LFC in the Big Apple

This past weekend marked my (shockingly) first visit to New York City. With two fine ladies, I journeyed to the city that never sleeps for a weekend of shenanigans with our great friend (and high school Patriot League all-star goalkeeper) Greg. As any summer weekend in New York would be, it was a fantastic time. But that's not the point of this post. I encountered two blogworthy situations and realized they must be documented for posterity.

1. Walking across a normal street in the middle of Manhattan, I spotted a glimpse of familiar red. Sure enough, it was a guy proudly sporting a Liverpool jersey. No sooner had I gotten excited and prepared a hopefully non-homoerotic bro to bro smile for the dude, when I noticed his cap. The hated navy blue and white interlocking "NY" of the Bronx Bombers. As a fan of all things Red, I was repulsed. MY Red Sox are owned by Fenway Sports Group. As is MY Liverpool Football Club. This guy clearly doesn't realize the massive faux pas he's making, I thought, and is just wearing his customary Yankees hat with the football jersey he decided to wear that day. Initial outrage aside, I reined in my smile to a stone face and walked by the dude. This is how my thoughts went from then on: "Oh well he's probably unaware of his idiocy let's just see whose shirt this is, the only thing that could make this worse is OHMYGOD IT'S A FUCKING TORRES SHIRT KILL IT KILL IT WITH FIRE WHY HASN'T THIS MAN BEEN SMOOSHED BY A STREETSWEEPER".

To review: a Liverpool jersey with a Yankees hat: very bad. A Fernando Torres Liverpool jersey: very bad. A FERNANDO TORRES LIVERPOOL JERSEY WITH A YANKEES HAT: truly truly deplorable. Couldn't imagine a worse cross-sport combination. In a word, ooof.


2. Later that day, my faith in Liverpool fans was rewarded. It was about midnight and we had just gotten to this phresh spot called Tonic. The first floor's a bar, 2nd floor is a dance party, 3rd is an open air roof deck. We immediately go to the 3rd floor to get our drank on under the stars (or the canvas roll-top due to the rain), and find a great table right away despite the crowd. To paraphrase Wiz Khalifa: "Good friends and cold drinks, that's the muuhfuggin recipe". Chillin' in my seat with a stiff vodka Sprite (a favorite of Cristiano Bronaldo), I look above the bar and my soul sings. A replay of the Liverpool-Valencia friendly from earlier in the day is playing on 3 screens, with LFC already one goal to the good on the back of a breakaway finish by "Dino" Andy Carroll. Summer in New York, a hoppin' club scene, great company, and the Reds. What more could you want?