Other things I ran into after David Beckham nudged me back into soccer fandom.
1. Franklin Foer. I accidently picked up his “How soccer explains the world” weeks after Beckham signed to spend some Christmas gift card money. It helped me think of soccer in a much broader sense that I would have otherwise.
2. Tommy Smyth. I watched Beckham’s last game at Real Madrid online, and to my memory, Smyth was calling it. He was basically ranting towards the of the game, “They’re warriors, they’re warriors” about how Real was dragging out the win. Just that emotion turned me more back toward the game.
3. Josh Hakala. He, and a bunch of other guys, does usopencup.com. I can talk about how this site is amazing, but his dedication to the game by doing a site that no one else would do for a job, is priceless. You can put David Faulk‘s name up there and say the same thing about goalseattle.com too.
4. EPSN Soccernet Podcast (for European soccer) and Kartik Krishnaiyer (for American soccer). I can’t say these are the best podcasts or podcasters, but they’re damn good and they’re the ones that I first discovered and still religiously listen to.
Glenn Davis has a quality blog and weekly podcast. If you want to be educated on MLS or the CONCACAF region, Glenn is the man.
http://www.glenndavissoccer.com/