I Became a City fan as an 11-year-old in 1980. Most of my family is based in Israel and my brother and I used to spend summers there as children. The only sporting publication in English you could get in Israel back then, in those pre-satellite and pre-internet times, was SHOOT! magazine. It quickly became part of my weekly routine to buy SHOOT! every Thursday, but somehow I knew I had to pick a favourite team, even though I really knew nothing about the geography and history of the English game. The first American to succeed in England was still more than a decade away, so this was not something that I had any exposure to back home. English football had a very, very, VERY small presence in the States at that point. So I wound up choosing City because I loved their kit! Tommy Caton was on the back cover of my first issue and the little schoolboy team I was playing on in California at the time had a Sky Blue shirt, too. And that's how this City fan was born. Liverpool obviously were the most successful team of that era, plus Liverpool had an Israeli in their team in those days. But even Avi Cohen couldn't sway me. I always say that I was born to be a Blue, because I later learned that we won the 1969 FA Cup when I was one day old. I'm convinced it was destiny!

Have you ever had the chance to visit Manchester?

I've been blessed to have the opportunity to make annual trips to Blue Heaven since September 1996. The last thing I do before every NBA season is come to Manchester for a week-plus and pretend to be Mancunian. I was very lucky in '96 to meet a dear friend named Martin Dodd who grew up in Wythenshawe and had moved to Los Angeles and helped set me up on my first trip over. I've made it a virtually annual tradition ever since.

City have toured the United States before. Did you manage to catch any of their Games?

Of course! I've seen City play in New Jersey, Baltimore, Los Angeles and Yankee Stadium over the last few summers. But sadly it's not quite the same. I've taken my kids to a couple of those July friendlies, but it’s very difficult to replicate the Etihad atmosphere in an American ground because the fans don't end up sitting together in the same way they would for a real game. We try. We really do. But let's face it: July football is also not quite the real deal.

Do you ever see Football (soccer) becoming as popular as other major sports in the U.S.?

It's huge here. And don't believe anyone who tells you different. The Premiership has never been bigger. And I firmly believe that the way the last day of the title race in 2012 unfolded is a big reason why. All the drama of what happened in the QPR match played out live on American TV on a Sunday morning and really captured the nation's attention. Major League Soccer is also growing every year, inching closer to its 20th season of existence and has rising attendances every year. The game is in a very good place. And it's a World Cup year, so Americans will soon be obsessed with what's happening in Brazil just like every other footballing nation in the world.

How are English fans different to the fans in the U.S.?

I've always believed that the biggest difference is that American sports fans grow up loving several different teams. If your favorite NBA team is struggling, maybe you turn you attention to your favorite baseball team. Or your favorite NFL team. Or maybe hockey or a team from the college you attended. Even the most passionate sports fans here divide their sports loyalty up among a number of different sports. In England, there's football way up high ... and then everything else matters much much less. There's really no second place to your favorite football club. It's just a different mentality. A different sporting culture.

Do you get the same kind of rivalry between teams and fans as we do here?

One of the reasons it’s so hard to replicate the atmosphere of a game in England is because the country is so big. Fans can't typically travel with their teams as easily as it's done in England. It's very expensive and time-consuming for fans in the UK and here it's even more complicated. You see it to a degree at the college level, but a truly special rivalry atmosphere usually depends on having two great sets of fans in the same arena. Not so simple.

How do you see the U.S.A team getting on during this year’s World Cup finals?

We're in the Group of Death with Germany, Portugal and Ghana. Getting out of the group would make this a successful World Cup. It's not impossible, but there's a fair bit of pessimism about the Yanks' chances. We've never had more attacking options in the history of our national team -- and our goalkeeping contingent is as strong as anyone's in the whole tournament -- but we have an inexperienced back line. I don't envy Jurgen Klinsmann, who was hired largely to deliver in the World Cup. If he gets us into the knockout stages, that's quite an effort.

Which team do you support in the MLS and how are they doing?

FC Dallas, our local side, is not only off to a flying start this season, but it's the club where both of my boys play. FCD has a wonderful junior program and ridiculously nice facilities, something like 20 top-flight pitches surrounding the main stadium. Of course, with NYCFC on the way in a couple years, I'm probably going to have to have a little talk with myself to figure things out.

What is your all-time favourite City memory?

So hard to narrow it down, pal. I'm a super nostalgic person, so I even loved our season in the third tier and will never forget flying into the Manchester on a Tuesday, going virtually straight to Maine Road and seeing 28,000 fans in the house against Bournemouth! Can't forget calling my friend Ian Whittell during the famous Gillingham game at Wembley and asking him to set the phone beside the TV so I could at least listen to extra time and penalty kicks, because the game wasn't being broadcast here in the States. The 6-2 game at Hillsborough is one that I will never, ever forget. Had SO much fun that day. Just this last September, I had the privilege of being in town to go with my mates Barry Gate and Alan Dodd and the gang to the very entertaining Plzen match away in the Champions League … and then the derby thrashing of David Moyes' boys a few days later. But honestly nothing can top the League Cup final from two months ago. I was able to bring my oldest son Alex with me to Wembley for his first REAL game in person. It was a very quick and short trip to London, but to able to share a Cup final triumph with my 10-year-old and just watch him take it all in as he was getting his first taste of a City match at the highest level was a dream come true.

Favourite current City player?

Edin Dzeko. I know he frustrates some City fans, but I don't care. Everyone says all he does is score goals, which is absolutely fine with me. I fell in love with him instantly when he arrived at City, which is what usually happens when I pick a favourite (to use the English spelling). Before Dzeko, it was Bellamy. Don't ask me to explain. Falling in love with players isn't supposed to be rational.

Favourite all-time City player?

Uwe Rosler. This is another one where I could list 20 contenders, from the likes of Eyal Berkovic and Kinkladze and The Goat and dozens more I could nominate, but Uwe has always been No. 1. The early to mid-90s is when following City from faraway America totally changed. The internet suddenly made everything easier. English football on US TV became much more prevalent. And it was impossible, at least for me, to resist falling in love with Uwe while all this was happening. His love for the club poured out of his shirt. And I'm a sucker for that stuff. The absolute mental way he celebrated every goal won me over straight away.

Do you have a favourite City song or chant?

"We never win at home and we never win away." LOVE it! Singing it in my head right now. I have to confess that I still regularly go on YouTube to listen to the chants posted there from the trip to Plzen in September, just to try to recapture the feeling of how much fun I had on that European trip with the Blues. I used to change a few words in the song when I taught it to my kids, so I wouldn't get in trouble with the missus, but now my 10-year-old knows all the lyrics after his trip to Wembley to see the Cup win over Sunderland. So that’s a problem.

And finally, Who do you think will win the Premier League title this year?

Like everyone, I was nervous to bits about the Everton game, because they've given us a lot of trouble in recent years. But after what happened to Liverpool at Palace, it’s surely ours now. (Related question: Has any manager, since about May of 1999, done more for us than Tony Pulis?) If we let it slip now, we’ll have no one to blame but ourselves.

Thanks for joining us Marc! Best of luck to Fc Dallas for this season and let's hope we will all be celebrating this Sunday!

Photo: Action Images