This means more: Lauren

People (dudes) like to ask me 1) why I like soccer and 2) why I like Liverpool. Do guys get these questions? And the assumption, which truly douchey people will say out loud, is that a boyfriend got me into it. False! But a guy did teach me about LFC. In May 2011, I was drifting solo on a Caribbean sailing trip onboard a 70 ft double mast sailboat owned by a man from Liverpool. And he was very, very… salty. While in one port off of St Vincent, he slept on deck with a loaded gun and told me he would shoot first and ask questions later if I got up in the middle of the night (he often started stories with, “The first time I was shot...”). He once threatened to physically drag me away from the steering wheel if I went even a hair off the course he set while leaving port (he thought I messed up the steering but then realized he did. Then he said I could call him a bastard, I declined. Then we hit a squall and the boat turned on its side but he got us through it. Then the boat was surrounded by dolphins). And this is all to say that he liked me. We bonded over a mutual hatred for the one other guy on the boat. And soccer. When I eventually refused to leave the boat during the day as was required of guests/crew, we went and found games in odd little bars and restaurants. I had no club allegiance in those days and would watch anything (still true). And over a BLT and a beer, during either the second-to-final or final match of the season against Spurs or Villa, he told me alllllllll about LFC, who Kenny Dalglish was, the significance of where they finished the season (lost that day, didn’t qualify for Europe). And you’ll never walk alone. And that last bit really did it for me. Don’t care who knows it. Honestly, what more does one need to hear from anyone? Show me a team with more heart. It was a moment of comfort, connection, grounding and kindness on a pretty rough, but pretty, untethered, navel-gazing journey, and it continues to be.