ppporsen

Pakistan turned us over. We never batted well throughout the whole test though. Cheap wicket after cheap wicket.

©rap music?????

I have been thinking about explaining my support for Everton for a little while so I thought I'd go ahead and take a shot.
 
Growing up in the 1980-90s in the United States, you aren't born with soccer like you are in England. Picking a side isn't as simple as supporting the side your father supported. My family history, at least as I know it (or frankly don't know it), doesn't suggest anything. My surname (Boyea) is French, but that isn't particularly helpful. My mother's maiden name is Smith, which suggests some sort of English history, but again, the genealogy is obscure.
 
I played soccer as a youth player, like a lot of Americans do, but I moved to a very small town when I was in the 8th grade. There wasn't a soccer program in the small town so I played American football, baseball, basketball and ran track. I wasn't very good at much of it. I followed the US Men's soccer team in World Cup matches and maybe some qualifying matches when they were on television. The premiere league was just not on my radar.
 
I graduated from college in 2002 and can remember that summer watching the US team make their best run in the World Cup they'd ever made. But I entered the active duty military in that year and didn't really follow again until the world cup in 2006. That was not a good year for the US.
 
It sort of stayed that way for me for awhile--getting interested in the World Cup but not really following up on that interest. I would say that some part of that was that I couldn't watch the EPL or La Liga on TV at the time. In 2010, Landon Donovan scored that fabulous goal against Algeria to secure the round of 16. I remember that moment very specifically. It was about 10 a.m. on the east coast of the US and man it was great.
 
In the run up to the 2014 world cup, NBC (a US broadcaster) started showing the odd EPL match. I watched as many of them as I could. And I loved them. Then the World Cup was on again. The 2014 World Cup was an event for me. I took days off of work to make sure I could watch US matches and I watched as many of the matches that were not the US as I could.
 
So after the 2014 WC, I knew I needed more soccer in my life. So I took a look through my options in the EPL. I picked Everton for the following reasons (no particular order):
 
1.) I liked that Everton is sponsored by a cheap beer (I respect cheap beer)
2.) I love the color blue and every team I've ever played for was blue
3.) Tim Howard (and I learned later that Everton had a solid tradition of American players)
4.) It isn't a front runner side like Chelsea, Man U, Etc.
 
But as I learned more about the team and its history I kept falling more and more in love. Here's why:
 
1.) Liverpool is a working person's city
2.) It has a rich history of success
3.) Everton supporters are the best in the world.
 
A big regret of mine is that it took me so long to find my home with Everton. But I'm proud to be a blue now.
 

According to reports on social media, he and his wife have been receiving death threats from Liverpool fans for his challenge. Adding to that, they've had several horrific threats made about their kid.