Anyone that knows me or is familiar with my blog knows that I love my sport and I am particularly passionate about the teams that I support. Week on week the performance and results of these teams tend to dictate my daily mood. I have had the idea of documenting the trials and tribulations of following my sporting teams, to share the stress and see whether it can give me a little therapy and, in turn, give you guys maybe a few laughs and an insight into my temporary insanity.

Bristol Rovers

Let’s start with ‘The Gas’ as they are affectionately known by their fans. Bristol Rovers are a Association Football team that are currently in League 1 or the third tear of English football. We are a relatively small club and have never really had the resources to go much higher than we currently reside. Our target this season is at least a top 10 finish with aspirations to kick on to the playoffs (top 6). I live in hope!

This past weekend saw us competing against Wycombe Wanderers in a league fixture at Adams Park in High Wycombe. Rovers have already lost their first two games of the season to Peterborough away and Accrington at home and another loss would have everyone reaching for the tranquilisers. The unofficial fans forum has been a place of civil war and unrest in these last few days with people taking their angst out on the fellow gasheads. Could the boys get the win to ease the growing terror.

I live in Bucharest so I rarely get to go to the games. I see maybe 5 games all year so it’s a good thing we now have ifollow! This is a service that will allow you to stream all 46 league games for 110 pounds a season as long as you are not based in the UK. I have been living away from the UK for 9 years now and this is the second year of streaming so, as you can imagine, I was very excited about it.

The other thing of note is that I was at a friends wedding in the north of Romania called Piatra Neamt and luckily there is an interlude between the ceremony and the evening function and it’s about the same gap as the length of the match. I switched the iPad app on and the game is 4 minutes old and Rovers, unbelievably, have scored already. James Clarke, a defender, has scored his first ever goal in league football. The signs are good. Maybe we can do this.

They look like they are playing with confidence and passing the ball around a lot better than the previous game that I was lucky (or unlucky) to attend. Moments later we score again. Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeessssssssssss! Get in there! Another defender Tony Craig. Surely now the team can relax and see this through. We get to half time still winning 2-0.

As always in football you expect to have good spells and bad spells. When you are two goals to the good against a team at home you expect to get a reaction and face a little bit of pressure. As the game went on that pressure seemed to mount and the big striker for Wycombe, Akinfenwa was starting to bully our defenders around and looked like the danger for them. Sure enough with not long to go he causes havoc and they score. Our players go into panic mode and I’m in panic mode too. After cruising this game we are now fighting to stay ahead. Emotion aside, this is part of the beauty of football, that a team that looks like they are beaten, can get a glimmer of hope and turn their fortunes around. There are minutes to go and our back four defenders look like they should be playing with a wig, a red nose and huge floppy shoes. They cannot clear the ball away for toffee. It’s a good job our goalie was switched on, because with one of the last kicks of the game, Wycombe get a shot on goal that ‘Smudger,’ our goalie, was equal to and he managed to tip the ball around the post.

The final whistle goes and the relief is huge. Even though the season is brand new, to go three games, three losses would be tough to deal with. Rovers are now 16th from 24 teams with 4 teams at the bottom in the relegation positions.

Now on to Tuesday and a home encounter with Portsmouth.

Portsmouth are three wins from three and are a tough opponent. This game was at the Memorial Stadium in Bristol which is our home. With the fans renewed optimism we were all predicting a positive result even though Portsmouth are in good form. Although in a pregame transaction, Rovers loaned out one of their goalkeepers who had started the first two games of the season, which is a bit strange, but fans are hoping that the manager is maybe adding a new player to the squad.

So for this game we were out with some new friends that had just joined Jayne’s school at a Greek restaurant in Bucharest. So my plan was to discreetly follow the game on twitter in the first half and hopefully be home for the second. The food was great, by the way. Gyros and mousaka and a Mythos beer.

The general vibe from twitter was that we were playing well but not taking chances. This normally spells trouble for Rovers and sure enough Portsmouth score with a rare attack. The food was not tasting as good all of a sudden. We get to half time still applying some pressure but with little reward. I needed another beer! There was also little sign of us finishing the meal so I was resigned to following twitter.

The second half starts and I must be giving everyone a running commentary on the game because I look up and they are all looking at me! Whoops! I really don’t want to be rude but there are decades of habit and ritual and addiction that I am fighting to not just run back to the flat a switch the game on. As the meal comes to an end we settle the bill and head home. It’s a good job we are all teachers because we all tend to go to bed at 10pm!

After we part I really do ‘leg it’ back to the flat leaving Jayne and Jaime to walk back slowly. I get back with 60 minutes on the clock and we are attacking. We make a substitution bringing on local fans favourite Chris Lines and he is just about to make a big impression on the game. In 9 minutes of play Chris comes on, takes a penalty, scores and then gets sent off for a reckless tackle! Elation turns to horror as we have 10 minutes left and one less player. Hero and villain in 9 minutes. We go from chaaarge! To retreeeeeaaaaaat! Can we hold on?

No! Is the big fat answer. We go back to looking shambolic and disorganised and the Portsmouth players could smell blood. They score the goal they needed and strutt away with all the points and continue their 100% record. Booooooooo!

Rovers remain on 3 points and are in 19th position after 4 games. Rovers next game is on Saturday where they host Southend United.

Green Bay Packers

The Packers are an NFL team from Green Bay, Wisconsin, USA. They are the only publicly owned team in the league and for me that makes them even more special. Packers fans are nicknamed the Cheeseheads hence my Steemit username. I have been a fan of the sport since the mid eighties when it first became popular in the UK. My connection to ‘the Pack’ is that the local team in Bristol were the Bristol Packers and played in green and gold just like Green Bay. They were also the first team that I was able to watch in a full televised broadcast in the states when I visited Jayne in Washington DC in the early 90’s. I have been to 5 different live Packers games, 4 at the famous Lambeau Field in Green Bay and one game at Soldier Field versus the the big rivals, the Chicago Bears.

It’s pre season for the Packers at the moment and the team are currently sorting out there rosters for the upcoming season. Teams need to have 53 players in their squad for the season and will need to cut this down from the 90 that they will be using for training camp. I like the process of creating a squad and find it interesting to guess which players will make the team. Team selection is not only based on the best players but on how much they will cost in salary too as there is a salary cap for all 32 teams.

The Packers had a preseason game at Lambeau Field last Thursday against the Pittsburgh Steelers and as usual in preseason I have to wait for the highlights to watch the game. They won the game 51 - 34 with some great performances from some lesser known players like Jake Kumerow a young wide receiver that was undrafted and has been a practice squad player for a couple of seasons. The also played Aaron Rodgers, their star quarterback, for one series in the game and he may not play again until the season opener against Chicago on Sept 9th.

They are now 2-0 (2 wins) in preseason but both of these games were at home so the next test is tomorrow night in Oakland against the Raiders. There are a few things to watch out for like the continued improvement of WR’s Kumerow and Rookie, Valdes-Scantling. Can Reggie Gilbert continue to give us some pass rush on defence? Can our safeties make a tackle? Will any running back emerge as a clear number 1?

The Packers target for the season is a deep run in the playoffs with a shot at the Superbowl. Whether we can get there, we shall see.

Dinamo Bucharest

Dinamo are a Association Football team based in Bucharest, Romania. They were formed in 1948 and play in red and white stripes. FCSB otherwise known as Steaua Bucharest are their biggest rivals. My connection to Dinamo is through a friend who works with my wife at a school in Bucharest and is a lifelong fan of Dinamo. Dinamo fans are very passionate and extremely noisy.

The season in Liga 1 Romania starts very early and they are already five games in to the campaign and I have been away for the whole lot. They have won 2 and lost 2 and drawn 1 and currently sit 8th out of 14.

The early season derby against Steaua ended in a 3-3 draw with a late equaliser for Dinamo.

The target for Dinamo this season is to finish in the top six at the split of the league and enter the Playoffs. This is where the top six have their points tally halved and then play each other again, home and away, for the title. Last season Dinamo did not make the playoffs which was a disaster for the club as it meant no silverware or more importantly no European football the season after.

I am planning to buy a season ticket this year and go to as many games, home and away as possible. This Saturday 25th August, Dinamo entertain Hermannstadt at Stefan Cel Mare (Steven The Great) their home venue. This will be my first game of the season.

That's all for this week's installment of stress and excitement.

See you next week.

Gaz