I paid six bucks for a solid soup-salad combo at Bella’s Sports Pub while taking in Wednesday’s Arsenal-Manchester United double Champions Leaguer, but also got a side of that (typically) shameful Red Devils support for my money. I was mindful of the group’s effort, most of them did have backpacks strewn under tables in what looked like an organized two-hour break from classes, but then had to hear one of the many guys with a jersey on utter to another, “Just gotta beat them (Arsenal) … how’d it go (against Arsenal) last year, do you remember? A split or something, wasn’t it?”

Now I’m not Scottie Soccer Commandments here, it’s just apparent that America’s progression of genuine interest in the sport continues to be hindered by the Man United vacuum. Maybe we’ll have to ask the Englishman for official confirmation, but the legions of Laker fans over across the pond only seem to have strengthened the NBA’s reputation as a novelty act — “Another bluhdee Kobe shirt?!?” — in the UK. There’s the notion of the Premiership’s popularity being bad for Major League Soccer. No, Man United worship is. Nothing mongers a lack of self-instinct like Manchester United here in the States. It can also be fun to not have to pretend to love them, as this post clearly indicates.