Monday 2 February 2009

It’s a funny old game

Sport is a complex tangle of emotions that people either understand or they don’t. People can often be heard saying that they can’t understand why people like this sport or that sport but the reality is that if you love sport, any sport, and get excited by it you can, if you want to, sympathise with any other sports fan and to a certain degree. You can understand why they act the way they do, which is the way you act when the ball or puck goes in the net, when the knockout blow is delivered, when the try is scored or when a 40 yard pass is completed. 

If you don’t like any sport, then yes, I agree, you may not be able to comprehend why we sport lovers act the way we do. 

I have never been bothered by American football; in fact it has been the subject of debates between Brits and our trans-atlantic cousins. Rugby for girls is a common criticism and the stop and start nature of the game is often at odds with British sports like rugby and football. I understand American football, the rules that is, and I can easily empathise with the fans and their delirium at a touchdown and the tension and anxiety created with a ticking clock.

I have been turned onto American football, maybe for just a single night, maybe intermittently for the rest of my life and I have a team. That is the key to enjoying sport, you have to care, and you have to support one team or one individual over another to experience the true meaning of sport.

Kids are told, by good parents at least, that it doesn’t matter who wins, it’s the taking part that counts but this is clearly not true and to truly enjoy any game you have to care. I now care about american football. Last night I wanted the Arizona Cardinals to win the Super Bowl. My reasons are not the most honourable but I can’t help that I was excited when the Cardinals scored and disappointed when the Pittsburgh Steelers scored.

I know someone from the Pittsburgh area who supports the Steelers. I don’t like her. She is a horrible person. A bad person and I would take a certain pleasure, however sinister and bitter that might be in thinking about her face if Arizona won. Yes I’m a bad person but then I feel the same when Manchester United play and my best friend is a die hard Man United fan. I have no sympathy for him when they lose and I like and respect him. It is war without the weapons, tribalism at its finest and I love it.

As it turned out Arizona made a fantastic come back to be within a few minutes of winning the super bowl but those god damned Steelers stole it at the death, I hate those bastards. Yesterday I didn’t give a shit about American football, the Pittsburgh steelers or the Arizona cardinals but now I feel cheated. I’m despondent about the touchdown that should never have stood and so many bad decisions by the referee. We were robbed.

I’m a convert and although I may not follow NFL or the Cardinals closely ever again, I’ll probably watch the next super bowl and I might even look back on this night as the night when I stopped calling it rugby for girls.

I might just become an anti-steelers fan but maybe that would a petulant step too far.

 

Go Cardinals!

 

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