Soccer is unexplicable love for fans

What happens when a soccer fan wants to watch his favorite team but all the games play overseas or aired earlier than any Sunday Mass? For Travis Stanley, a Liverpool soccer fan this is not a problem, but his passion.

“It’s not like you’re getting up early to go to work, this is love,” Travis says while cleaning the living room table at 6:50 am to make room for his coffee cup, a basket of bread, a jar of marmalade, and a pat of butter.

The game hasn’t started yet but Travis stares quietly at the empty field on  the screen as he imagines himself in the stadium stands rooting for his team. The referee gives the first whistle and Travis is caught not wearing his Liverpool jersey as is his ritual for every game, perhaps the  bad results from his team lately has discouraged his old time ritual.

He sits quiet and practically motionless for the first 10 minutes until the opposite team scores a goal. Now, he slaps the table, grabs his cup and walks away to the kitchen for more coffee to avoid seeing the painful replay.

The second half of the game starts and Travis is already wearing his jersey, as he is the 12th player ready and anxious to get on the field and reverse the score. The most emotive moment of the game comes when Liverpool evens the scores; he jumps out of his seat, lifts his arms with closed fists and screams euphoric for a few seconds as if nothing could give him more pleasure than  seeing the ball penetrating  the goal  and hitting the net.

Travis’ passion for his team keeps the long-distance love alive.