Con el socio todo, sin el socio nada*, a.k.a. “Som un.”

By: Kevin | July 22nd, 2009

*With the fans, everything, without the fans, nothing.

When Nike rolled out its “Som un” (Catalan spelling) commercial before the Champions League final match, I remember the first time that I watched it. I wept, and was ready to strap on some colors and take on Manchester United single-handed. It was that intense.

And now that pre-season has officially begun, it would behoove us ALL to remember that we are all united here because of one thing, and one love: FC Barcelona.

Like the immense senyera that was a labor of love and pride, we are all cules, pulling as one for the club that we love.

For me, I don’t care if Guardiola wants to field a team of Albanian children as his starting XI. While I would question his logic, I would never stop loving this club. It isn’t that I’m a blind, slavish, unquestioning nitwit. It’s just that if you love a club, you love a club. And that’s all there is to it. I might debate someone, but it will always, always be with respect, because I never forget that nothing will ever stand in the way of my thinking of that person as a brother in the colors.

In these past weeks, and no doubt in the coming ones, debate will roil about strikers, and lineups, and the value of certain players, and whether some coach’s mama is a ho. People will think that Isaiah’s or my match report is the natterings of a dimwit. And know this:

I don’t care. The season might blow up, with Messi abducted by aliens, Henry trying to play in a back truss and The Yaya drafted to hold up the planet because gravity went all funky. We might lose half the matches, not qualify for Europe, or have to give tickets away to the hookers who ply their trade on La Rambla to get butts in the Camp Nou seats.

I wouldn’t care a whit, and it would make me no less proud to wear a club shirt, because it’s all about love, support and unity. Som un, yo.

So what the hell is my point?

I’m part of a family here, a family of cules, some socios, some not. Immaterial. If you’re here, you’re in the family’s house. We might disagree about things, sometimes vehemently. We might think that payments for players past, present or future are fundamentally absurd. “80 million and a pint of blood from every player in the club? That’s too much.”

But it’s time to unite. Behind the club and the people running it. When Oriol Giralt drummed up his “Laporta out” campaign, I thought that it was detestable. Yes, the club has a history of turmoil in that regard, but I didn’t and don’t understand it. It was a crucial and defining time, when the club needed every. last. fan to get behind it.

As it does now. We’re rolling off the triplete. Every club that we face is going to play us as though their lives depended upon it. Because everybody will want the scalp of the best club in the world. And we, the collective we, are needed.

Because it isn’t about how much money we’ve spent.
It isn’t about tactics.
It isn’t about who is striker.
It isn’t about how the club might or might not have treated a player.
It isn’t about whether it’s Catalonia or Catalunya.

It’s about FC Barcelona, and it’s Go Time.