haha, i was just looking for a cute love song for this post and well, love songs don't get more cute than 简单爱 do they? hell no. and alright back to the 2nd part of what would have been a really, really long entry.
it's been close to a week since the close of the world cup, a little more since germany was sent crashing to spain. i'm finally getting to sleep in a more habitual manner, and getting around to do the things that i've been putting off.
but what really got me wondering was just how much football's been a priority and influence to me.
a poor result for my team has the potential to affect my mood for the day, maybe even more (something that is totally ridiculous to some; it is just a game after all right?) and i'd totally avoid ALL footballing sites, including what can be considered my online staple soccernet.com.
a good results, conversely, has the exact opposite effect on me. i feel cheery for reasons unknown to others, and pour almost excessively over every article and commentary that i can find online, study the tactical shapes and movement applied and basically savouring every line, every word that i can lay my eyes on.
girls have a pretty handy reason for their prickly temperaments (once a month they say, but really, just 12 times a year?? hahaha) and well, us guys have a very valid reason too: our teams ain't doing that well.
oh and us guys (serious football following guys that is) are really particular about the teams that we follow, and loyalty is extremely important to us, and nothing annoys me more than a fickle follower. really, you can change your girlfriends (i have) but you CANNOT change your teams (i haven't). your team IS your wife, and you will go through pain and joy for her but no, divorce is inconceivable come hell or high water, and "irreparable differences" just don't cut it as an excuse.
i remember rooting for manutd because they had just completed the treble and were pretty much the dominant force in the epl, superficial enough reasons yes (but don't fault me for falling in love with the most beautiful woman at the party), but hey, i've stuck with her through the hard times (arsenal completing the season unbeaten was hard) but the joys that come after the difficult periods are so much more the sweeter (beating arsenal at old trafford, ending their 49 games unbeaten streak, oh well, all the ignominy of the previous season was forgotten and forgiven).
on the international front, i remember vividly the thrilling opening game of the world cup 4 years ago that germany served up against costa-rica. before that i had always thought international football boring (england is just plain bad) and never supported a particular team but that game made me fall in love with germany.
but what really irks me is how some "supporters" would jump on the winning-team bandwagon, and stay on, until the next winning team comes along that is.
all of a sudden, when united had won the english league 3 times in a row, everyone was a supporter. where were they last year? moaning that united just 'can't make it la'.
all of a sudden the germans were THE team to root for, when just 4 weeks ago no one even gave them a second look. and when they lost to spain, idiotic comments about how the germans froze and how they "cannot make it" were abound. what losers, what idiots (my justifications are in the previous post so i won't go into detail here).
now i don't mind new fans choosing a particular team because of the attractive manner that the team is playing or because the team is winning (i was one such fan myself). now let me repeat that. i don't mind REAL new fans. not fickle and whining and moaning idiots.
and i will say it all over again. in football (and even in life too), loyalty is everything. when the object of one's affection can be so easily changed, your love isn't worth much in the first place.