Because I lived a half mile from their ground (you couldn't call Craven Cottage a stadium) for three years, which coincided with Clint Dempsey's prime years there. Fulham are now in the Championship (the division below the Premier League) so I rarely get to watch them live but they are still my favorite. They are on a strong run and have a decent chance to be promoted back to the top level.

I played soccer growing up but wasn't a huge fan of the game until I moved to England. It's so ingrained in the culture there - like sports here - that I couldn't help but get sucked in. Two things that stand out for me. First is the absence of commercials and time-outs make it so much more watchable that most American sports (I don't watch anything live anymore here; it's all on the DVR so I can fast-forward)

Second is all the history and peculiarities of the game and the clubs. I find most US pro sports to be so homogeneous that they've lost any sort of charm. There are "small-market" clubs and differences in ballparks but it's just not that interesting to me anymore. I follow college sports much more for the same reasons. There are still uneven playing fields and David-and-Goliath stories and bizarre historical backstories. European soccer, and English soccer in particular, are full of them. There are parallels between the FA Cup and NCAA tournament, where there are still Cinderellas. Nothing like that in pro sports here.

Anyway, I'm rambling. European soccer is super interesting, and for my money, super exciting. Plenty of naysayers about the absence of scoring, but the last few minutes of a 0-0 match, with relegation or promotion implications, is way more intense than just about every NBA game (IMO).

Do you know where you're going when you'll be in Britain? There's a club of some size just about everywhere, so as long as you go before end of May, you'll be able to see a match. Enjoy!