Here's how bad my soccer sickness is.

I was reading the Associated Press article about Carlos Bocanegra, ex-Chicago Fire defender, signing with Fulham of the Premier League, and within seconds of reading this paragraph:

He would become the sixth American player to play in England's top division, joining U.S. captain Claudio Reyna, Brad Friedel, Tim Howard, Kasey Keller and Jovan Kirovski.

I had mentally corrected them, knowing, as all of us should, that John Harkes and Cobi Jones have also played in either the Premiership or its predecessor, the 1st Division.

Two things struck me about this knowledge.

First, not one in a million, by conservative estimate, know this information here in the U.S. of A.

Second, it does me absolutely no good on any practical level to have this information on immediate recall.

I'm a little conflicted by this knowledge. There's a mix of perverse pride in knowing this level of esoterica, along with the distinct feeling this puts me way out in front for the geek of the month award. Oh, did I mention my other hobby is chess? Yeah, that plaque will look good on my wall.