Judd Zulgad and I were entertaining the masses with a radio show on a Saturday morning in May 2014 at Deacon's Lodge, the golf course up the hill from Breezy Point. It was a horribly late spring and no golf was being played, so we needed topics.
I had been hearing reports of Minnesotans feigning an interest in specific teams in Premier League soccer and, after a few minutes of research, my decision was announced:
"Swansea City is my team. One nickname is 'Jacks,' in a honor of Jack, a black Labrador, credited with saving the lives of two dozen drunk Welshmen by pulling them out of the sea in the 1930s.
"Go, Jacks."
Amazingly, the Swans/Jacks were brought to the National Sports Center for an exhibition vs. our Loons that summer. I really wanted to be there, but the Twins had a crucial home game on their way to a last-place finish in the AL Central.
Swansea City and I had a great marriage for two seasons, but then it started to tumble: 12th place in 2016, 15th in 2017 and, in 2018, I learned the heartbreak of relegation, 18th to the minors, and dead to me.
Recently, Germany's Bundesliga resumed and became a hyped opportunity to watch live sports. I did extensive research and decided on FSV Mainz 05 as my team.
Why Mainz? It was home to Johannes Gutenberg, inventor of the printing press, and big ups for that, Gutey. It's also not far from Fulda, the namesake of my Minnesota hometown.
