American exceptionalism?

Sometimes you really have to admire Americans, well some of them. I've just read an excellent blog article in the Guardian on football supporters from Philadelphia. They are pretty fanatical and attended the 2007 MLS Final between Houston Dynamo and the New England Revolution. They got together a good crowd and proceeded to boo both teams. Impressive. What is even more impressive is this fan group, which goes by the name of "Sons of Ben" (SOB) doesn't even have a team.

An excerpt from the article:

These are the Sons of Ben. They are the hardcore supporters of Philadelphia's Major League Soccer team. Possibly their best chant is: "We've won as many cups as you, Metro, Metro. We've won as many cups as you, and we don't have a team."

Philadelphia doesn't have an MLS team yet. As the DC United fan website screaming-eagles.com puts it, the Sons of Ben have "banded together to twist the Field of Dreams mantra from 'Build it and they will come' to 'They're already here, just build it'."

A truly surreal situation and one which has its benefits. At least they don't have to worry about relegation battles. Having said that, no clubs in America have to worry about that as they don't have promotion/relegation.

Still, good luck to the Sons of Ben. You lot already have more away support than Genclerbirligi and as many league titles as all the Ankara teams combined.