere in the stadium was unlike anything I'd experienced and at that point in my life I'd already been to a lot of different kinds of sports event courtesy of my father. It wasn't just cheering, it was chanting and singing and it was constant. People didn't just root for their team, they loved them.

For much of my life it wasn’t easy being an Arsenal supporter. This had nothing to do with how good or bad the team was and everything to do with living in a different continent. I was left looking up scores in the paper the day after matches. It was hard to feel a connection. Thankfully in the late 90s games from England began to be televised in the States and we got the internet in our house. I could not only watch matches I could read about them, watch videos and connect with other fans — many in England — via forums. One such person who became a cyber friend I finally met in person earlier this month in Copenhagen where — fittingly enough — we watched an Arsenal match in an Arsenal-dedicated pub.

In 2006 I made a pilgrimage to London to see Arsenal in their last season at historic Highbury Park. The Gunners were 2-1 winners over Liverpool. In 2008 I saw them in their new stadium, The Emirates and again in 2017 (both victories). In 2017 I went on a stadium tour led by Charlie George -- I met a hero! I’ve been to matches the last four years (one draw and three wins) including on the 55th anniversary of Charlie George’s goal, three weeks ago a three-nil win. I always get choked up when before the match the fans sing part of Louis Dunford's song Angel, specifically the part known as North London Forever.

Charlie George's iconic celebration

Today every match is available on U.S. television for a modest fee added to the cable bill. (Remarkably not all matches can be seen in England. I find that bizarre.) I also listen to an Arsenal-dedicated podcast (appropriately called the Arsecast) follow the team and individual players on Instagram, follow other Arsenal lovers on Bluesky, read about the team on various sites and watch videos related to the team.

I’m obsessed.

Indeed my obsession with the team has become so all encompassing that I only closely follow two other teams: Cal football and Cal women’s basketball. I don’t pay attention to other sports at all. 

So you can imagine my reaction on Tuesday when second place Manchester City dropped points at Bournemouth clinching the title for my beloved Arsenal: I was happy. I’m still happy. I’ll remain happy for a long time. 

Interestingly I had very little jumping up and down with joy. I only barely shed tears. I’ve felt more of a contentment, a deep satisfaction, a relief. I'm immersed in a warm glow.

Once you’ve won a championship either as a player, coach, parent or fan (and I’ve experienced it as all four) it’s yours forever. It can’t be taken away. You lose all your games the next season you still were title holders the year before. It’s permanent. Wins and losses are that way. You suffer a painful loss to a rival and it’s there forever and winning ten in a row against that team will not wipe away that loss. You do your best to forget those defeats and you do your best to hold those wins and championships close to your heart. They became part of your identity. That’s why there can be a bit of sting when someone says that they hate the team you love, they are saying that there’s part of you that they hate. It’s personal.

Some people don’t like sports. I can appreciate that. They’re saving themselves a lot of time, a lot of frustration and anxiety. But for me the positives of loving a team far outweigh the negatives. There are few joys to match that provided by sports. Also there’s the love. To really care about a team is to love them. And goodness we need all the love in our lives that we can possible get. You're also part of a community. I feel that every time I go to a match. Everyone there is like and old friend.

I'm proud to love Arsenal. They've always been known for their multicultural fan base, for their early embrace of Black players, their early support for the LGBTQ fan base. And now they're champions of England. In my heart they always have been and always will be.

Despite a Nightmare Ending, a Great Trip, European Vacation '26, Entry the Seventh and Final

Tampere, Finland

I’ve literally had nightmares about my luggage being lost. Yesterday I lived one of these awful dreams. It’s amazingly frustrating to stand there at a carousel watching suitcase after suitcase go by and not see your own. I’d have torn my hair out but why add physical pain to my physiological misery? We were’t alone. A couple of dozen others from our flight were in the same boat. Turns out our bags took a later flight and will be delivered to us today. They better be (shakes fist).

But it’s good to be back home. I would have loved another few weeks of travel but I always feel better about life right after a vacation out of the country. Good for the soul, the intellect and one’s perspective on life.

It’s estimated that as many as forty percent of U.S. citizens have never traveled internationally. Statistically it is more likely that people who have not and won’t travel abroad are politically conservative. I recall Sarah Palin actually bragging about having never left the United States. Other factors like income and education level help determine the way people travel — or don’t. But I do feel confident in saying that many conservatives here don’t even consider vacations abroad. Disneyworld, Yellowstone Park and Miami Beach are good enough for them. Conservatives don’t like to challenge their narrow and limited world view. That's the bigots life.

I’ve talked to a few of my fellow ESL teachers about this and all of us have been to more foreign countries than U.S. states.

Anyway on this trip we were in four different countries (counting a day trip into Estonia) and there are so many other places I want to see such as Austria, Portugal, Chile, Vietnam and Japan. If someone will cut me a sizable check I’ll take in those countries and more and in return record my impressions on this blog. Deal?

A few random thoughts from our journey:

*Where the hell are the homeless people? I saw one in Helsinki and one sleeping on the floor of a Metro train in Copenhagen. Maybe these countries take care of their less fortunate. What a concept.

*Everywhere I’ve been in Europe you get good bread and delicious pastries. Here in the states, not so much.

*People are forever eating those pastries in Europe but they’re not getting fat. Where the hell are all the obese people? You hardly see any.

*Non-alcohlic beer is sold in every bar and restaurant I’ve been to in Europe. But decaff coffee is hard to find. Europeans like to be heavily caffeinated. 

*Most places you go in the world people are friendly and polite (course it helps if you’re white). Folks couldn’t have been more charming and helpful. They don’t seem to mind tourists at all.

*Finland used to be about the whitest country in the world. Now there are plenty of people of color. I’m proud of my people for becoming increasingly accepting of immigrants.

* Technically I drank alcohol on the trip. At the Copenhagen pub the person who bought one of the rounds didn't realize they were supposed to get me an N/A beer. I took two sips and was suspicious before the buyer's father quizzed him and the mistake was discovered. I don't think I have to start from day zero. 

*Only one of the many taxi and uber drivers we had was not an immigrant from a middle eastern country. 

* The showers in Europe suck. Weird, small, no water pressure, often not enough hot water. C'mon, do better.

*Big cities without much litter are truly sights to behold.

*Grand trip. Football match. Ferry rides. Nature. Museums. Historic buildings. Kind and charming people. Good food. Good drink. Best of all I was with the perfect travel partner, my darling, wonderful wife. 

What Do Danes Do With Their Trash? European Vacation '26 Entry the Sixth

Minutes ago I was standing in a square in Copenhagen enjoying the feeling of the sun on my face. It was my first experience with the sun in the Danish capital. We have not had warm weather here which is fine but the showers yesterday and rain on Monday were most unwelcome. When it hasn’t rained it has been mostly to partly cloudy. As frequently noted on this blog, I’m not a huge fan of the sun. It’s nice now and again but it was certainly appreciated this morning. It promises to be a very nice day which doesn’t do us much good as we’re flying to London in the afternoon. (Early tomorrow we fly back to the U.S.).

We haven’t encountered anyone in Finland or Denmark who didn’t speak English and indeed almost everyone save foreign born cab drivers speak it fluently. Talk about convenient. I’ve not once asked a native: do you speak English? Because it’s like asking: do you use food as sustenance? (Okay, that was a weird analogy.)

We’ve ridden the metro a lot the last few days and as I noted in my last post it is amazingly efficient and clean. Although yesterday we had a torturously long three minute wait for a train.

No one litters in this country (or in Finland) yet it’s a chore to find a waste basket in public areas. So what do Danes do with their rubbish?

Complaint department: the showers in Europe suck big time. Virtually no water pressure and you need an advanced degree in mechanical engineering to figure them out. 

Yesterday we saw what looked like more royal palaces and more ornate four-hundred-year-old government buildings. Also more large public plazas and immaculate parks and spires reaching to the sky. Copenhagen is a feast for the eyes. 

I went to the War Museum. It wasn’t bad featuring as it did artifacts from very skirmish the Danes have ever been involved in. I appreciated the fact that it didn’t romanticize war instead making a point to show the brutality of it. For some reason they had a surprisingly large amount of samurai paraphernalia. 

The missus and I made a pilgrimage to Juno the Bakery which she has followed for years on Instagram. It has a reputation for excellence that we discovered is justified.

I had a simple bread, butter and cheese sandwich which was one of the best eating experiences I’ve ever had. The bread was sublime. I topped it off with a pastry (honestly can’t remember what was in it) that was like an orgasm for my tummy. We bought cookies and such to take away. It was well worth the visit plus it afforded us an opportunity to see yet another part of this city.

Danes are in a hurry. We’ve noted that they walk fast and bicycle fast. Our meandering requires constantly stepping aside for a native rushing here or there. Even parents pushing strollers go at full speed. But they do like to lounge during breaks and after work for a coffee or a drink. Amazingly they’ll sit outside for the beverage, chilly weather be damned. I admire their fortitude. Supposedly Denmark has one of the lowest rates of cigarette smokers in the world but we encountered far too many, a lot of whom were enjoying their smoke along with drinks at outdoor cafes. Maybe it seemed like a lot to us because we come from Berkeley where virtually no one lights up anymore.

So this is it. The trip is — for all intents and purposes — at an end. It’s been grand. I do believe I’ll sum it up in a post a few days from now when we’re back home enjoying our creature comforts. I love travel but am the first to admit that there are many inconveniences associated with being on the road effecting sleep, bowels, stomach and sense of direction to name but a few. Oh yes, and those damn showers.

Happily Coping With Copenhagen, European Vacation '26 Entry the Fifth

The author points to a statue

When I was a young lad movie theaters would show travelogues before the feature that often focused on a particular city. Invariably those shorts would end with the narrator intoning “(name of city) is a combination of the old….and the new.” Every freakin’ time.

I’m now in Copenhagen for the first time and I’d like to tell you that it is a combination of….You guessed it.

Other single word thoughts on this city: clean, efficient, bicycles, modern, historic, friendly and (this next bit is more than one word) there are a lot of pretty young women. Indeed there are a lot of attractive young people in general. There are a lot of young mothers pushing strollers. There are a lot of cafes and pastry shops. There are a lot of happy people. Denmark is second only to Finland in the happiness index. Neither has a complete moron as a president so that helps.

I like the fact that there are bike lanes and everyone respects them. A lot of people ride bikes, I mean a helluva lot of people ride bikes and so far I’ve not seen one challenge cars or annoy pedestrians. (Berkeley bicyclists please take note.)

The subway is a marvel as is often the case in major western European cities. Like everything else in the city it is clean. The longest we’ve had to wait for a train — and this is literally true — is two-and-half minutes. Usually the wait is closer to — and again this is literally true — forty seconds. The system is easy to understand and gets you wherever you need to go. What a marvel.

We arrived Sunday and I immediately abandoned the missus  and headed off to a pub to meet someone I’ve known online for over twenty-six years but never actually met. We got acquainted through our favorite football club, Arsenal so it was appropriate that we met live and in person for the first time to watch a match at Copenhagen’s number one Arsenal pub where he is a regular. I was introduced around to others who share my love for the Gunners so immediately felt at home. The ensuing match was nerve-wracking but the lads pulled it out, one-nil. Joy all around and a good start to this last leg of the trip.

Not so great was the weather yesterday. I love rain, except when I’m vacationing. It wasn’t heavy but was steady. I suppose I should go ahead and pun hear by saying it put a slight damper on our day.

Nonetheless we strolled around the city without getting too wet at all. An umbrella and rain jacket helped in this regard.

Today we took full advantage of the metro visiting various parts of the city. We made two stops at random stations. One turned out to be an excellent “choice” the other saw us emerging in what I assume is Copenhagen’s version of the bad part of town.

We got to see the royal palace and the ridiculously large church the royals attend to this day. There were statutes and parks, and waterfront areas and a stop for the most delicious ice cream bar I can ever remember having.

It should come as no surprise that I really like this city. I can’t think of a major European city that has ever disappointed me now that I think about it. Not sure where I’d rank Copenhagen if I were compelled to rank them. Maybe I’ll try after we conclude our visit.

Checking in With Kinfolk, European Vacation'26, Entry the Fourth

View from tower in Tampere

I love my people. I refer here of course to my fellow Finns. We are a clean, virtuous, hard-working, fun-loving nation. We take most things in stride but when feathers are ruffled we’re prepared to act. The country is beautiful and efficiently run with a strong social safety net typical of good socialist democracies. There are problems, just like anywhere else, but they are fewer than most places and are mostly recognized and being addressed. 

Yesterday we took the train to Tampere, two hours out of Helsinki and Finland’s second largest city. There we met my cousin, Jorma and his wife. He’s 82, ten years my senior, and a model for how I hope I am at his age. He’s got energy, spirit, a good sense of humor and a wise perspective. Admittedly this is not altogether unusual among Finns. He’s also been blessed with good physical health. Sadly his dynamic wife of sixty years, Kaija, has some health issues but this did not deter her from meeting the missus and I when we arrived. 

We strolled around the city. Kaija speaks a little English but Jorma is of one of the last generation of Finns who did not have compulsory English instruction in school. (Today Finnish school children start learning English in the second grade which is why so many Finns are fluent and barely have an accent). Jorma is the only Finn we’ve encountered on our trip who can’t speak English. He is blameless in this.

Our hosts steered us to a large market hall that has been in the same spot since the first years of the 20th century. There were stands of all variety specializing in fish, meat, cheese, pastries and of course, you name it. There were also cafes and restaurants and we stopped at one where I had the best meal of the trip thus far. Cod, with potatoes and cabbage with an oyster sauce. My goodness it was succulent. Jorma and Kaija are known to many who lunch there and we were proudly introduced. To one person Kaija introduced me as a professor at the University of California. I graciously let it go.

Back outside we watched a large protest and march of senior citizens decrying proposed cuts to elder benefits. (I never said Finland was perfect.) It was inspiring to see the usually taciturn Finns wielding signs and marching and airing their grievances. 

After that it was to our hosts house for a short rest and water, and a look at old photo albums. From there we went to a large tower that afforded us views far and wide both of the city and the surrounding forests. Spectacular.

We were then handed off to Jorma’s and Kaija’s daughter and son-in-law — fluent English speakers, of course — for more conversation then dinner.

It was back on the train after that and more views of Finland’s innumerable trees, lakes, rivers and pastures.

Today we went to the Ateneum Museum, Finland’s national gallery, where there was a wonderful exhibition of Finnish artist Eero Nelimarkka. We enjoyed our time there very much. As I’ve noted previously, the wife and I love a good museum and even like a mediocre one. This one was excellent.

I had salmon soup for lunch and it was both comforting and delicious. We then ran an errand before returning for a pre-dinner rest.

Tomorrow we leave my homeland for Denmark.