Happy birthday, monsieur Wenger

It was 2012: the first Avengers movie debuted, Jeremy Lin was the biggest thing in the NBA, Rick Santorum was a thing and Hollywood convinced us the Mayan calendar had it out for us all (we sure showed those guys). A lot has changed.
I was in seventh grade. Middle school, avoiding any and all generalizations, sucked. The friend groups. The gossip. The assault of hormones on the body. The locker next to the sweaty “gym-class hero” and the kid who, no matter the weather, always wore shorts. The “cool” history teacher constantly belittling you in front of the entire class (the last one might be a little specific). It can be a difficult time for kids to fit in, and it can be difficult to enjoy this part of life, especially for a pudgy, self-doubting, video-game-playing mess of a kid — maybe things haven’t changed all that much.
One day, 13-year-old me flipped through the television channels. It wasn’t a particularly exciting journey through the Comcast cable package we had, but rather one of those aimless, third-time-through-the-channels adventures. I didn’t expect to find something to watch. Unexpectedly, something found me.
I stumbled on the YES Network, a channel frequently visited in my pro-New York Yankees household.
Baseball, however, had been over for months. What was the network showing instead?
“Arsenal World”
Soccer? I thought. Why is this on?
Soccer was not an integral part of my life. I didn’t play it as a kid, appreciate it growing up and often demonized it as an inferior sport. Many of my friends, however, lived for soccer. They loved it. I didn’t.
Watching the TV from across the room, I became immersed in this new finding.
Arsenal World followed Arsenal Football Club in the English Premier League, England’s top soccer league. The show had exclusive interview with players and other behind-the-scenes type stuff. Looking back, for all intents and purposes, the show was mostly good PR. But as a kid getting into the sport, it was everything. I began following Arsenal, learning more and more about the team and sport as time went by. One of the first lessons I learned was about Arsenal’s manager: Arsene Wenger.
Wenger had been at Arsenal since 1996. Early under Wenger’s guidance, Arsenal climbed to the pinnacle of English, winning premier league titles in 1998, 2002 and 2004. A calm, intelligent, presence on the sideline, Wenger attracted me to Arsenal. Also — I mean, just look at his name. Arsene. It was perfect.
I followed Arsenal through the rest of middle school, finding the occasional, early morning Arsenal game on ESPN to watch. High school came and brought change. Friends stopped being friends. People became friends. I failed classes and struggled in school.
I improved in school. Teachers became acquaintances. I got accepted into college. High school can be a strange place.
One constant throughout my four years of high school: Wenger as Arsenal manager.
I was obsessed with Arsenal by this point. NBC received the rights to the Premier League my freshman year of high school, making it easier than every for Americans to watch English soccer. It was on.
Poor performances, however, challenged this constant throughout my time high school. Arsenal under Wenger started to become bothersome for a vocal sect of fans. These fans, inspired by a strong online following, saw Wenger as the problem at Arsenal, a tyrannical figure. I lost hope, too, at a point. Although I eventually came to my senses that it was not just Wenger at fault, people knew he couldn’t have too much time left.
I was now in college, and began to slowly fall away from Arsenal on the level I once did. Arsenal’s performances, which previously could be played off by solid end-of-season finishes, became a flashpoint of fan frustration. It was only a matter of time.
It was my second semester as a college freshman, pulling an all-nighter, when the news broke that Wenger, after 22 years at Arsenal, would leave at the end of the season. I watched his farewell speech on the floor of my dormitory lounge, surrounded by people with no idea what this moment meant to me.
“Bye bye,” Wenger said as his last word, ending a constant I knew for 6 years.
I never knew an Arsenal without Arsene Wenger.
Wenger, who turned 69 on Tuesday, has better tributes than this one. He’s an intellectual. A man of principle who changed English football, ushered in several eras of Arsenal, changed the lives of countless people, wore the best jackets and one day will deservedly have a statue outside of the Emirates Stadium. Some of the most jubilant moments of my life happened because Arsenal, and because of Arsene Wenger.
I just wanted to share a perspective, and say thank you, Mr. Wenger, from a pudgy 13-year-old at heart.