Now this is a World Cup
I'd had a shit of a day when I decided to pop into a pub on the way home from work to catch the last 10 mins of the Australia vs Japan game. It was 32 degrees and I was hot (yes, that's hot for me these days - pathetic, I know) and when I looked up and saw that we were losing one zip with only 10 minutes left, I thought to myself, typical.
And then it came: three goals in 6 minutes, as I went from miserable bum to jubilant chum in an instant.
Now, although I really like soccer (football) and have done so for quite a while, I always thought it was slightly over the top the way people all over the world, as with religion, seemed to live and die by it. But experiencing first hand this week how a victory by your football team on such a stage can really lift you out of the doldrums of your dreary existence, even if for just a moment, I think I caught a glimpse of why the masses are so addicted to this drug.
It's an event that stands head and shoulders above the rest, politically, culturally, and economically. And now we're there as well, finally playing with all the big boys - you beauty!
Quotes from the British press
Simon Barnes from The Times: "And then the match turned and stood on its head: a sudden cataract of goals and emotions and it was all about Japanese tears and Australian song. Only football can do this because only in football does a goal matter so much. The explosion of release at a goal is something no other sport does in the same way. In Australian Rules, a goal is a kiss on the lips. In football, it's an orgasm."
Duncan White, London's Daily Telegraph: "For all the jibes from outback types back in Australia that football was just a game for effeminate Mediterranean immigrants, this was a cast-iron refutation, a never-say-die performance hewn from the same granite as a Steve Waugh innings."
And then it came: three goals in 6 minutes, as I went from miserable bum to jubilant chum in an instant.
Now, although I really like soccer (football) and have done so for quite a while, I always thought it was slightly over the top the way people all over the world, as with religion, seemed to live and die by it. But experiencing first hand this week how a victory by your football team on such a stage can really lift you out of the doldrums of your dreary existence, even if for just a moment, I think I caught a glimpse of why the masses are so addicted to this drug.
It's an event that stands head and shoulders above the rest, politically, culturally, and economically. And now we're there as well, finally playing with all the big boys - you beauty!
Quotes from the British press
Simon Barnes from The Times: "And then the match turned and stood on its head: a sudden cataract of goals and emotions and it was all about Japanese tears and Australian song. Only football can do this because only in football does a goal matter so much. The explosion of release at a goal is something no other sport does in the same way. In Australian Rules, a goal is a kiss on the lips. In football, it's an orgasm."
Duncan White, London's Daily Telegraph: "For all the jibes from outback types back in Australia that football was just a game for effeminate Mediterranean immigrants, this was a cast-iron refutation, a never-say-die performance hewn from the same granite as a Steve Waugh innings."
posted by Paul at 12:45 pm
3 Comments:
I quite like your blog and i'm not really inclined to do much reading on a monitor. Over here in Canada, football is soccer and it is not terribly popular except in the small neighbourhoods that have many Europeans in them. We are more hockey fans. Our big hockey tournament is finishing up and it's almost 30deg. Cel. here.... ya gotta wonder!
Thanks piika. Outside my family and my one friend, Shell, yours is the first comment I've ever received - I'm quite chuffed. I checked out your blog and I think it's quite impressive too!
yes i'm pretty new to blogging and don't get many comments - it's an unusual phenomenon to communicate in such a quiet way....
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