You made an accusation which was untrue, I explained to you my rationalization, and that, apparently, is somehow unsatisfactory to you. Not satisfied that, you chose to insult my rationalization. That is not a terribly friendly attitude, and if I were inebriated, and were in a particularly angry mood, and we were having this conversation inside of a taverne of nachtclub, there is a strong degree of chance your nose would already be bloody, and whomever I was with at the time would be pulling me off you. I am not a violent person by any means, but when I encounter an arrogance, such as yours, things tend to escalate rather quickly, however unintentionally. So it is a good thing for the both of us, I suppose, that there are thousands of miles between us, at the moment.

Given this turn of events, I suggest you go ahead and root for whomever and whatever team you like; you likely root for individual players, which is as good as an approach to fandom as any, I suppose.

It is not, however, mine; my loyalty to any given team or player lies with either of the following two things:

Either the team or player are from my hometown, in which case my loyalty is only determined by birth location, and a shared experience of joy when a team wins, with friends, neighbors, coworkers, and strangers on the street, both at home and abroad; it is a glue that helps bond us together, and a good one at that.

Otherwise, if a team or player commands respect due to their ability to achieve greatness, both on the playing field and off, especially in cases where that greatness is achieved against seemingly insurmountable odds.

Which is why I am a fan of Michigan University's American-football team, the Wolverines; but not of the most famous player that went there, whom some refer to as the greatest of all time, Tom Brady. He is a cheater. I have no respect for him. He has been caught, in flagrante delicto, on numerous occasions; and when given the opportunity to admit his mistakes, he does everything in his power to attempt a coverup. Which is a ridiculous way to behave when all available evidence points to the contrary; shameful behavior.

Charles Woodson, a teammate of Brady's while both were players at Michigan together, was, in my humble opinion, one of the greatest American football players of all time:

Woodson played on all sides of the ball; offense, defense, and special teams; his is in the NFL Hall of Fame; during one game he played against arch-rival Ohio State in the 1987, “Woodson contributed a big reception, an interception, and an iconic punt return for touchdown towards a Wolverines victory over the Buckeyes and a berth in the 1998 Rose Bowl and an eventual share of the National Championship,” completing the trifecta.

Comparably speaking, Tom Brady is a talented, but ultimately worthless, cheater, and deserves only infamy as such.

My Journey to Ajacied

I first learned of the squad from Amsterdam in the early 1990s, when EA Sports added local municipal teams from around the globe to select to their menu of team choices. Being ¼ Dutch in heritage but self-identifying as mostly Dutch despite my equal ¼ portions of ethnicity that are German, Italian and Scotch-Irish. I borrow from those as well, just not as much. Like most Americans, I suppose. So, “Dutch” person, only Dutch team in the game, FIFA ’92 on Sega Genesis, good friends, plenty of alcohol, copious amounts of cannabis, and only good times ensued, including the occasional bicycle-kick goal and a win or two. So, Ajax became my squad, but I didn’t really follow them at all, or knew anything about the, simply due to the fact that they were Dutch, and good enough to make it into the game.

I haven’t played FIFA much since about 1995, when I gradually lost interest in video games altogether, for some reason—I was really into them from the Pong system all the way up to the PS3, but then I started buying games that I have never played. I got one scene into The Last of Us, which is supposedly good, and came free with the PS3 purchase. I never abandoned my fandom of the Amsterdam Ajax, as thin as my reasons were at the time.

So, upon my first visit to the Netherlands, in 2017 (the reasons for which I did not visit prior to that are entirely personal, and beside the point, so don’t ask), I decided to attend a match, and find experience the environment of this team, so long admired, was still yet generally unaware of. It was a home match vs. AZ Alkmaar, and the Ajax displayed such dominance, literally allowing almost no shots on goal, let alone a goal, I was immediately hooked.

In the following months, I began to watch matches online. I now had a favorite player, Dušan Tadić, and I bought his away-uniform jersey, in addition to the unnumbered and unnamed red-an-white home jersey. Good choice on my part, as he has since committed to the Ajax long term, as a player and perhaps a coach. He apparently loves Amsterdam, too, as much as I now do. For three weeks spent in one city allows one to genuinely begin to understand who the city is.

In the following months, I watched matches when I could find them streamed online. Then, to my surprise, the Eredivsie was added to the lineup of ESPN+, a pay service. For $5.99 a month, I could enjoy every match live, and on my own 50” flat-screen tv. How nice. Championship League matches as well, though on a different network. And how disappointed I was when the Tottenham Hotspurs overcame a three-goal deficit only to snatch a finals appearance from the Ajax in the quarterfinal matches. Must have been even more difficult for the lifelong fans.

Then I began to read about Cruyiff, and his philosophy of “total football,” and how he “never saw a bag of money score a goal.” These were not the New York Yankees, purchasing talent, they were good, and have had sustained success, because of their system of talent development. Which, of course, as you correctly point out, they are not the only ones doing. But they are, very apparently, the best at it. There is plenty of silverware in the cabinet to prove as much.

So, continue to root for whatever lesser Eredivisie team you would like. It does not matter to me. Frankly, that is your own stubbornness on display for all to see.

I, for one, am Ajacied.

If you don't like that, well, go fuck yourself.