The World Cup has been over for a while now, but the English Premier League is starting up in about a week and I wanted to find a team to root for this season. ESPN's Sports Guy did this on one of this recent columns as well. He saved me a lot of work. I think he ended up picking Tottenham as his team.

I used to just watch games on Fox Sports World without any rooting or invested interests. I didn't have much knowledge of the teams, but I would know a few players here and there. After some research, I have found a team to follow in the EPL: The Blackburn Rovers FC

3 reasons I picked this team:

Their matches involve lots of goals. They ranked 7th in goals scored (out of 20), but only 6 teams allowed more goals. That combination means lots of action during games.

Bill Simmons called this team the dirtiest team in the Premier League. I checked up on some box scores and confirmed this is true. They ranked last in the fair play tables. My fantasy soccer team is named the Yellow Cards. Seems like a perfect fit. (Don't get me wrong, I still advocate the Joga Bonita style of play, but when you can't afford the hundred million dollar payrolls, you do what you can to win.)

One of their sponsors this season is a website called bet24.com. In fact, the bet24 logo will be on the front of their jerseys (or kits, as the English call it). I might have to get a Blackburn jersey. The number 24 is awesome. It is made even better when joined with a sports betting site. You can bet on darts and cricket! I might have to open an account.


As for American football, I'm rooting for the Kansas City Chiefs and Kurt Warner. I don't know if I can root for the St. Loius Rams without Mike Martz, but I don't think I can root for the Detroit Lions even with Mike Martz.