Welcome!

Welcome to These European Afternoons, an unofficial source of American opinions and analysis on the UEFA Champions League, Liverpool FC, and any other football I see fit.

At this moment I am still getting myself acquainted with the website and its functions, so I beg your pardon if the first few entries are accompanied by frequent tweaks in the layout while I mess around with the settings.

I suppose it is best to begin with an introduction of myself.  My name is Brandon Baum, and I am a student majoring in marketing, business legal studies, and international business at the Kelley School of Business at Indiana University.  I have been closely following soccer (henceforth referred to as football or some form thereof) for about four years now, and since I've been yearning for some sort of creative outlet to occupy my (sparse) free time I finally decided to jump on the blogging bandwagon.

My addiction to footy began during my junior year of high school watching Chelsea v Liverpool in the Champions League, and--while I'll admit I flirted with Chelsea for a spell--Liverpool have since become my favorite club.  I'm a bit of a romantic when it comes to sports, and Liverpool's rich history coupled with the club's recent trials and tribulations have me hooked.

Unfortunately for my blogging interests Liverpool currently find themselves wallowing in the Europa League, so I'll have a few Europa League blog posts as well.  Who knows, maybe you'll see an entry about King Kenny's Reds marching into Dublin to seize their competition record fourth trophy to be placed next to the five European Cups in the cabinet.

That about does it for the intro. Tomorrow will bring my first full entry to the blog; an analysis of the first two days of fixtures in the UEFA Champions League Round of 16, including speculations on each of the four games.

Thanks for stopping by!