My fanatic love

It has been a weekend of sports for me. Whether it was watching, playing or betting, they all gave me an injection of excitement, joy and relief in different doses. In terms of watching, I had the opportunity to witness Manchester United move ever closer to securing a record ninth league title. This was one hell of a relief after a rather uncertain period of unconvincing displays. After being glued for two hours infront of that TV screen, I could not but only reflect on the emotional rollercoaster I went through in those 120 minutes. My heart and mood were ever so consistent with the scores of the match and turn of play. I felt so happy at the end, with my team finishing on top and winning a difficult match, but I could not but feel weak in terms of being so affected by the fortunes of a football. How can a goal make me so happy and cheer me up for the whole day and how can I miskick or a goal for the opposition makes everything looks so gloomy and sad. I even noticed that lately I stopped taking joy in watching football as a sport, I am too concerned about the wellbeing of my team now, everything else does not matter now. Let the others team play their football, good for them but I am losing interest. It is either my team that is playing and better be winning or ..sorry but not interested. I am losing the appreciation for the sport in general but at the same time becoming more of an extremist with regards to Man Utd.

Friends always told me that I have the material to be a hooligan given the right circumstances. I think they were right to an extent. I would just need a bunch of other fanatics, some beer and tickets for the weekend matches. A scary but still plausible scenario that came across my mind lately.

In terms of playing, I am as passionate as ever and I proved it this weekend. Playing through the pain-barrier is not enjoyable for many but it gives me a sense of weird satisfaction at the end. I was never afraid to get stuck in and commit myself to the tackle and thus the frequent bruises after some football. It is supposed to be ‘ fun ’ but sometimes my desire to win overrides that and find myself taking things too seriously and overly competitive.

And for betting, I lost but my friend made some good money. All part of the adrenaline-rush package but not as enjoyable as watching and playing sports. I am saying that probably because I did not predict the scores right.

Enough about football and my fanaticism for now, more serious stuff to follow :).