The Loyalty of A Sport Fan and the Importance of "Home Ground"!

I love sports not just because I enjoy winning or sweating but also because I love the whole idea of being a tribe. The whole "team ju ju" thing.

Stating the obvious, my primary sport is basketball. The whole idea of doing it together and the depth of this sports just blew me away. Although we've had a bad season I will still always be a Lakers Fan.

Of course we had better days not too long ago. 

Besides Lakers, I love the Wizards. It all started with Michael Jordan joining them, the whole renaming of the franchise, then came Agent 0 Arenas who was fun to watch and after that was the John Wall era. They've never been in good shape, in fact they have been missing the playoffs for so many years but I still support them and we (fact, all sport fans use "we" when it comes to "our" team, although yes, we have nothing to do with them.) are finally in the playoffs this season!

I mean that's what a fan is right? Supporting the team and all and it's not always about joining the winning side. Very often it's about supporting an underdog and they start to win you can go about saying "I was with them even before this.. You bloody bandwagoners!"

I might not be the biggest soccer fan now but I used to watch soccer quite a bit during my teenage years and he was my biggest idol back then. Gabriel Batistuta!

Why Him? When I started watching soccer, there were only 2 events:

1. World cup
2. Malaysia cup

It gives me a great sense of happiness to see the team I support win although I had no idea what is the meaning of world cup when i was younger. I will go asking my brother, why is it "WORLD" cup when I don't see Singapore or Malaysia playing. But back then the only name I knew was Maradona in soccer. He was so good so I supported him! So naturally when Maradona era ended, I still continued to support Argentina and it was the Gabriel Batistuta Era which was a let down, and now the Messi era.

I might not be into soccer as much as I was back then but I still feel happy when they win and I really hope he will win and add this onto his legendary career! It ain't complete without winning on the biggest stage I guess.

Being a Singaporean, EPL/BPL has always been the biggest league. So during my teenager years, we will gather at my friend's place on Saturday to hangout and watch soccer. Most of the time I've no clue what is happening but nothing beats hanging out with the homies and they will always explain to me. And guess which team do they support? (Disclaimer: the fact that I use the word day shows the fact that I do not support them. To be honest, BPL is one league that I'm very neutral until today. I've yet to find a club that I can really support.)

*not hard to guess right? Man U, Liverpool, Arsenal are like THE teams back then.*

Im surprised by the fact that I can actually name quite a bit of the players from the team!

Peter Schmeichel, Gary, Phil Neville, Jaap Stam, David Beckham (duh), Nicky Butt, Andy Cole, Teddy Sheringham, Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes, Roy Keane, Solskjaer, Dwight howard Yorke!

So what makes sports watching so fun? It has to be the company and the feeling of "Home Ground"!

CARLSBERG CREATES EVERYONE'S HOME GROUND

As the season is coming to an end, the official beer of Barclay's Premier League, Carlsberg will be creating Everyone's Home Ground, a luxurious dream environment where every fans and consumers will be able to fully unleash their emotions and experience the premier feeling with Carlsberg.  

Everyone’s Home Ground will be held on the final day of the BPL on 11 May 2014 at Suntec City which could potentially be the most important day of the season for fans of title contenders, Chelsea, Liverpool, Arsenal and Manchester City. Adding on to the celebrations, Carlsberg will also be giving one lucky consumer at Everyone’s Home Ground the ultimate premier feeling with an all-expense paid VIP Carlsberg experience for two to watch a live BPL match in the UK. 

Win exclusive invites to Everyone’s Home Ground

In order to be invited for this exclusive event and to stand a chance to win the grand prize of an all- expense paid VIP Carlsberg experience for two to watch a live BPL match in the UK, Carlsberg will be launching a Facebook app today to crowd source what consumers and football fans would like to see and experience at www.everyoneshomeground.com.

Based on the consumers’ selections on the app, Carlsberg will be including some of the popular items and activities to create the dream environment on 11 May at Suntec City. A total of 50 lucky winners will be picked from their submissions on the app to receive invites to the event. Each winner will be able to bring along three friends to the live screening on 11 May. 

MAI TU LIAO! 

So what are you waiting for? I've already created mine!

The foosball table, the hot beer chicks, cheering kit with my friends and most importantly, the beer and the snacks!

Mr.Smith, OLE OLE OLE OLE!!