Hi, This is Ryan, Your Captain Speaking…

Muy buenas a tos!

I’ve been asked by Daryl to take over this lovely place called the Spain World Cup Blog. Don’t worry, I’ll make sure to have my Spanish Flag and picture of Juan Carlos II up in no time.

To introduce myself, I’m Ryan, 24 years old and I enjoy long walks on the beach, chatting about Luis Aragonés, attempting to understand my friends from Andalucia, and chiming in conversations with ‘Well, this one time in Spain…’ whenever possible.

Most new bloggers start out with the same typical introduction post, blah blah blah. But, I really feel it’s an intergal part of the whole ‘getting to know you’ type of thing. You may want to know why the hell I’m doing this, and do I know anything about La Furia Roja or if I speak Spanish (Si, hablo mas o menos como un nativo, no te preocupes vale?).

We at The Spain World Cup Blog (Or the Spain WCB because typing World Cup Blog is way to long) will become a family. But, this relationship is more of a give and take. See, the thing is I love to post, but I really love to read your comments more and that gives me an incentive to post more. The more we talk, the more we learn and the more I like hanging around these parts.

I started blogging because I believe in the old adage that you don’t learn something until you teach it yourself. So in this case, I’m reading tons of material, mostly from Spanish websites, and translating it or giving you the gist of what it is saying, along with my opinion. Hence, my blogging is my form of teaching, but instead, we are all on the same page, and I always grade my quizzes with a huge curve.

I pride myself on being one of the few English speaking bloggers that solely devote their time and energy into all things La Liga and all things Spain. I’m the current author of The Sevilla Offside (which is only one of two English language blogs about Sevilla, the other written by my friend Rafa). I also am the founder of Center Holds It where I cover all things La Liga, including my weekly ‘One Liner Guide to La Liga-Jornada (Fill in Jornada number here). If you see me link to Center Holds It in my own shameless self-promotion, you really should come over there and have a look, it’s good stuff. CHI is also authored by Jeff (of newly promoted The Colorado Rapids Offside fame and Breton (who is currently scooping on the new MLS Philly franchise). I’m also one of the first members of the Asociación Sevillista Puerta de America which is the only Sevilla Peña in the United States.

Basically, I love Spain. Ask my girlfriend why she is constantly worried every time I go to visit that one day I may not come back (and one day that may happen). I’ve lived in the land of Paella and Sangria twice, 3 months in Sevilla 2004 to study and become a Sevillista, and Sept 2006-July 2007 as a headmaster of We Speak English, in a small town in Castilla-La Mancha called Villacañas. I immersed myself constantly in the Spanish culture, and still do every chance I get. But, I’m also a Catalan at heart since studying the Catalan language and planning is what I do for my ph.d in Linguistics which I am currently working on. So aspects of Spanish constantly creep into my personal life, normally when my girlfriend is also yelling at me to turn off my Spanish music in the car.

Why do I keep rambling on about myself? Well, I want people to get to know me, and I want to get to know you too. I want to know that you love Bojan and can’t wait for him to step out on the pitch in that new mustard colored kit Spain have adopted (WTF is up with that). I want to know that you think Raul and Luis Aragonés should just sleep together or whatever and get the damn thing done with once and for all.

Spanish football is what brings me here, and it’s what brings you here as well. So, we might as well have a little fun with it, you know?

That’s enough prattling on from me for now. I’ll be up and running come the end of the week with a little something about who I think will be the next Spain coach after el viejo rides off into the sunset.

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Oh, I almost forgot, one more thing. Since we are all here talking about Spain, some of us may not have a great command of the English language. Therefore, I DO NOT TOLERATE anyone who makes fun of someone’s English, unless you are making fun of me, and please feel free. From time to time I will write in Spanish (or possibly in Catalan if the spirit moves me) and you can feel free to make fun of me for that, but please, be civilized in the comments (at least towards each other).

Also, if you wish, please comment in English OR Spanish, as I can speak both equally well and we all have the right to say whatever we want to say in whatever language it may be in (Sorry, that’s the sociolinguist in me talking, I try to leave him in the office on campus).

Por favor, dejad tus comentarios en cualquier idioma que te sirva (ingles o español). Si no quieres hablar en ingles no te preocupes, podemos charlar en español vale?