Now that the World Cup is over, it occurred to me that I might begin to cheer for one of the English Premier League soccer teams as a way to stay attuned to top-flight soccer. (Sorry, Major League Soccer.) Thus I’ve picked Middlesborough as my team. I’m fairly ignorant about them, but from what I gather they are scrappy underdogs. Cheering for Arsenal or Manchester United would be like rooting for the Yankees or Braves here. I’m a Twins fan, after all.

Middlesborough - which is in northeastern England between Newcastle and York - is also a northern town not far from an area of England that I’ve had the pleasure of traveling in - the northern Pennines. That area was particuarly important to W.H. Auden, the poet who was the subject of my doctoral dissertation.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 12th, 2006 at 11:48 am and is filed under Sports.