Ah, it's that time again. Will I ever learn? Last year I predicted a top-five finish with a spectacular playoff penalty save by Mark Travers to send Stokies into wild rhapsodies. Ah well.
After the passing of irresistible music we have to get used to the dripping tap. We narrowly avoided relegation. It took a few good victories right at the very end (three in a row, a rare Stoke hattrick) to prevent the dreaded freefall. And Mark Travers wasn't even there anymore. He had been recalled by Bournemouth. I also predicted that the Brazilian "maestro" Wesley Moraes would bag a load of goals. Turned out that he bagged nothing.
The music passes. The tap drips. Wesley is gone. A new season starts.
I'm tempted to go against my inherent optimism and say that we will have a terrible season. Just to see if I can somehow coax a season of change out of the ether.
But I still believe. For my sins, I must believe. I have been a Stokie for fifty-nine years. I might just turn sixty with a sparkly eye.
In terms of the Irish angle. Enda Stevens is a talisman and I think he still has enough, at the age of 34, to go the distance. Jack Bonham is a very good deputy keeper. Lynden Gooch's passport could be green. Jordan Thompson is a silent hero, a la Glenn Whelan, both of them underappreciated, with terrific feet and the possibility of the explosive. And then there is the rumored signing of Bosun Lawal, a 20-year-old Dubliner who might invigorate our midfield.
And even though he's a Liverpudlian, God bless him, I have great faith in Jon Walters and his Irish soul. He has come in as Sporting Director after years of being a Stoke hero. Super Jonnie has the sort of spirit that Stoke need to unleash once again. I will never forget the flags that used to unfurl when he was in the front line -- "Welcome To Stoke, This One's Gonna Hurt." Imagine being the opposition, and coming out of the tunnel, then hearing that Boothen roar. I'd dearly love to see that sort of attitude reinvigorated. Maybe it's possible. "Why why why Delilah." This time around. Maybe. Just maybe.
What a thing it is to be a loyal Stokie: neighbors to doom, but cursed with optimism.
Every season I end up apologizing to my daughter, Isabella, for bestowing her with the Stoke gene. She is a fantastic fan. Her local bar, Legends, in Washington D.C even allowed her to put up a Stoke scarf above the bar.
But then, just last week, came an opening day victory against Coventry (1-0) and, lo and behold, the wind is in my sails. I'm going to say that we will have a strong start, and then a dip around the new year, and then another reinvigoration, and -- in the face of all available evidence -- we will push through. Million Manhoef will score 14 goals. Andre Vidigal will have ten or more. Bae Junho, our Korean hero, will score at least nine (if he's not sold). Nathan Lowe. Sam Gallagher. Lewis Baker will have at least six. Emre Tezgel, the youngster, will have six also. Junior Tchamadeu, our explosive full back, will have five. Ben Gibson will come from beyond and nod in four, one of them from the far edge of the box. And then Jordan Thompson will score the Goal of the Season, the goal of all seasons, the goal forever dreamed of, from at least 37 yards. And then -- hallelujah! -- an Unknown Striker will have nineteen (nineteen! oh, don't dream too much) goals. Name him. Find him. Sign him up. Please.
Colum McCann's most recent book "American Mother" is a collaboration with Diane Foley, who founded the James W. Foley Legacy Foundation. For more details about that and other works go to www.colummccann.com. See also narrative4.com.
